Mastering Project Human Resource Management PDF

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Book Description
Learn powerful communications and stakeholder management techniques that dramatically
improve your ability to deliver projects successfully! Unlike other project guides, which
address these issues only in passing, Mastering Project Human Resource
Management offers practical, real-world guidance, in-the-trenches insights, and proven
applications. You'll learn how to:
 Identify stakeholders and initiate communications
 Plan for effective HR, communications, and stakeholder management
 Build, develop, and manage project teams capable of powerfully effective communication
and stakeholder engagement
 Monitor, control, and optimize the effectiveness of your communication and engagement
This book is part of a new series of six cutting-edge project management guides for both
working practitioners and students. Like all books in this series, it offers deep practical
insight into the successful design, management, and control of complex modern projects.
Using real case studies and proven applications, expert authors show how multiple functions
and disciplines can and must be integrated to achieve a successful outcome. Individually,
these books focus on realistic, actionable solutions, not theory. Together, they provide
comprehensive guidance for working project managers at all levels, as well as indispensable
knowledge for anyone pursuing PMI/PMBOK certification or other accreditation in the field.
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About the Publisher
What we learn today can change our lives tomorrow. It can change our goals or change our
minds; open up new opportunities or simply inspire us to make a difference. That’s why we
have ...
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© 2015 by Harjit Singh

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Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing December 2014
ISBN-10: 0-13-383789-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-383789-6
Pearson Education LTD.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014952169
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Contents
Book Description 1
About the Publisher 3
Contents 5
About the Author 11
Introduction 12
Section I: Initiating Stage 15
1. Stakeholder Identification and Analysis 15
LEARNING OBJECTIVES 15
WHAT IS A STAKEHOLDER? 15
TYPES OF STAKEHOLDERS 16
STAKEHOLDER IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS 17
SUMMARY 33
KEY TERMS 34
CASE STUDY: FROM SHOPPING MALL PROJECT TO AN OUTLET MALL PROJECT —A CASE
STUDY FOR A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS 35
CONCLUSION 36
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 41
CHAPTER REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 41
REFERENCE NOTES 42
Section II: Planning Stage 43
2. Planning Human Resource Management 43
PURPOSE 44
SCOPE 44
TIMING 44
MECHANISM 45
SUMMARY 57
fKEY TERMS 58
CASE STUDY: A CASE OF FAILED HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLANNING 59
CONCLUSION 60
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REFERENCE NOTES 61
3. Planning Communications Management 62
PURPOSE 63
SCOPE 63
TIMING 64
MECHANISM 64
SUMMARY 72
KEY TERMS 72
CASE STUDY: AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT PLAN DEVISED TO
SAVE PEOPLE FROM THE CLUTCHES OF CANCER 73
CASE QUESTIONS 75
REFERENCE NOTES 76
4. Planning Stakeholder Management 77
PURPOSE 77
SCOPE 78
TIMING 78
MECHANISM 78
SUMMARY 85
KEY TERMS 85
CASE STUDY: FIRST CITY BANK IMPLEMENTS AN ERP SYSTEM 86
CASE QUESTIONS 87
REFERENCE NOTES 87
Section III: Developing and Managing (Executing) Stage 89
5. Acquiring Project Human Resources 89
PURPOSE 90
SCOPE 90
TIMING 91
MECHANISM 91
SUMMARY 98
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KEY TERMS 98
CASE STUDY: AN UNUSUAL CHALLENGE —IMMEDIATE STAFFING FOR A GOVERNMENT
PROJECT 99
REFERENCE NOTES 101
6. Developing Project Human Resources 102
PURPOSE 102
SCOPE 103
TIMING 104
MECHANISM 104
CHECK POINT: MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS 115
SUMMARY 116
KEY TERMS 116
CASE STUDY: A FOCUS ON COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING DOUBLES THE
SUCCESS RATE OF NEW INITIATIVES 117
REFERENCE NOTES 119
7. Managing Project Human Resources 120
PURPOSE 120
SCOPE 121
TIMING 122
MECHANISM 122
SUMMARY 136
KEY TERMS 136
CASE STUDY: OMEGA MACHINE 137
REFERENCE NOTES 140
8. Managing Project Communications 141
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PURPOSE 141
SCOPE 142
TIMING 142
MECHANISM 142
SUMMARY 148
KEY TERMS 148
CASE STUDY: PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT: BEST PRACTICES IN
PRACTICE 149
CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS 150
REFERENCE NOTES 150
9. Managing Stakeholder Engagement 151
SUMMARY 159
KEY TERMS 159
CASE STUDY; SOLENOID ELECTRIC INDIA LIMITED —USING ITS CORE VALUES TO LEAD
THE WAY IN EFFECTIVE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT 160
REFERENCE NOTES 163
Section IV: Controlling Stage 165
10. Controlling Project Communications 165
PURPOSE 165
SCOPE 166
TIMING 166
MECHANISM 166
SUMMARY 173
KEY TERMS 174
CASE STUDY 175
REFERENCE NOTES 176
11. Controlling Stakeholder Engagement 177
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PURPOSE 178
SCOPE 178
TIMING 178
MECHANISM 179
SUMMARY 183
KEY TERMS 184
CASE STUDY 185
REFERENCE NOTES 186
11. Controlling Stakeholder Engagement 188
PURPOSE 189
SCOPE 189
TIMING 189
MECHANISM 190
SUMMARY 194
KEY TERMS 195
CASE STUDY 196
REFERENCE NOTES 197
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About the Author
Harjit Singh earned his MBA from University of

Texas and his master’s degree in Computer
Engineering from California State University,
Sacramento. He is a Certified Scrum Master,
Lean Six Sigma professional, and holds PMP
(Project Management Professional) credentials.
He has more than 25 years’ experience in the
private and public sector as an engineer, project
manager, and educator. Currently, he is working
as a data processing manager III at the State of
California. In addition, he is also a visiting
professor at Keller Graduate School of
Management, DeVry University where he
teaches project management and business
management courses. Prior to this, he worked at Hewlett-Packard Company for 15
years as a systems software engineer and technical project manager. He is also a
former member of the Board of Directors for the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the
Project Management Institute (PMI) where he served in the capacity of CIO and
vice president of relations and marketing.
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Introduction
“The P in PM is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project

management.’”
—Cornelius Fichtner (Renowned Project Management Trainer)
People (also known as human resources) management, which encompasses
acquisition, development, and control of the project team and the management of
stakeholders and stakeholder communications, often does not get as much traction
as other activities of managing projects. The purpose of this book is to highlight the
importance of the people (human) aspect of project management and teach you
the techniques to excel in project human resource management.
Poor project team management and other stakeholder issues coupled with
inadequate and ineffective communication are key reasons why most projects fail
or struggle. For example, the following can occur:
• Even projects based on great ideas and business needs can fail due to poor
sponsorship.
• Not sharing project vision with stakeholders can make them wonder where the
project is heading and it can erode their support.
• Not sharing project information, decision-making in private rooms, and not
entertaining stakeholder concerns can lead to a lack of support from the
stakeholders.
• Not being able to clarify roles and responsibilities, not assigning the right people
to the right roles, not providing opportunities for career growth, not respecting
or trusting each other, favoring some over others, and not being able to resolve
conflict can make team morale crumble.
• It is challenging to please every stakeholder. However, not knowing how to
follow a balanced approach via negotiation can make some stakeholders
unhappy.
• Not understanding stakeholder needs and expectations clearly, completely, or
correctly can lead to incorrect and/or incomplete requirements that can lead to
detrimental scope creep during the life of the project.
It is the project manager’s responsibility to complete the project successfully,
drawing upon the right human resources at the right time to do the right thing. In
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addition, the project manager is the direct link to the external and internal
customers of the project.
A project manager typically spends over 90 percent of his time communicating.
Thus, a project manager must possess strong communication skills to effectively
communicate with the project team, senior management, and all the other
stakeholders. It is absolutely imperative that project information is gathered in a
timely manner and presented in a usable way by the project stakeholders. Proper,
timely, and relevant communication to all stakeholders is critical for the project
success. Effective communications management requires that the project manager
develop a solid communication management plan that dictates what information
is provided by whom, to whom, in what format, how, and how often.
Mastering Project Human Resource Management is written with the objective of
arming project managers with powerful communication and stakeholder
management tools, as well as techniques that enhance their ability to deliver
successful projects. It offers practical real-world guidance, in-the-trenches insights,
customizable templates, useful tips, and proven applications.
The 11 chapters of this book span various stages of the project life cycle. Extra care
has been taken to present the information in a structured way so that it flows
smoothly and is easy to understand regardless of your level of project management
knowledge and experience. The heart of each chapter is the process flow diagram
that graphically illustrates the flow of information.
Chapter 1 discusses the initiating stage and covers how to effectively identify
stakeholders. It explains how to analyze and document information about
stakeholders’ interests, influence, impact, and level of involvement in the project.
Chapters 2 through 4 walk you through the planning stage and cover how to plan
for effective human resources (project team), stakeholders, and communication
management.
Chapters 5 through 9 discuss the developing and managing (also known as
executing) stage and how to build, develop, and manage project teams that are
capable of powerfully effective communication and stakeholder engagement.
Finally, Chapters 10 and 11 discuss the controlling stage and how to monitor,
control, and optimize the effectiveness of project communication and stakeholder
engagement.
This book is useful for practicing project managers, new project managers, and
those in the student community.
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Experienced project managers can use this book as a good reference because it
offers deep practical insight into the successful design, management, and control
of complex modern projects. New or aspiring project managers can use this book
to learn powerful tips, tools, and techniques to master human resources,
communications, and stakeholder management.
This book is ideal to serve as a college- and university-level textbook for the
students of project management. Loaded with numerous case studies and proven
applications, this book enables students to learn by example. This is a proven
technique for effective learning.
Finally, this book is beneficial to those studying for a Project Management Institute
(PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP)®, Certified Associate in Project
Management (CAPM)®, or other project management credentials and certifications.
Good luck with your journey to effective project human resource management!
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Section I: Initiating Stage
1 Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
1. Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be familiar with:
• Project stakeholders
• Difference between policy-level and implementation-level stakeholders
• Importance of stakeholder identification and analysis
• Consequences of poor stakeholder identification
• Scope of stakeholder identification and analysis process
• Mechanism of stakeholder identification and analysis process
• Stakeholder identification and analysis process flow
• Stakeholder analysis
• Stakeholder register
• Effective stakeholder identification and analysis
“Start any project with your stakeholders in mind.”
—Gavin B. Davies, Tremendous Training
Stakeholder satisfaction is a critical factor in the criteria of any successful project.
If some key stakeholders are overlooked during the stakeholder identification
process and if the identified stakeholders are not managed effectively, the
probability of stakeholder dissatisfaction is extremely high, which is obviously not
conducive for the health and environment of the project. The first step in effective
stakeholder management is effective stakeholder identification and analysis.
WHAT IS A STAKEHOLDER?
A project stakeholder is an individual, a group, or an organization who has a vested
interest in the project—that is, who may have a positive or negative impact on the
project or may be impacted by the project outcome in a positive or a negative way.
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TYPES OF STAKEHOLDERS
According to Gopal K. Kapur, the author of Project Management for Information,
Technology, Business and Certification, the stakeholders can be classified into the
following two categories:
• Policy-level stakeholders
• Implementation-level stakeholders
Policy-Level Stakeholders
Policy-level stakeholders are the stakeholders (individuals or organizations) who
formulate the project policies and influence the project outcome. Not only do they
decide whether the project can be continued or canceled, but they also control the
direction in which the project should move. The number of policy-level
stakeholders may vary from a few to many. The examples of some policy-level
stakeholders include the following:
• Project sponsor: May be an executive, a customer, a client, or an end user who
acts as a champion for the project; that is, who provides direction, funding, and
other organizational resources to the project.
• Project Management Committee: Has the responsibility of making day-to-day
operational decisions for the project.
• Project Governance Committee: Make project decisions that are outside of the
authority level of the Project Management Committee.
Implementation-Level Stakeholders
Implementation-level stakeholders are the stakeholders (individuals or
organizations) who are impacted by the project outcome. The number of
implementation-level stakeholders may vary from many to hundreds. The following
list identifies some of implementation-level stakeholders:
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STAKEHOLDER IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS
In the previous section of this chapter, we discussed who the project stakeholders
are. The objective of this section is to:
• Define the purpose of stakeholder identification and analysis: Why do we need
to perform stakeholder identification and analysis?
• Define the scope of stakeholder identification and analysis: What does the
process of stakeholder identification and analysis entail?
• Define the timing: When is stakeholder identification and analysis performed
during the project life cycle?
• Define the mechanism of performing stakeholder identification and
analysis: How is the process of stakeholder identification and analysis performed?
Purpose
The purpose of stakeholder identification and analysis is to understand and analyze
the power, interest, influence, and expectations of the project stakeholders
completely and correctly. It is important to start identifying and analyzing the
stakeholders early in the project life cycle so that risks pertaining to potential
stakeholder conflicts or concerns later in the project can be mitigated. Poor
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stakeholder identification often leads to project failure due to the following
reasons:
• The lack of support from key stakeholders may lead to chaos, unrest, conflict, and
misunderstanding in the project. Due to resentment, some stakeholders may
become resistors rather than project champions.
• The solution delivered by the project may not match the stakeholder needs, and
unmet stakeholder needs may result in stakeholder dissatisfaction.
• Project scope includes stakeholder needs, and missed and misunderstood
stakeholder needs may result in scope creep.
Note
Project scope creep refers to the unwanted growth in the project scope primarily due to poor
stakeholder identification and analysis, incorrect and/or incomplete requirements collection
and analysis, and poor scope management. It can be detrimental to the project.
• Missed and misunderstood stakeholder needs may also result in many change
requests, and lengthy change request management cycles may delay the project
schedule.
• Changes introduced later in the project life cycle are more expensive that may
cause project cost overruns.
• Project quality may suffer.
Obviously, poor stakeholder identification may lead to an extended project
schedule and budget. Any project, if it is continually late and over budget, may turn
into an unpopular and unsupported project, no matter what value it is targeted to
provide to the end users. Even if such a project is somehow completed and a
solution is delivered, the benefit provided by the project may not be worth the cost,
and the project in this case is deemed to be either a failure or barely successful.
Scope
The stakeholder identification1 and analysis process encompasses the identification
and analysis of individuals or groups of individuals (internal or external to the
project) whose lives, jobs, position, status, authority, and operations will be
impacted by the project.
1 “The process of identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact
or be impacted by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project, and analyzing and
documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement,
interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success.”
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Source: Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 5th ed. Newton Square, Pennsylvania: Project
Management Institute (PMI), 2014.
Timing
This process is initiated early in the project and runs throughout the project life
cycle because some stakeholders may leave the project, and others may join
anytime during the life span of the project.
Mechanism
This section explains how to identify and analyze stakeholders.
How Do You Identify Stakeholders?

There are many sources of information that can help identify stakeholders
including but not limited to organizational charts, brainstorming, project
charter, project environment, historical organizational project artifacts, and so
on. Figure 1.1 illustrates the stakeholder identification and analysis process flow,
and following are the key steps performed in this process:
1. Review organizational charts.
2. Conduct brainstorming.
3. Review the project charter.
4. Perform an SIPOC analysis.
5. Review project procurement and contract management documents.
6. Understand the project environment.
7. Review historical organizational project artifacts.
8. Utilize stakeholder analysis tools.
9. Develop a stakeholder register.
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Figure 1.1 Stakeholder Identification and Analysis Process Flow
Review Organizational Charts

Organization charts of the organizations and that of various functional groups
within those organizations can be useful documents to refer to while looking for
stakeholders because they contain potential stakeholders’ names, departments,
reporting relationships, and so on. In addition, contacts can be identified in those
organization charts to talk to in order to find additional information on the
stakeholders if needed for identification.
Conduct Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a simple and effective way for identifying stakeholders. The
project manager can facilitate a brainstorming sessions either by using the old-
fashioned sticky notes methodology or by using a software tool like Mind Mapping.
Here is how the project manager can facilitate the stakeholder identification
brainstorming session using sticky notes:
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1. Invite the project team members and other key stakeholders to the
brainstorming session.
2. Ask the brainstorm session participants to think of any possible stakeholder
(individual, group, or organization) names and write those names on the sticky
notes.
3. Have the participants post the completed sticky notes on a wall.
4. Review the sticky notes posted on the wall and remove the ones that are
redundant.
5. Make a list of the remaining unique stakeholder names.
Here is how the project manager can facilitate the stakeholder identification
brainstorming session using the Mind Mapping tool:
1. Invite the project team members and other key stakeholders to the
brainstorming session.
2. Ask the brainstorm session participants to think of any possible stakeholder
(individual, group, or organization) names.
3. Have all participants speak the names they thought of.
4. Construct a mind map using the names provided by the participants.
5. Review the raw mind map data and remove the redundant names.
6. Make a list of the remaining unique stakeholder names.
Figure 1.2 depicts stakeholder identification via mind mapping.
Figure 1.2 Stakeholder Identification Using Mind Mapping
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Review the Project Charter
The project charter identifies key stakeholders, which are internal or external
individuals or organizations that may have any stake or vested interest in the
project. Project sponsors, project team members, participating business entities,
and customers are some of the key project stakeholders. The project charter also
includes the high-level roles and responsibilities of these key stakeholders; that is,
when and how they will be involved in the project, what will be the reporting or
escalation path, and who will be the decision makers.
The importance of identification of high-level stakeholder roles and responsibilities
in the project charter cannot be underestimated. This helps avoid a lot of confusion
in the future during the project life cycle. Especially, inclusion of the names of the
project sponsor and the project manager removes the ambiguity around the
leadership and the ownership of the project. Also, the names, roles, department,
phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of the project team members in the project
charter describe who is doing what and when during the project life cycle and how
to contact each of them. The information on reporting linkages outlines the chain
of command, which helps establish the escalation path and the understanding of
the decision makers on the escalation path. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 depict excerpts from
a sample project charter.
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Table 1.1: Project Charter - Key Stakeholders
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Table 1.2: Project Charter - Project Team
Perform a SIPOC Analysis

SIPOC analysis involves a high-level process map analysis for a project, and it can
be helpful in the process of stakeholder identification. The letters in acronym SIPOC
(usually pronounced as saa-ee-pok) stand for:
 S → Supplier (stakeholder)
 I → Input (from supplier to process)
 P → Process
 → Output (from process to customer)
 C → Customer (stakeholder)
Suppliers and customers are stakeholders. Figure 1.3 shows a SIPOC process map
for an information technology (IT) process improvement project.
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Figure 1.3 Stakeholder Identification via SIPOC Analysis
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Review Project Procurement and Contract Management Documents
Project procurement management is one of the ten knowledge areas
in PMBOK® Guide, 5th Edition, and it includes the processes pertaining to the
acquisition of various resources (products and services) from the sources external
to the project.
If a project involves procurement activities, then buyers, sellers or suppliers, and
contractors are the key stakeholders of the project, and they must be considered
as part of the stakeholder identification. The commonly used procurement
documents include the Statement of Work (SOW) and Request for Proposal (RFP).
These documents are usually structured by the buyer and are used to solicit bids
from the prospective sellers and to apply common evaluation criteria to evaluate
the bids received. These documents include information on the buyers and sellers
in the procurement process. To have a clear understanding of various stakeholders
in the project procurement process, it is important to understand who plays what
role in the procurement process by analyzing the procurement documents. A seller
can also be a buyer, and a buyer can also be a seller.
Note
ABC, Inc., procures technical writing services from a consulting firm Sigma PMC, LLC. In this
case, organization ABC, Inc., outsourced “technical writing” part of the project to the
consulting firm, is a buyer, and the consulting firm Sigma PMC, LLC, delivering “technical
writing” services to ABC, Inc., is a seller or supplier or consultant or contractor. Similarly, the
consulting firm Sigma PMC, LLC may also play the role of a buyer when it procures computer
hardware and software and miscellaneous office supplies from a seller or distributor to
support its operations related to the project.
Contract management comes into the picture when vendors or suppliers have been
selected based through the procurement vehicle (for example, RFP). In addition to
providing the binding terms and conditions, contracts also identify all stakeholders
involved in the contract and their roles and responsibilities.
Understand the Project Environment

Projects are influenced by the environment in which they are undertaken. Thus, it
is important to understand how the project environment can influence the type
and behavior of the stakeholders.
The following factors define the project environment:
• The structure and culture of the project organization
• The standards, policies, processes, and procedures of the project organization
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• Local laws and government regulations
• Political environment
• Local or global industry standards, best practices, trends, and competition
Review Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

The historical organization project artifacts refer to an organization’s historical
artifacts archived from other similar projects completed in the past. These artifacts
may include but are not limited to various project templates and lessons learned
from previous projects. These artifacts come in handy in the process of stakeholder
identification.
Templates for project stakeholder register, risk register, work breakdown
structure, schedule network diagram, and contract can come in handy to identify
stakeholders. These documents cover stakeholder roles and responsibilities.
Stakeholder registers from previous projects provide a wealth of information on
stakeholder identification. Leveraging existing historical stakeholder registers cuts
the stakeholder identification time tremendously and provides an established
standard for stakeholder management.
Lessons learned from previous projects are part of the organization’s knowledge
base, which can be tapped into to leverage the existing historical information
instead of redoing something from scratch. Lessons learned from previous projects
include but are not limited to the following:
• Standard project guidelines
• Risk and issue management procedures and logs
• Action item tracking procedures and logs
• Change control procedures and logs
• Communication management standards
• Desk procedures and work instructions
• Performance evaluation criteria
Utilize Stakeholder Analysis Tools

After stakeholder identification, stakeholder analysis is performed to understand
the interests, expectations, and influence of the stakeholders in relation to the
project. This analysis helps the project manager to establish clear roles and
responsibilities, engage in effective communication with the stakeholders, and
manage the stakeholder-project relationship for the success of the project.
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Develop a Stakeholder Register
A stakeholder register is a document that contains the information pertaining to all
project stakeholders. It includes stakeholders’ names, titles, roles, organization and
department, and contact information as well as the contacts’ interests, influence,
power, requirements, and expectations related to the project.
The stakeholder register is developed by analyzing the stakeholder
information. Table 1.3 identifies various stakeholder analysis models. These
models help a project manager group or classify stakeholders based on their power,
interest, and influence related to the project. The first three models outlined
in Table 1.3 (Power-Interest Grid, Power-Influence Grid, and Influence-Impact Grid)
use a two-dimensional approach to stakeholder classification, and the fourth model
(Salience) uses three parameters: power, urgency, and legitimacy.
Table 1.3: Stakeholder Analysis Models
“Establishing clear roles and responsibilities helps ensure that team members know
what to expect from one another, reduces duplicated efforts, and minimizes
confusion.”
—Rick Valerga (author of The Cure for the Common Project)
The following sections discuss two of these four stakeholder analysis models.
The Power-Influence Grid Model

You can use this model to analyze stakeholders based on their power and influence
in the project. Figure 1.4 provides the detailed illustration of this model.
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Figure 1.4 Power-Influence Grid Model for Stakeholder Analysis
The power-influence grid model referred to in Figure 1.4 guides the project
manager visually on prioritizing stakeholders for management depending on which
quadrant they land in. The solid dot in the first quadrant indicates that the highest
priority needs to be given to the stakeholders in this first quadrant because of their
high power and high influence. Similarly, the lowest priority can be given to the
stakeholders that fall in the third quadrant because of their low power and low
influence.
The Salience Model

As previously mentioned, the Salience Model uses three parameters (power,
urgency, and legitimacy) to classify stakeholders. Based on these parameters,
stakeholders are classified as being dominant, dangerous, demanding, definitive,
dependent, influential, and discretionary. Anyone, who is outside of the boundaries
of these parameters, is classified as a nonstakeholder.
So what does it mean? It means that the stakeholders who are classified as being
dominant, dangerous, and dependent need special attention. Figure 1.5 provides
the detailed illustration of this model.
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Figure 1.5 Salience Model for Stakeholder Analysis
Although, there are diverse models used for performing stakeholder analysis, the
underlying analysis steps are the same, as described here:
• Identify stakeholders and their identifying information including their names,
roles and responsibilities, location, department, power, interests, knowledge,
expectations, and influence.
• Understand key stakeholders2 potential sensitivity under various circumstances
to customize communications with them accordingly, alleviate their negative
reactions, and augment their positive reactions.
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2 Key stakeholders are stakeholders with high power, influence on the project, and
interest in the success or failure of the project. It is important to know if they are
champions, supporters, or road-blockers for the project.
• Formulate stakeholder management approach by analyzing their impact on the
project.
Examples of Key Stakeholders
Examples of some key stakeholders include but are not limited to the following:
• Project sponsor
• Project executives
• Project manager
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• Project Oversight Committee
• Risk Management Committee
• Change Control Board
• Functional managers in matrix organizations
• Subject matter experts
• Steps to understand key stakeholders:
• What is the personality type of each individual key stakeholder?
• What is in it for them?
• What motivates them?
• What financial stake do they have in the project?
• What are their information needs? In other words, what are the type, amount, format,
frequency, and transmission mode of the information they are interested in?
• What are their communication needs, preferences, and styles? In other words, what are
the type, volume, frequency, and medium of communication they want to engage in?
• What level of influence do they have on the project?
• What level of interest do they have in the project?
• What is the type and level of power they possess? Is this power due to their position,
subject matter expertise, leadership qualities, or something else?
Subject Matter Expert Advice

Complete and accurate stakeholder information requires a thorough
understanding of stakeholder information pertaining to their roles, position,
power, knowledge, interests, and influence in relation to the project. This
information is critical for effective stakeholder identification and analysis. The list
31
of the experts whom the stakeholder information is sought from includes existing
key stakeholders, subject matter experts, senior management, experienced project
managers, other departments, regulatory entities, and various professional
associations and specific-industry groups.
Collaboration Meetings
Subject matter expert advice and opinion are sources of this information and it is
elicited from various subject matter experts via face-to-face meetings, phone
interviews, surveys, and so on.
Execution of Stakeholder Identification and Analysis

The execution of stakeholder identification and analysis produces a stakeholder
register as an outcome. The stakeholder register is used to document the following
information about the stakeholders:
• Stakeholder name
• Position in the organization
• Department
• Role in the project
• Contact information
• Key expectations
• Potential level of influence (high, medium, or low)
• Type (supporter, resister, or neutral)
• Stakeholder classification (internal or external)
The stakeholder register needs to be revisited and updated periodically or as
needed throughout the life of the project because stakeholders may come and go
and their information may also change over time. An up-to-date stakeholder
register can be helpful in keeping the project manager informed of the stakeholder
information and needs. It also enables the project manager to give more focused
attention to individual stakeholders and to customize the project communication
plan to suit individual stakeholder needs and preferences.
Table 1.4 shows a sample stakeholder register.
32
Table 1.4: Stakeholder Register
Tip
Following are tips for effective stakeholder identification and analysis:
• Start this process early and continue iteratively throughout the project life cycle.
• Track and manage the risks and issues pertaining to this process in a timely manner.
• Capture and archive lessons learned regularly.
• Remember: The GOAL of effective stakeholder identification and analysis is to understand
stakeholder interest, influence, and expectations completely and correctly in a timely
manner.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 1.6 summarizes the stakeholder identification and analysis
process.
33
Figure 1.6 Stakeholder Identification and Analysis Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Stakeholder
Project sponsor
Project charter
Project Management Committee
Project Governance Committee
Subject matter expert advice
Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder register
Policy-level stakeholders
Implementation-level stakeholders
Historical organizational project artifacts
Project environment
34
CASE STUDY: FROM SHOPPING MALL PROJECT TO AN OUTLET
MALL PROJECT—A CASE STUDY FOR A STAKEHOLDER
ANALYSIS
“New hope for the incomplete shopping mall project... plan being proposed for
converting it into an outlet mall,” headlines appeared on air and in print media in
March 2014 regarding the proposed resumption of the discontinued Redville
shopping mall. It all became possible when the city acquired the services of the
project management expert consultant Tufan Consulting, LLC, to investigate the
original shopping mall project failure and suggest viable solutions.
Background
The small city of Redville was incorporated in 1998 and did not have any other
shopping mall for the local community. In September 2006, the City of Redville,
California, unveiled a plan to build a premium shopping mall in the outskirts of the
city on the east side of Highway 5 near Exit 282. Russ Williams, the mayor of the
city, was upbeat during the groundbreaking ceremony of the project in March
2007.
The mall was expected to open by October 2009. However, the construction on the
project halted in 2009 when Akomo Builders, LLC, developer for this proposed 1.6
million square-foot mall project, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Why Did the Original Project Fail?

Experts reported two major reasons for the project discontinuation. First, the bad
economy forced many stores to close their doors, which derailed many new
construction commercial projects. The second reason was the stakeholders.
When the news of the opening of the new shopping mall broke, the residents of
the City of Redville were not happy. They protested against the opening of this huge
mall in the vicinity of their small town. They argued that the mall would bring a lot
of traffic and crime to the city and would disrupt their peaceful life. But the builder
kept lobbying the city manager Jason Roth and the mayor Russ Williams to pursue
this project. The city officially eventually decided to go ahead by bypassing the
community protest and approved the mega project.
The idea of building a huge shopping mall was originally conceived by the city
council back in 2000. However, the city officials did not include the community in
the decision-making process. No community member was consulted and no town
35
hall meetings were held. The Redville community was outraged when the project
was officially started. Immense opposition and regular protests by the community
slowed the project significantly. The project came to a halt when the community
leaders filed a legal action against the city and obtained a stay order.
New Approach
Recently, with the help of the project management expert consultant on board, the
city decided to thoroughly analyze the root causes of the original mall project
closure issue. The objective was to explore the possibility of resuming the project
again per original plans or per brand-new plans but this time with the new approach
based on lessons learned from the previous failure including but not limited to
proper stakeholder analysis.
CONCLUSION
The project management team, the project manager, along with public relations,
communications, development, and planning staff from the city office, came
together to conduct a formal stakeholder analysis and to develop an effective
community outreach strategy. The end result was the proposal to initiate a new
project to build an outlet shopping mall, a new hope for the original incomplete
shopping mall.
The following steps were performed to achieve the wanted outcome:
1. Identify the city’s mall development goals and strategies (see Table 1.5).
Table 1.5: Goals and Strategies
36
2. Identify relevant decision-makers for each development goal (see Table 1.6).
Table 1.6: Decision Makers
3. Identify effects on the community of achieving goals (see Table 1.7).
37
Table 1.7: Effect on the Community
4. Identify all groups and individuals with a stake in the project.

Brainstorm on the following questions to identify all the groups and individuals who
have a stake in the project community:
• Who would benefit if the project goals are achieved for the project?
• Who would be hurt, or might believe that they could be hurt, by the project?
• Who could shape public opinion about the project, even if it might not directly
affect them?
• Who has the authority to make decisions affecting the program?
• The following is the list of the stakeholders identified during the brainstorming:
• City (tax and tourism revenue)
• City Officials (possess authority to make decisions)
• Community at-large (convenient shopping, dining, socializing opportunities,
movies, kids’ fun activities, and such)
38
• Management consulting firms (can coach city officials on how to shape public
opinion about the project)
• Community at-large (increased traffic, potential for increased crime)
5. Prioritize stakeholders.
Practical restraints on time and resources usually make it infeasible to develop
strategies for working with all stakeholders in a community, so it is necessary to set
some priorities. Priority stakeholders should be identified based on their relative
potential to impact your ability to meet your goals, whether positively or
negatively.
6. Analyze high-priority stakeholders (see Table 1.8). Analyze high-priority
stakeholders to begin to develop strategies for working with them. Answer the
following questions:
• What do we know/not know about the high-priority stakeholders?
• How can the high-priority stakeholders affect the achievement of the project
goals?
• How would achieving the project goals affect the high-priority stakeholders?
39
Table 1.8: Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
7. Develop community outreach objectives3 and strategies4 for each high-priority

stakeholder (see Table 1.9).
3 Objectives are specific, verifiable, and attainable indicators of success.
4 Strategies are the specific methods and procedures used to achieve the objectives.
40
Table 1.9: Community Outreach Strategy
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Who are the stakeholders in this case?
2. What steps were performed by the project team to analyze stakeholders?
3. What questions in this case were suggested to brainstorm to identify
stakeholders?
4. Why is it important to prioritize stakeholders? Who are the high-priority
stakeholders in this case?
5. What is the purpose of formulating outreach strategy for each high-priority
stakeholder?
CHAPTER REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who is a project stakeholder?
2. What are the two levels of the stakeholders?
3. Why is it important to identify stakeholders?
41
4. At what stage during the project life cycle are the stakeholders identified?
5. What is a stakeholder register used for? Why is it important?
6. How are policy-level stakeholders different from implementation-level
stakeholders?
7. Is project sponsor external or internal to the project?
8. What are historical organizational project artifacts?
9. How can mind mapping be used in stakeholder identification?
10.What are three stakeholder influence types?
11.What stakeholder analysis model is used to group stakeholders based on their
power and influence in the project?
12.What is the significance of a project charter in stakeholder identification?
13.What information does stakeholder analysis provide?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://www.tremendoustraining.co.uk/
2. Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK®Guide), 5th ed. Newton Square, Pennsylvania: Project
3. Kapur, G.K. Project Management for Information, Technology, Business, and
Certification, 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005.
4. http://www.mindomo.com/help/mind-mapping.htm
5. Valerga, R. The Cure for the Common Project, 1st ed. p. 149, Charleston, South
Carolina: BookSurge, 2009.
6. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm
7. Pinto, J.K. Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2013.
8. Assudani, R., Kloppenborg, T.J. “Managing stakeholders for project management
success: an emergent model of stakeholders.” The Braybrooke Press Ltd. Journal of
General Management Vol. 35 No. 3. Oxfordshire, U.K.: Braybrooke Press, 2010.
9. Nagothu, U.S., et al. Identification of Key Stakeholders in the AWARE Case Study
Areas, 1st ed. Fr. A. Dahlsvei, Norway: Bioforsk, 2009.
10. http://www.denix.osd.mil/nr/upload/SCP-Stakeholder-Analysis-sae.pdf
42
Section II: Planning Stage
2 Planning Human Resource Management
3 Planning Communications Management
4 Planning Stakeholder Management
2. Planning Human Resource Management
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of human resource management planning process
• Scope of human resource management planning process
• Mechanism of human resource management planning process
• Human resource management planning process flow
• Progressive elaboration
• Types of organization charts
• Project roles and responsibilities
• Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
• Types of RAM
• Human resource management plan
• Staffing management plan
• Resource calendars
• Tips for effective human resource management planning
“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?
“That depends a good deal on where you want to go,” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where...,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
—Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
A project manager’s responsibilities not only include the planning, organization,
and management of the project activities, but they also include acquiring,
43
developing, managing, and leading the project team to meet the goals and
objectives of the project. To be successful, a project manager must possess skills in
both the project work management and project team (also known as
staff) management.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the human resource (HR) management planning process is to
develop a human resource management plan that can guide the project manager
on how to acquire, develop, and manage the project human resources.
SCOPE
The scope of project human resource management (HRM) planning includes the
development of a human resource management plan containing guidelines for
carrying out the following key project HRM functions:
• Determination of project roles and responsibilities
• Determination of skillset requirements (for example, position descriptions or
duty statements)
• Development of reporting structure (for example, organization charts)
• Pre-recruitment decisions (for example, hire permanent staff or acquire
temporary consulting services)
• Recruitment/acquisition and onboarding
• Benefits (for example, retirement, leaves, and medical)
• Training and development
• Recognition and rewards
• Disciplinary actions
• Workplace safety
• Compliance with statutory requirements
• Union relationships management (if applicable)
• Dispute resolution
TIMING
Human resource management planning is initiated early in the project and
performed iteratively throughout the project life cycle. The result of the initial
44
planning effort is the project human resource management plan that is revised
throughout the project life cycle to incorporate various change requests triggered
by but not limited to the changes in HR policies, the changes in staffing
requirements, and implementation of corrective actions.
MECHANISM
This section explains how to plan human resource management.
How to Plan Project Human Resource Management

The human resource management planning process contains the following key
steps:
1. Understand the project framework and approach.
2. Determine the resources required to complete the project work.
4. Consult the historical organizational project artifacts.
5. Consult the subject matter experts.
6. Understand the organizational behavior.
7. Determine the format for documenting the project roles and responsibilities.
8. Develop a human resource management plan.
45
Figure 2.1 Project Human Resource Management Planning Process Flow
Understand the Project Framework and Approach

First, you need to understand the big picture by learning about the project life cycle,
project phases, and the processes in each of those phases.
Second, for the human resource management planning process, you need to know
how the work will be executed, how the change requests will be handled (that is,
how the changes will be monitored and controlled), how the configuration
management will be performed, how the integrity of the project planning baselines
will be maintained, and what the needs and communication styles or methods of
the stakeholders are.
All this information is contained in various project plans that are part of the
overarching project management plan that covers the execution, monitoring, and
controlling methodology or approach for the entire project.
46
Determine the Resources Required to Complete the Project Work
Resources are needed to complete the project work, and a project manager needs
to know what type and how many human resources are required for project roles
and responsibilities. This step provides the information on the project resource
needs. Although the basic estimation of the project resource needs is done during
the project time management processes, that preliminary information is further
explored, developed, and evaluated via progressive elaboration in the human
resource management planning process.
Note
Progressive elaboration, as defined in the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK® guide), involves continuously improving and adding more details to the
existing plans as more detailed and specific information becomes available.

Project human resources are influenced by the environment in which the project is
undertaken. It is important to understand what the environmental factors are and
how they can impact the project human resources. Some key project
environmental factors include the following:
• The culture of the organization: For example, the employee-friendly culture of
Hewlett Packard used to attract and retain highly skilled and expert professionals.
• The structure of the organization (functional, matrix, or projectized): A project
manager’s level of influence and authority depend upon the structure of the
organization and hence the organizational structure does have an impact on how a
project manager acquires the human resources. For examples, in matrix
organizations, the horizontal project management structure is superimposed on
the vertical hierarchical functional management structure, as shown in Figure 2.2.
In such organizations, the human resources are owned by the functional managers,
and the project manager has to approach the appropriate functional managers to
request the needed resources.
47
Figure 2.2 Typical Matrix Organizational Structure
• Government laws and regulations: Labor laws in some countries may impose
certain restrictions on hiring and firing the workers. For example, cast-based
reservation government policies have a wide impact on hiring of the workers and
the same thing is true for labor laws concerning layoffs.
Note
A major canal project in the Punjab state of India was abandoned in the 1980s due to water
disputes between Punjab and the neighboring state Haryana. However, the Punjab
government could not let the workers (state employees including senior management,
project teams, and labor) go due to labor laws, and all the workers kept getting paid for just
showing up in the office. According to one of those workers, some workers would just play
cards during 8 work hours while some would show up briefly and then leave.
• Personnel administration policies: These policies include but are not limited to
guidelines for hiring, retaining, and layoffs, employee benefits, training and
development, leaves, time tracking and overtime, and records of training and
performance appraisals.
• Geographical locations of the project team members: Resources identified at the
remote locations may not be available due to a variety of reasons:
• Time zone differences
• Sickness
• Laid off
• Moved to different assignment
• Retirement
The remote resource owners (functional manager) must report such incidents
promptly to the project manager so that a contingency plan can be adopted to fill
the void in a timely manner to prevent or reduce delays to the project schedule.
48
• Local, regional, or global trends and practices: For example, different places
around the globe observe different official holidays that would impact the
availability of the resources.
• Existing human resources: Resources with the required skillset existing in the
organization or on other projects, if available, can be used.
• Availability of resources: Identified resources with the required skillset might be
tied up on other projects and may not be available immediately.
• Prevailing conditions of the marketplace: Certain skills required for some roles
on the project may not be readily available in the marketplace, which may require
a project manager to consider the following alternatives:
• Have an existing project team member to fill that role until someone with
the required skillset is hired; however, the team member may need some
training.
• Acquire the services of a private consultant for the duration needed.
• Outsource the work associated with that role.
• Professional environment: The professional environment involves the
professional network (for example, LinkedIn for online networking and networking
mixer events for physical networking) that can provide opportunities for
interpersonal interaction and communication with professionals. It is vital in
identifying and acquiring the human resources with specialized skills and strong
competencies. In addition, professional networking enables the project manager
to understand how organizational internal and external environments may
influence the project.
Consult the Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

artifacts archived from other similar projects completed previously. Leveraging
lessons learned, historical information, tools, and other artifacts from previously
done similar projects can save the project at hand a lot of time and money. These
artifacts may include but are not limited to the following:
• Project plans from previously completed projects
• Schedules from previously completed projects
• Lessons learned and knowledge base from previously completed projects
• Risk, issue, and corrective action logs from previously completed projects
• Organizational standards, policies, and procedures
49
• Position and role descriptions
• Templates for organization charts
• Templates for project management tools such as risk and issue management
tools
Consult Subject Matter Experts

It may be necessary for the project manager to seek advice from subject matter
experts (or simply called experts) to determine the type and number of human
resources needed for a particular project activity. The expert advice from seasoned
senior stakeholders may help the project manager estimate activity resources
quicker and more accurately. The following are some of the key subject matter
experts whose knowledge a project manager can tap into:
• Senior management
• Project managers who previously worked on similar projects and in the same
type of project environment
• Key stakeholders
• Functional managers in matrix organizations
• Other business units within the organization or other government agencies
• Outside consultants and industry groups
• Professional and technical associations such as Project Management Institute
(PMI) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE)
• Expert advice or opinion plays a pivotal role in shortening the time to develop
the human resource management plan. A project manager can utilize the expert
advice to determine the following:
• Project roles and responsibilities
• Position descriptions
• Skills required for a given position or role
• Estimated number of resources needed to complete a task
• Reporting relationships
• Estimated time needed for staff recruitment
• Risks and issues associated with human resource management processes
• Government and union contracts and compliance information
50
The subject matter experts can be consulted via meetings, phone calls, e-mails,
interviews, focus workgroups, surveys, and so on.
Note
Meetings must have value and must motivate attendees to participate constructively. A lack
of a meeting agenda, failure to stay on agenda, uncertain start and stop times, the absence
of key stakeholders, and so on—all of these issues demotivate the attendees.
Understand Organizational Behavior

Organizational theory enables you to understand how organizational teams and
units behave, and this understanding is essential in optimizing and speeding up the
Plan Human Resource Management process. The project team’s maturity level
changes as the project progresses. This theory suggests how a project manager can
adjust his leadership style to adapt to this change.
Determine the Format for Documenting Project Roles and Responsibilities

The following sections discuss commonly used formats for documenting project
roles and responsibilities.
Organization Charts and Position Descriptions (Duty Statements)

Organization charts explain who will be working on the project and their roles and
responsibilities. The three major formats of organization charts used to represent
project roles and responsibilities include hierarchical, matrix, and text-oriented.
The project manager must determine which format to use for documenting project
roles and responsibilities.
Hierarchical Format
A hierarchical format is a top-down graphical structure commonly used to depict
project positions, relationships, and deliverables. Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS) is an example of a hierarchical format chart that shows how project
deliverables are broken down into smaller work packages. An Organizational
Breakdown Structure (OBS) shows the hierarchical arrangement of an
organization’s departments, units, or teams with the corresponding work packages
listed under each entity responsible for those work packages. Similarly, a Resource
Breakdown Structure (RBS) is another example of a hierarchical format chart that
shows the project resources associated with work packages in the WBS.
Figure 2.3 depicts a typical hierarchical organization chart.
51
Figure 2.3 Typical Hierarchical Organization Chart
Matrix Format
This type of organizational charts are matrix-based charts with column headers
representing the project team members and row headers representing the project
activities or work packages those team members are responsible for. This matrix
chart is also called a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM). The cells of the matrix
represent the roles that individual team members will play for the work packages
they are responsible for. A RAM chart is commonly known as a RACI chart (where
R stands for responsible, A is stands for accountable, C stands for consulted, and I
stands for informed).
52
Table 2.1 shows an example of a RACI Responsibility Assignment Matrix.
Table 2.1: RACI Responsibility Assignment Matrix
Other commonly used forms of a RAM chart are RASCI and CAIRO (where R stands
for responsible, A stands for accountable, S stands for support, C stands for
consulting, I stands for informed, and O stands for omitted or out of loop):
R = Who actually completes the task.
A = Ultimate ownership, with yes or no authority; makes the final decision.
C = Consulted prior to an action or final decision; involves two-way communication.
53
I = Who needs to be informed after a decision or action has been taken; involves
one-way communication.
S = Who supports the task to completion.
O = Someone who is not part of the task (helps to enhance the clarity of roles and
responsibilities).
Table 2.2 summarizes these common types of RAM charts.
Note: Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 depict the relative position of the letter representing responsibility in
the sequence of acronym letters. For example, the “R” in RACI is at the first position in the sequence,
A is at the second position, C is at the third position, and I is at the fourth position.
Table 2.2: Common Types of RAM Charts
Text-Oriented Format
Text-oriented formats are utilized to depict position description, duties, authority,
qualifications, and competencies. Sometimes, such a document is also called a Duty
Statement, and it is commonly used in the recruitment process.
Figure 2.4 depicts a typical text-oriented format-based document.
54
Figure 2.4 Typical Text-Oriented Format-Based Document
Develop the Human Resource Management Plan

Resources are needed to complete the project work, which include humans,
materials, and equipment. The human resource management plan deals with
management of the human resources and guides how project human resources
should be identified, acquired, developed, managed, and released. Like other core
project plans, this plan also is part of the overarching project management plan and
includes, but is not limited to, project roles and responsibilities, project
organization charts, and a staffing management plan.
• Project roles and responsibilities: Project roles and responsibilities listing
including role, authority, responsibility, and competency of project human
resources.
• Role: It is the function of a resource in the project such as project manager,
business analyst, data architect, and so on.
• Authority: The authority of a human resource reflects her right to authorize the
use of project resources, to make decisions, to sign approvals, and to accept
deliverables.
• Responsibility: Responsibility of a person on a project refers to the project work
duties assigned to that person.
• Competency: Competency of a project team member translates to his skill and
capacity required to perform the assigned duties within the project framework,
methodology, and constraints.
• Project organization charts: A project organization chart is a hierarchical graphic
depiction of the project team members and their reporting relationships. Refer
to Figure 2.3 for an example of a typical project organization chart.
• Staffing management plan: The staffing management plan is a part of the human
resource management plan. It describes how and when project team members are
to be acquired and when they are to be released. A typical staffing management
plan includes, but is not limited to, staff acquisition, resource calendars, staff
release plan, staff training needs, staff recognition and rewards, compliance, and
safety.
• Staff acquisition strategies: The staffing management plan includes the staff
acquisition strategies. It answers the following questions:
1. What type of project team members are needed on the project?
55
a. Which project team members will be the full-time permanent staff?
b. Which project team members will be contracted on a temporary basis?
2. Where can you acquire the sources for the project team?
a. Which project team members can be acquired from within the organization?
b. Which project team members needs be acquired from external sources?
3. What work locations will the project team members work at?
4. What are the costs associated with each level of expertise?
5. What assistance can the human resource department and functional managers
provide to the project management team in the acquisition of the project staff?
• Resource calendars: Resource calendars identify the working timeframes for
each project resource. The staffing management plan includes the resource
calendars as well as the information on the timing when the acquisition of the
project staff should start. A resource histogram is the tool that is commonly used
by the project managers to create a graphical view of the resource allocations
across various months of the project calendar.
Figure 2.5 illustrates a typical resource histogram.
Figure 2.5 Typical Resource Histogram
56
• Staff release plan: Determines the method and timing of releasing the project
team members.
• Staff training plan: Determines the staff training needs to fulfill the project team
members’ skill gaps, if any.
• Staff recognition and rewards: Staff recognition and rewards are part of the
develop project team process of the human resource management plan. These are
particularly important to promote and reinforce desired behaviors and boost staff
morale and productivity. The staffing management plan discusses the criteria for
staff recognition and rewards on the project.
• Compliance: Strategies to ensure staff compliance with applicable government
regulations, union contracts, and organizational human resource policies,
standards, and guidelines.
• Safety: Safety policies, standards, and procedures.
Tip
Following are tips for effective human resource management:
• Start this process early and continue iteratively throughout the project life cycle.
• Remember: The goal of this process is to plan for effective human resource management.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 2.6 summarizes the project human resource management
planning process.
57
Figure 2.6 Project Human Resource Management Planning Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Organization chart
Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
RACI
CAIRO
RASCI
Project management plan
Staffing management plan
Expert advice
Resource calendars
Work breakdown structure (WBS)
Organizational breakdown structure (OBS)
Resource breakdown structure (RBS)
Project environment
Human resource management plan
58
Organizational behavior
Progressive elaboration
Resource histogram
CASE STUDY: A CASE OF FAILED HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT PLANNING
Desi Solutions, LLC, a Los Angeles-based, medium-sized project management
consulting firm was awarded a large project by a private client that prompted the
need for more staff. First, there was a pressing need to hire a human resource (HR)
manager immediately who could provide strong leadership to manage the
challenges to be faced during the expansion. Hence, an HR manager was hired from
a bigger organization to plan and execute the project human resource management
processes. The consulting firm established key performance indicators, which
included managing ramp-up within the time constraints, minimizing attrition,
managing organizational development initiatives, contributing to the existing
processes, and leading the HR team to better efficiencies. When the project
started, the key positions were filled first via pre-assignment followed by the
initiation of the rest of the hiring based on the staffing management plan. The
hiring began and the initiatives functioned well, showing results until the project
encountered a roadblock.
What Led to the Roadblock?

Multiple problems led to the roadblock encountered by the project. These
problems were related to the term of positions, compensation, and HRM processes
as described in the following:
• Positions term: The positions that Desi Solutions filled for the project were all 1-
year, limited-term positions. Thus, the new hires were constantly looking for
permanent full-time positions. This limited-term nature of the positions triggered
rapid staff attrition. The firm lost significant head count, which posed a huge risk to
the project that it had undertaken.
• Compensation: Based on the recommendations from the newly hired HR
manager, Desi Solutions enacted new human resource compensation policies at
Desi Solutions to deal with its financial issues. The new HR policies entailed a new
salary structure for the new hires with reduced compensation and other benefits.
The market, however, was competitive offering much higher salaries and better
59
benefits for the similar job roles that Desi Solutions offered. This was another factor
that contributed further to staff attrition.
• HRM processes: The HRM processes were not executed consistently, and the
HRM plan lacked adequate planning for risk mitigation and guidelines for staff
retention.
CONCLUSION
The HR manager was let go immediately and the firm decided to retain an external
staffing firm to help it through the project.
This is a classic example of a human resource management planning failure.

1. Describe the issues discussed in this case.
2. Who do you think was responsible for this HRM fiasco? Was the firing of the HR
manager justified?
3. What would you have done better if you were the HR manager in this case?
4. What lessons did you learn from this case?

1. A project manager must have solid management skills for effective project
management. Does a project manager need to possess leadership skills as well?
Why?
2. What is the significance of resource requirements?
3. Define progressive elaboration.
4. Why are historical organizational project artifacts important in planning human
resource management?
5. What are the characteristics of different types of organization charts? What type
of charts are the following?
a. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
b. Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)
c. Position description/duty statement
6. What is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)? Describe three commonly
used RAMs.
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7. What is a human resource management plan? What information is contained in
this plan?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. Forsberg, K., Mooz, H. Visualizing Project Management, 1st ed. Third Avenue,
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.
3. http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2003/stories/20030214010304000.htm
4. Chang, R.Y., Kehoe, K.R. Meetings That Work! A Practical Guide to Shorter and
More Productive Meetings, 10th ed. Sansome Street, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Pfeiffer, 2000.
5. Pinto, J.K. Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, 2000.
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3. Planning Communications Management
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of project communications management planning
• Scope of project communications management planning process
• Mechanism of project communications management planning process
• Communications management planning tools
• Characteristics of effective communications
• Communication requirements analysis techniques
• Communication channels
• Communication technology
• Communication methods
• Communication management plan
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something
about it now.”
- Alan Lakein
Communication is the most important skill that every project manager should have
because a project manager spends more than 90 percent of her time
communicating with the project team members and diverse internal as well
external stakeholders. Also, a project manager must ensure that the project
information is properly planned, collected, created, stored, retrieved, managed,
controlled, monitored, and disseminated. Project communications management
contains the following three processes to facilitate effective and adequate project
communications:
• Planning communications management
• Managing communications
• Controlling communications
This chapter focuses on the planning communications management process. The
other two processes are covered in Chapter 8, “Managing Project
Communications,” and Chapter 10, “Controlling Project Communications.”
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PURPOSE
Effective communication is important for the success of a project, and proper
planning is a prelude to effective communication. Poor planning of the project
communications can lead to communication delays, transmission of wrong
information, distribution of the project information to wrong recipients,
inadequate communication, and misinterpretation of the message conveyed.
Planning for project communications management produces a project
communications management plan that acts like a blueprint for executing the
project communications management and controlling processes. In other words,
the project communications management plan provides the project manager
guidelines on how to manage and control the project communications throughout
the life of the project. The project teams today are the melting pots of diverse
personalities, cultures, languages, nationalities, geographical locations, and levels
of expertise, interest, and influence. Without proper planning for communications
management, it would be a nightmare to manage and control the melting pot. A
good communications management plan would help a project manager to ensure
that right information is communicated to the right audience in a timely manner
for the success of the project.
The planning is also important for keeping all project stakeholders on the same
page by coordinating them through standard communication standards, policies,
and procedures.
SCOPE
To achieve effectiveness in project communications, the planning process should
be initiated early in the project life cycle and should address the following
questions:
• Who needs to receive the information?
• What information needs to be shared?
• Who is authorized to access the information?
• When is the information needed by the recipients?
• Where should the information be stored?
• What is the format for storing the information?
• How can the information be retrieved?
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• What time zones, languages, cultures, and communication types should be
taken into consideration?
TIMING
Started early in the project life cycle, the project communications management
planning process is performed throughout the project life cycle for ongoing
improvements in the communications management performance and also for
incorporating the specific communication styles and preferences of the new team
members.
MECHANISM
This section explains how to plan project communications management.
How to Plan Project Communications Management

The project communications management planning process contains the following
key steps:
1. Review the project management plan.
2. Obtain stakeholder information from the stakeholder register.
4. Review the historical organizational project artifacts.
5. Utilize appropriate project communication methods and tools.
6. Develop a communications management plan.
7. Update the current project documents.
Figure 3.1 illustrates the project communications management planning process
flow.
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Figure 3.1 Project Communications Management Planning Process Flow
Review the Project Management Plan

The project manager must review the information contained in the project
management plan as the first and foremost step in planning for the project
communications management because this plan provides guidelines on how all
project processes will be executed, monitored, and controlled, and
communications management planning is one of the project processes.
First, the project manager needs to understand the big picture by learning about
the project life cycle, project phases, and the processes in each of those phases.
Second, for the communications management planning process, he needs to know
how the work will be executed and how the change requests will be handled; that
is, how the changes will be monitored and controlled, how the configuration
management will be performed, how the integrity of the project planning baselines
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will be maintained, and what the needs and communication styles or methods of
the stakeholders are.
overarching project management plan that covers the execution, monitoring, and
controlling methodologies for the entire project.
Obtain Stakeholder Information from the Stakeholder Register

The stakeholder register provides information on who the stakeholders are, what
their information needs are, and what their communication styles and preferences
are. It is described in detail in Chapter 1, “Stakeholder Identification and Analysis.”

Project communications are not the same for all stakeholders; they need to be
customized according to the project environment. The structure of an organization
(functional, matrix, or projectized) influences the project environment greatly.
Project communications need to be planned to suit the needs, styles, and culture
of an organization. For example, a government tax collection organization such as
California Franchise Tax Board needs to maintain much higher standards for
information security and confidentiality because the communication usually
contains the taxpayers’ personal information. Thus, the project environment
information must be considered as input to the project communications
management planning process because during the planning phase, it is important
to understand what the project environment is and how it can impact the project
communications. Some key elements of the project environment include the
following:
• The culture of the organization
• The structure of the organization (functional, matrix, or projectized)
• Government laws and regulations
• Organizational information security policies
• Industry and product standards
• Geographical locations and time zones of the project team members and other
stakeholders
• Local, regional, or global trends and practices
• Already existing communication standards
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Review the Historical Organizational Project Artifacts
The historical project artifacts of the host organization are considered as input to
the project communications management planning process because they can
influence communications management planning. Like the common saying, “Why
reinvent the wheel?,” leveraging lessons learned, historical information, tools, and
other artifacts from previous similar projects can save the project at hand a lot of
time and money. Some key organizational process assets include the following:
• Project communication management plans from previously completed projects
• Stakeholder registers from previously completed projects
• Templates for project management tools such as stakeholder register
Utilize Appropriate Project Communication Methods and Tools

As part of the project communications management planning, utilize the following
project communication methods and tools.
Communication Methodology
Communication methods are used to share information among project
stakeholders. These methods are supposed to be agreed upon during project
stakeholder analyses while gathering stakeholder communication requirements.
They can be categorized into the following three types: interactive, push, and pull.
• Interactive: Interactive method of communication is highly effective in ensuring
a common understanding when the information is exchanged among multiple
stakeholders. The common scenarios include project meetings, teleconferences
(audio/video), instant messaging, phone calls, and so on.
• Push: This method ensures that the message has been transmitted but does
include the acknowledgment that the message was received or the confirmation
that the message was understood by the receiving party. The examples include
letters, memos, press releases, blogs, e-mails, voicemails, faxes, and so on.
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• Pull: This communication method is used when the information is available at
some source such as a website, database, file server, or share drive, and the
receiver can access that information at will on an as-needed basis. The examples
include intranet sites such as SharePoint, e-learning, knowledge base, lessons
learned databases, and so on.
Communication Technology
The choice of communication technology depends on a number of factors, such as:
• Urgency, frequency, and format of the information that needs to be
communicated
• Availability, accessibility, compatibility, and ease of use of the proposed
technology for all stakeholders throughout the project life cycle
• Type of project environment:
• Face-to-face or virtual project team meetings
• Sender and receiver co-located or located across different time zones
• Culture of the organization
• Sensitivity and confidentiality of the information
Communication Modeling
The communication models define how the information exchange will take place
between the sender and the receiver. A typical communication channel consists of
a sender, a receiver, an encoder, a decoder, and a medium, as shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2 A Typical Communication Channel
In this communication channel, a sender transmits a message by encoding it

(converting into language). The encoded message passes through the medium of
transmission (telephone, e-mail, Internet, fax, and so on). The receiver on the other
end of the communication channel decodes (converts) the received encoded
message into meaningful and understandable information. Think of encoding and
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decoding like the computer file zipping and unzipping process. Noise in terms of
interference or communication barriers such as long distance, technology,
infrastructure, cultural and language differences, and lack of relevant information
can negatively impact the communication medium and hence impair the delivery
and quality of the message transmitted.
Message transmission through a communication channel is not considered
complete until
• The receiver acknowledges the receipt of the message.
• The receiver confirms the understanding of the message.
• The sender receives acknowledgment of the message receipt from the receiver.
• The sender receives confirmation of understanding of the message from the
receiver.
In other words, both the sender and the receiver must be on the same page, so to
speak.
Project communications can be quite challenging at times, especially stakeholders
who include a mixture of highly technical project team members and totally
nontechnical stakeholders. In addition, due to the global nature of many projects
nowadays, language and cultural differences between senders and receivers may
also pose a risk of messages not being understood clearly and accurately.
Communication Requirements
Communication is most effective when the sender clearly understands and
validates the communication requirements of the receiver and similarly the
receiver acknowledges the receipt and a clear understanding of the received
message. Thus, analyzing communications requirements of the stakeholders is
important for effective project communications. In addition, it is necessary for a
project manager to assess the complexity of the project communications as well.
The communications complexity can be determined by identifying the total number
of communication channels that exist among the stakeholders utilizing this
following formula:
Total number of communication channels among ‘N’ stakeholders = N (N – 1)/2
For example, the total number of potential communication channels that exist
among 20 stakeholders is:
20(20 – 1)/2 = 190
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Analyzing these communication channels to determine who will communicate with
whom is one of the key objectives of planning communications management.
The information pertaining to project communication requirements can be
obtained from a variety of sources such as organization charts, project
organization-stakeholder responsibility relationships, disciplines, departments,
and specialties associated with the project, total number and locations of the
stakeholders, internal and external information needs, and stakeholder register.
Planning Meetings
Meetings are held with the project team members to discuss the information
related to the planning of the communication management processes and to
determine the most appropriate and effective way of updating and disseminating
the project information. These meetings can be informal discussions or can be
formal, face-to-face, or virtual meetings. To schedule a meeting, typically, an invite
including meeting logistics and agenda is sent to invitees and a meeting is held at a
predetermined place, at a predetermined time, and using the predetermined mode
(face-to-face or virtual). The meeting minutes are captured, compiled, and
disseminated to the attendees and other stakeholders who need to receive that
information.
Boeing’s Plan of Attack
Chuck Allen, vice president of program management for integrated defense systems at
aerospace giant Boeing, has worked on a number of high-profile projects, including the
Apache helicopter and V-22 Osprey aircraft. In his article “Plan of Attack,” in the December
2009 issue of PM Network, he stresses on a solid planning (including the project
communications planning) agreed upon by all key stakeholders. “All key stakeholders came
together to agree on a clear plan of action,” he says while talking about how intense upfront
planning was the key factor behind the success of the project that launched F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet (a combat-proven strike fighter in the U.S. Navy fleet). “If you start out on the wrong
foot with a program, it likely will get worse.” Talking specifically about the project
communication methods, he says, “We have an electronic system that constantly pulls and
correlates all the data regarding a program—including design, development, schedule, and
the earned value status—and puts it into a set of charts that everyone involved on the project
can see. There’s no hiding anything and no underlying concern that someone isn’t being
completely honest.”
Develop a Communications Management Plan

The communication management plan is the outcome of the project
communication management planning process that provides guidance on how to
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plan, execute, monitor, and control the project communications. Like the rest of
project plans, this plan also is part of the overarching project management plan and
includes, but is not limited to the following:
• Scope of the plan based on stakeholder communication requirements
• Type and format of the information to be communicated
• Reason for the communication of that information
• Time and frequency of the communication
Update the Current Project Documents

The project schedule, stakeholder register, desk procedures, risk and issue logs,
and so on may need to be updated.
Tip
Following are tips for effective communications management planning:
• Plan for communications management early in the project life cycle, but repeat the
planning process whenever, a stakeholder leaves the project or a new one comes in and
whenever there are any changes to communication tools, technologies, methodologies,
or preferences.
• Tailor the communications plan according to the target audience.
• Remember, the communication is not complete until the sender receives a confirmation
that her message has been successfully received and understood by the receiver.
• Seek inputs from the project team and other key stakeholders.
• Leverage as much as possible from the historical artifacts to save time and cost.
• Ensure that the plan contains executable steps for implementation of the plan.
• If in doubt, consult subject matter experts.
• Involve the project team and other key stakeholders while reviewing the plan and
obtaining key stakeholders’ signoff before base lining it.
• Capture and archive the lessons learned regularly.
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SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 3.3 summarizes the project communications management
planning process.
Figure 3.3 Project Communications Management Planning Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Communication channel
Communication noise
Message encoding/decoding
Interactive communication
Communication management plan
Communication requirements
Communication medium
Project environment
Push/pull communication
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CASE STUDY: AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
MANAGEMENT PLAN DEVISED TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM THE
CLUTCHES OF CANCER
The exponential growth of cancer patients in Punjab, the northwestern state of
India, triggered an investigation by the Punjab Agricultural University (aka PAU)
located in Ludhiana city of Punjab.
In 2010, the university initiated a project to find the root cause and suggest a
sustainable solution to control this epidemic.
The project team led by project manager Dr. Pritipal Singh conducted thorough
research and found that the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers in the state
over the past 30 to 40 years has led to the accumulation of dangerous levels of
toxins such as uranium, lead, and mercury, which are contributing to increased
health problems in rural communities. Dr. Singh suggested that the best solution
would be to spread awareness among the rural communities in Punjab on the
proper use of pesticides and fertilizers in the farming. This would require an
effective communications plan.
Communications Management Plan

By definition, a communication process involves transmitting information from a
sender to a receiver. However, for communication to be effective, not only does
the message need to be received by the receiver but also clearly understood. This
involves selecting an appropriate format or channel to deliver the message with
minimization of the barriers to communication (aka noise).
Tailoring the Message

An effective communications management plan involves tailoring the message and
the delivery channel for a target audience. The objective of the PAU project
communications management plan was to deliver the following messages to the
target audience:
1. Handle, use, and dispose the farming chemicals per instructions.
2. When in doubt, don’t guess; contact PAU immediately.
3. Attend regular, free training sessions offered by the university.
4. Switch to organic fertilizers as much as possible.
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PAU identified various potential sources of noise or communication barriers, which
included the following:
• Carelessness of the rural farming community
• Unavailability of clear and complete information from the manufacturers of the
chemicals used
• None or limited access of the target audience to the communication media
To achieve the target objectives, the PAU project manager Dr. Singh devised a
communication management plan for the target audience that included both
internal and external stakeholders. The key internal stakeholders included the PAU
project team and project sponsor PAU administration and external stakeholders
included the target farming community. Table 3.1 shows the project
communications customized for the target audience.
Table 3.1: Matching Communications with the Target Audience
Using the Right Communications Channels

For effective delivery of the messages to the target stakeholders, PAU project
management team selected multiple communication channels, as shown in Table
3.2.
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Table 3.2: Communication Channels
Case Conclusion
It took some time for the target stakeholders to learn about the PAU project
initiative, its purpose, and potential benefits to the community. After that, PAU
received tremendous support from all stakeholders. The project team members led
by Dr. Pritipal Singh traveled from village to village to understand the public’s
concerns, empathize with them, guide them on treatment sources for health
issues, spread awareness among them about the proper and careful use of
chemicals, encourage them to prefer organic fertilizers over the synthetic ones, and
become champions of the change. PAU has already started observing the change
in the public’s behavior and their approach toward the use of chemicals. The
university expects more significant improvements in the situation in the near
future.
CASE QUESTIONS
1. What communication challenges did the PAU project team anticipate?
2. How did the project team prepare to meet the communication challenges?
3. Assuming the number of stakeholders in the communication loop to be
1,000, how many communication channels existed among those
stakeholders?
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4. Describe the communication channels used by the PAU project team.
5. What lessons did you learn from this case?

1. Why is project communication so important?
2. How much time does a project manager spend communicating?
3. What are the characteristics of effective communications?
4. Describe the components of a typical communication channel.
5. What is the noise in a project communication channel?
6. How many communication channels exist among 100 stakeholders?
7. What are the conditions for complete message transmission across a
communication channel?
8. Describe some challenges associated with project communications.
9. Explain various communication methods.
10.What information is contained in a communications management plan?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://thinkexist.com/quotations/planning/
2. Project Management Institute. (2014). A Guide to the Project Management Body
of Knowledge, PMBOK® Guide, 5th ed. Newton Square, Pennsylvania: Project
Management Institute (PMI).
3. Allen, C. “Plan of Attack,” PM Network, 23(12): pp. 19, 2009.
4. Kapur, G.K. Project Management for Information, Technology, Business, and
Certification, 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, 2005.
5. http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/72911-why-you-need-a-
project-communication-plan/
6. http://gallagher-photo.com/environmental-stories/pesticide-poisoning-punjab-
india/
7. http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/devising-a-communications-
plan/writing-a-communications-plan.html#axzz3BZQeuHzj
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4. Planning Stakeholder Management
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of stakeholder management planning
• Scope of stakeholder management planning
• Mechanism of stakeholder management planning process
• Stakeholder management planning process flow
• Stakeholder engagement levels
• Stakeholder engagement matrix
• Stakeholder engagement strategy
• Stakeholder management plan
• Tips for effective stakeholder management planning
“Your stakeholders’ biggest enemy is simply the unknown.”
—Gavin B Davies, Tremendous Training
Planning for stakeholder management involves describing how the project will
effectively manage the engagement of various stakeholders in the project
throughout the project life cycle based on their stake in the project. Early planning
to understand and manage the expectations of the stakeholders is critical to meet
the goals and objectives of the project to deliver a successful project. Not
performing this planning early in the project life cycle may result in stakeholder
alienation and dissatisfaction, which can eventually derail the project going
forward.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the stakeholder management planning process is to develop
a stakeholder management plan that would guide the project manager throughout
the project life cycle on effectively engaging the stakeholders in the project, clearly
understanding their expectations, and effectively managing their expectations to
their satisfaction for the success of the project.
Stakeholders continue to support a project as long as it continues to meet or exceed
their expectations. Projects effectively managing stakeholder relationships have a
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competitive edge over those that do not. Thus, planning for effective stakeholder
management is a prerequisite to a project’s achieving a competitive advantage.
SCOPE
The process of stakeholder management planning covers the formulation of
appropriate strategies for managing and controlling the stakeholder engagement
in the project based on their power, expectations, influence, interest, and impact
associated with the project throughout the project life cycle.
TIMING
The stakeholder planning process is started early in the project. Because
stakeholders come and go and their perspectives, interests, involvement, and
ability to influence the project may change anytime during the project life cycle,
this planning process is run throughout the project life cycle.
MECHANISM
This section explains how to plan stakeholder management.
How to Plan for Stakeholder Management

The stakeholder management planning process contains the following steps:
1. Understand project framework and approach.
2. Obtain stakeholder information (review stakeholder register).
3. Understand project environment.
4. Consult historical organizational project artifacts.
5. Consult subject matter experts (been there, done that).
6. Perform stakeholder engagement analysis.
7. Synthesize stakeholder management planning information (to develop
stakeholder engagement strategy and stakeholder management plan).
Figure 4.1 illustrates the process flow for stakeholder management planning.
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Figure 4.1 Stakeholder Management Planning Process Flow
Understand Project Framework and Approach

The project management plan (PMP) provides the framework and approach for
managing the entire project. It is an overarching plan that contains the rest of the
core project plans including the stakeholder management plan.
First, you need to understand the big picture by understanding the project
framework and approach for managing the project—that is, by learning about the
project life cycle, project phases, and the processes and the work to be performed
in each of those phases.
Second, for the stakeholder management planning process, you need to know how
the work will be executed, how the change requests will be handled, that is, how
the changes will be monitored and controlled, how the configuration management
will be performed, how the integrity of the project planning baselines will be
79
maintained, and what the needs and expectations as well as communication styles
and requirements of the stakeholders are.
overarching PMP, which covers the execution, monitoring, and controlling
methodologies for the entire project.
Obtain Stakeholder Information

You need to obtain stakeholder information that includes stakeholder attributes,
such as who the stakeholders are, what their information needs are, and what their
communication styles and preferences are. The stakeholder register provides this
information, which is described in detail in Chapter 1, “Stakeholder Identification
and Analysis.”

Projects are influenced by the environment in which they are undertaken. Thus,
the project environmentcan influence the type and behavior of the stakeholders.
This understanding is important to pursue appropriate stakeholder management
steps that work best in the existing project environment. The key elements that
constitute the project environment are outlined in Chapter 3, “Planning
Communications Management.”
Consult Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

artifacts archived from other similar projects completed previously. According to
Forsberg and Mooz, authors of Visualizing Project Management, “Successful
project cycles, the key to achieving consistency from project to project, usually
embody a strategy that works and lessons learned that serve as a template.” Thus,
leveraging lessons learned, historical information, tools, and other artifacts from
the previously done similar projects can save the project at hand a lot of time and
money. These artifacts may include but are not limited to the following:
• Project stakeholder management plans from previously completed projects
• Stakeholder registers from previously completed projects
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• Templates for project management tools such as stakeholder register
Consult Subject Matter Experts

It may be necessary for the project manager to seek advice from subject matter
experts to determine the level of engagement for each stakeholder in the project
throughout the project cycle. This is especially more important during the period
of the project infancy because expert advice from seasoned senior stakeholders
sought proactively may help the project manager avoid many roadblocks and make
rational decisions regarding stakeholder engagement, which essentially will
contribute to the success of the project.
Whom to Seek Advice From?

The following type of subject matter experts could constitute a good source of the
expert opinion:
• Project team
• Upper management
• Project managers who previously worked on similar projects and in the same
type of project environment
• Already identified key stakeholders
• Other business units within the organization or other government agencies
• Outside consultants and industry groups
• Professional and technical associations such as Project Management Institute
(PMI) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE)
How to Consult Subject Matter Experts?

The subject matter experts can be consulted via meetings, phone calls, e-mails,
interviews, focus workgroups, surveys, and so on.
Perform Stakeholder Engagement Analysis

Analytical techniques for plan stakeholder management include analysis of the
current state of the stakeholder engagement and forecast of the wanted future
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state. The common analytical tool utilized for stakeholder engagement analyses is
the stakeholder engagement matrix. Table 4.1 shows a typical stakeholder
engagement matrix of the current and wanted engagement state or level of various
stakeholders. The first column of this stakeholder engagement matrix lists
stakeholder names, and the remaining columns of the matrix refer to various
engagement states or engagement levels of the stakeholders. For example,
referring to the Table 4.1 stakeholder engagement matrix, stakeholder Kevin
Brown is currently unaware about the project, and the desire of the project
manager is to make him supportive of the project.
Table 4.1: Stakeholder Engagement Matrix
Note
The PMBOK® Guide, 5th Edition lists the stakeholder engagement states/levels as follows:
• Unaware: Stakeholder is unaware of project and potential impacts (by project or to
project; positive or negative).
• Resistant: Stakeholder is aware of project and potential impacts but resistant to change.
• Neutral: Stakeholder is aware of project but neither supportive nor resistant to change.
• Supportive: Stakeholder is aware of project and potential impacts but supportive to
change.
• Leading: Stakeholder is aware of project and potential project impacts and champion of
change with a goal to ensure the success of the project.
For the project to be successful, it is important to perform this analysis throughout
the project life cycle because the stakeholder engagement level may change over
time, and some stakeholders may leave the project and some new ones may come
in.
Synthesize Stakeholder Management Planning Information

After collecting, analyzing, and organizing the stakeholder information so far, it is
now time to put together or synthesize various pieces of information to formulate
a cohesive and comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy and develop a
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stakeholder management plan. Producing an effective stakeholder management
plan is the objective of the stakeholder management planning process.
Stakeholder Engagement Strategy

Chapter 1, “Stakeholder Identification and Analysis,” explains how to develop a
stakeholder register. Now use that register as a base to develop an engagement
strategy for each stakeholder in the register based on each stakeholder’s interest
(high, medium, or low) in the project outcome (success or failure to meet goals and
objectives) and influence (supporter, resister, or neutral) on the project outcome,
as shown in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Stakeholder Engagement Strategy
The Difference Between a Strategy and Plan

A strategy tells us what actions need to be performed (a solution) to go from point A to point
B.
A plan tells us how the actions outlined in strategy need to be performed to go from point A
to point B.
For example, a project management training company, Sigma PM Consulting, Inc., offers a
variety of training courses including the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® and Lean
Six Sigma certification courses. Suppose, there is little demand for Lean Six Sigma certification
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training in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. In this case, the strategy of the company can be that it will
offer only PMP® certification training in Phoenix. In other words, offering only
PMP® certification training is what the company wants to do. However, this strategy does not
give any specific indication how the company will do it. That how part is covered by the plan.
Thus, strategy is what to do, and the plan is how to do it.
Stakeholder Management Plan

The stakeholder engagement strategy development leads to the development of
stakeholder management plan, which is an output of the stakeholder management
planning process and is an element of the overarching project management plan.
This plan includes the strategies that guide the project manager on how to engage
the stakeholders, how to effectively manage their expectations, how to serve their
communication needs, and how to handle the stakeholder engagement issues.
More specifically, the stakeholder management plan contains the following
information:
• Status of current engagement levels of stakeholders
• View of the desired engagement levels of stakeholders
• Change management
• Stakeholder relationship management
• Stakeholder information needs
• Rationale for sharing project information with stakeholders
• When and how often the information needs to be communicated to
stakeholders
• How the information needs to be communicated to stakeholders
• Procedures for keeping the stakeholder management plan up-to-date and
maintained throughout the project life cycle
The information contained in the stakeholder management plan facilitates the
collection of stakeholder requirements. A good quality stakeholder management
plan helps a project manager to effectively collect good quality requirements,
which serve as the foundation stone of the project success. Incorrect and
incomplete requirements usually result in scope creep, schedule slippage, and cost
overruns, which are a prelude to the project failure.
Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Program Lessons Learned: Requirements Collection via
Effective Stakeholder Management
“Requirements, statement of work, and budget must align when you begin a program,” says
Chuck Allen (vice president of program management for integrated defense systems at
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aerospace giant Boeing) while discussing the lessons learned from Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet program in his article, “Plan of Attack,” in the December 2009 issue of PM Network.
He further adds, “That calls for clarity between the contractor and customer around the
necessary requirements. Our navy customer came to us with a set of requirements for the
airplane that resulted in development costs over their budget.” Chuck explains how Boeing
used an effective stakeholder management plan to work closely with the customer to align
requirements and the overall statement of work. “At the direction of the navy and prime
contractor program manager, all the stakeholders—about 150—sat down with the chief
engineers to align requirements and the overall statement of work. The meeting lasted
almost two weeks, and we examined the proposal line by line. Some “requirements” were
determined to be “nice-to-haves” and eliminated. Others were modified slightly so the same
result could be achieved, but in a less costly way.”
Note
Tips for effective stakeholder management planning process are the same as those for
effective communications management planning outlined in Chapter 3.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 4.2 summarizes the project stakeholder management
planning process.
Figure 4.2 Project Stakeholder Management Planning Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement matrix
Stakeholder engagement strategy
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Subject matter expert
Stakeholder management plan
Project environment
CASE STUDY: FIRST CITY BANK IMPLEMENTS AN ERP SYSTEM

First City bank initiated an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
implementation project to reduce overhead, increase efficiency, enhance quality
of operations, and increase customer satisfaction for its mortgage branch. The
Systems Integrator (SI) Sigma Consulting, LLC, was brought onboard to analyze the
existing business processes at the mortgage branch of the First City Bank and help
the bank achieve its business objectives by implementing and configuring the ERP
system to increase automation of its repetitive operations, integrate various
business functions, and offer a portal for the customers to directly submit their
mortgage information online by completing an online application themselves.
The SI performed the stakeholder identification and analysis and collected the
stakeholder information in the stakeholder register. Thereafter, Joint Application
Design (JAD) sessions were scheduled to gather stakeholder requirements.
The JAD sessions were completed and requirements were collected. Based on the
requirements collected, solution specifications were created, and in turn the
solution was developed and configured. However, the client did not accept the
solution because it was not configured correctly. This became apparent during the
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase when the client asked specific subject matter
experts (SMEs) to test use cases and test scenarios, and SMEs discovered that the
new ERP system was configured incorrectly. Apparently, the requirements
captured by the SI were incomplete and incorrect due to the lack of participation
by all required stakeholders. The incomplete requirements resulted in wrong
solution specifications and hence incorrect configuration of the new ERP system.
Jeff Barlow, the manager of the mortgage branch of First City Bank (the client), said
that the SMEs engaged in performing the UAT were not available during the JAD
sessions. This turmoil prompted the client First City Bank and SI Sigma Consulting
to go back to the drawing board. The design of the solution was subjected to
significant changes involving time-consuming change requests and approvals
followed by additional cycles of unit, system, and user acceptance testing. The
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solution, though, was finally approved and delivered, but it was significantly late
and over budget.
CASE QUESTIONS
1. Who are the stakeholders in this case?
2. How do you define a successful project? In your opinion, was this project a
success or a failure?
3. What went well in this project?
4. What went wrong in this project?
5. What are some lessons learned from this project that can be applied in
similar project environments?

1. What is the significance of stakeholder management planning?
2. When is a stakeholder register created? How often is it updated? Why is it
so important?
3. What role does a project management plan play in planning for stakeholder
management?
4. What are historical organizational project artifacts? What value do they add
in planning for stakeholder management?
5. What information does a stakeholder management plan contain?
6. How is “expert advice” useful in planning for stakeholder management?
7. What are some methods to obtain expert advice?
8. What is the purpose of stakeholder engagement matrix?
9. How is stakeholder engagement strategy different from stakeholder
management plan?
REFERENCE NOTES
2. http://www.excitant.co.uk/2012/02/what-is-the-difference-between-
strategy-and-planning.html
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4. Allen, C. “Plan of Attack,” PM Network, 23(12): pp. 19, 2009.
6. Hoskisson, R.E., et al. Competing for Advantage, 1st ed. Natorp Blvd, Mason,
OH: Thomson South-Western, 2006.
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Section III: Developing and Managing (Executing) Stage
5 Acquiring Project Human Resources
6 Developing Project Human Resources
7 Managing Project Human Resources
8 Managing Project Communications
9 Managing Stakeholder Engagement
5. Acquiring Project Human Resources
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of human resource management planning process
• Scope of human resource management planning process
• Criteria governing the scope of project human resource acquisition
• Factors influencing the scope of project human resource acquisition
• Mechanism of human resource management planning process
• Human resource management planning process flow
• Project team
• Virtual teams
• Human resource acquisition
• Staff assignments
• Resource calendars
“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.”
—H.E. Luccock, Former American Methodist Minister and Professor of Homiletics
at Yale’s Divinity School
It requires a team effort to accomplish the project work; it is not a one-man show.
After the type and number of human resources required to complete the project
activities are determined, the next logical step for a project manager is to acquire
the human resources with the required skillset to form a cohesive project team to
complete the project work.
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PURPOSE
The purpose of acquiring a project human resources process is to form a project
team by obtaining human resources within the framework of required skills and
criteria (outlined under the “Scope” section) to accomplish the project work.
SCOPE
The scope of acquiring project human resources encompasses the formation of
project team by ensuring the availability of and acquiring the appropriate project
human resources based on the required skills and the criteria pertaining to the roles
and responsibilities identified for the project. Put simply, the scope of this process
includes the acquisition of human resources estimated in the human resource
management plan to complete the project activities.
Factors Influencing the Scope of the Project Human Resource Acquisition

Timely acquisition of the project team is the key to keep the project on schedule,
avoid cost overruns, avoid risks, and maintain quality, but it is not always in direct
control of the project manager or the project management team to guarantee the
availability of human resources when they are needed.
The type and level of control of the project manager or project management team
in staff acquisition depend on various factors. When the organizational structure is
projectized, no labor unions are involved, and no subcontractors need to be
acquired; the control may be direct and maximum. However, when the
organizational structure is matrix, unions are involved, and subcontractors need to
be acquired, many other factors may need to be considered during the team
acquisition process, such as the following:
• Collective bargaining agreements
• Subcontracting agreements
• Internal or external reporting relationships
• Effective negotiation and influencing power of the project manager or project
management team over the functional managers who own the needed human
resources
• Awareness of the risks and consequences of the human resources not being
available on time
• Contingency plans (for example, provision to acquire less competent but legal
human resources or borrow human resources from other projects or
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departments) in case the needed human resources are not available due to
budget constraints or until they are free from their pre-assignment to other
higher priority projects
In matrix organizations, multiple projects compete for a common pool of scarce
human resources. In this environment, project managers face a huge challenge in
acquiring the needed resources in a timely manner. According to Wayne F. Cascio,
author of Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits,
staff recruitment in the competitive environment is a strategic imperative.
“Recruitment is a form of business competition, and it is fiercely competitive. Just
as corporations compete to develop, manufacture, and market the best product or
service, so they must also compete to identify, attract, and hire the most qualified
people,” says Cascio.
The risks and issues associated with unavailability of the required project human
resources, their impact on the project, and contingency plans must be documented
and tracked in project risk and issue logs and must be reflected in the project
schedule and project plans where appropriate.
TIMING
Project human resource acquisition activities are started early in the project. Some
key resources are acquired even before the executing phase of the project via pre-
assignment to complete the project planning activities. The acquisition process is
performed iteratively throughout the project life cycle because certain project
team members may leave the project while some new members may join the
project any time during the life of the project.
MECHANISM
The following sections explain how to acquire project human resources.
How to Acquire Project Human Resources

The project human resource acquisition process contains the following key steps:
1. Review project human resource management plan guidelines.
4. Consider criteria governing project human resource selection.
5. Perform pre-assignment.
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6. Negotiate with functional managers or other resource owners.
7. Acquire human resources from alternative sources if not available in-house.
8. Acquire virtual teams.
9. Complete project staff assignments.
10.Create resource calendars.
11.Update project human resource management plan.
Figure 5.1 illustrates the project human resource acquisition process flow.
Figure 5.1 Project Human Resource Acquisition Process Flow
Review Project Human Resource Management Plan Guidelines

The human resource management plan discussed in Chapter 2, “Planning Human
Resource Management,” provides guidelines on how the project human resources
should be identified, acquired, managed, and released. The project manager must
review and follow these guidelines to acquire needed project human resources.

The project environment information in this context includes, but is not limited to:
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• The structure of the organization (Functional, Matrix, or Projectized)
• Existing information on availability, level of competency, experience, interest in
the project, and labor rates of the human resources
• Geographical locations (colocation or multiple locations)
• Personnel administration policies such as the policy on outsourcing

The historical organizational project artifacts include, but are not limited to, the
organizational/project standards, policies, processes, procedures, and selection
criteria utilized by the projects completed in the past for the acquisition of project
human resources. These historical artifacts provide a valuable source of reference
material for a project manager to tap into and leverage from.
Consider Criteria Governing Project Human Resource Selection

The project team acquisition decisions are usually based on certain selection
criteria. The criteria used to score the project team members may include, but are
not limited to, the availability (when needed), cost (within budget), experience,
knowledge, ability, job skills, team skills, attitude, interest, location, time zones,
and communication capabilities of the team members. Some of the elements of
these criteria are described in the following:
• Experience: The current experience level of the candidate human resource
must be compared with the required experience level.
• Interest: The candidate human resource’s level of interest in the project must
be determined.
• Team skills: The candidate human resource’s ability to work well with other
project team members must be determined.
• Availability: The availability of the candidate human resource must be
determined. The project manager may need to work with the functional
managers to determine the availability.
• Knowledge: The competency and proficiency of the human resource being
acquired must be determined to assign that resource to the appropriate role on
the project.
Leveraging Volunteer Recruitment Criteria
According to Jo B. Rusin, author of Volunteers Wanted, the first step in recruiting is to know
what type of volunteers you are looking for and what you want them to do.
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The criteria outlined by Rusin apply to the acquisition of project human resources as well.
Rubin says:
“Refer to job descriptions. This will help you target potential volunteers. Do they have to be
adults or can teens or younger children do the job? Do they need experience in a specific field
or can you teach them the job? Do you want them to work with children, adults, animals,
etc.? Is this a one-day job or a job that recurs each week or month? Will the job require
physical agility or can it be done from a sitting position? Does the job require face-to-face
contact with people or can it be done over the phone? Narrow your focus on whom you are
fishing for based on what you want them to do. Avoid the tendency to limit your focus to only
your ideal volunteer. This way you will not inadvertently screen out potentially outstanding
volunteers because they don’t fit your ideal mold.”
Perform Pre-Assignment
Pre-assignment involves selecting certain project team members in advance, even
before the project starts. The rationale for doing so is that in some situations, the
implementation of the project may depend on the expertise of certain specific
human resources who can deliver a competitive proposal for the project.
Negotiate with Functional Managers or Other Resource Owners

Multiple projects compete for the finite and scarce human resources. Thus, a
project manager or project management team must negotiate with the human
resources owners, such as functional managers in matrix organizations or with
other resource providers, such as other projects within the performing
organization, external organizations, vendors, contractors, suppliers, and so on to
acquire the required human resources on the project.
Acquire Human Resources from Alternative Sources if Not Available In-House

The performing organization may not always provide all required human resources
to the project due to scarcity of human resources in-house, constrained bandwidth
of the existing human resources, or unavailability of the existing human resources
with the required skills and expertise. This creates the need for acquisition of the
needed human resources (individual consultants or subcontractors with specific
subject matter expertise) from other internal or external organizations. For
example, the State of California acquires subject matter experts from various
consulting companies and county consultants from various California counties on
an as-needed basis. The project performance may suffer if the project request to
acquire these subject matter experts from outside the performing organization
isn’t performed in a timely manner.
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Late Acquisition of Key Human Resources (Subject Matter Experts) Causes Project Schedule
Delays and Cost Overruns
As part of a large IT systems integration project with a public sector client, the client
(performing organization) was unable to provide key subject matter experts in a timely
manner in the areas of business functional knowledge and mainframe software
development. Even though the specific resource needs were communicated early to the
client, it was unable to provide them due to overall resource constraints and competing
priorities. The lack of these resources hindered the prime vendor’s ability to capture key
business requirements and processes in a timely manner as well as slowed down its ability to
integrate with the client’s legacy systems. Although these resources were eventually brought
on board, the project incurred a six-month delay and $5 million cost increase as a result.
Acquire Virtual Teams

PMBOK® Guide, 5th Edition defines the virtual teams as “groups of people with a
shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face.”
Virtual teams are a byproduct of the advancement in the communication
technologies. Based on high-speed Internet, the communication and collaboration
tools, such as e-mail, instant-messaging, audio/video-conferencing, social media,
and web-based meetings have made it possible for project team members from
diverse geographical global locations work together as a cohesive team. There are
both advantages and disadvantages of the virtual teams.
Advantages of Virtual Teams

The following are key advantages of virtual teams:
• Create teams from the human resources from the same organization but living
in different geographical locations.
• Acquire talent and required expertise from wherever available regardless of the
geographical boundaries.
• Save money by acquiring low-cost human resources from wherever they live
without making them leave their place.
• Save money on travel expenses.
• Enabling team members to work remotely or telecommuting.
• Create global teams of people living across different time zones. This benefit of
the virtual teams has enabled the modern organizations to operate round the
clock. For example, the U.S.-based IT companies can work seamlessly around
the clock by having offices in India due to time zones differences.
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• Include experts to the team who are unable to move due to disability or other
reasons.
Disadvantages of Virtual Teams

The following are key disadvantages of virtual teams:
• Possible lack of understanding due to no visibility of body language or due to
some technical issues.
• Team members pretending to be working without actually working.
• Feeling of isolation by some team members.
• Hard to share knowledge and experience among geographically scattered team
members.
• Costs associated with the communication technology and tools.
Effective Virtual Teams

Due to availability of the advanced communications technology and the benefits
previously discussed, virtual teams have become an integral part of the modern
work environment. The effectiveness of the virtual teams can be increased by
establishing clear ground rules and expectations, facilitating communications,
asking probing questions during virtual meetings, developing etiquettes for conflict
resolution, involving all team members in decision making, developing
understanding and tolerance for cultural differences, understanding
communication styles and needs of all team members, and sharing success credit
with the entire team.
Global Project Teams
In the article “Ahead of the Curve” in the January 2010 issue of PM Network, Sullivan and
Miller talk about global project teams. In this article, the authors included the views of Naomi
Brooks and David Pericak to support their point.
Naomi Brookes, Ph.D., a Royal Academy of Engineering and European Construction Institute
professor of project management at Loughborough University, Loughborough, England,
believes that an increasingly global project landscape demands for insight into cross-cultural
project management issues. “With teams scattered around the world, project managers must
learn how to adapt to different perceptions in areas such as time, hierarchy, and leadership,”
Dr. Brooks says.
Similarly, David Pericak, contributor to Project Management Circa 2025 and chief engineer at
Ford Motor Company, believes that project managers “need to stick to their company’s core
values, yet at the same time understand and deal with the cultural differences, the language
differences, and everything that comes with the global organization.”
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Complete Project Staff Assignments
When all human resources needed on the project have been acquired and assigned
to appropriate roles, the project is said to be staffed. These assignments are
documented in the project team directory, team memos, project organization
charts, and project schedules.
Care must be taken while assigning project team members to various roles. It is
important to understand their strengths and weaknesses to optimize their
productivity by assigning them responsibilities in their strength areas. Cross
training, however, can help to convert weaknesses into strengths.
Create Resource Calendars

A project team usually includes diverse team members who may differ in their
working hours, time zones, vacation days, local holidays, and involvement in other
projects. To handle these differences, custom resource calendars are created and
assigned to respective team members in the project schedules. These custom
resource calendars depict the availability of individual team members on the
project. For example, a student may be available only 4 hours a day to work on the
project, a contractor may have a 24-hour schedule, a project manager may have an
8-hour schedule, and a CPA, for auditing the account, may work only 5 hours a
week.
Update Project Human Resource Management Plan

All staffing changes are documented in the human resource management plan.
Because the human resource management plan is part of the project management
plan, the project management plan is updated accordingly.
Tips for Acquiring Project Human Resources: The Project Manager’s Judgment
According to J.K. Pinto, author of Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage,
“Effective project teams do not happen by accident. A great deal of careful work and
preparation go into the steps necessary to first staff and then develop project team members
to the point where they begin to function jointly and the project reaps positive dividends
from the collective performance. The best-case scenario for project managers is to take over
a project with a unified team composed of individuals who lobbied for and were awarded
with membership on the team. Unfortunately, in many organizations, project teams are put
together based on other criteria, most notably whoever is available. Regardless of the
circumstances, the project manager is faced with the challenge of creating from a set of
diverse individuals a high-performing, cohesive project team. The preferred process,
however, should be as structured as possible; staffing is ideally aligned with the project
manager’s judgment of what is best for the project.”
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SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 5.2 summarizes the project human resources acquisition
process.
Figure 5.2 Project Human Resources Acquisition Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Pre-assignment
Acquisition
Virtual teams
Negotiation
Resource calendars
Selection criteria
Project environment
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CASE STUDY: AN UNUSUAL CHALLENGE—IMMEDIATE
STAFFING FOR A GOVERNMENT PROJECT
A small government contractor, ABC Consulting, contacted the staffing company,
Strategy for Human Resources (SHR), to seek help with the extraordinary staff
acquisition challenge it faced.
Challenge
ABC Consulting received a contract for a part of the national border security rollout,
which required extensive additional temporary human resources for success. With
less than 4 weeks’ notice and thus no time for planning, the contract required the
immediate hiring and training of a large temporary staff. The human resource
director started the hiring process immediately but was not confident about his
ability to successfully fulfill the agreed-upon contractual obligations.
Constantly fluctuating staffing requirements, rollout locations were changing on a
daily basis, and the hiring operations requiring constant extensive coordination and
prime contractor/government client interaction posed a huge challenge for ABC.
Human resource management was feeling totally exhausted after 1 month of
intensive round-the-clock work. The company’s structure was not capable of
supporting the extensive growth in such a short time-period. The company needed
to hire 15 times its current staff for this temporary project; 75 percent of these
temporary hires were first-level managers, technical and finance staff, and logistics
experts. Also, all locations across the United States needed to be staffed.
Action
ABC engaged SHR to help with the unusual staff acquisition challenge it
encountered. SHR took over management of the human resources acquisition
effort and
• Created a temporary recruiting function and human resources staff.
• Hired 2,000 people in less than 7 weeks.
• Developed and communicated specific human resource management (HRM)
policies and practices for the project.
• Trained managers on employee discipline and relationship issues.
• Established guidelines for all these temporary employees.
• Established a human resources call center to address employee needs.
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• Developed effective, frequent communications with all locations and
employees.
• Developed an incentive compensation plan.
• Created a template for future efforts.
• Provided extensive coaching and counseling to existing management to mitigate
stress.
• Completed a benefits review, chose a new broker and benefits plans, and
communicated to employees.
• Coached managers on disciplinary actions and terminations.
• Interviewed hired several executives.
• Established a new human resources organization for future needs and
interviewed candidates for human resources director.
Conclusion
With the help from SHR, ABC Consulting met the challenge and met the staffing
needs, which ensured its success on this project. The prime contractor and the
federal government commended the company for its excellent services.

1. Pre-assignment, negotiation, and acquisition are tools for acquiring the
project team. Which of these tools has been used in this case?
2. Was ABC Consulting’s decision to procure the services of SHR a wise move?
3. What are the key staffing challenges discussed in this case? Explain.
4. Which of the triple constraints of the project (schedule, budget, and scope)
was most unstable in the project mentioned in this case?
5. What are the lessons learned from this case?

1. Who is responsible for the acquisition of the project team?
2. What factors influence the acquisition of the project team?
3. What is pre-assignment of the project staff?
4. Who owns resources in a matrix organization?
5. What role does negotiation play in staff acquisition?
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6. What role do resource calendars play in the project team acquisition
process?
7. Discuss criteria for selection of the project human resources. Why is it
important?
8. Define virtual team. What are advantages of the virtual teams? What are the
challenges associated with them?
9. What are characteristics of the effective virtual teams?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Halford_E._Luccock
2. http://gcimmarrusti.wordpress.com/pm-quotes/
4. Cascio, W.F. Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life,
Profits, 7th ed. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
5. Rusin, J.B. Volunteers Wanted, 1st ed. Pinewood Drive, East Mobile, Alabama:
Magnolia Mansions Press, 2009.
6. Sullivan, T., Miller, C. “Ahead of the Curve,” PM Network, 24(1): pp. 41, 2010.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996
8. http://www.mymanagementguide.com/guidelines/project-
management/hr-management/project-team-acquiring/
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6. Developing Project Human Resources
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of developing project human resources
• Scope of developing project human resources
• Mechanism of developing human resources
• Process flow for developing project human resources
• Tools for human resources (team) development initiatives
• Emotional intelligence for team development
• Tips for effective team development
• Team development success measurement criteria
“True motivation comes from achievement, personal development, job
satisfaction, and recognition.”
—Frederick Herzberg, Psychologist
The four letters in word TEAM can be interpreted as Together Each Achieves More.
In other words, the performance of a team is better than that of each individual
isolated team members. Thus, a team effort can be much stronger and more
effective than that of individuals working in silos provided all members of the team
work in unison toward common goals and objectives. In addition, they all must be
subject matter experts in their own domain, and they all must be well versed in the
standards, policies, procedures, culture, rules, and regulations of the environment
they are working in.
PURPOSE
This chapter focuses on the discussion about the development of project human
resources (aka project team members). This is the logical step to perform after
project team is put together as discussed in Chapter 5, “Acquiring Project Human
Resources.”
The purpose of the project team development process is to optimize the
performance of the project team members by improving their competencies,
improving interactions among them, motivating them, and fostering team work to
meet the overarching goal of improving the project performance.
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When the project team is acquired, the resources are obtained from multiple
sources, including the recruitment of staff from within the organization, the
recruitment of staff from external sources, the procurement of contracts for
various consultants with specific subject matter expertise, and so on. The
performance of the diverse project team members cannot be optimized if the team
is not properly developed to match the requirements of the project. It is important
that the project manager, who is responsible for the development of the project
team, has good interpersonal or people skills because the project manager must
assess the project team development needs and must secure access to appropriate
internal and external project or organizational resources including various tools and
technologies necessary to develop the project team for the success of the project.
SCOPE
The scope of developing project human resources includes the following key
activities:
• Improving project team skills and competencies
By comparing the wanted (target) skills and competencies with current (baseline)
skills and competencies
By offering training and development opportunities to fill the skills and
competencies gaps
• Improving interaction among project team members
By creating a culture based on trust, respect, and collaboration
By offering team-building opportunities
• Improving project team environment
By creating a project environment that is conducive for diverse teams to work
together amicably
• Motivating project team members
By providing challenges and opportunities, providing coaching and feedback in a
timely manner
By recognizing and rewarding the good behavior.
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TIMING
Started early in the project life cycle, the project team development process is
performed throughout the project life cycle for ongoing improvements in the team
performance and also for quicker onboarding of the new team members.
MECHANISM
The following AVOIsections explain how to develop project human resources.
How to Develop Project Human Resources

The project human resource acquisition process contains the following key steps:
1. Review project staff assignments.
2. Review human resource management plan.
3. Determine resource availability.
4. Utilize project human resource management tools.
5. Conduct team performance assessments.
6. Update project environment information.
Figure 6.1 illustrates the overall flow of the project human resources development
process. The arrows on the lines show the direction of the information flow.
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Figure 6.1 Project Human Resources Development Process Flow
Review Project Staff Assignments

For a project manager to conduct the project project communication management process
elopment process, the information on all human resources on the project and their
assignments to various roles must be reviewed. Project Staff Assignments
documents (project team directory, team memos, project organization charts, and
project schedules) provide this information to the project manager.
Review Human Resource Management Plan

Described in Chapter 2, “Planning Human Resource Management,” the human
resource management plan provides the guidance for all human resource
management processes. This plan discusses how the project human resources
should be identified, acquired, trained, managed, and released. It includes project
roles and responsibilities, organization charts, staffing management plan, and
project team development plans and strategies. It may also include information on
performance baseline, performance feedback, rewards and recognition, bonus,
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disciplinary actions, conflict of interest, standards of business conduct, information
security, overtime, flex time, telecommuting, and so on.
Determine Resource Availability

A project team usually includes diverse team members who may differ in their
working hours, time zones, vacation days, local holidays, and involvement in other
projects. The project manager must determine the availability of the project team
members for them to take part in various team development activities. Resource
calendars contain this information and depict the availability of individual team
members.
Utilize Project Human Resource Management Tools

A project manager can use a variety of tools to develop project human resources.
Some key tools are described in the following sections.
Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are sometimes also called soft skills. These skills
include emotional intelligence (EI), communication skills, negotiation skills,
motivational skills, facilitation skills, team building, and conflict resolution. These
skills help a lot during the team development activities by fostering mutual
understanding, tolerance, and influence. For instance, EI enables a project manager
to identify, assess, and control the emotions of the team members by engaging in
active listening with them, anticipating their actions and reactions, and
understanding as well as addressing their concerns.
Emotional Intelligence
The project managers must not only possess traditional work management and
administrative skills to be successful but they also possess strong leadership
qualities such as emotional intelligence, toughness, determination, and vision for
sustainable success. High degree of emotional intelligence, which includes self-
awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill, truly sets a
project manager apart as an effective leader. Table 6.1 depicts the definitions of
these five components of EI and the results of possessing them.
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Table 6.1: The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Most large organizations today realize the significance of competencies

demonstrating emotional intelligence, such as the ability to work with others and
effectiveness in leading change, and they consider these competencies in
identifying, training, and promoting the worthy individuals in the leadership arena.
Note: The Power of Brainstorming: Optimize Through Motivation
In his article published in the November 2010 issue of PM Network, “Creative force: Tired of
blank stares and shrugs during brainstorming sessions? Here is how to get your team thinking
like the true visionaries they are,” Chauncey Hollingsworth discusses how project managers
can utilize brainstorming effectively to enable the team members to generate a wealth of
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ideas that can help them, the project managers, realize cost, time, and quality efficiencies.
Here are some tips provided by Chauncey Hollingsworth:
1. Encourage all team members to talk a lot, think freely, and start putting their ideas in
form of visual artwork and prints on the wall for other team members to see.
2. Inspire team members to think out-the-box and appreciate that thinking even if the idea
generated and provided by that thinking is not used.
3. Kick start creativity by:
a) Having an open mind
b) Listening actively
c) Appreciating inquisitiveness
d) Acknowledging and recognizing when a creative thought is offered
4. Provide quick resolution to conflicts to provide sustainable nonhostile environment,
which is pre-requisite for free creative thinking.
Coaching and Training

Generally, training is required when a project team member does not possess the
skills and expertise to perform certain type of job responsibilities. However, the
need for training can arise from multiple other reasons, such as to improve the
competencies of the project team members to perform better in the existing job or
to learn about new product, process, or equipment, to prepare project team
members for promotional opportunities, or just to enhance the credibility of the
organization to secure more business. The training can be formal or informal and
can either be provided by an internal or an external provider. Formal or scheduled
training programs are developed and managed by the human resources
department, whereas informal or unplanned training usually occurs as a result of
skill gaps observed during the performance evaluation of the project team
members. The funding for training can come either from the individual project
budget or from the performing organization’s budget, but it usually comes from the
project budget for a projectized organization and from the organization’s budget
for a matrix or functional organization. Various training methods include but are
not limited to instructor-led classroom training, instructor-led online virtual
training, computer-based training (CBT), and on-the-job training (OJT) provided by
peers, mentors, or internal subject matter experts. Most large organizations both
in the private and public sector, such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, IBM, Google,
state and federal government agencies, and so on, provide free access to online
learning resources, such as Books24x7 to their employees for continuous ongoing
competency enhancement and for keeping their skills up to date.
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Team-Building Activities
Team-buildings activities are instrumental in enhancing the team cohesiveness,
improving working relationships, and building trust among the team members.
These activities are even more important now than ever before due to the global
nature of many projects involving remote team members.
Technology advancements have enabled the virtual work environments in which
the project team members do not necessarily need to be co-located. Nonetheless,
the importance of some level of face-to-face interaction among the team members
cannot be discounted. Humans tend to work better with the people whom they
have face-to-face interactions with. Arranging face-to-face interactions periodically
through team-building activities can do wonders in enhancing the working
relationships among the team members and hence improve their productivity and
satisfaction.
Various methods to conduct team-building activities include but are not limited to
dedicating some periodic team meetings for this purpose, engaging in some fun
activities at a scheduled offsite together (for example, luncheons, golf, movies, and
picnics), arranging team appreciation events, and so on. If not more, at least one
session of team-building activities at the time of the project kick-off is highly
recommended to establish some rapport among the team members.
Because of the dynamic nature of the project life, some existing team members
may leave the project due to various reasons, and some new members may join
the project team anytime until the project is finished. Thus, it is essential that the
team-building activities are commenced during the early stages of the project and
are conducted periodically throughout the project life cycle on an ongoing basis to
assimilate the new team members.
Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, proposed a team development model
that is one of the most commonly used models for team development. It includes
five stages of the team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and
adjourning:
• Forming: The project team members learn about the project and they learn
about their roles and responsibilities.
• Storming: The team starts the project work, but there may be some conflicts
and misunderstandings among the team members.
• Norming: The dust of conflicts and misunderstandings settles, and the team
members normalize or adjust their work habits or behaviors to achieve mutual
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trust and effective working relationships. The project manager exhibits more
leadership role during this phase.
• Performing: This is the phase in which the team is performing at an optimal level
by resolving the issues, if any, smoothly and effectively. The project manager’s
role in this phase is more of delegating, monitoring, and controlling.
• Adjourning: The project work is completed, the project is closed, and the team
is released. At this point, the team members either go on to work on other
projects or they go back to their individual functional departments.
Tips for Effective Team Building

The following are some tips for building teamwork effectively:
• Do not over-direct and smother the team; the same goes for too much freedom.
• Establish common ground rules and code of conduct.
• Define and communicate the project vision, goals, and objectives clearly.
• Define roles and responsibilities clearly.
• Establish accountability by empowering the team.
• Arrange training as appropriate.
• Provide continuous mentoring and coaching.
• Resolve conflicts and under-performance issues in a timely manner.
• Promote and reward team efforts.
Kickoff Meetings
• The following are some tips for effective kickoff meetings:
• The project kickoff meeting, when conducted properly, can contribute
significantly to the team building efforts. It is probably the best opportunity for
the project manager to share the project vision with the team. Kevin Forsberg,
Ph.D. et al., authors of Visualizing Project Management, suggest the following
ten goals for an effective kickoff meeting:
• Introduce project team members.
• Define project overall vision, goals, objectives, and strategies.
• Outline key deliverables, key milestones, constraints, opportunities, and risks.
• Review the team mission and develop supporting goals interactively.
• Determine reporting relationships and interactions with other teams.
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• Define lines of communication and interfaces.
• Review preliminary project plans.
• Pinpoint high-risk or problem areas.
• Define responsibilities.
• Generate and obtain commitment.
Ground Rules
Ground rules are essential to establish a common ground; that is, to establish clear
expectations on acceptable behaviors on the project. These rules may pertain to
business confidentiality, information security, code of conduct, meeting etiquettes,
diversity tolerance, working with fellow team members, communication, Internet
and phone usage, perfume use, and so on. It is important that these ground rules
are enacted early in the project so that any ambiguities and surprises later can be
avoided. Also, it is essential that all project team members have the knowledge of
the common ground rules that each one of them is expected to follow. The ground
rules can be formal or informal, and formal or informal training may need to be
conducted to make the entire team familiar with these rules and understand their
responsibilities. It is highly recommended that the project manager obtains sign-
off on acceptance of these rules from all team members so that they can be held
accountable if they violate the rules later.
Note: A Common Code of Conduct
Ethical conduct issues are hard to enumerate but they must be resolved in a timely manner
for the success of the project. Kevin Forsberg, Ph.D. et al., authors of Visualizing Project
Management, suggest that various codes of conduct must be understood clearly and upper
management guidance should be sought, if necessary, to make right choices. In addition, they
suggest that anything that violates one’s personal ethics should not be done and any
improper conduct must be reported, anonymously if necessary.
According to Forsberg et al., a common code of conduct is only effective if it establishes rules
of behavior, resolves the potential sources of conflict, and clears the ambiguities leading to
conflict. They suggest the following categories to be considered with regards to the common
code of conduct:
• Customer relations
• Personal use and care of company property
• Attendance and work hours
• Safety
• Smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse
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• Gambling
• Falsification of records
• Acceptance of gifts
Co-Location
Co-location is also known as a tight matrix. It involves housing project team
members at the same physical location with the intent to improve team
interactions and communications and reduce travel time and costs. One key
feature of co-location is that it involves a war room in which the project team meets
regularly and project schedules and other pertinent information is displayed to
facilitate easy sharing among the team members. Co-location can sustain
throughout the project life cycle, or it can be for a temporary duration depending
upon the project environment and needs. Co-location does provide significant
benefits as discussed previously, but sometimes these co-location benefits may be
outweighed by the benefits associated with the virtual team environment, which
may include availability of more skilled workers and low-cost locations, savings
realized by reduction in travel and relocation costs, and closeness to some partners,
suppliers, and customers.
Co-Locating to Seek Improvements in Project Efficiency, Communications, and Stakeholder
Satisfaction
The project management department of a State of California agency initiated a statewide
large project to upgrade the legacy IT infrastructure of the agency to new state-of-the-art
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based computing solution based on the latest
information technology. The project management office was located in Rancho Cordova,
California, and the agency headquarters were in Sacramento, California. During the planning
and procurement phase of the project, the project management committee (PMC) realized
that the project team members needed to travel back and forth between the Project
Management Office (PMO) and the headquarters to attend various project meetings that
resulted in wasted travel time, travel expenses, time consumed by the team members
claiming travel expenses, inconvenience traveling in bad weather, parking issues and cost,
and lost productivity. To improve the status quo, the PMO decided to co-locate with rest of
the project team members during the planning and procurement phase. Similarly, during the
design, development, and implementation phase, the project team decided to co-locate with
the Systems Integrator (SI) who was located in Elk Grove, California. This arrangement
created a tight matrix for the project that included all project team members, county
consultants, external subject matter experts, and the SI and resulted in increased team
efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction, reduced waste and cost, improved team
interactions, and enhanced stakeholder communications.
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Recognition and Rewards
“Everyone likes feeling valued, no matter what level they are at. Morale and
dedications also benefit, which can, in turn, lead to improved productivity.”—
Whitten, N., author of Reality Check, PM Network
As a leader, it is the responsibility of the project manager to motivate the project
team to perform at the optimum level. Recognition and rewards constitute an
effective tool to accomplish this. However, this tool should be used cautiously
because when improperly used it can result in the side effect of alienating or
demotivating some team members. The Project Human Resource Management
Plan, which provides guidelines on how to recognize and reward the project team
members, must include the following steps that must be considered for the best
use of the recognition and rewards tool to accomplish the intended results:
• Value to the recipient: Make sure that the reward offered is perceived as value-
add by the recipient.
• Timing: Do not wait until the end of the project to recognize and reward the
qualified individuals. Rather, start utilizing this motivational tool early in the project
and continue using it throughout the project life cycle for a sustainable ongoing
motivation of the project team members.
• Cultural and religious differences: In some cultures, recognizing and rewarding a
single person versus the entire team is considered bad or offensive and could result
in demotivating the entire team. However, it is perfectly acceptable to recognize
and reward a best-performing individual on the team, which could motivate other
team members to also follow the performance behavior being recognized.
Similarly, care must be taken while determining the reward so that someone’s
religious beliefs are not offended. For example, do not reward a Muslim team
member with a dining voucher for a meal involving pork, and do not reward a Hindu
team member with a dining voucher for a meal involving beef steak because of
their religious beliefs.
Although monetary rewards in terms of cash bonus, stock options, or gift
card/certificates are the commonly used tangible rewards for a job well done,
intangible rewards, such as opportunities for career growth, opportunities for
applying professional skills on challenging assignments, opportunities to work on
the projects with high visibility, or simply recognition as being a valued team
member, are equal or even more effective motivators for majority of the team
members.
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• Shared rewards: Use due diligence when deciding to reward individual
performance and when to reward group performance. Individual rewards are
preferred in the United States, but many other countries (such as Singapore) prefer
shared rewards for the entire team.
Human Resource (Team Member) Assessments

Human resource assessment tools, such as personality tests, ability tests,
behavioral surveys, interviews, and so on, can be used by the project managers to
develop the needed improvement or development plans for the project team
members by understanding their learning styles, preferences, aspirations,
organizational skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and decision-
making skills. The project managers can perform a performance gap analysis by
comparing the assessment results (baseline performance state) against the wanted
results (target performance state) to undertake the team improvement or
development plans that are most effective for their project teams.
Conduct Team Performance Assessments

In addition to finding the right human resources for the project, it is one of the key
responsibilities of the project manager to improve team performance as
necessary. Team performance assessments are conducted by the project manager
to identify areas that need improvement. The team performance assessment
success criteria should include the assessment of improvements in terms of
improved team interactions and communications (more diversity tolerance,
cohesiveness, collaboration, and knowledge sharing), reduced staff turnover rate
(more satisfaction), improved project quality (work performed accurately and
effectively), improved schedule management (on time), and improved cost
management (under budget) as a result of undertaking the team performance
improvement efforts.
Update Project Environment Information

The information on the team assessment criteria, training efforts, tools used,
results realized, training records, and lessons learned, and so on need to be
reflected in the project environment information. These updates may serve as a
reference for other projects down the road.
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CHECK POINT: MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF TEAM
DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS
The success of team building efforts can be measured by auditing group and
individual performance. The following are important tips for measuring the success
of team development efforts:
• Establish SMART goals: If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it. Thus,
establish SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely) goals for
team development so that the success of the development efforts can be
measured, tracked, and controlled.
• Establish performance measurement criteria: Include both qualitative and
quantitative measures in assessing the success of team development milestones
and quality check points. If the actual performance is not in line with the baseline
performance, a corrective action may need to be implemented. Apply these criteria
to both individual and team performance measurement.
• How to interpret these measurements: At each checkpoint in the performance
measurement cycle, compare the measured performance against the target
performance and the variance will indicate the status of the progress being made,
as depicted in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2: Team Building Efforts Success Measurement Criteria
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SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 6.2 summarizes the project human resources development
process.
Figure 6.2 Project Human Resources Development Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Skills and competencies
Responsibility assignment matrix
Coaching and training
Co-location
Interpersonal skills
Project environment
Resource calendars
Team performance assessments
Team-building activities
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Ground rules
Emotional intelligence
CASE STUDY: A FOCUS ON COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT AND

TRAINING DOUBLES THE SUCCESS RATE OF NEW INITIATIVES
A project management training program improved milestone achievement ten
times in just a short period of 25 months. It was observed that raising the
competency level of a project manager made it twice as likely that an initiative
would be successfully completed.
Company
Kheri Electronics, Inc., (KEI), an Ontario, California, USA-based consumer
electronics manufacturing company, has its operations in more than 18 countries
worldwide, and its customer base includes billions of consumers around the globe.
Challenge
Project managers at KEI exist in various functions of the company such as R&D,
manufacturing, business process reengineering, and marketing. A vast majority of
them do possess strong technical skills but not business skills. Due to increased
focus on nontraditional business practices (for example, knowledge management
and sustainability) in the modern era, there is an additional need for stronger
leadership and communication skills. Also, the standardization of the business and
technology processes has become absolutely necessary now to be more successful
in launching initiatives and improving the percentage of projects and programs
meeting milestone targets.
Solution
KEI leadership realized the new training initiative can be brought up to speed faster
by bringing in an outside project management partner. PM Doot Consulting (PMDC)
was called upon to take on this training initiative quickly and to incorporate KEI’s
internal materials, creating a training program tailored to the KEI environment. The
training program consisted of two main courses:
• Initiative Focused Leadership Training (IFLT) was targeted toward newly
promoted or potential project managers. This program was intended to increase
the knowledge and skills of the target audience in the innovation techniques that
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would enable them to be more productive and effective in leading initiatives
pertaining to innovation.
• Project Management Fundamentals Training (PMFT) builds on and complements
the leadership skills of IFLT by providing project managers access to the tools and
techniques to plan, perform, manage, and control initiatives.
In addition, PMDC offered few more courses including but not limited to Lean Six
Sigma Green Belt training, project risk management, technical leadership, and C-
Level communications.
Note
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt refers to an industry standard level of expertise in the area of
process improvement via Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques. Lean refers to no waste, and
Six Sigma refers to 99.9 percent accuracy.
Results
Over the 18 months, more than 1,200 KEI project managers, functional managers,
and other employees across all its sites around the globe have taken various
courses offered by PMDC. Approximately 300 of them have obtained their Project
Management Professional (PMP) credentials and approximately 150 of them have
earned their Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certifications. KEI leadership has observed
that since that time, the percentage of milestones achieved on schedule has
increased by ten times, which is a significant improvement. These results provide a
solid proof of concept and a powerful argument for continuing to raise the
competency level of project managers who lead the high-visibility and high-dollar
initiatives for KEI.

1. Was KEI’s decision to acquire the services of PMDC a wise move?
2. What are the key challenges discussed in this case? Explain.

1. What is the importance of team-building activities?
2. What do you understand by the phrase “Together Each Achieves More”?
3. What are the prerequisites for the process of developing a project team?
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4. What are the five components of emotional intelligence? Describe them
briefly.
5. What role does rewards and recognition play in the human resource
development process?
6. What role do resource calendars play in the project human resource
development process?
7. What is tight matrix? How does it help improve the team performance?
8. Describe Tuckman’s model for team development.
9. How can a project manager measure the success of the team development
efforts?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://sourcesofinsight.com/project-management-quotes/
3. Hollingsworth, C. “Creative Force: Tired of Blank Stares and Shrugs During
Brainstorming Sessions?,” PM Network, 24(11): pp. 45, 2014.
4. Whitten, N. “Reality Check,” PM Network, 24(1): pp. 24, 2010.
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7. Managing Project Human Resources
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of managing project human resources
• Scope of managing project human resources
• Mechanism of managing human resources
• Process flow for managing project human resources
• Project work and team performance management
• Tools for effective team management
• Project manager soft competencies
• Project team conflict management techniques
“Project managers function as bandleaders who pull together their players each a
specialist with individual score and internal rhythm. Under the leader’s direction,
they all respond to the same beat.”
—L.R. Sayles, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University Graduate School of
Business
In the previous two chapters, you learned that it is the responsibility of a project
manager to acquire the right resources to fill the roles on the project and also to
develop those resources so that they could perform at the level required for the
success of the project. However, the improved team performance achieved via
team development efforts may not be sustainable if the project team is not
managed effectively. This chapter covers the process “managing project human
resources,” which discusses the ways a project manager can manage the team
effectively to keep it performing at the optimum level.
PURPOSE
The purpose of managing project human resources is to improve the project team
performance by:
• Resolving conflicts and issues among team members
• Providing timely constructive feedback
• Rewarding good behavior
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• Influencing behavior of the project team members
• Resolving issues by implementing appropriate corrective actions
An effective management of project human resources is even more important
when the project organizational structure is a matrix because in a matrix
organization, the human resources are owned by the functional managers.
Managing the dual relationship of a project human resource with a functional and
project manager poses a significant challenge for a project manager and requires
the project manager to have adequate management and leadership skills to handle
this challenge effectively.
Managing project human resources is the most challenging part of project
management primarily because people’s behaviors can be quite unpredictable.
Staff attrition is a huge concern for any project manager because project
performance can suffer a significant setback if some key resources leave the
project. It may take a considerably long time, especially in the government sector,
to hire and train the new employees. Also, some team members may actually be
under-performing under the pretext of performing optimally; for example, they
may inflate the estimated duration of their project activities by using unrealistic
slack or a cushion. In addition, unexpected conflicts, unethical behavior, low
morale, and illegal activities related to the team members can plague the
performance of the team and can potentially derail the project. As discussed
in Chapter 6, “Developing Project Human Resources,” a project manager must
possess superb interpersonal skills to sense the early warning signs to proactively
take the appropriate actions to sustain the optimal performance of the team and
keep the project on the path to success.
SCOPE
The scope of managing project human resources includes the following:
• Monitoring and tracking team performance
• Providing feedback
• Providing rewards and recognition
• Managing disciplinary actions
• Resolving conflicts and issues
• Managing recommended changes to bring the team performance back on track
when applicable
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As part of the team management responsibility, the project manager evaluates the
team performance and compares the actual team performance against the wanted
performance. Change requests emerge as a result of the discrepancies if any issues
are logged, tracked, and resolved, lessons learned are captured, and various
project artifacts, such as project management plan, historical organizational
project artifacts, and project environment, are updated.
TIMING
Managing and controlling the project human resources is performed mainly during
the executing phase of the project. However, it is performed iteratively throughout
the project life cycle due to dynamic nature of the project teams.
MECHANISM
All operations involving monitor and control activities make use of a control
process. Because managing project human resources also involves monitoring and
controlling the performance of project human resources (team), it is imperative to
understand the basic control process before proceeding further.
Basic Control Process

Figure 7.1 shows the block diagram of a basic project management control process.
Figure 7.1 Basic Project Management Control Process
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Baseline, Planned, or Reference Input
The planning phase of the project provides the baseline, planned, or reference
input. This phase is dedicated to the development of the project management plan
(PMP) and its subordinate plans, including but not limited to the following:
• Configuration Management Plan
• Change Management Plan
• Requirements Management Plan
• Scope Management Plan
• Cost Management Plan
• Schedule or Time Management Plan
• Quality Management Plan
• Communications Management Plan
• Stakeholder Management Plan
• Human Resources (Staffing) Management Plan
• Procurement Management Plan
• Risk and Issue Management Plan
• Project Governance Plan
All these artifacts are the baseline plans for various project areas in which project
performance needs to be monitored, measured, and controlled. The control
process, in general, is used to either achieve the wanted results by controlling pre-
established project performance metrics (for example, scope, cost, schedule,
quality, communications, stakeholder management, project team performance,
and so on) or it is used to initiate a corrective action to bring the unacceptable and
out-of-control project performance back within the acceptable control limits.
Actual Input
This input comes from the executing phase of the project life cycle. This refers to
the actual performance level of a project metric measured at any given instance of
time for comparison with the planned performance level of that metric.
Control Process
The control process is a quantitative project management process because it
involves measurement and comparison of the actual performance level and the
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planned performance level. Without proper control in place, you would not know
whether the project management efforts are working adequately. The absence of
proper controls leads to schedule slips, cost overruns, scope creep, quality erosion,
stakeholder dissatisfaction, and eventually project failure. Thus, the importance of
project performance control cannot be underestimated.
Feedback
The feedback loop refers to an action taken based on the measurement of the
performance variance for the project metric being tracked. This action could
include but is not limited to:
• Performance status updates
• Change requests
• Corrective actions
• Lessons learned
• Current project artifacts update
• Historical organizational project artifacts update
It is important to note that the change requests and/or corrective actions may
trigger adjustments to actual, planned, or both inputs (that is, the remedial actions
could involve updating baseline, adjusting actual input to bring it within the
constraints established by the baseline input, or both).
How to Manage Project Human Resources

The project human resources management process contains the following key
steps:
1. Review project staff assignments.
2. Review human resource management plan.
3. Monitor and control team performance.
4. Review project work performance status reports.
5. Utilize project human resource management tools.
6. Manage issues.
7. Manage change requests.
8. Update human resource management plan.
9. Update project management plan.
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10.Update project current, operational, or living documents.
11.Update project environment information.
12.Update historical organizational project artifacts.
Figure 7.2 illustrates the overall flow of the project human resources management
Figure 7.2 Project Human Resources Management Process Flow
Review Project Staff Assignments

The human resources needed on the project are acquired and assigned to
appropriate roles on the project during the acquisition process. The staff
assignment documents, such as project team directory, team memos, project
organization charts, and project dules, provide the list of project human resources,
which provide a key piece of informati zaXa
on that can be used to manage the project human resources.
Review Human Resource Management Plan

The human resource management plan has been discussed in Chapter 2, “Planning
Human Resource Management.” This plan provides guidelines on how the project
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human resources should be identified, acquired, managed, controlled, and
released. It includes project roles and responsibilities, organization charts, and
staffing management plan.
Monitor and Control Team Performance

Referring to Figure 7.1, a control loop has two inputs and one output. One of the
two inputs is actual input that is compared with the other input (called baseline,
planned, or reference input). The output is the variance between the actual and
the baseline, the information that is used by the project manager with the project
work performance reports to make critical project team and work performance
improvement decisions as well as to determine the future requirements and
strategy for the project.
Baseline, Planned, or Reference Input (Wanted Team Performance)

The human resource management plan also includes the “should be” or wanted
project team performance information. This information constitutes the baseline
input to the team performance control loop, referred to in Figure 7.1.
Actual Input (Assessed Team Performance)

The team performance information measured real-time constitutes
the actual input to the team performance control loop referred to in Figure 7.1.
This information is provided by the actual team performance assessments.
Discussed in Chapter 6, the project team performance assessments provide
information on the measured actual team performance. It is essential for the
project manager to conduct project team performance assessments on an ongoing
basis to identify areas that need improvement so that appropriate corrective
actions can be implemented to resolve the identified issues and conflicts as well as
to improve interaction and communication among the team members.
Determine Team Performance Variance

If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. This is true for the project team’s
performance. To manage the project team’s performance effectively, it is essential
for a project manager to determine and analyse the team performance variance
information.
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Performance Variance Information
Performance Variance = Actual Performance – Planned Performance
The performance variance helps project manager make rational decisions take
appropriate actions based on the type and magnitude of the variance:
• Negative variance: A negative variance means that the team performance is
below the planned levels, and if a corrective action request is not initiated in a
timely manner to bring the performance (actual) within the acceptable limits, the
situation could be detrimental and could potentially derail the project.
• Zero variance: A zero variance means that the performance is right on track and
no remedial action is needed.
• Positive variance: A positive performance signifies over-performance; that is,
exceeding the planned performance expectations. This shows that there is a
positive return on the investment, and the project manager should continue to
exploit and enhance the work practices that are already in place and leverage these
best practices across other areas of the project as well.
Feedback
The feedback constitutes the actions taken by the project manager based on the
performance variance measured during the stakeholder engagement control
process. The following are the suggested actions for a project manager to take in
various scenarios.
If the variance is negative, follow these steps:
1. Initiate appropriate corrective action via a change request (CR).
2. Submit CRs to Change Control Board (CCB) for review and approval.
3. Update change request log.
4. Update baselines plan(s) with the CR information if CR is approved by CCB.
5. Implement the approved change request.
6. Revise and resubmit the rejected change request.
7. Update current project documents. Examples include but are not limited to:
• Roles and responsibilities
• Change requests tracking log
• Issue and action items log
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8. Update the historical project documents. Examples include but are not limited
to:
• Organizational or project policies, procedures, processes, standards,
guidelines, and requirements for project human resource management
• Issue management plans and procedures
• Change control procedures
• Templates, issue logs, lessons learned, and other historical information from
previous similar projects
If the variance is zero or positive, follow these steps:

1. Update the current project documents. Examples include but are not limited to:
2. Update the historical project documents. Examples include but are not limited
to:
• Organizational or project policies, procedures, processes, standards, guidelines,
and requirements for project human resource management
• Issue management plans and procedures
• Change control procedures
• Templates, issue logs, lessons learned, and other historical information from
previous similar projects
3. Archive the performance information for disseminating to various stakeholders.
Review Project Work Performance Status Reports

The project work performance status reports contain the information on actual
(current) project work performance compared to the planned or forecasted work
performance. The difference between planned and actual performance is a critical
piece of information that a project manager can use to achieve the best mix of the
triple constraints of the project (scope, schedule, and budget) and project quality.
For instance, based on the information provided by these work performance
measurement reports, the project manager may have to acquire additional human
resources, seek additional funding, reduce scope, extend schedule, negotiate
quality acceptance criteria, and determine recognition and rewards.
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Utilize Project Human Resource Management Tools
A project manager can utilize the following tools to manage the project human
resources:
• Interpersonal skills
• Management by Walking Around (MBWA)
• Project performance evaluations
• Team conflict management
Interpersonal Skills
To manage the project team effectively, a project manager must possess strong
interpersonal skills, which include leadership, influencing, and effective decision
making. These skills help improve the soft competencies of the project manager
(see Figure 7.4) as well as improve the interactions between the project manager
and the project team by enabling the project manager to make rational decisions
based on more effective analysis of the project situations.
Leadership
For a cohesive team effort, the team members must know where they are heading
on the project. A project manager with strong leadership skills can share the vision
with the project team members and lead them to the common destination—that
is, to the project success.
Good project managers are not necessarily born leaders. Any project manager can
learn the leadership skills to become an effective project manager. Figure
7.3 outlines some of the most prevailing leadership theories. The understanding of
these theories is important to embark on the journey to become a good leader.
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Figure 7.3 Leadership Theories
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Figure 7.4 Project Manager Soft Competencies
Influencing
People are motivated to work most commonly due to two major factors in an
organization or project environment: compliance and commitment. Compliance is
usually associated with the position power of the manager where people work due
to fear of repercussions if they don’t perform. People may just deliver the bare
minimum to meet their job requirements in this scenario and may not deliver their
best. However, commitment is independent of the position power of the manager.
People in this scenario are committed due to strong leadership skills and the
charismatic personality of the manager as a leader. Thus, in true sense, a project
manager must have strong leadership skills to influence the stakeholders because
a project manager’s level of direct authority over the project human resources
depends upon the structure of the organization. For example, in matrix and
functional organizational structures, the project manager does not have full
authority over the resources, and leadership skills come in handy to influence
project human resources and other stakeholders in these project environments.
Influencing skills include but are not limited to:
• Ability to persuade others by articulating position and points
• Active and effective listening skills
• Ability to view a situation from different angles and consideration of different
perspectives
• Ability to resolve various issues by gathering relevant facts and information
amicably without jeopardizing the mutual trust
Effective Decision Making

Effective and rational decisions made by a project manager in a timely manner do
have a positive impact on the project success. The negotiation skills and ability to
influence the stakeholders contribute to the effective decision making by a project
manager. PMBOK,® 5th Edition provides the following guidelines to the project
manager to make effective decisions:
• Focus on goals to be met.
• Follow a proper decision-making process.
• Consider the project environmental information.
• Gather and analyze critical new information.
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• Analyze available information.
• Develop team member personal qualities.
• Encourage team creativity.
• Manage risks effectively.
Management by Walking Around (MBWA)

A project manager must work closely with the project team to achieve the optimum
performance results from the team. Like MBWA (Management by Walking
Around), a time-tested management technique, a project manager should
continually observe the day-to-day work of the project team members and have
casual conversations with them to sense their problems, feelings, and morale.
“Good project managers schedule recurring project reviews, where they can foster
a commitment to process improvement.”
—J. Fewell, author of “The Great Debate” PM Network
Project Performance Evaluations

Project managers perform project performance appraisals periodically so that they
can implement remedial action plans in a timely manner by providing constructive
feedback to project team members, developing appropriate individual or group
training plans, setting future performance expectations, clarifying project roles and
responsibilities, and identifying and resolving latent issues. Depending on project
environment and/or complexity, project team members may receive their
performance feedback from their project manager alone or from other individuals,
such as peers, functional managers, and vendors as well.
Team Conflict Management

Conflicts on a project are inevitable but not all the conflicts are bad. For example,
differences of opinion on the design of a solution can help the team consider
multiple alternatives and chose the best one. However, negative conflicts, such as
personality conflicts can prove to be disastrous to a project if not resolved quickly.
That’s why project managers must have strong interpersonal skills so that they can
effectively resolve the conflicts. In addition, proactive measures, such as
establishment of clear ground rules, communication of clear roles and
responsibilities, establishment of proper risk and issue management processes,
training on standards of business conduct, work ethics, and diversity tolerance,
adoption of project management best practices, and establishment of formal
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communication plan can help alleviate the impact of the negative conflicts. These
types of conflicts may take place between any stakeholders. Project managers must
try to resolve a negative conflict early and in private. Figure 7.5shows the following
techniques for conflict resolution commonly used by the managers:
1. Confronting or problem solving
2. Collaborating
3. Forcing
4. Smoothing or accommodating
5. Compromising
6. Withdrawing or avoiding
Figure 7.5 Techniques for Conflict Resolution
If the project manager’s mediation fails and the conflict continues, the matter
should be escalated to the human resources department immediately, and
appropriate disciplinary actions should be taken according to personnel policies
and procedures.
Manage Issues
An issue can be defined as a threat that is an impediment to the progress of a
project. Issues do arise from managing the project team, and they should be logged
into a log or database so that they can be analyzed, assigned to appropriate owners,
and resolved in a timely manner. Examples of the project issues occurring during
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the project team management process include but are not limited to personality
conflicts among team members, resignation by a key team member, unethical or
illegal behavior exhibited by a team member, and technology-related issues.
Manage Change Requests

Staffing changes occur throughout the project life cycle for multiple reasons. Some
resources may leave the project upon finding a better opportunity elsewhere, some
may get transferred internally due to reorganization, some may need to be
replaced for underperforming, being dysfunctional, or being disruptive, and some
may take the extended leave due to a vacation, sickness, or maternity leave. These
staffing changes may break the triple constraints equilibrium and thus appropriate
change requests may need to be processed through the established change control
process so that these changes are properly documented and managed effectively
to minimize the impact on the project success.
Regardless of the underlying reason, staffing changes may pose a huge risk to the
project success if not handled proactively. First, as Alan Davis (chairman and
cofounder of Alan Davis Strategic Recruiting) said, “Hire hard, manage easy.” The
project manager should take adequate time and care to hire only the quality staff
to avoid recruiting the substandard staff and facing managing issues later. Second,
the project manager should provide proper coaching and training to the team to
keep it performing to the optimal level. Third, the project must have a plan B or the
contingency plan in case a key resource suddenly quits. A contingency plan may
include but is not limited to cross-training the staff so that continuity can be
maintained when someone suddenly leaves the project for whatever reasons.
Update Project Management Plan

All staffing changes are documented in the human resource management plan.
Because the human resource management plan is part of the project management
plan, the project management plan needs to be updated accordingly.
Update Project Current, Operational, or Living Documents

During its life cycle, a project uses and maintains a variety of documents to store
various types of project operational information such as project status information,
schedule information, and so on. These documents are called current, operational,
or living documents because they are used throughout the project life cycle and
they are subject to change. The examples of such documents include but are not
limited to the following:
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Update Project Environment Information

The updates to project environment information include, but are not limited to,
changes to team skills and performance appraisals.
Update Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

The historical organizational project artifacts have also been discussed in Chapter
2. The updates to these artifacts may include, but are not limited to, updates to
websites, newsletters, bonus structures, and certificates of appreciation.
Note: Adding More Human Resources May Not Always Boost Project Performance
It may be necessary from time to time to add more resources to mitigate a critical path or to
reduce the overall project schedule, but as Forsberg et al. mentioned in their book Visualizing
Project Management, adding more resources may not always result in boosting the project
performance. Project performance is team-dependent and any team can succeed when it is
committed to the fundamentals of project management and insists on applying them
consistently and systematically. However, in an atmosphere of confusion, adding more
people usually compounds poor performance. Typically, waste, inefficiency, and costly errors
are compounded as hordes of new human resources are added in a futile attempt to recover
from the incorrect practices that caused the failures in the first place.
Tip
Tips for Effective Project Human Resource Management
• Ensure your project team members are fully aware of the project vision, goals, and
objectives.
• Leverage best practices from historical organizational project artifacts.
• Establish ground rules for all team members to follow.
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities, performance expectations, and performance
evaluation criteria.
• Understand personalities and behavioral aspects of your project team members.
• Adhere to a formal communications management plan.
• Lead by example; practice what you preach.
• Ensure attendees are fully engaged in virtual team meetings.
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SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 7.6 summarizes the project human resource management
process.
Figure 7.6 Project Human Resource Management Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Staff assignments
Project Management Plan
Work performance
MBWA
Conflict management
Change requests
Project Current/Operational/Living Documents
Human Resource Management Plan
Team performance
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Performance evaluations
Issue log
Change Control Board
Project environment
Lessons learned
CASE STUDY: OMEGA MACHINE

Founded by J.P. Saini in 1986, Omega Machine Company (OMC) was among the top
10 information technology (IT) companies in the world during the economic boom
in the late ‘90s. With headquarters in West Sacramento, California, USA, OMC had
its operations all over the world. Its key manufacturing operations to produce
enterprise servers, personal computers, and network devices were in California,
Puerto Rico, Singapore, Japan, Australia, India, Germany, Czech Republic, Scotland,
and Brazil. In addition, the company had a network of distributors of its IT products
and services all over the world. Its customers included both the private companies
and various government agencies.
Challenge
During the ‘90s boom period, the company was at the pinnacle of its success.
Started as a small IT company with customers targeting primarily only the State of
California agencies and small-to-medium private companies in the Sacramento
area, OMC’s revenue grew exponentially over years, and it became a $28-billion
company by 1997. However, the company was concerned about the constantly
rising support cost and the diminishing efficiency pertaining to the aging
manufacturing test infrastructure across its IT products manufacturing sites
worldwide. Experts advised Jas Saini, the VP of Global Manufacturing Operations,
to do something about it immediately before it starts eroding company’s profits
significantly.
After consulting with experts and his key staff, Jas decided to launch a project to
upgrade the aging IT infrastructure to new and more efficient hardware and to
incorporate the latest IT tools and technologies (for example, server and storage
virtualization) on a priority basis. Ropar Technology Services, LLC (aka RTS), a
Sacramento-based IT consulting company, was engaged to lead this operations
improvement project.
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Jessie Garcia, the project manager from RTS, embarked on the journey to complete
the project per agreed-upon terms between OMC and RTS.
Due to the complexity of the huge network of OMC’s global manufacturing
operations, the scope of the project required monumental work. Jessie split the
project into two phases, as follows.
Phase 1
1. Assess the status quo to determine the baseline performance.
2. Determine the target performance.
3. Perform gap analysis.
4. Recommend improvements to OMC management.
5. Get OMC management sign-off on the recommended solution.
Phase 2
1. Create core and extended project teams by acquiring project human resources
from functional managers and other sources across OMC manufacturing sites
worldwide.
2. Manage the global project teams to design, development, and deploy the
recommended solution.
3. Get sign-offs and close the project.
Due to the global nature of the project involving project team members spanning
across multiple countries, organizations, functional groups, cultures, languages,
and time zones, this project involved a number of challenges. The three key
challenges faced by this project included the following:
1. Collaboration among cross-organizational and cross-functional global project
team members.
2. Multiple project activities competing for the finite bandwidth of scarce human
resources.
3. Incomplete and incorrect requirements.
Among these, the top challenge was the first one: managing the collaboration
among cross-organizational and cross-functional global project team members.
Solution
Jessie utilized his strong project management, interpersonal, and leadership skills
to manage the diverse global project teams effectively to achieve the wanted work
and team performance levels. Here is what he did:
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• Recognized and adapted to the diverse cultures and communication styles
• Divided the globally spread project teams among three main regions: Americas,
EMEA (Europe), and APJ (Asia)
• Established three custom communications plans: one for each of the regions
• Appointed channel leaders as points of contact and delegated regional
management responsibilities to them
• Used the communication channels as conduits to send and receive information
to and from various global operations sites
• Held three sets of each project meeting: early morning for EMEA, daytime for
Americas, and late night for APJ
• Consolidated meeting minutes from all three sets of meetings and disseminated
to all regions at the end of the last (late night) meeting to keep all team
members up to date
• Used MS SharePoint as a collaboration platform for global project teams
Results
The project was completed under budget and 1 month before the approved
deadline. The improved brought by the project included the following:
• Support cost reduction by 70 percent (a saving of approximately $16 million a
year)
• Decreased defect rate by 85 percent
• Improved stakeholder satisfaction by 90 percent
RTS was commended by the OMC management for a job well done, and Jessie, the
RTS project manager, received special recognition. In addition, RTS won multiple
contracts with OMC in the future.

1. What is the main issue discussed in this case?
2. What soft competencies of a project manager helped Jessie Garcia manage his
globally spread project team members effectively?
3. Do you agree with Jessie’s approach? Provide arguments to support your
answer.
4. What did you learn from this case? Explain.
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1. Who is responsible for managing the project team?
2. Why is managing a project team the most challenging part of project
management?
3. Why is it important to manage the project human resources effectively?
4. Is it always a wise choice to add more human resources if the project is not
performing well?
5. What is MBWA (Management by Walking Around)?
6. Discuss the soft competencies of an effective project manager.
7. Discuss the project conflict management techniques.
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://gcimmarrusti.wordpress.com/pm-quotes/
Knowledge (PMBOK®,Guide), 5th ed. Newton Square, Pennsylvania: Project
3. Fewell, J. “The Great Debate,” PM Network, 24(1): pp. 27, 2010.
4. Clarke, N. “Emotional Intelligence and its Relationship to Transformational
Leadership and Key Project Manager Competencies,” Project Management
Journal, 41(2): pp. 11, 2010.
6. http://www2.parkland.edu/businesstraining/documents/HRMgmtfromPMBOK
.pdf
7. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm
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8. Managing Project Communications
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of project communications management
• Scope of project communications management
• Mechanism of project communications management
• Information management systems
• Communication channels
• Communication technology
• Communication methodology
• Communication modeling
• Communication management plan
• Tips for enhancing the effectiveness of project communications management
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
—William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet
Chapter 3, “Planning Communications Management,” discussed
the communications managementplanning process. The key deliverable from the
planning process is the communications management plan, which provides
guidance on how to plan, execute, monitor, and control the project
communications. However, a plan will have no significance and will add no value to
the project if it is not executed. This chapter focuses on the execution of the
communications management plan.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the project communications management process is to execute the
project communications management plan to communicate the right information,
in the right format, in the right amount, with the right target audience, at the right
time, at the right frequency, and via the right communication channels.
Proper management of project communications—that is, the proper execution of
the communications management plan—is the key to establishing sustainable
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efficient and effective communications among stakeholders throughout the project
life cycle.
SCOPE
The scope of project communications management includes management of the
project activities pertaining to creating, gathering, storing, retrieving,
disseminating, and finally destroying the project information.
TIMING
Started during the executing stage of the project, the project communications
management process is performed throughout the project life cycle for ongoing
management of the project communications including assessment of the actual
performance of the communications management process.
MECHANISM
The following sections explain how to manage project communications.
How to Manage Project Communications

The project communications management process contains the following key
steps:
1. Review communications management plan.
2. Process work performance reports.
3. Understand project environment.
5. Use project communications management tools.
6. Conduct project communications.
8. Update current project documents.
9. Update historical organizational project artifacts.
Figure 8.1 illustrates the overall flow of the project human resources management
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Figure 8.1 Project Communications Management Process Flow
Review Communications Management Plan

Discussed in Chapter 3, the communications management plan provides guidelines
on how to manage project communications.
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Process Work Performance Reports
Work Performance Reports contain the information on project performance and
progress status, which must be communicated to executives and other project
stakeholders.
Understand Project Environment

The project environment can have influence on how project communications are
managed. This information includes, but is not limited to, the following:
• Organizational structure
• Organizational culture
• Project or industry standards
• Government regulations
• Project management information system

• Historical organizational project artifacts can have influence on how project
communications are managed. These factors include, but are not limited to, the
following:
• Lessons learned
• Organizational or project policies, procedures, processes, and guidelines for
communications management
• Project templates
• Project or industry standards
Use Project Communications Management Tools

There are a variety of tools that a project manager can use to manage project
communications. Some key tools are described in the following sections.
Communication Methodology
The three types of communication methods (interactive, push, and pull) have been
discussed in Chapter 3. These methods are targeted to ensure that right
information has been received and clearly understood by the right people.
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Communication Technology
Discussed in Chapter 3, the choice of communication technology plays an
important role in communications related decision making, and it depends on a
number of factors, such as the type of project environment, type of technology
available, type of technology affordable, communication needs of the
stakeholders, type of information, and so on.
Communication Modeling
Selection of appropriate communication models is also important for effective
execution of communications management process because the less noise
(communication barriers) in the communications channels, the more effective are
the communications.
Lessons Learned in Communications Management
In the August 2010 issue of PMI Today, the Project Management Institute (PMI) Northern
Italy Chapter (NIC) shared the following lessons learned in Communications Management
from its experience as chapter host for PMI Global Congress 2010 – EMEA and Leadership
Institute Meeting (LIM):
“EMEA Service Centre provided many promotional initiatives using PMI channels together
with the most important local newspapers. NIC published a special edition of its newsletter
dedicated to the EMEA congress, including comments from members who had attended
previous congresses. Together with our colleagues in Brussels, we mentioned PMI chapter
websites in order to ensure maximum visibility for the event.”
Information Management Systems

Project performance and progress status information will add little or no value if
not managed, distributed, and acted upon effectively in a timely manner. The tools
that are used to manage the project information and disseminate it to the target
stakeholders are called information management systems. Examples of these
systems include but are not limited to:
• Intranet, web portals, project scheduling, and collaboration sites, such as
SharePoint and project server
• Database management systems, such as Access and SQL servers
• Electronic document archival and management systems, such as Documentum,
iManage, and SharePoint
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• Electronic communications management systems, such as e-mails, voice mails,
instant messaging, telephony, faxes, twitter, blogs, websites, postal service,
courier service, and video conferencing
• Printed or handwritten information, such as letters, memos, project plans,
project reports, and desk procedures
Performance Reporting
Performance reporting entails reporting on how the project is progressing against
the planned scope, schedule, budget, and quality baselines. However, this
reporting is not “one-size-fits-all”; rather, it needs to be customized according to
the target audience. For example, only high-level information in the form of an
executive summary, a scorecard, or a dashboard may need to be distributed to the
senior management while a detailed report may be necessary for the project task
owners and leads. The information contained in the performance reports may
include but is not limited to schedule and cost variances, work completed during a
specific period, work to be completed during the N-days look-ahead period, and
risks and issues status.
Conduct Project Communications

Project communications involve the exchange of project performance and progress
information among stakeholders. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, project
communications can be formal or informal and written or verbal and they are
influenced by various factors like type of audience, urgency, impact, delivery
method, and confidentiality pertaining to the information. Also, communication is
not considered complete until the information is received as well as understood by
the intended recipient. If the information being communicated is full of
complicated jargon that the target audience cannot understand, the purpose of
communication is defeated. According to Forsberg, et al., authors of Visualizing
Project Management, “To communicate precisely, you have to think clearly and use
a common vocabulary.”
Engaging in communications with project stakeholders is performing the action of
communication. Effective communication is essential for implementing a change
program effectively. Thus, communications management and change management
can be classified as action management.
The Real Challenge in Communications Is Action Management
S. Redwood et al, in their book Action Management, 1st ed., say that “an action is any project
or initiative aimed at improving business performance. A change program is an action. So is
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reengineering. And so is a merger or acquisition. Understanding what an action is—that’s
easy. Knowing how to manage it is what bedevils managers from one end of the business
world to the other.”
Update Project/Communications Management Plans

Project communications management plan needs to be updated because when
stakeholders change or their communication preferences change, project
communications change, which trigger updates to the communications
management plan. Also, communications performance is measured by comparing
the actual performance against the baseline performance. Any deviations may
trigger corrective actions, which require the baselines, known as performance
measurement baselines (PMBs) per Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK)®, to be updated. Because the project management plan is an overarching
plan that contains information on project baselines as well as the communications
management plan, it would need to be updated whenever any baselines or
individual project plans covered under the project management plan are updated.
Update Current Project Documents

As a result of performing the communications management process, some project
documents, such as risk and issue logs, budget, schedule, and so on may need to
be updated.

Historical Organizational Project Artifacts in this context refer to the outputs of the
communications management process which include the information that was
distributed to the target audience. This information includes, but is not limited to:
• Notifications to stakeholders on project status and the action items they own
• Lessons learned
• Stakeholder feedback for future performance improvement
• Risk and issue logs
• Project presentation documents
• Project communications records encompassing meeting types, information
exchanged, meeting minutes, and so on
Tips for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Project Communications Management
The following key factors should be considered to enhance the effectiveness of project
communications management:
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• Make sure that the information has not only been received by the receiver but it also has
been understood.
• Make sure there are no barriers to interactions and communications among stakeholders
other than confidentiality or legal constraints, if any.
• Information exchange media should be chosen according to the situation. For example, it
must be carefully decided whether the medium should be informal verbal or formal
written.
• Project communications standards usually include a consistent writing style, which must
be followed for all written communications.
• Meeting management, facilitation, and presentation techniques must be in compliance
with project communications standards.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 8.2 summarizes the project communications management
process.
Figure 8.2 Project Communications Management Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Communications management plan
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Communications management
Project environment
Communication methodology
Communication modeling
Performance reporting
Work performance reports
Communication technology
Information management systems
Project communications records
CASE STUDY: PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT:

BEST PRACTICES IN PRACTICE
As part of a large IT systems integration project for the State of California, I
witnessed the Project Management Office (PMO) do an excellent job of ensuring
that the project stakeholders were properly informed of the project’s progress,
outstanding issues, risks, and change requests. Information was gathered from
multiple sources (for example, Project Schedule, Issue and Risk Repositories,
Testing Tool Data Metrics, Change Request Log, and so on) and compiled into a
comprehensive weekly status report that was shared with the stakeholders. In
addition, detailed risk and issue status reports were prepared and shared in the
weekly risk and issue management meetings. Also, the overall project performance
status was communicated to the control agencies (for example, California
Department of Technology, Department of Finance, and so on) via a monthly
Project Status Report (aka PSR) containing a variety of performance tracking
metrics. All questions were responded to, and all ambiguities were clarified in a
timely manner to ensure that the information was clearly understood by the
recipients as intended and everyone was on the same page. The project director
was a strong proponent of information quality who took a keen interest in
monitoring the quality of the content and delivery of the status reports and
suggested improvements when necessary.
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1. What project communications best practices did the project practice?
2. How was the project performance status communicated to the control
agencies?
3. What role did the project director play in enhancing the project communications
management?
CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Why is it imperative for a project manager to review the communications
management plan prior to initiating the project communications management?
2. When in the project life cycle is the communications management process
performed?
3. What role do historical artifacts play in in the project communications
management process?
4. What are project information management systems? Name some of these
systems.
5. Why is it necessary to update the project management plan during the
management of project communications?
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2010/12/the_single_bigg.s
html
2. Project Management Institute. (2014). A Guide to the Project Management
Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 5th ed. Newton Square, Pennsylvania:
Project Management Institute (PMI).
3. http://www.pmi-
nic.org/public/digitallibrary/PMI%20Today%20August%202010.pdf
4. Redwood, S., et al. Action Management, 1st ed. Third Avenue, New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.
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9. Managing Stakeholder Engagement
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of managing stakeholder engagement
• Scope of manage stakeholder engagement process
• Mechanism of managing stakeholder engagement process
• Stakeholder engagement management process flow
• Manage stakeholder engagement process flow
• Tips for effective stakeholder engagement management
“Make your stakeholders rich with knowledge and they will make you rich in
knowledge.”
—William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet
Effective management of stakeholder engagement is the key to the success of a
project. A project may fail without adequate support from the stakeholders. Thus,
project stakeholders must be identified carefully in a timely manner, and
stakeholder management processes must be planned adequately. However, a plan
is useless if not executed at all or not executed properly. You learned in Chapter 4,
“Planning Stakeholder Management,” that a stakeholder management plan is the
key deliverable of the stakeholder management planning process. In this chapter,
you will learn how to execute the stakeholder management plan for successful
engagement of the stakeholders in the project. This success can be achieved only
if you first clearly understand the purpose of managing stakeholder engagement,
what this process entails, when it is run, and how it is run.
Purpose
The purpose of managing stakeholder engagement is to maximize support and
minimize resistance from project stakeholders throughout the project life cycle by
ensuring that stakeholders have a clear understanding of the goals, objectives,
benefits, risks, and issues of the project and their (stakeholders’) level of
engagement in the project.
“Stakeholder engagement should be managed as one would manage any other
business function.”
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—Stakeholder Engagement: A Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing
Business in Emerging Markets, International Finance Corporation
Scope
The process of the managing stakeholder engagement process entails interacting
with stakeholders to ensure that their needs and expectations are fulfilled and their
concerns are addressed in a timely manner. This requires that stakeholder
communications are tailored according to their needs, and any issues encountered
are tracked in an issue log and are resolved to their satisfaction.
Timing
This process is initiated early in the project and run throughout the project life
cycle. However, stakeholder ability to influence the project is maximized in the
early part of the project life cycle, and it tapers off as the project progresses toward
the end of its life cycle.
Mechanism
The following sections explain how to manage stakeholder engagement.
How to Manage Stakeholder Engagement

Managing stakeholder engagement is putting the stakeholder engagement
strategy and plan into action. It involves the following key steps:
1. Determine whom to engage and how to engage.
2. Utilize soft skills effectively.
3. Collect project changes information.
5. Document change requests generated from managing stakeholder
engagement.
6. Document changes to stakeholder requirements.
7. Update project logs and stakeholder register.
8. Record updates to historical organizational project artifacts.
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Figure 9.1 illustrates the project stakeholder engagement management process
flow.
Figure 9.1 Stakeholder Engagement Management Process Flow
Determine Whom to Engage and How to Engage

We developed a stakeholder management plan in Chapter 4. This plan with a
stakeholder communication plan provides the information on whom to engage and
how to engage. This is the fundamental information you need to know to manage
stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder Management Plan

The information provided by the stakeholder management plan to the manage
stakeholder engagement process includes the list of various project stakeholders,
their level and mode of involvement in the project, methods and technologies
needed to communicate with them, and their specific needs and expectations. This
information is pivotal in enabling the project manager to engage and manage
stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
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Communications Management Plan
Used with the stakeholder management plan, the project communications
management plan provides established standards, methodologies, and guidelines
about managing the stakeholder communications. The following is the partial list
of the information provided by the communication management plan:
• What individual stakeholder communication needs are
• What information needs to be communicated
• What format, language, and level of detail the information being communicated
should be in
• What level of interpersonal and management skills a project manager must
have to effectively engage stakeholders and manage their expectations by
winning stakeholder trust, winning stakeholder support for change, listening to
stakeholder concerns, and resolving stakeholder conflicts
• Why the information needs to be communicated
• What communication methods needs be utilized in managing stakeholder
engagement
• Whom the information needs to be communicated to
• How to identify, manage, and resolve the communication issues1
1 The use of politically incorrect words, even inadvertently, can lead to significant
communication issues and in turn can spoil the project relationships with the
stakeholders. According to Wayne F. Cascio, author of the book Managing Human
Resources, “Choosing the right words may take a bit more thought and effort, but
it is imperative to do so in business communications. After all, it makes no sense to
alienate employees and customers by using words that show a lack of respect or
sensitivity.” For example, calling dark-skinned people “blacks” may be perceived as
offensive, where referring to them as “African Americans” would be more
appropriate and “politically correct.”
Utilize Soft Skills Effectively

As discussed in Sections 13.3.2.2 and 13.3.2.3 of Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK®) guide, do not underestimate the value of soft skills in
managing stakeholder engagement. In addition to the project management skills,
you must possess and be able to effectively utilize soft skills as well for
proper management of stakeholder engagement. The soft skills include, but are not
limited to, the following:
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• Motivating stakeholders to support change
• Building interpersonal trust and respect
• Communicating adequately and effectively to keep stakeholders informed
• Promoting active listening
• Empathizing
• Managing conflicts
• Leading by example
• Understanding stakeholders’ personalities and associated behaviors
• Resolving stakeholder issues in time
• Engaging stakeholders appropriately in decision making
Boeing’s Approach to Stakeholder Engagement Management
In his article “Plan of Attack” that appeared in the December 2009 issue of PM Network,
Chuck Allen, vice president of program management for integrated defense systems at
aerospace giant Boeing, describes Boeing’s approach to stakeholder engagement
management.
Chuck has worked on Boeing’s number of high-profile projects, including the Apache
helicopter and V-22 Osprey aircraft. Talking about Boeing’s approach to stakeholder
engagement, he says, “Our customers are all different. On the commercial side, their desire
to be involved is minimal, but on the defense side, our customers are involved with
everything we do. They’re spending taxpayer dollars and are obligated to make sure we fulfill
the contract, so transparency is a critical component of our process.”
Collect Project Changes Information

The change log tracks all project changes throughout the project life cycle. These
changes may be associated with, but are not limited to, the following:
• Project scope, time, cost, quality, or project management processes
• Corrective actions and/or enhancements for improving the stakeholder
engagement management process
To keep stakeholders informed on all changes on the project, the information on
these changes in terms of type of changes and their impact on the project and on
the stakeholders must be communicated to stakeholders in a timely manner. In
addition, the approved corrective actions/enhancement requests must be
implemented.
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artifacts archived from other similar projects completed previously. Leveraging
existing know how helps the project save lots of time and money. Some of these
artifacts are listed here:
• Project templates (for example, organization charts and risk registers) and
various types of other historical information from previous similar projects
• Organizational or project policies, procedures, processes, standards, guidelines,
and requirements for communication
• Organization change management (OCM) strategies and plans from previously
completed projects
Document Change Requests Generated from Managing Stakeholder

Engagement
Changes on a project are inevitable, and changes may trigger change requests
because all major project changes are supposed to be managed via the change
control process. During the manage stakeholder engagement process, change
requests will originate when
• Changes to the project product or the project processes are recommended by
stakeholders.
• Corrective actions need to be implemented to resolve various issues
encountered during the stakeholder engagement management process.
Document Changes to Stakeholder Requirements

Stakeholders for a project may come and go throughout the project life cycle and
their requirements are always subject to change. The stakeholder management
and communication management plans may need to be updated when information
pertaining to stakeholder engagement management changes. The examples of
these changes may include, but are not limited to:
• Elimination of the communications no longer needed
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• Addition of a brand-new communication to serve the needs of a new
stakeholder
• Addition of a brand-new communication to serve a new information need
triggered by the resolution of some issues or concerns associated with the
stakeholder engagement management process
• Substitution of an ineffective communication method by an effective alternative
• Addition of a brand-new communication method to serve the needs of a new
stakeholder
• Addition of a new communication method to serve a new information need
triggered by the resolution of some issues or concerns associated with the
stakeholder engagement management process
Update Project Logs and Risk Register

During its life cycle, a project uses and maintains a variety of logs to store various
types of project operational information such as project overall progress status, risk
and issues status, change requests tracking information, and so on. During the
management of stakeholder engagement, new information may be generated
and/or the existing information may change. Also, some stakeholders may leave
and others may join and/or the information pertaining to these stakeholders may
change. Thus, various project logs and the stakeholder register may need to be
updated as a result of the stakeholder engagement management.
Project Logs Update

Various project logs including, but not limited to, the following may get updated:
• Risk register
• Issue tracking log
• Action items log
Stakeholder Register Update

The examples of updates to the stakeholder register may include, but are not
limited to, the following:
• New stakeholder is identified.
• Existing stakeholder is removed.
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• Any attribute of existing stakeholder is changed.
Record Updates to Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

The updates to historical organizational project artifacts in this context may
include:
• Notifications to stakeholders (risk mitigations, issue resolutions, change request
approvals, and so on)
• Feedback from stakeholders (reported risks, issues, performance assessment
feedback, and improvement suggestions pertaining to stakeholder engagement
management)
• Risk and issue logs
• Project reports, presentations, and records (meeting minutes, etc.), and lessons
learned
These updates to historical documents serve as historical reference for not only the
project at hand but also for other similar current or future projects.
Tip
Tips for Effective Stakeholder Engagement Management
1. Start this process early and continue iteratively throughout the project life cycle.
2. Manage stakeholder engagement per stakeholder analysis described in Chapter 1,
“Stakeholder Identification and Analysis.” For example, pay special attention to the
executive sponsor(s) as project cannot survive if the sponsor pulls the plug.
3. Ensure that project vision, goals, objectives, and benefits are clear to all stakeholders.
4. Ensure clear understanding of project roles and responsibilities by all stakeholders.
5. Involve key stakeholders in decision making. Not engaging key stakeholders early and
throughout the project life cycle is one of the main reasons for project failure.
6. Keep stakeholders informed and on the same page by sharing the project information
appropriately.
7. Ensure non-hostile environment where stakeholders can express their views without
any fear of repercussions.
8. Stakeholder communication is not one-shoe-fits-all. Customize stakeholder
communications per stakeholder needs, expectations, style, preferences, physical
location, local laws and regulations, culture, time zone, and language.
9. Motivate stakeholders by highlighting “what is in it for them” for effective and
smoother change management.
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10. Solicit feedback periodically from stakeholders via brainstorming sessions, interviews,
or anonymous surveys to assess the performance of your stakeholder engagement
management efforts and implement appropriate corrective actions if needed.
11. Track and manage the risks and issues pertaining to this process in a timely manner.
12. Use appropriate technology to ensure effective and efficient stakeholder
management.
13. Invite stakeholders to various project meetings as appropriate.
14. Address stakeholder questions and concerns in a timely manner and to their
satisfaction.
15. Provide appropriate acknowledgment and feedback in a timely manner.
16. Resolve stakeholder conflicts as soon as possible.
17. Capture and archive lessons learned regularly.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 9.2 summarizes the project stakeholder engagement
management process.
Figure 9.2 Project Communications Management Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Stakeholder engagement
Issue tracking log
Action item log
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Change requests
Management skills
Risk register
Change requests tracking log
Change control process
Communication methods
Lessons learned
CASE STUDY; SOLENOID ELECTRIC INDIA LIMITED—USING ITS

CORE VALUES TO LEAD THE WAY IN EFFECTIVE STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT
Solenoid Electric India Limited is India’s leading energy company. Since India’s
independence from the British rule in 1947, Solenoid has been the nation’s leading
distributor of electricity to both residential and commercial consumers. Solenoid
has earned its leading position and reputation due to its commitment to ethical
business practices and its values-based culture. Solenoid refers these values as
Solenoid Core (aka SCORE) values.
Solenoid’s SCORE values provide it guidance on how to interact with all its
numerous stakeholders. Solenoid supplies electricity to all 29 states and 7 union
territories of India. This means Solenoid has to manage its relationships with a
variety of stakeholders around the nation. Figure 9.3 identifies Solenoid’s key
stakeholder groups.
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Figure 9.3 Solenoid Stakeholders
Stakeholder Engagement Strategies

Solenoid’s strategies focus on engaging with its stakeholders to ensure their needs
are being met. This means Solenoid has to make sure that it follows the highest
ethical standards and sustainable business practices. Solenoid has a Corporate
Code of Ethics governing how it deals with stakeholders across the nation.
Ensuring effective stakeholder engagement management and building bilateral
relationships with its stakeholders is the main goal for Solenoid. Bilateral
relationships help build trust between Solenoid and its stakeholders. Each
stakeholder group has a different set of needs. Solenoid ensures that stakeholder
needs are met by engaging with each group individually.
Solenoid’s strategies to maintain positive relationships with its stakeholders
include stakeholder satisfaction, resources optimization, sustainability, and
diversity tolerance.
1. Stakeholder Satisfaction: Actively listening to stakeholders and making sure
their needs and expectations in terms of affordable quality service are met to
their satisfaction.
2. Resources Optimization: Using scarce resources optimally by using lean
practices.
3. Sustainability: Reducing environment impacts and supporting green energy
production via windmills and solar technology.
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4. Diversity Tolerance: Providing equal opportunity to all by supporting a diverse
workforce.
Managing Stakeholder Engagement

Solenoid’s key internal stakeholders are its employees. Its external stakeholders
include its customers, suppliers, and distributors nationwide.
Internal Stakeholder Engagement

Solenoid’s internal customers include primarily its employees.
Employees
Internal stakeholders are those who are interested in or impacted by business
decisions of an organization. Solenoid’s employees are its key internal
stakeholders. The company uses a program called workforce feedback through
which the company conducts employee research using employee survey to find out
the needs and opinions of its employees.
External Stakeholder Engagement

Solenoid’s external customers include its customers, suppliers, and distributors.
Customers
Solenoid’s key external stakeholders include customers, suppliers, and local and
regional distributors. Solenoid uses assorted communications approaches to
engage with its different external stakeholders. For example, a company website,
monthly newsletter, TV and print-media advertisements, social media presence,
and subscription-based e-mail blasts are some of the communications approaches
Solenoid uses to engage with its external customers.
Suppliers
Solenoid is committed to an ethical supply chain, and all its suppliers in the supply
chain must abide by its Supplier Code of Conduct.
Distributors
Solenoid is committed to an ethical supply chain, and all its distributors in the
supply chain must abide by its Distributor Code of Conduct.
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Stakeholder Conflict
With a large number of stakeholders across the nation, conflicts among various
stakeholder groups are inevitable for Solenoid. Conflict resolution is an important
part of managing stakeholder engagement. Solenoid does so by balancing the
expectations of different stakeholder groups.
Conclusion
Solenoid’s business practices are stakeholder-focused. Engaging with its
stakeholders via bilateral communication brings benefits to both Solenoid and to
its stakeholders.

1. Identify Solenoid Electric’s key external stakeholders.
2. What are Solenoid’s stakeholder engagement strategies?
3. What is the significance of the acronym “SCORE” in this case?
4. How does Solenoid Electric manage engagement with its customers?

1. What is the significance of stakeholder engagement management?
2. When is the best time to perform stakeholder engagement management?
3. What role does a communications management plan play in helping the project
manager manage stakeholder engagement?
4. What role does a stakeholder management plan play in helping the project
manager manage stakeholder engagement?
5. How can you motivate stakeholders for effective change management?
6. “What is in it for them” is a commonly used phrase in stakeholder engagement.
What does this phrase mean? Please elaborate.
REFERENCE NOTES
163
1. 3.http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/938f1a0048855805beacfe6a6515bb1
8/IFC_StakeholderEngagement.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
3. Allen, C. (2009). “Plan of Attack,” PM Network, 23 (12): pp. 19.
4. Cascio, W.F. Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life,
Profits, 7th ed. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
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Section IV: Controlling Stage
10 Controlling Project Communications
11 Controlling Stakeholder Engagement
10. Controlling Project Communications
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of controlling project communications
• Scope of project communications control process
• Mechanism of project communications control process
• Project communications control process flow
• Project communications control tools
• Tips for enhancing the effectiveness of project communications control
“Evaluate what you want because what gets measured gets produced.”
—Dr. James Belasco, founder of San Diego State University’s Management
Development Center
For effective and efficient project communications, it is essential for a project
manager to check periodically that the right information is distributed to the right
stakeholders, at the right time, and at the right pace or frequency. This requires
communications performance to be assessed throughout the project life cycle,
which involves comparing the actual performance results obtained from the
execution of the communications management process against the planned or
baseline performance levels outlined in the communications management plan.
PURPOSE
The gaps discovered between the actual results and the baseline may cause the
information needs of the stakeholders not being met adequately. This may lead to
implementation of remedial changes to the communications management plan by
pursuing appropriate change requests (CRs) through change control process and by
performing corrective actions if necessary to bring the performance levels within
the acceptable limits. This is exactly what the purpose of project communications
control process, which this chapter discusses.
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SCOPE
The scope of project communications control includes the project activities
pertaining to:
• Comparison of the communications management performance assessment
results obtained from the communications management process with the
planned performance levels
• Analysis of the comparison results; that is, variance (actual performance –
planned performance)
• Execution of appropriate actions based on the variance; for example,
recommendation of corrective actions to bring the actual performance in line
with the planned performance
• Initiation of appropriate change requests via the change control process
Per Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), 5th Edition, the scope of
project communications control includes “the process of monitoring and
controlling communications throughout the entire project life cycle to ensure the
information needs of the project stakeholders are met.”
TIMING
Communications control process is performed as soon as the first work product
from the communications management performance assessment is available. This
process is performed throughout the project life cycle for monitoring and
controlling the project communications to keep the actual performance levels in
line with the planned performance levels.
MECHANISM
The following sections explain how to control project communications.
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How to Control Project Communications
The project communications control process contains the following key steps:
1. Obtain communications performance data.
2. Obtain baseline (planned) information.
3. Review project communications issues.
5. Utilize communications control tools.
6. Monitor and control project communications performance.
7. Synthesize and disseminate project work performance information.
10.Update historical organizational project artifacts.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the project communications control process flow.
Figure 10.1 Project Communications Control Process Flow
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Obtain Communications Performance Data
Project communications involve the exchange of project performance and progress
information among stakeholders, which includes milestones accomplishment
status, deliverables completion status, and cost performance status. They are the
results from the execution of the communications management process that need
to be monitored so that actual results can be compared against the planned results.
Project communications performance data includes information on which
communications have actually been delivered and what their effectiveness is. It
contains details on the communication feedback received from various
stakeholders as well as the information collected through general observations
during the execution of communication management activities.
Obtain Baseline (Planned) Information

The project communications management plan provides guidelines on how to
execute the communications control process and dictates what information needs
to distributed and why, in what format, by whom, to whom, using what
communication methods, and how often. In other words, it provides the baseline
or planned project communications management information. Because the
communications management plan is part of the overarching project management
plan, the project management plan is a key input to the communications control
process.
Review Project Communications Issues

The issue log, originated from the stakeholder management process, is an
important input to the communications control process because it allows for
tracking and managing the issues encountered while executing the
communications management processes. All issues pertaining to project
communications should be considered and acted upon as appropriate during the
communications control process. Issues can occur any time during the project;
thus, any issues encountered during the controlling process should also be logged
into the issue log for proper tracking, monitoring, and timely resolution.

Historical organizational project artifacts can have influence on how project
communications are controlled. These factors include the following:
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• Organizational or project policies, procedures, processes, standards, and
guidelines for communications and communication record retention
• Available communication technologies
• Approved communication media
• Project templates
• Lessons learned
Utilize Communications Control Tools

The following sections discuss the primary tools that a project manager can use to
control project communications.
Project Information Management Systems

Project information management systems constitute a collection of tools for
storing and sharing the project performance and progress status information in
various text, tabular, and graphic formats. Examples of these systems include the
following:
• Intranet, web portals, project scheduling, and collaboration sites, such as
SharePoint and project server
• Database management systems, such as Access and SQL servers
• Electronic document archival and management systems, such as Documentum,
iManage, and SharePoint
• Electronic communications management systems, such as e-mails, voice mails,
instant messaging, telephony, faxes, twitter, blogs, websites, postal service,
courier service, and video conferencing
• Printed or handwritten information, such as letters, memos, project plans,
project reports, and desk procedures
Subject Matter Experts Advice

It is the responsibility of a project manager to ensure that right information is
disseminated to the right recipients at the right time. This requires the project
manager to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the communication
management activities being undertaken and initiate corrective actions if the
wanted results are not achieved. To develop success measuring criteria for this
communications performance assessment, the project manager may have to
collaborate with the project team and may also need to tap into the knowledge,
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skills, and advice/opinion of various subject matter experts (individuals or groups)
possessing specialized training. The list of these experts may include the following:
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• Subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Experts internal to the project or organization
• External consultants
• Professional associations, such as Project Management Institute (PMI) and
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• Professional social media groups, such as LinkedIn
• Industry-specific groups
• Stakeholders
Collaboration Meetings
As mentioned previously in the “Subject Matter Experts Advice” section, the
project manager may have to collaborate with the members of the project team to
determine the best way to control project communications by appropriately
evaluating the communications performance and taking the appropriate actions to
keep the things on track. This project team collaboration takes place via face-to-
face or virtual team meetings. Meetings are also conducted to meet with experts
to seek their judgment. Similarly, discussions with various stakeholders, including
suppliers, vendors, partners, and customers are also facilitated via project
meetings.
What Is a Project Management Office (PMO)?
According to J.K. Pinto, author of Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, “A
project management office (PMO) is defined as a centralized unit within an organization or
department that oversees or improves the management of projects.”
It (the PMO) ensures that all projects follow the standards, guidelines, and best practices
established by the PMO. In addition, it provides appropriate project management guidance,
training, and templates to all projects under the PMO. It also establishes project selection
criteria.
Monitor and Control Project Communications Performance

As discussed in Chapter 7, “Managing Project Human Resources,” a control loop
has two inputs and one output. One of the two inputs is an actual input that is
compared with the other input (called baseline, planned, or reference input). The
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output is the variance between the actual and the baseline, the information that is
used by the project manager with the project work performance reports, to make
critical project team and work performance improvement decisions as well as to
determine the future requirements and strategy for the project.
Baseline, Planned, or Reference Input (Wanted Performance)

The communications management plan also includes the “should be” or wanted
project communications performance information. This information constitutes
the baseline input to the communications performance control loop referred to
in Figure 10.1.
Actual Input (Assessed Communications Performance)

The communications performance information assessed during the
communications management process becomes the actual input to the
communications performance control loop, as referred to in Figure 10.1.
The project communications performance assessments provide information on the
measured actual communications performance. It is essential for the project
manager to conduct project communications performance assessments on an
ongoing basis to identify areas that need improvement so that appropriate
corrective actions can be implemented to bring the deviated performance back on
track.
Determine Communications Performance Variance

As discussed in the “Determine Team Performance Variance” section in Chapter
7, performance variancecan be calculated and interpreted to make an appropriate
decision to control project communications if they are not in line with the planned
performance.
The performance of project communications and the communications
management activities is evaluated to assess their effectiveness. The assessment
results (variance) indicating any under-performance can trigger the need for
intervention and corrective actions implementation, which are handled via
appropriate change requests. These change requests are processed through the
change control process. They may include, but are not limited to, the changes to
scope, schedule, cost, information content, and the way information is
communicated.
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Synthesize and Disseminate Project Work Performance Information
Project work performance information provides details on how the project is
progressing against the planned scope, schedule, budget, and quality baselines.
This information is gathered and organized in project work performance reports
and then disseminated to various stakeholders according to their needs and
preferences for information details and formatting. For example, only high-level
information in the form of executive summary, scorecard, or dashboard may need
to be distributed to the senior management while a detailed report may be
necessary for the project task owners and leads. The information formatting choice
of the stakeholders may include text, tables, charts, and other graphic formats.
Update Project Management Plan

Project communications control process measures communications performance
by comparing the actual performance against the baseline performance. The
deviation from the baseline may trigger corrective actions, which require the
communications management plan to be updated. Because the project
management plan is an overarching plan that contains information on the
communications management plan, it would need to be updated.
Update Current Project Documents

As a result of performing the communications control process, some project
documents, such as risk and issue logs, project performance reports, project
schedule, forecasts, and so on may need to be updated.

Historical organizational project artifacts in this context include risk and issue logs,
communications performance reports formats, and lessons learned. These
historical artifacts are updated with the updated information emanating from the
communications control process and serve as historical reference for the project at
hand and for other similar projects.
These updates to historical artifacts serve as historical reference for the project at
hand and for other similar projects. Many projects fail because they don’t utilize
the historical organizational project information and/or they don’t update that
information regularly as the project progresses. By doing this, not only do they
waste scarce resources by re-inventing the wheel instead of leveraging the existing
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is to optimize project stakeholder relationships by enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of the
stakeholder engagement process projects did.
The most important document that must be developed, maintained, and archived
as part of the historical information is lessons learned. Lessons learned can save a
lot of time, cost, and pain for on both current and future projects. Although
capturing and referring to lessons learned is important, unfortunately, most project
managers often do not pay adequate attention to this critical part of project
management.
Tip
Tips for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Project Communications Control
Here are some tips to control project communications more effectively:
• Start this process as soon as the first work product from the communications
management performance assessment is available, and continue iteratively throughout
the project life cycle.
• Leverage as much as possible from the historical organizational project artifacts and also
consult subject matter experts or other experienced project managers to learn from
other’s mistakes or their use of best practices.
• The discrepancies between actual and planned communications results having potential
adverse impact on schedule, budget, and quality baselines must be handled immediately.
• Do not under-estimate the importance of performing updates to the historical project
artifacts. Capture and archive lessons learned regularly.
• Remember that if you can’t measure it, you can’t control it. Thus, careful performance
measure is the key to understand the variance clearly and to take the appropriate and
timely corrective action if the variance reflects under-performance.
SUMMARY
The mind map in Figure 10.2 summarizes the project communications control
process.
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Figure 10.2 Project Communications Control Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Change Request (CR)
Current project artifacts
Project information management systems
Collaboration meetings
Change Control Board (CCB)
Performance variance
Communications issue log
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CASE STUDY
Comau, a Fiat group member, forms a “project management family” to keep
project communications in control.
Part of Italian industrial giant Fiat Group, the company Comau has 11,000
employees working in 19 locations of 15 countries around the globe.
Challenge
In the modern age of globalization, the business world knows no borders. What
happens in Italy isn’t always what happens in Brazil, India, or China. These
differences among different geographical locations and the lack of real-time
transparency posed huge communications-related challenges for Comau.
Solution
To improve the status quo, not only did Comau create a Project Management Office
(PMO) at the corporate level to work with all regional PMOs to foster knowledge
transfer between locations around the world, but they also formed a “project
management family,” a group that included all project, program, and portfolio
managers as well as people they typically worked closely with, such as project
controllers and planners. The group holds yearly meetings and exchanges
information, know-how, and lessons learned through a dedicated portal.
“Whether it’s France or India, our project management family now shares a
common language and common processes,” says Valerio Crovasce, PMP, the
corporate PMO manager at Comau, Grugliasco, Italy.
Results
Various assessments and survey results have not only indicated significant
improvements in global communications for Comau, but also they have identified
the remaining weaknesses. Comau continues to use this data to make ongoing
improvements.
Note: This case study is based on V. Crovasce’s article “Common Ground,” which
appeared in the January 2010 issue of PM Network.

1. Discuss the concept of “project management family” within the context of this
case.
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2. What did Comau do to control project communications?

1. What are the consequences of not controlling the project communications?
2. What tools are used to control project communications?
3. Describe project communications control loop? What is the significance of
feedback in the loop?
4. What triggers a corrective action?
5. Describe the change control process.
6. What role do historical organizational project artifacts play in project
communications control process?
7. Why is there a need to update the project management plan in the project
communications control process?
8. What is the source of baseline or planned communications information?
9. What is the source of actual communications information?
REFERENCE NOTES
2. http://www.projectauditors.com/Company/Project_Management_Quotes.ph
p
3. Crovasce, V. “Common Ground,” PM Network, 24(1): 28–29, 2010.
4. Pinto, J.K. Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, 2013.
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11. Controlling Stakeholder Engagement
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of controlling stakeholder engagement
• Scope of stakeholder engagement control process
• Mechanism of stakeholder engagement control process
• Project stakeholder engagement control process flow
• Control process
• Actual versus planned performance inputs
• Performance variance
• Tips for effective stakeholder engagement control
“Productivity and efficiency can be achieved only step by step with sustained hard
work, relentless attention to details, and insistence on the highest standards of
quality and performance.”
—J. R. D. Tata (Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata), Indian businessman, aviation
pioneer, and former chairman of India’s largest industrial empire, Tata Group
For effective and efficient project stakeholder engagement activities, it is essential

for a project manager to monitor, evaluate, and control the performance of these
activities. This involves comparing the actual performance results obtained from
managing stakeholder engagement against the planned or baseline performance
levels outlined in the stakeholder management plan. Any gaps discovered between
the actual results and the baseline may trigger adjustments to stakeholder
engagement plan and strategies. These adjustments can be made by pursuing
appropriate change requests through change control process and by performing
corrective actions if necessary to bring the performance levels within the
acceptable limits. This is exactly why it is so important to control stakeholder
engagement. This chapter is dedicated to the study of this control process. To learn
about this process in detail, you first need to clearly understand the purpose of this
process, what this process entails, when it is run, and how it is run.
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PURPOSE
The purpose of controlling stakeholder engagement is to optimize project
stakeholder relationships by enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of the
stakeholder engagement process. Effective stakeholder engagement is critical to
the success of a project. However, if stakeholder engagement is not constantly
monitored and controlled, it is easy for the project to lose the contribution of the
value and expertise of the stakeholders over time. Controlling stakeholder
engagement is not limited to just answering stakeholder questions or responding
to their concerns in a reactive way rather it is more about constantly observing and
measuring the performance of the engagement efforts (checking the pulse) in a
proactive way to make sure (verify and validate) that the execution of the
stakeholder engagement plan continues to produce the desired results so that the
project has stakeholder support when it is needed and how it is needed throughout
Note
Forsberg and Mooz, authors of Visualizing Project Management, define verification and
validation as follows:
• Verification: “Are we building it right?”
• Validation: “Are we building the right thing?
SCOPE
The process of controlling stakeholder engagement deals with observing and
measuring the performance of stakeholder engagement efforts against the
baseline plan so that appropriate corrective actions can be implemented via change
requests to bring actual performance in line with the planned performance.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), 5th Edition, defines the
scope of controlling stakeholder engagement as “the process of monitoring overall
project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging
stakeholders.”
TIMING
cycle.
178
MECHANISM
The following sections discuss stakeholder engagement.
How to Control Stakeholder Engagement

The project stakeholder engagement control process contains the following key
steps:
1. Obtain baseline, planned, or reference information.
2. Obtain actual work performance data (actual input).
3. Review project current, operational, or living documents.
4. Utilize stakeholder engagement control tools.
Figure 11.1 shows the actual and planned inputs for the stakeholder engagement
control process. The arrows on the dotted lines show the direction of the
information flow.
179
Figure 11.1 Stakeholder Engagement Control Process Flow
Obtain Baseline, Planned, or Reference Information

Baseline stakeholder engagement performance information is provided by the
project management plan, stakeholder management plan, and communications
management plan.
The overarching project management plan provides guidelines on how to develop
the subordinate plans including the stakeholder and communications management
plans. The project management plan also provides information on the overall
project life cycle, process flow, and methods to carry out the project workflow
across all project phases. The information provided by the stakeholder
management plan to this control process includes the list of various project
stakeholders, their level and mode of involvement in the project, various methods
and technologies needed to communicate with them, and their specific
communication needs and expectations. All information pertaining to stakeholders
is kept in the stakeholder register.
180
The communications management plan provides complete information on how to
manage and control stakeholder communications across all phases of the project
life cycle.
All this information is pivotal in enabling the project manager to engage and
manage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
Obtain Actual Work Performance Data (Actual Input)

The plans developed in the planning phase of the project are executed in the
executing phase of the project. The performance of the work done to complete the
project tasks or activities pertaining to stakeholder engagement management is
observed and measured. The data collected through this raw observations and
measurements process constitutes what is called actual work performance data for
stakeholder engagement management process. This data is used as the actual input
to the stakeholder engagement control process (refer to Figure 11.1).
The list of items that constitute actual work performance data includes the
following:
• Milestones completed
• Deliverables delivered
• Completed actual work percentage
• Actual start and finish dates for schedule activities
• Actual durations for schedule activities
• Nonconformities (quality)
• Number of defects (quality)
• Total number of change requests during the assessment period
• Actual cost
Review Project Current, Operational, or Living Documents

they are subject to change. These documents must be reviewed because they may
provide pertinent information that could be used to support the stakeholder
engagement control process. The examples of such documents include the
following:
181
• Risk register
• Responsibility assignment matrix
• Issues and action item log
• Communications management plan
• Project schedule
Utilize Stakeholder Engagement Control Tools

The tools that can be used to help with stakeholder engagement control process
include project information management systems, subject matter expert advice,
and collaboration meetings. These tools have been described in detail in Chapter
10, “Controlling Project Communications.”
Why Are Collaboration Meetings Needed?
One aspect of the stakeholder engagement control process is to find a balanced engagement
approach by negotiating a middle path with the stakeholders because it may not be possible
for a project manager to satisfy the expectations of each individual stakeholder. While trying
to please one stakeholder, the project manager may displease another stakeholder. The
collaboration meetings provide an ideal opportunity for the project manager to negotiate an
approach that is acceptable to all.
What Is Negotiation?
According to R. Valerga, author of The Cure for the Common Project, “Negotiation is a give-
and-take discussion between two parties and ultimately required of every project manager,
whether negotiating with suppliers over a purchase price, negotiating with customers over
the impact of a change request, negotiating with the sponsor over an external change to the
project resources, or negotiating with project team participants over the amount of time
required to complete a work task.”
Monitor and Control Stakeholder Engagement Performance

The stakeholder engagement control process compares the actual performance of
the project work carried out in stakeholder engagement management process
against the planned performance estimated and baselined in the planning process
of stakeholder management. The output from the control process provides
stakeholder engagement performance variance, which is the difference between
the actual work performance and the planned, baselined, or reference work
performance.
182
As discussed in “Determine Team Performance Variance” in Chapter 7, “Managing
Project Human Resources,” performance variance can be calculated and
interpreted to make appropriate decisions to control stakeholder engagement if it
is not in line with the planned performance.
Adopt a Balanced Approach in Stakeholder Engagement
It is common for project managers to be in a situation where while trying to meet the
demands of one stakeholder, they may unwittingly make another stakeholder unhappy
and/or feel offended. For example, a project team working to develop the project plans may
go to such levels to ensure the satisfaction of a particular stakeholder or group of
stakeholders that they engage in countless revisions of the plans until they have, seemingly,
made the stakeholder(s) happy. However, in doing so, they may have caused a serious
setback to the project schedule and budget, which in turn may have made the senior
management very unhappy.
As suggested by J.K. Pinto (author of Project Management: Achieving Competitive
Advantage), the only solution to this issue is the adoption of a balanced approach by
negotiating a middle path with the stakeholders so that supportive and constructive
relationships can be maintained with the stakeholders.
Tip
Tips for Effective Stakeholder Engagement Control
Following are steps you can take to implement effective stakeholder engagement control:
1. Start this process early and continue iteratively throughout the project lifecycle.
2. Make sure that the stakeholder register always contains the latest information about
stakeholders.
3. While comparing the actual performance data against the base line, analyze the
stakeholder management issues log also to address stakeholder issues in a timely manner.
4. Keep the stakeholders informed about any significant changes being proposed as a result
of the execution of the stakeholder engagement control process.
5. Engage key stakeholders in the change control process.
Also refer to the tips in Chapter 10.
SUMMARY
control process.
183
Figure 11.2 Project Stakeholder Engagement Control Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Change request (CR)
Issue log
184
CASE STUDY
The City of Mayflower Community Center Construction Project

John Williams was hired by the city of Mayflower on June 8, 2014, as a building
inspector. One of his assignments was to inspect city community center on August
1, 2014.
During the city planning commission meeting in the city hall on August 15, 2014,
Raul Chavez, the project manager for the city community center construction
project, discovered that the inspection of the city community center was not
completed by inspector John on August 1, 2014, as planned. Raul was concerned
because several other city projects depended on successful completion of the
construction of the city community center. With the community center project
schedule slipping, all other dependent projects would be delayed. Upon further
investigation, Raul found that inspector John did not approve the project because
he found project documentation incorrect and incomplete, and he had sent the
project detailed instructions on how to prepare and submit the project documents
for approval.
Raul invited his project core team members, the general contractor, city manager,
site manager, and few other key stakeholders for an urgent meeting to determine
the potential impact of the delay. Further, he facilitated a brainstorm session to
understand plan B and potential corrective actions to mitigate the risk of schedule
delays. The team collectively came up with the following impacts:
• Impact to scope: Plan B or alternative solutions may add additional unplanned
work to the scope.
• Impact to schedule: If the city community center inspection is not approved
latest by August 29, 2014, the dependent projects will jump to critical path
involving day-by-day schedule slip.
• Impact to cost: If resources are asked to work overtime to speed up the
completion of the required project document, it will cause cost overrun.
Raul decided to consult experts to seek their judgment. He consulted with Tim Allen
who had just completed a similar project successfully to mitigate the risk of failing
the inspection the second time. Tim helped the project team to develop a workable
plan to gather, organize, and present the information per building inspector’s
requirements. The project team led by project manager Raul acted upon Tim’s
advice.
185
Result: The Mayflower city community center inspection was approved on August
23, 2014.

1. Who are the stakeholders in this case and who is controlling the stakeholder
engagement?
2. Which project constraints have been included in this case for impact
assessment? Describe the impact.
3. What are various tools for stakeholder engagement control discussed in this
chapter? Which tool was used by Raul in this case?

1. What are the consequences of not controlling stakeholder engagement?
2. What tools are used to control stakeholder engagement?
3. Describe project stakeholder engagement control loop. What is the significance
of feedback in the loop?
6. What role do historical organizational project artifacts play in stakeholder
engagement control process?
7. Why is there a need to update project management plan in stakeholder
8. What is the source of baseline or planned information in this chapter?
9. What is the source of actual information in this chapter?
10.Describe the balanced approach in stakeholder engagement.
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://info.ibs-us.com/blog/bid/34322/Top-Quotes-about-Quality-Assurance-
and-Quality-Control-Process
186
4. Valerga, R. The Cure for the Common Project: pp. 161, 2009.
187
11. Controlling Stakeholder Engagement
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Importance of controlling stakeholder engagement
• Scope of stakeholder engagement control process
• Mechanism of stakeholder engagement control process
• Project stakeholder engagement control process flow
• Control process
• Actual versus planned performance inputs
• Performance variance
• Tips for effective stakeholder engagement control
“Productivity and efficiency can be achieved only step by step with sustained hard
work, relentless attention to details, and insistence on the highest standards of
quality and performance.”
—J. R. D. Tata (Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata), Indian businessman, aviation
pioneer, and former chairman of India’s largest industrial empire, Tata Group
For effective and efficient project stakeholder engagement activities, it is essential
for a project manager to monitor, evaluate, and control the performance of these
activities. This involves comparing the actual performance results obtained from
managing stakeholder engagement against the planned or baseline performance
levels outlined in the stakeholder management plan. Any gaps discovered between
the actual results and the baseline may trigger adjustments to stakeholder
engagement plan and strategies. These adjustments can be made by pursuing
appropriate change requests through change control process and by performing
corrective actions if necessary to bring the performance levels within the
acceptable limits. This is exactly why it is so important to control stakeholder
engagement. This chapter is dedicated to the study of this control process. To learn
about this process in detail, you first need to clearly understand the purpose of this
process, what this process entails, when it is run, and how it is run.
188
PURPOSE
The purpose of controlling stakeholder engagement is to optimize project
stakeholder relationships by enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of the
stakeholder engagement process. Effective stakeholder engagement is critical to
the success of a project. However, if stakeholder engagement is not constantly
monitored and controlled, it is easy for the project to lose the contribution of the
value and expertise of the stakeholders over time. Controlling stakeholder
engagement is not limited to just answering stakeholder questions or responding
to their concerns in a reactive way rather it is more about constantly observing and
measuring the performance of the engagement efforts (checking the pulse) in a
proactive way to make sure (verify and validate) that the execution of the
stakeholder engagement plan continues to produce the desired results so that the
project has stakeholder support when it is needed and how it is needed throughout
Note
Forsberg and Mooz, authors of Visualizing Project Management, define verification and
validation as follows:
• Verification: “Are we building it right?”
• Validation: “Are we building the right thing?
SCOPE
The process of controlling stakeholder engagement deals with observing and
measuring the performance of stakeholder engagement efforts against the
baseline plan so that appropriate corrective actions can be implemented via change
requests to bring actual performance in line with the planned performance.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), 5th Edition, defines the
scope of controlling stakeholder engagement as “the process of monitoring overall
project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging
stakeholders.”
TIMING
cycle.
189
MECHANISM
The following sections discuss stakeholder engagement.
How to Control Stakeholder Engagement

The project stakeholder engagement control process contains the following key
steps:
1. Obtain baseline, planned, or reference information.
2. Obtain actual work performance data (actual input).
3. Review project current, operational, or living documents.
4. Utilize stakeholder engagement control tools.
Figure 11.1 shows the actual and planned inputs for the stakeholder engagement
control process. The arrows on the dotted lines show the direction of the
information flow.
190
Figure 11.1 Stakeholder Engagement Control Process Flow
Obtain Baseline, Planned, or Reference Information

Baseline stakeholder engagement performance information is provided by the
project management plan, stakeholder management plan, and communications
management plan.
The overarching project management plan provides guidelines on how to develop
the subordinate plans including the stakeholder and communications management
plans. The project management plan also provides information on the overall
project life cycle, process flow, and methods to carry out the project workflow
across all project phases. The information provided by the stakeholder
management plan to this control process includes the list of various project
stakeholders, their level and mode of involvement in the project, various methods
191
and technologies needed to communicate with them, and their specific
communication needs and expectations. All information pertaining to stakeholders
is kept in the stakeholder register.
The communications management plan provides complete information on how to
manage and control stakeholder communications across all phases of the project
life cycle.
All this information is pivotal in enabling the project manager to engage and
manage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.
Obtain Actual Work Performance Data (Actual Input)

The plans developed in the planning phase of the project are executed in the
executing phase of the project. The performance of the work done to complete the
project tasks or activities pertaining to stakeholder engagement management is
observed and measured. The data collected through this raw observations and
measurements process constitutes what is called actual work performance data for
stakeholder engagement management process. This data is used as the actual input
to the stakeholder engagement control process (refer to Figure 11.1).
The list of items that constitute actual work performance data includes the
following:
• Milestones completed
• Deliverables delivered
• Completed actual work percentage
• Actual start and finish dates for schedule activities
• Actual durations for schedule activities
• Nonconformities (quality)
• Number of defects (quality)
• Total number of change requests during the assessment period
• Actual cost
Review Project Current, Operational, or Living Documents

192
they are subject to change. These documents must be reviewed because they may
provide pertinent information that could be used to support the stakeholder
engagement control process. The examples of such documents include the
following:
• Risk register
• Responsibility assignment matrix
• Issues and action item log
• Communications management plan
• Project schedule
Utilize Stakeholder Engagement Control Tools

The tools that can be used to help with stakeholder engagement control process
include project information management systems, subject matter expert advice,
and collaboration meetings. These tools have been described in detail in Chapter
10, “Controlling Project Communications.”
Why Are Collaboration Meetings Needed?
One aspect of the stakeholder engagement control process is to find a balanced engagement
approach by negotiating a middle path with the stakeholders because it may not be possible
for a project manager to satisfy the expectations of each individual stakeholder. While trying
to please one stakeholder, the project manager may displease another stakeholder. The
collaboration meetings provide an ideal opportunity for the project manager to negotiate an
approach that is acceptable to all.
What Is Negotiation?
According to R. Valerga, author of The Cure for the Common Project, “Negotiation is a give-
and-take discussion between two parties and ultimately required of every project manager,
whether negotiating with suppliers over a purchase price, negotiating with customers over
the impact of a change request, negotiating with the sponsor over an external change to the
project resources, or negotiating with project team participants over the amount of time
required to complete a work task.”
Monitor and Control Stakeholder Engagement Performance

The stakeholder engagement control process compares the actual performance of
the project work carried out in stakeholder engagement management process
against the planned performance estimated and baselined in the planning process
193
of stakeholder management. The output from the control process provides
stakeholder engagement performance variance, which is the difference between
the actual work performance and the planned, baselined, or reference work
performance.
As discussed in “Determine Team Performance Variance” in Chapter 7, “Managing
Project Human Resources,” performance variance can be calculated and
interpreted to make appropriate decisions to control stakeholder engagement if it
is not in line with the planned performance.
Adopt a Balanced Approach in Stakeholder Engagement
It is common for project managers to be in a situation where while trying to meet the
demands of one stakeholder, they may unwittingly make another stakeholder unhappy
and/or feel offended. For example, a project team working to develop the project plans may
go to such levels to ensure the satisfaction of a particular stakeholder or group of
stakeholders that they engage in countless revisions of the plans until they have, seemingly,
made the stakeholder(s) happy. However, in doing so, they may have caused a serious
setback to the project schedule and budget, which in turn may have made the senior
management very unhappy.
As suggested by J.K. Pinto (author of Project Management: Achieving Competitive
Advantage), the only solution to this issue is the adoption of a balanced approach by
negotiating a middle path with the stakeholders so that supportive and constructive
relationships can be maintained with the stakeholders.
Tip
Tips for Effective Stakeholder Engagement Control
Following are steps you can take to implement effective stakeholder engagement control:
1. Start this process early and continue iteratively throughout the project lifecycle.
2. Make sure that the stakeholder register always contains the latest information about
stakeholders.
3. While comparing the actual performance data against the base line, analyze the
stakeholder management issues log also to address stakeholder issues in a timely manner.
4. Keep the stakeholders informed about any significant changes being proposed as a result
of the execution of the stakeholder engagement control process.
5. Engage key stakeholders in the change control process.
Also refer to the tips in Chapter 10.
SUMMARY
control process.
194
Figure 11.2 Project Stakeholder Engagement Control Process Summary
KEY TERMS
Change request (CR)
Issue log
195
CASE STUDY
The City of Mayflower Community Center Construction Project

John Williams was hired by the city of Mayflower on June 8, 2014, as a building
inspector. One of his assignments was to inspect city community center on August
1, 2014.
During the city planning commission meeting in the city hall on August 15, 2014,
Raul Chavez, the project manager for the city community center construction
project, discovered that the inspection of the city community center was not
completed by inspector John on August 1, 2014, as planned. Raul was concerned
because several other city projects depended on successful completion of the
construction of the city community center. With the community center project
schedule slipping, all other dependent projects would be delayed. Upon further
investigation, Raul found that inspector John did not approve the project because
he found project documentation incorrect and incomplete, and he had sent the
project detailed instructions on how to prepare and submit the project documents
for approval.
Raul invited his project core team members, the general contractor, city manager,
site manager, and few other key stakeholders for an urgent meeting to determine
the potential impact of the delay. Further, he facilitated a brainstorm session to
understand plan B and potential corrective actions to mitigate the risk of schedule
delays. The team collectively came up with the following impacts:
• Impact to scope: Plan B or alternative solutions may add additional unplanned
work to the scope.
• Impact to schedule: If the city community center inspection is not approved
latest by August 29, 2014, the dependent projects will jump to critical path
involving day-by-day schedule slip.
• Impact to cost: If resources are asked to work overtime to speed up the
completion of the required project document, it will cause cost overrun.
Raul decided to consult experts to seek their judgment. He consulted with Tim Allen
who had just completed a similar project successfully to mitigate the risk of failing
the inspection the second time. Tim helped the project team to develop a workable
plan to gather, organize, and present the information per building inspector’s
requirements. The project team led by project manager Raul acted upon Tim’s
advice.
196
Result: The Mayflower city community center inspection was approved on August
23, 2014.

1. Who are the stakeholders in this case and who is controlling the stakeholder
engagement?
2. Which project constraints have been included in this case for impact
assessment? Describe the impact.
3. What are various tools for stakeholder engagement control discussed in this
chapter? Which tool was used by Raul in this case?

1. What are the consequences of not controlling stakeholder engagement?
2. What tools are used to control stakeholder engagement?
3. Describe project stakeholder engagement control loop. What is the significance
of feedback in the loop?
6. What role do historical organizational project artifacts play in stakeholder
7. Why is there a need to update project management plan in stakeholder
8. What is the source of baseline or planned information in this chapter?
9. What is the source of actual information in this chapter?
10.Describe the balanced approach in stakeholder engagement.
REFERENCE NOTES
1. http://info.ibs-us.com/blog/bid/34322/Top-Quotes-about-Quality-Assurance-
and-Quality-Control-Process
197
4. Valerga, R. The Cure for the Common Project: pp. 161, 2009.
198

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8

Editor-in-Chief: Amy Neidlinger

© 2015 by Harjit Singh

For government sales inquiries, please contact governmentsales@pearsoned.com.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing December 2014

Pearson Education LTD.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014952169

Harjit Singh earned his MBA from University of

“The P in PM is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project

1. Stakeholder Identification and Analysis

How Do You Identify Stakeholders?

Review Organizational Charts

Figure 1.2 Stakeholder Identification Using Mind Mapping

Perform a SIPOC Analysis

Understand the Project Environment

Review Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

Utilize Stakeholder Analysis Tools

Table 1.3: Stakeholder Analysis Models

The Power-Influence Grid Model

The Salience Model

Subject Matter Expert Advice

Execution of Stakeholder Identification and Analysis

Why Did the Original Project Fail?

Table 1.5: Goals and Strategies

Table 1.6: Decision Makers

3. Identify effects on the community of achieving goals (see Table 1.7).

4. Identify all groups and individuals with a stake in the project.

7. Develop community outreach objectives3 and strategies4 for each high-priority

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

2. Planning Human Resource Management

How to Plan Project Human Resource Management

Understand the Project Framework and Approach

Understand the Project Environment

Consult the Historical Organizational Project Artifacts

Consult Subject Matter Experts

Understand Organizational Behavior

Determine the Format for Documenting Project Roles and Responsibilities

Organization Charts and Position Descriptions (Duty Statements)

Table 2.1: RACI Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Table 2.2: Common Types of RAM Charts

Develop the Human Resource Management Plan

Figure 2.5 Typical Resource Histogram

CASE STUDY: A CASE OF FAILED HUMAN RESOURCE

What Led to the Roadblock?

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

CHAPTER REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

How to Plan Project Communications Management

Review the Project Management Plan

Obtain Stakeholder Information from the Stakeholder Register

Understand the Project Environment

Utilize Appropriate Project Communication Methods and Tools

Figure 3.2 A Typical Communication Channel

In this communication channel, a sender transmits a message by encoding it

Develop a Communications Management Plan

Update the Current Project Documents

Figure 3.3 Project Communications Management Planning Process Summary

Communications Management Plan

Tailoring the Message

Table 3.1: Matching Communications with the Target Audience

Using the Right Communications Channels

CHAPTER REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS