Chapter 9

Project Human Resource Management

According to the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition, “Project Human Resource Management includes the processes that organize and manage the project team.” Project Human Resource Management is one of the two Project Management Knowledge Areas in the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition that focus on the acquisition and use of project resources. The other is Project Procurement Management (see the introduction to Chapter 12). Human resources used on a project are obtained either from inside the performing organization or they are obtained by procurement. Human resources used on a project fall into the following categories:

• Human resources obtained from outside the performing organization—discussed in both Chapters 9 and 12
• Human resources obtained from within the performing organization—discussed only in Chapter 9.

Chapter 9 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition describes four processes involved in Project Human Resource Management:

• 9.1 Human Resource Planning
• 9.2 Acquire Project Team
• 9.3 Develop Project Team
• 9.4 Manage Project Team

9.1 Human Resource Planning

See Section 9.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.1.1 Human Resource Planning: Inputs

Section 9.1.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition discusses inputs to Human Resource Planning. Among the enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets, additional factors have special application in government projects:

• .1 Enterprise Environmental Factors
  See Section 9.1.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition for a discussion of the list of enterprise environmental factors. In addition to these factors, constraints limit the project team’s options, including one constraint that is unique to government. Examples of constraints that can limit flexibility in the Human Resource Planning process are:
  • Organizational structure. An organization whose basic structure is a weak matrix means a relatively weaker role for the project manager (Section 2.3.3). In government projects, the authority to make certain key decisions cannot be delegated to persons who are not government employees. For example, the selection of a seller to award a contract (Section 12.4) must be done by a government body or a duly authorized government employee.
  • Collective bargaining agreements. See Section 9.1.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.
  • Economic conditions. See Section 9.1.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.
  • Civil service system. The civil service system distinguishes government human resource management from that in the private sector. In government, there is a likelihood that official policies will change from administration to another. Government employees must often implement policies that directly contradict those of a prior administration. In the past, this was often conducted through a “spoils system,” where each new administration replaced government employees en masse. The spoils system has generally been replaced around the world by a merit-based civil service system. Civil servants hold office from one administration to another, but they must remain politically neutral. Regardless of these personal beliefs and values, civil servants are legally and ethically required to carry out the will of the citizens. In many nations, civil servants may not be members of political parties or engage in any political activity other than voting.
         As a guarantee of their neutrality, civil servants have tenure in their positions. Executives cannot remove a civil servant without demonstrating cause; this can become a significant issue in establishing a project team, since each civil servant’s position must be preserved—and assigning a civil servant to a position perceived as inferior might be deemed a constructive demotion. Budget and law control civil service employee numbers. A project manager is not afforded the ability to hire personnel to fill critical skills needs (such as project controls) without going through a bureaucratic process. If a hiring is authorized, the process can take several months. Because project managers do not have the freedom to choose their staff, the project manager must create a viable, performing team from the available staff. Project managers need to master teambuilding skills, understand the different personality types, and motivate these individuals to produce a functioning team.
  • Preferences and restrictions. Government bodies will often give employment preferences to particular population groups. These may be ethnic groups, people who are deemed to be disadvantaged (e.g., women and disabled people), people to whom others feel indebted (e.g., military veterans), or citizens. In addition, government bodies may place restrictions on employment based on security requirements (e.g., citizens only) (see also Section 12.1.2.4).

• .2 Organizational Process Assets
  • Freedom of information. Project managers might find themselves legally required to make public any notes taken at meetings in which appraisals of staff performance or interpersonal problems were discussed.
  • Privacy acts. In most countries, government employees are bound by acts such as the privacy act, public service regulations, and public service act. These acts and regulations provide for the establishment and management of the public service, and implement provisions regulating the disclosure of information and code of conduct by public servants. The project manager needs to be familiar with the requirements stated in these acts and regulations of the country and locality, and ensure that they are followed.

• .3 Project Management Plan
  See Section 9.1.1.3 of PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.1.2 Human Resource Planning: Tools and Techniques

See Section 9.1.2 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.1.3 Human Resource Planning: Outputs

Section 9.1.3 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition discusses outputs from Human Resource Planning. Among the roles and responsibilities, one item has particular application in government projects.

• .1 Roles and Responsibilities
  See Section 9.1.3.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.
  • Authority. In government projects, the authority to make certain key decisions may not be delegated to persons who are not government employees, which represents a constraint (Section 9.1.1.1 of this extension) on project staff assignments.
  • See also Sections 9.1.3.2 and 9.1.3.3 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.2 Acquire Project Team

See Section 9.2 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.2.1 Acquire Project Team: Inputs

See Section 9.2.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.2.2 Acquire Project Team: Tools and Techniques

Section 9.2.2 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition discusses tools and techniques for staff acquisition. Two additional techniques also have application on government projects, one under Negotiation, and one in an added heading, hybrid staff.

• .1 Pre-Assignment
  See Section 9.2.2.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

• .2 Negotiation
  See Section 9.2.2.2 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.
       Although it is seldom recognized in formal human resource systems, employees are frequently able to choose among government projects. The civil service system makes this even more pronounced in government projects than in the private sector. Hence, in government projects, the project management team may also need to negotiate with representatives of civil service employees.

• .3 Acquisition
  See Section 9.2.2.3 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

• .4 Virtual Teams
  See Section 9.2.2.4 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

• .5 Hybrid Staff
  Government agencies occasionally contract for temporary human resources, whereby the government pays the actual salary and overhead for such employees. Such an arrangement allows the agency to rapidly “staff up and down” to meet project human resource requirements. Another rationale for use of such arrangements occurs in jurisdictions that are legally prohibited from recognizing employee organizations (e.g., labor unions). Such temporary human resources are not civil service employees, and are often called contract employees. While there is a fee paid to the contractor firm, such contract employees are not themselves independent contractors. On many government projects, the project staff is comprised of both temporary contract employees and permanent government employees—and this kind of combination is known as hybrid staff. Contract employees are typically integrated into a project staff for the duration of a project. A project manager often supervises such contract employees much like other staff—except for certain personnel matters (e.g., benefits and compensation) (see also Section 9.3.1 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition).

• .6 Prevailing Wages
  See Section 12.5.2.9 of this Government Extension.

9.2.3 Acquire Project Team: Outputs

See Section 9.2.3 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.3 Develop Project Team

See Section 9.3 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.

9.4 Manage Project Team

See Section 9.4 of the PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition.