CHAPTER 12
Human Resource Management in Practice

LEE TOWE, PMP; INNOVATORS, INC.

The PMBOK^® Guide, Fourth Edition, continues to present a view of human resources focused on the people who carry out activities to complete the project; in other words, the human resources—also known as the project team. Project Human Resource Management consists of four processes that organize and manage the project team. Stakeholders who are not project team members are addressed in other sections of the standard.¹

However, the fourth edition has added significant coverage of interpersonal skills under the “Develop Project Team” and “Manage Project Team” processes. Expanded coverage of the stages of team building, conflict management, leadership, influencing and decision making was introduced, as was a lengthy appendix on interpersonal skills, covering topics such as:

• Leadership

• Team building

• Motivation

• Communication

• Influencing

• Decision making

• Political and cultural awareness

• Negotiation.

Compared to earlier editions of the standard, the 2004 edition added a monitor and control process called “Manage Project Team.” All areas of project management involve tracking plans against results, and human resource management is no exception. While the phrase “manage project team” may be somewhat vague, the alternative working name “monitor project team” gave the undesired impression of too much oversight. The primary change in the 2008 standard is that the Manage Project Team process was moved from monitoring and controlling to the executing process group—another nod to the viewpoint that team leadership becomes less about control, and more about supporting excellence, each generation. The four processes are:

1. Develop the Human Resource Plan.

2. Acquire Project Team.

3. Develop Project Team.

4. Manage Project Team—a process under the execution group that emphasizes comparisons of actual team performance against the HR plan.

The number of techniques used to manage project teams reflect common usage, including networking, virtual teams, ground rules, observation and conversation, project performance appraisals, conflict management, and issue logs.

HOW HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES INTEGRATE WITH OTHER AREAS

Breaking project management practices into discrete knowledge areas is a helpful way to understand the important aspects of project management, but also separates actions that should integrate smoothly among those knowledge areas. Here are a few examples of ways that human resource management interacts with other project management areas:

Identification of required team members starts with an overall assessment of the resources that will be needed to complete the project. These are first identified in the Time Management chapter of the Guide under Activity Resource Requirements.

While general project responsibilities may be shown in project organizational charts or position descriptions, many team member responsibilities are listed as activity assignments in the schedule. More responsibilities may be listed in other portions of the project management plan, such as people assigned to deal with risk (risk responses), quality (quality assurance and control activities that may not be specified on the schedule), or communication (communication responsibilities).

The process of acquiring team members may require hiring people from outside the organization. This would involve many of the processes described in the chapter on Procurement Management.

PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Develop the Human Resource Plan

All the information about a project’s human resource planning, monitoring and control, and execution support is documented in the human resource plan. The identification of reporting relationships among those roles is often captured in the form of organization chart of some sort for the project. Finally, a plan for how and when the people will come and go from the project takes shape. The staffing management plan documents all of the human resource planning information.

Inputs. The three primary inputs for this process are requirements for the activity resources, the enterprise environment factors—which may influence the development of the human resource plan—and the assets of the organizational processes. The human resource planning turns to the requirements of the activities (time management) with the purpose to determine the necessary professionals to complete the project, identifying and describing types and quantities of the required resource for each activity of the work package, in a way to create the delivery.

Understanding the environment surrounding the project is vital when planning the best way to staff the project. Which organizations and departments will be involved and affected? How will technical disciplines communicate with one another? What history, including successes and conflicts, do the people likely to be involved with the project share? What relationships and influences already exist? What kind of physical or geographic separations can be expected? These are termed Enterprise Environmental Factors.

“Organizational process assets” is the term given to templates and checklists that have carried over from previous projects. Organizations with mature project management environments create templates based on lessons learned. Templates may include past project organization charts or position descriptions. Organizations may also have built lists of items for consideration, such as team ground rules to consider, compliance issues, or training courses that are available. Checklists help reduce the need to reinvent the wheel at the beginning of every project.

The third area of information needed for the human resource management plan is the list of activity resource requirements that emerge as the project deliverables are broken into work packages and then into activities required to create the deliverables. In other words, what needs to be done?

Outputs. The human resource process output is a human resource plan (guidelines for team definition, training and management), where roles and responsibilities needed are outlined to complete the project; the description of how those roles relate, for example, graphically in the form of an organizational chart for the project; and a management planning for personnel describing how and when professionals will be allocated and released for the project.

The work that a project team member is expected to perform is referred to as a set of responsibilities. A communication shortcut that clusters commonly understood responsibilities together for one person is called a role. When a role such as quality control engineer is defined, many responsibilities are associated with that role without listing them all individually. The use of roles saves time. However, one must be sure to clarify boundaries for roles as necessary. For example, if project roles include a quality control engineer as well as a test developer, communication to clarify where one role stops and the next one starts will be necessary. Who will actually carry out quality control tests? Who determines how measurements will be taken? How many tests or samples will be adequate?

Project team members are held accountable for their responsibilities. In order for team members to carry out their tasks, they should be given levels of authority that match their levels of responsibility. Authority is the right to make decisions, apply resources, and sign approvals on behalf of an organization. When authority exceeds accountability, abuse could occur. When accountability exceeds authority, frustration, low morale, minimum productivity, and turnover are likely outcomes.

Tools and Techniques. Techniques used to define and document human resource responsibilities are organization charts, position descriptions, networking, and organizational theory. Organization charts are usually a set of boxes arranged as a hierarchy. They can be simple or detailed. The organization chart for a small conference could be as simple as naming the project manager and the five people responsible for marketing, registration, speakers, food, and exhibits.

Another way to document responsibilities, which could be considered a type of organization chart, is with a matrix. Sometimes called a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), the chart lists people on one axis and activities or work packages along the other matrix. The advantages of this format are that by looking across one row, one can get an idea of the total responsibilities that one person has, and by looking down a column, one can confirm that exactly one person is responsible for each activity listed. A matrix of this nature may be generated through the report function of a project scheduling software program.

For large projects or cases where clarity is crucial, position descriptions can list detailed responsibilities for some or all project roles. These may be developed jointly by the people holding the positions and the project manager and may be based on templates from previous projects.

Networking is the practice of developing relationships with other people. It may be helpful at many times in a project, but is listed here as a way to understand how to most successfully staff a project team. A person who lacks practical knowledge of an organizational environment can easily miss identification of roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships that would be helpful in completing the project.

Contract and Mobilize the Team

As the roles and responsibilities are identified, the people needed to carry them out must be acquired. This step is categorized as an execution process because it is primarily concerned with executing the plans developed in human resource planning.

Inputs. Besides the human resource plan, the start of this process includes enterprise environmental factors (the resource availability, skills and interests, and cost) and the organizational process assets (organizational contracting policies and assistance from the organization human resource department).

Outputs. As one would expect, warm-bodied team members are the end result of acquiring the project team. The output is called project staff assignments in order to state the output as a document for the sake of consistency. Part of the documentation for the assignments can include a team directory.

In addition to the project staff assignments, resource availability for the team members is listed as a separate output. Resource availability, e.g., when Joe is not on vacation or when Deb is not dedicated to another project) is necessary in order to develop a sound schedule and is listed as an input to Activity Resource Estimating (Time Management).

Tools and Techniques. The four techniques associated with acquiring the project team are based on three ways people may end up on a team, plus a fourth concept—virtual teams. The first way that team members may be acquired is through pre-assignment. This means that a person was slated to be on a project at inception. A good analogy of this process takes place in the movie industry. Sometimes scripts are written and then a casting director fills the roles. Other times writers have a particular person in mind as the movie is written. Similarly, some projects are based on the skills of a particular individual.

When team members are drawn from the same organization as the person doing the recruiting, negotiation may be required. And when the project must pull from outside the organization, the technique is referred to as acquisition, a form of procurement.

Listing virtual teams as a technique for acquiring project team members may seem odd at first, but the concept is probably used most often as a way of including team members who may not be able to participate in any other way. Virtual team members are typically located far enough from other team members, making face-to-face meetings not practical during most or all of the project. While distance would be the most common reason for the creation of a virtual team, other reasons may include home offices, different work shifts, and mobility handicaps. The growing use of electronic communication has made virtual teams an increasing trend.

Develop Team

Team development includes two important components: Developing individual abilities and increasing the ability of people to work together as a group.

Inputs. As a starting point, the project staff assignments provide the list of people who are on the team. The human resource plan includes the information pertinent to planning and managing the team. Resource availability is the third input and identifies the times that people are available to participate in development activities.

Outputs. While the primary goal is better performance, the output listed in the Guide is called team performance assessment. The assessment is a verifiable product that can be listed as an output. This does not mean to suggest that a formal, written assessment is required. Ongoing evaluation of a team’s effectiveness is simply a way to determine how much additional development work is needed and in what ways it needs to be modified. Another output is the updating of the enterprise environmental factors.

Tools and Techniques. Six straightforward ways to develop a project team’s effectiveness are listed. General management skills such as empathy, creativity, and group facilitation are useful when working with team members. Training and team-building activities are common team development approaches. The use of ground rules helps a team minimize problems and work together better as a group.

Co-location is the practice of placing some or all of the project team members together for part of all of the project. Even teams that will operate primarily as virtual teams can benefit from a meeting early in the project where people come together to meet one another and clarify expectations. And finally, recognition and rewards can be utilized to encourage desirable behavior and results.

Manage Team

Managing the project team involves monitoring performance, giving feedback, resolving issues, and coordinating changes. It is a monitoring and control process.

Inputs. All control processes compare things that have been planned with things that are actually taking place. So the inputs of a controlling process can usually be broken into three categories: (1) what was planned, (2) what is happening, and (3) other information that will explain how the control process is to be performed.

The staffing management plan contains a mix of information. Some of the information describes plans that can be used as control points, such as compliance, safety, and training needs. The staffing management plan may also instruct the project management team on how to conduct the control activities.

The control inputs that document what the human resources are actually doing include the team performance assessment (an output of Develop Project Team), work performance information (an output of Direct and Manage Project Execution), and performance reports (an output of Performance Reporting). The team performance assessment and work performance information both focus on individual abilities and how well the team is functioning as a group. The performance reports provide information regarding budget, schedule, and scope performance that will guide decisions related to managing the team.

Organizational process assets are listed as an input that contains neither plans nor performance information. The organizational assets include items such as web sites, annual recognition dinners, and newsletters that can be utilized when managing the team.

Outputs. When actual team performance is compared with the original plans, there are several possible outputs. Requested changes can be made to the change control body in order to receive approval for staffing changes. Recommended corrective actions could include additional training or disciplinary actions. Recommended preventive actions could include cross-training or further role clarification.

Another output that results from managing the team is an update to the organization’s process assets. Information that falls into this category includes input given to the appropriate supervisors in the organization concerning the performance of team members. Lessons learned as a part of the control process are also forwarded to the people who collect this information, such as a centralized project management office.

The enterprise environmental factors also need to be updated, for example, as to the improvement of the personal abilities.

As project changes take place, the project management plan may need to be updated. The plan may need to be changed to reflect changing team member roles, awards to be made, or the addition of a new off-site team session.

Tools and Techniques. The five techniques listed for managing the project team are observation and conversation, project performance appraisals, conflict management, issue log, and interpersonal skills.

One of the simple ways that project managers have of comparing what has been planned with what is actually taking place is by observing people and conversing with them. Another technique for managing team members is with a project performance appraisal. The project manager or someone else with supervisory responsibilities needs to provide feedback to team members in order to encourage positive performance and to uncover questions and concerns. The degree to which this is a structured event depends on variables such as the project’s length and complexity and how much feedback occurs during the normal course of the project.

Conflict management techniques will allow differences of opinion to be raised, but minimize a loss of teamwork caused by negative feelings and actions among team members. Solid project management practices like communication planning, team building, and role clarification do a lot to reduce conflict before it arises. Ground rules can be established that include a process for addressing conflict among team members.

An issue log is the fourth technique for managing the project team. When issues are raised, a log will track the issue and list who is responsible for taking action and a target date for closure. Logs vary from meeting minutes in that they are usually cumulative throughout the length of the project and will continue to list an issue until it is closed.

As to the interpersonal abilities, those the project manager needs most are: leadership, influence power and decision making.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Conflict management is an area of emphasis on the PMP Examination, and rightly so. Research has indicated that the most intense conflict is between project managers and functional departments. The same study determined that the major sources of conflict are, in descending order of frequency:

1. Schedules

2. Project priorities

3. Manpower resources

4. Technical opinions

5. Administrative procedures

6. Cost objectives

7. Personalities²

There are five principal strategies for managing conflict. The first is by far the best in most circumstances:

1. Problem solving: Confront and collaborate to resolve the issue (Win/Win).

2. Compromise: Bargain to get some satisfaction for both parties (Lose/Lose).

3. Smoothing: Discount differences to achieve harmony (Lose/Lose).

4. Withdrawal: Avoid, deny, or postpone issues (Lose/Lose).

5. Forcing: Impose one’s viewpoint (Win/Lose).

Note that compromise is considered lose/lose because both parties are assumed to give in to some degree and not arrive at an optimum solution. Withdrawal may be okay in the short run if a cooling off period is needed. Forcing may seem like a poor approach, but the person who forces a solution (possibly as a result of being in a position of authority) “wins,” resulting in a win-lose outcome. The long-term effects of persistent forcing, however, can be detrimental not merely to the work relationship, but to business outcomes.³

Additionally, here are three motivational theories that can help the project manager better understand how to lead and inspire the team.⁴

McGregor’s Theory X—Theory Y. McGregor believed one could classify managers into two categories: Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X managers are of the belief that workers are basically lazy and dislike work. They need to be watched and prodded at all times. Theory Y managers believe that workers want to do well and will do so in the right environment. They need to be supported and allowed freedom to do their work. Needless to say, the kind of person who functions well in the project team environment is more likely to respond to a “Theory Y” manager.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow created a pyramid of five levels of needs. He believed that a person could not be motivated by higher levels of rewards until lower level needs had been met. The foundation and first level is physiological needs: water, food, and even oxygen. The second level is a feeling of safety and security: stability and protection. The third level includes social or affiliation needs: feeling like one is accepted by friends and part of a group. The fourth level is esteem: respect by others as well as self-respect and confidence. The top, fifth level is self-actualization: the feeling of and continuous desire for fulfilling one’s potential. This theory may seem of limited practicality at first glance. Yet there are many situations in the workplace where people are expected to perform and achieve at a very high level while their confidence or physical well-being is undermined, and it’s good for a project manager, who is accountable for the results of a team’s work, to be aware of how damaging this situation can be. For example, in a workplace of cubicles where some team members are constantly made uncomfortable by a co-worker’s angry phone conversations, the sense of safety is eroded, and a project manager familiar with Maslow’s work will be aware that this can impact the team’s output.

Herzberg’s Hygiene/Motivation Theory. Herzberg believed that things people may consider motivational could be broken into two categories: Hygiene and Motivation. Hygiene factors include working conditions, salary, status, and security. Without these basic requirements, a person will certainly be dissatisfied with her work. Yet higher levels of these things—a safer workplace, a better salary—cannot be assumed to provide feelings of motivation. Instead, often people feel that these improvements are simply the way things should have been all along. True motivation factors include achievement, recognition, growth, and advancement opportunities. Both areas must be addressed in order to minimize the dissatisfaction and maximize the motivation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thanks to the translation team for the Brazilian Portuguese version of the AMA Handbook, Second Edition, for updating this chapter to the PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition.

REFERENCES

¹ Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fourth Edition, PMI: Newtown Square, PA, 2008

² John Adams, et al., Principles of Project Management, PMI: Newtown Square, PA., 1997.

³ Vijay K. Verma, Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager, PMI, Newtown Square, PA., 1996.

⁴ Ibid.