BEYOND PMP:�HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

ABHINAY VERMA

@itsabhinay

Purpose of this document

Learning about project management doesn’t end when you pass the PMP exam. PMP teaches a methodology that every practitioner must follow. However, the PMP content is quite detailed and is geared for large projects and many small projects, typically in IT industry, do not follow all processes described in the PMBOK. As a result, many PMP certified project managers either forget what their learnt or start thinking that most of what they studied is not relevant for their roles. This slide deck is intended for all of us who wish to retain the most important and practice advice that PMP taught us irrespective of how big or small our projects are.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Set Clear Responsibilities A successful project requires every team member to do his/her job. Therefore, Project Manager must define roles in the Human Resource Plan and assign clear responsibilities. There are various tools to do so such as Organization Chart, Responsibility Matrix, RACI matrix etc. One of the most popular methods is a RACI Matrix. R = Responsible (Who will actually do the task) A = Accountable (Who is accountable for getting the task done) C = Consulted (Stakeholders; who can provided information to do the task) I = Informed (Who needs to be updated about progress)

Stages of Team Development

• Team comes together

Forming

• Disagreements and Arguments

Storming • Good working

relationships

Norming

• Team becomes a cohesive unit as people work effectively together

Performing • Team is disbanded.

Au revoir!

Adjourning

Team building activities will help in transition to a Performing Team. Team Parties, Celebrations, Off-sites, WBS creation, taking everybody’s input in creating project plan are some of the activities that can help.

Rewards & Recognition Rewards and Recognition play a significant part in motivating the team. A Project Manager must plan on how will he recognize and reward the performance of his team members. ü  Rewards may not only be monetary. ü  Team members can be rewarded by giving them a role of their choice, training opportunities. ü  In many cases, R&R will be governed by the organization or HR policies and there will be a set schedule to

take nominations and award high performers. But even though this does not give much freedom to the PM to change formal rewards, there are multiple ways of recognizing people.

Management Styles The PMP exam may expose you to a very high number of management styles. But you do not need to remember all of them. Just remember these. And remember, an effective PM will use different styles at different times depending on circumstances.

AUTOCRATIC The manager decides on his

own. Everybody follows.

CONSENSUS Decisions are taken based on

group agreement.

DELEGATING Establish goals and metrics. Gives team freedom to act.

SUPPORTING Manager provides assistance

to the team as and when required.

FACILITATING Manager coordinates inputs of

others.

DEMOCRATIC Team participates in decision

making.

Conflict Management Do not fear Conflict. Conflict need not be bad and can actually be beneficial. A project often has conflicting requirements with multiple stakeholders whose priorities are never all aligned with each other. It also has different personalities within the team with different approaches to problem solving, different risk tolerance and comfort levels. PERSONALITY is NOT one of the Top 5 reasons of conflict.

Top 7 Sources of Conflict

Schedules

Project Priorities

Resources

Technical Opinions

Administrative Procedures

Cost

Personality

Source: PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy

Conflict Resolution Techniques

Confronting

Forcing Collaborating

Compromising

Withdrawal Accommodating

Taking the problem head-on to get to a solution. This is the best approach. Win-Win!

A lose-lose situation where none of the parties get everything.

Incorporating multiple views to build a consensus. Enforcing one viewpoint over

the other, at the expense of other.

Choosing to ignore the problem or delay a decision on the problem. The worst approach.

This involves focusing on points on agreement rather than differences of opinion.

Source: PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy

Other Points to Remember

Ø  It is the Project Manager’s job to motivate the team.

Ø  Plan for onboarding and release of your team members.

Ø  Modern Project Managers must know how to effectively manage teams that are spread across multiple location.

Ø  Do not see co-location as a necessary requirement for success.

Ø  Virtual teams are those that are not based out of a single location or office and do not meet face to face.

Though video conferencing has solved this aspect of virtual teams to some extent.

Ø  Just because some team member is very good on one parameter doesn’t mean she will be god on all other

parameters. A brilliant architect may be a mediocre people manager. Beware of the Halo Effect.