6. managing human resources in project pm0004 sem-3
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Sikkim Manipal University Managing Human Resources in Project PM0004
MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECT - PM0004MBA SEMESTER 3
ASSIGNMENT (SET – 1)
1. (a) What do you mean by Project Management & Mention Key features of a Project? (b) What do you mean by Competency & explain briefly:(i) Organizational competency(ii) Core competency.Explain need for competency.
Ans:(a) Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is sometimes conflated with program management, however technically a program is actually a higher level construct: a group of related and somehow interdependent projects.
A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined
beginning and end (usually constrained by date, but can be
by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet unique
goals and objectives, usually to bring about beneficial
change or added value. The temporary nature of projects
stands in contrast to business as usual (or operations),
which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent
functional work to produce products or services. In practice,
the management of these two systems is often found to be
quite different, and as such requires the development of
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distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate
management.
The primary challenge of project management is to
achieve all of the project goals and objectives while
honoring the preconceived project constraints. Typical
constraints are scope, time, and budget. The secondary—
and more ambitious—challenge is to optimize the allocation
and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined
objectives.
Project plan can be considered to have five key
characteristics that have to be managed:
Scope: defines what will be covered in a project.
Resource: what can be used to meet the scope.
Time: what tasks are to be undertaken and when.
Quality: the spread or deviation allowed from a
desired standard.
Risk: defines in advance what may happen to drive
the plan off course, and what will be done to recover the
situation.
(b) Competence is a standardized requirement for an
individual to properly perform a specific job. It encompasses
a combination of knowledge, skills and behavior utilized to
improve performance. More generally, competence is the
state or quality of being adequately or well qualified, having
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the ability to perform a specific role.
For instance, management competency includes the traits
of systems thinking and emotional intelligence, and skills in
influence and negotiation. A person possesses a
competence as long as the skills, abilities, and knowledge
that constitute that competence are a part of them,
enabling the person to perform effective action within a
certain workplace environment. Therefore, one might not
lose knowledge, a skill, or an ability, but still lose a
competence if what is needed to do a job well changes.
Competence is also used to work with more general
descriptions of the requirements of human beings in
organizations and communities.
I. The Organizational Competence:
It was initiated by David McClelland in the 1960s with a
view to moving away from traditional attempts to describe
competence in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes and
to focus instead on the specific self-image, values, traits,
and motive dispositions (i.e. relatively enduring
characteristics of people) that are found to consistently
distinguish outstanding from typical performance in a given
job or role. It should be noted that different competences
predict outstanding performance in different roles, and that
there is a limited number of competences that predict
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outstanding performance in any given job or role. Thus, a
trait that is a "competence" for one job might not predict
outstanding performance in a different role.
Nevertheless, as can be seen from Raven and Stephenson,
there have been important developments in research
relating to the nature, development, and assessment of
high-level competencies in homes, schools, and workplaces.
II. A core competency: is a specific factor that a
business sees as being central to the way it, or its
employees, works. It fulfills three key criteria:
1. It provides consumer benefits
2. It is not easy for competitors to imitate
3. It can be leveraged widely to many products and
markets.
A core competency can take various forms, including
technical/subject matter know-how, a reliable process
and/or close relationships with customers and suppliers. It
may also include product development or culture, such as
employee dedication.
Core competencies are particular strengths relative to
other organizations in the industry which provide the
fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core
competencies are the collective learning in organizations,
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and involve how to coordinate diverse production skills and
integrate multiple streams of technologies. It is
communication, an involvement and a deep commitment to
working across organizational boundaries. Few companies
are likely to build world leadership in more than five or six
fundamental competencies.
The need for Competency is shown in action in a situation
in a context that might be different the next time you have
to act. In emergency contexts, competent people will react
to the situation following behaviors they have previously
found to succeed, hopefully to good effect. To be
competent you need to be able to interpret the situation in
the context and to have a repertoire of possible actions to
take and have trained in the possible actions in the
repertoire, if this is relevant. Regardless of training,
competence grows through experience and the extent of an
individual to learn and adapt. However, there has been
much discussion among academics about the issue of
definitions. The concept of competence has different
meanings, and continues to remain one of the most diffuse
terms in the management development sector, and the
organizational and occupational literature
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Q2. (a) Explain the need for development of
management skills & also explain different steps
involved in developing management skills.
(b) Explain each of the following competencies briefly:
Time Management
Cost Management
Human Resource Management
Risk Management
Contract Management
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Communication Management
Scope Management
Quality Management (c) Explain the characteristics of a project team.
Ans:a) A Management Skill in all business areas and human
organization activity is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.
Steps involved in developing management skills:
Maintain the Status Quo
While you may have been hired or promoted because of
your creative vision, don’t plan on implementing radical
changes your first few weeks on the job, especially if you’re
new to the organization. Introducing too much change too
soon, can send the message to your team as well as other
managers that you think you understand the company’s
workings better than they do.
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Establish yourself in your new role and gain the confidence
of others by taking the time to get the lay of the land before
you start sharing ideas that affect the organization’s
structure, processes and systems. Even if you do know
better, you’ll still need the support of people around you to
make things happen.
Get to Know Your Team
Make an effort to reach out individually to all those who
now report into you. Schedule one-on-one meetings to get
an idea of what your team perceives to be the department’s
or company’s strengths and weaknesses and solicit their
ideas for solutions.
Learn How to Delegate
One the most basic management skills that’s often least
used by first-time managers is delegating. After all, when
you complete a task yourself you have complete control
over the outcome. However, by not delegating you’re doing
both yourself and your staff a disservice.
Be Courteous
Don’t underestimate the effect of a simple “please”, “thank
you” or “good job” can have on your employees. Whether
they’ve spent the last three days archiving files or churning
out a top-notch client presentation, acknowledging their
efforts goes a long way toward communicating the value
they bring to your team.
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Avoid Burnout
a lot of new managers get caught up in the excitement and
enthusiasm of their new positions and for all the right
reasons: they want to learn as much as they can as quickly
as possible and start getting things done in order to
demonstrate their commitment to the company. As a result,
first-time managers often wind up working excessive hours
and when you’re working that hard, for that long, not all of
those hours can be productive.
b) Time Management
Time management: refers to a range of skills, tools, and
techniques used to manage time when accomplishing
specific tasks, projects and goals. This set encompasses a
wide scope of activities, and these include planning,
allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent,
monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially
time management referred to just business or work
activities, but eventually the term broadened to include
personal activities as well. A time management system is a
designed combination of processes, tools and techniques.
Some authors (such as Stephen R. Covey) offered a
categorization scheme for the hundreds of time
management approaches that they reviewed
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First generation: reminders based on clocks and watches,
but with computer implementation possible; can be used to
alert a person when a task is to be done.
Second generation: planning and preparation based on
calendar and appointment books; includes setting goals.
Third generation: planning, prioritizing, controlling (using
a personal organizer, other paper-based objects, or
computer or PDA-based systems) activities on a daily basis.
This approach implies spending some time in clarifying
values and priorities.
Fourth generation: being efficient and proactive using
any of the above tools; places goals and roles as the
controlling element of the system and favors importance
over urgency.
Some of the recent general arguments related to "time"
and "management" point out that the term "time
management" is misleading and that the concept should
actually imply that it is "the management of our own
activities, to make sure that they are accomplished within
the available or allocated time, which is an unmanageable
continuous resource".
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Cost Management:
Cost management is the process by which companies
control and plan the costs of doing business. Individual
projects should have customized cost management plans,
and companies as a whole also integrate cost management
into their overall business model. There is no single
accepted definition for this term, because it has such broad
applications and possible strategies. When properly
implemented, cost management will translate into reduced
costs of production for products and services, as well as
increased value being delivered to the customer.
For a company's management to be effective overall, cost
management must be an integral feature of it. It is easiest
to understand this concept if it is explained in the context of
a single project. For instance, before a project is started,
the anticipated costs should be identified and measured.
These expenses should then be approved before any
purchasing occurs. During the process of completing a
project, all incurred costs should be noted and kept in a
record of some kind, to help ensure that the costs are
controlled and kept in line with initial expectations, to the
extent that this is possible.
Human Resource Management
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Human resource management: (HRM) is the strategic and
coherent approach to the management of an organization's
most valued assets - the people working there who
individually and collectively contribute to the achievement
of the objectives of the business.[1] The terms "human
resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have
largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a
description of the processes involved in managing people in
organizations.[1] In simple sense, HRM means employing
people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining
and compensating their services in tune with the job and
organizational requirement.
Its features include:
Organizational management
Personnel administration
Manpower management
Industrial management
Risk Management
Risk is defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on
objectives (whether positive or negative). Risk management
can therefore be considered the identification, assessment,
and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and
economical application of resources to minimize, monitor,
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and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate
events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks
can come from uncertainty in financial markets, project
failures, legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural
causes and disasters as well as deliberate attacks from an
adversary. Several risk management standards have been
developed including the Project Management Institute, the
National Institute of Science and Technology, actuarial
societies, and ISO standards. Methods, definitions and goals
vary widely according to whether the risk management
method is in the context of project management, security,
engineering, industrial processes, financial portfolios,
actuarial assessments, or public health and safety.
The strategies to manage risk include transferring the risk
to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative
effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the
consequences of a particular risk.
Contract Management
The term contract management is typically used in
procurement or purchasing departments. As part of the
procurement department’s responsibilities, the manager
negotiates, accepts, and signs contracts with suppliers of
goods and services to the organization. Contract
management is the process of ensuring that the supplier
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honors their negotiated contract terms. Although the role of
procurement in the negotiation process is an essential part
of a cost management process, contract management is
where the actual savings are either achieved or missed.
Effective contract management practices result in lower
operating costs, efficient services, and a stronger
bargaining position during the next round of negotiations.
Contract management includes ensuring contract
compliance, acting as the primary contact for issues related
to service and dispute resolution, as well as managing any
payments or clauses negotiated into the contract. In
general, contract management can be broken down into
three main areas: thresholds, rebates, and performance
clauses.
Communication Management
Communications management is the systematic planning,
implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels
of communication within an organization, and between
organizations; it also includes the organization and
dissemination of new communication directives connected
with an organization, network, or communications
technology. Aspects of communications management
include developing corporate communication strategies,
designing internal and external communications directives,
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and managing the flow of information, including online
communication. New technology forces constant innovation
on the part of communications managers
One simple and popular communications method is called
the weekly reporting method: every employee composes an
e-mail report, once a week, including information on their
activities in the preceding week, their plans for the
following week, and any other information deemed relevant
to the larger group, bearing in mind length considerations.
Reports are sent to managers, who summarize and report
to their own managers, eventually leading to an overall
summary led by the CEO, which is then sent to the board of
directors. The CEO then sends the board's summary back
down the ladder, where each manager can append an
additional summary or note before referring it to their
employees.
Eventually, each employee will receive a long e-mail,
containing many or all of the above-mentioned summaries,
from every level of management; reading the full result is
rarely a requirement. Curious or ambitious employees are
considered more likely to read the result; task-centered
employees, however, are not.
Scope Management
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A plan which describes how project scope will be managed
and how, Scope change will be integrated into the project.
Includes an assessment of how likely and frequently the
project scope may change and a description of how scope
changes will be identified and classified.
Scope Management Plan indicates:
A subsidiary element of the overall project plan.
Describes how project scope will be managed.
Describes how scope changes will be integrated into
the project.
Should also include an assessment of the expected
stability of the project scope.
Should also include a clear description of how scope
changes will be identified and classified.
Quality Management
Quality management can be considered to have three
main components: quality control, quality assurance and
quality improvement. Quality management is focused not
only on product quality, but also the means to achieve it.
Quality management therefore uses quality assurance and
control of processes as well as products to achieve more
consistent quality.
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The influence of quality thinking has spread to non-
traditional applications outside of walls of manufacturing,
extending into service sectors and into areas such as sales,
marketing and customer service
C) Characteristics of a project team:
Commitment:
Commitment to the project by the core team is critical
to the success of the project. The project manager must
know that eacrT core team member places a high priority of
fulfilling his or her roles and responsibilities in the project.
The core team must be proactive in fulfilling those
responsibilities and not need the constant reminders of
schedule and deliverables from the project manager.
Shared responsibility:
Shared responsibility means that success and failure
are equally the reward and blame of each team member.
Having shared responsibility means that you will never hear
one team member taking individual credit for a success on
the projects nor blaming another team member for a failure
on the project.
Flexibility:
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Team members must be willing to adapt to the
situation. “That is not my responsibility” doesn’t go very far
in project work, schedules may have to change at the last
minute to accommodate an unexpected situation. It is the
success of the project that has priority, not the schedule of
any one individual on the project team.
Task-orientedness
In the final analysis it is the team members’ ability to
get their assigned work down according to the project plan
that counts. In other words, they must be results-oriented.
Ability to work within schedule and constraints:
Parts of being results-oriented, means being able to
complete assignments within the timeframe planned
instead of offering excuses for not doing so. It is easy to
blame your delay on the delay of others – that is the easy
way out.
Willingness to give trust and mutual support:
Trust and mutual support are the hallmarks on an effective
team. That means that every member must convey these
qualities. Team members must be trusting and trustworthy.
Team-orientedness:
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To be team-oriented means to put the welfare of the
team ahead of your own. Behaviors as simple as the
individual’s frequencies of use of “I” versus “we” in team
meetings and conversations with other team members are
strong indicators of team orientation.
Open-mindedness:
The open-minded team member will welcome and
encourage other points of view and other solutions to
problem situations. His or her objective is clearly to do what
is best for the team and not look for individual kudos.
Ability to work across structure and authorities:
In the contemporary organization, projects tend to cross
organizational lines. Cross-departmental teams are
common. Projects such as these require the team member
to work with people form a variety of business disciplines.
Ability to use project management tools:
The team member must be able to leverage technology in
carrying out his or her project responsibilities. Projects are
planned using a variety of software tools, and the team
member must have some familiarity with these tools. Many
project managers will require the team member to input
activity status and other project progress data directly into
the project management software tool.
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Q3 What do you mean by Conflict, describe different sources of conflicts faced by the project managers? What are the different steps involved in resolving the conflicts.
Ans: A conflict is a dispute or a struggle in which each
party expresses opposition towards the other party or
interferes intentionally with other party’s goals attainment.
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Conflict can also be a disagreement about the allocation of
scarce resources or a clash of statuses, values, perceptions
or personalities. Behavioral scientists agree that conflict is
an abnormal phenomenon with only negative
consequences.
Some of the characteristics of conflicts are:
Conflict occurs when two parties have competing goals.
Conflict is unavoidable, and we can learn how to handle
it effectively.
Conflict is not always bad. Constructive conflict can
help solve problems and leads to new ideas.
The Collaborating strategy is the most effective way of
resolving conflict –the resolution is mutually beneficial
for all parties.
The other conflict resolution strategies can be
appropriate for certain types of situations.
Potential conflict over project priorities:
1. Conflict over project priorities:
2. The views of project participants often differ over the
sequence of activities and tasks that should be
understood to achieve successfully. Conflict over
priorities may also not only between the project team
and other support groups but also within the project
team.
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3. Conflict over administrative procedures:
4. A number of managerial and administrative oriented
conflicts may develop over how the project is
managed. The definition of project manager’s reporting
relationships, definition of responsibilities, interface
relationships, project operational requirements, plan of
execution, negotiated work agreements with other
groups and procedures for administrative support.
5. Conflict over technical opinions and performance trade-
off:
6. In technology-oriented projects, disagreements may
arise over technical issues. Performance specifications,
technical trade-offs and the means to achieve
performance.
7. Conflict over manpower resources:
8. Conflicts may arise around the planning of the project
team with personnel from other functional and support
areas or from the desire to use another department’s
personnel for project support even though the
personnel remain under the authority of their functional
or staff superiors.
9. Conflict over cost:
10. Frequently, conflict may develop over cost
estimates form support areas regarding various project
work breakdown packages. For example, the funds
allocated by a project manager to a functional; support
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group might be perceived as insufficient for the support
requested.
11. Conflict over schedules:
12. Disagreement may develop around the timing,
sequencing and scheduling of a project related tasks.
13. Personality conflict:
14. Disagreements may tend to center on
interpersonal differences rather than on technical
issues. Conflicts often are ego-centered.
Steps to resolve conflicts
1. The strategy for managing conflicts is that of
compromise (give and take). In this approach
conflicting parties are asked to make certain sacrifices
in exchange for some concessions from the other party
for the good of the company.
2. We must encourage productive conflict and reduce
destructive conflict to foster the positive outcome of
disagreement and minimize more adverse effects.
3. Another strategy is handling conflict head-on. It is
nothing but standing firm and taking the role of a
dictator and rejecting the views and beliefs of the other
party or standing between the warring factions and
ordering to cease the conflict.
4. The success of resolving conflicts depends on the
mutual cooperation and creativity of the parties.
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5.To successfully resolve a conflict, we must understand
both sides of the issues, discus how the conflict affects
people’s performance. Focus should be on facts and
behavior and not on feelings or personalities/egos.
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