HUMAN RESOURCE FOR PROJECT :

TEAM BUILDING, COMMUNICATION

By
Syed M. Waqar Azeem
Department of Management Sciences
Ref: Chapter 5 Building and maintaining an effective team, resource material.
 HUMAN RESOURCE ; THE MOST
IMPORTANT RESOURCE
• The project should be defined well enough to determine the
• appropriate participants.
• Encourage participatory approach and inclusion of team in project planning.
• it’s not a good idea for you to define and plan the project work alone.
• However, remember “too many cook spoil the food”.
 WHO SHOULD BE ON YOUR
TEAM?
• In functional organizations, core team concept influence the decision on team members.
• Functional manager as per their skills set for project.
• You may need human resources from external sources.
• Hire people.
• Out source some functions of project.
• In projectized organziations, project team is hired solely.
• Right person for the right job.
 WHAT TEAM LEADER HAS TO CONSIDER
IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• Anticipating Team Members’ Questions and Anxieties.
• WIIFM (What’s in It for me)?
• What will be expected of me?
• What will life on your team be like?
• Are project goals align with the goals of team member?
 ANTICIPATING MEMBERS
QUESTIONS AND ANXIETIES
• Review the project objectives and justification of project (problem and need analysis)
• Review the project proposal (solution to problem)
• Problem or risks they may face during project
• Role of all team members, well defined.
• Your leadership style
• Expectations in terms of work.
• Expectations in terms of behavior.
• Why you have selected them?
 STAGES IN TEAM DEVELOPMENT
• Forming :
• Basic know how about project
• Roles of teams
• Leader

• Storming :
• Team reaction to their learning in previous stage
• Decision and perception
• Liking and disliking
• Conflict handling

• Norming
• Team reconcile with project and their roles.
• Focus is now on work
• Behavioral norms are developed
 STAGES IN TEAM DEVELOPMENT
• Performing :
• Work is routine
• Results oriented
• Solve problem, accept responsibilities and behavior of team members

• Mourning :
• Project is ending, skills less utilized.
• Team structure disappearing or becoming irrelevant.
• You may have to return to forming stage
 FOSTERING TEAMWORK AND
SYNERGIZING
• As a leader, you interact with team on collective and individual level.
• The essence of building a team is very simple: get people to spend time together so that they
can know one another better.
• strong forms of teambuilding occur when the team members expand their knowledge of each
other and the project at the same time.
 SOME GOOD PRACTICES
• Develop mutual expectations for team members and the project manager.
• Develop a project network diagram by using sticky notes on the wall.
• Develop a “code of conduct” for project team meetings.
• Celebrate significant project milestones (e.g., design approved, first unit shipped, etc.).
• Team Evaluation.
• Meetings.
 10

“CONFLICT IS A FORM OF
INTERACTION AMONG PARTIES
THAT DIFFER IN INTEREST,
PERCEPTIONS, AND
PREFERENCES.”
(Osland, J.S., Kolb, D. A., & Rubin, I. M., 2001)
 11

RECENT EXAMPLES OF CONFLICT

• Has anyone been part of a project conflict or had a conflict occur in their
project recently?
• Can you briefly describe the conflict and how it was resolved?
 CONFLICTS AND HUMANS

• It occurs in virtually all human and organizational relationships.

• When conflicts are not managed well, the results can damage individuals, relationships, and
organizations.
• When conflicts are handled well, problems are identified and solved, relationships and
organizations are strengthened.
• traditional view of conflict : The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided.
 13

CONFLICT AND PROJECT

MANAGEMENT
• Conflict is inevitable; PM should expect conflict

• PM can anticipate and avoid some conflicts; others must be managed and
resolved

• PM can learn different approaches for managing and resolving conflict; it’s
a learned skill

• Fast conflict resolution is key to project success

 5 CAUSES OF CONFLICT
5 elements that are almost always present when a conflict arises:.
(1) interdependence
(2) difference
(3) opposition
(4) expression
(5) emotion
The Art of Conflict Management: Achieving Solutions for Life, Work,
and Beyond, by Michael Dues,1
 INTERDEPENDENCE

• The behavior of one party

• has an effect on the other party
• parties are related/dependent in such a manner
• that each has some control over and
• a stake in the consequences
• that may result from the conflict.
 INTERDEPENDENCE
• Example
The employer and employee have an interdependent relationship. As a general rule, either
can terminate the relationship, leaving the other to deal with the consequences.
 DIFFERENCE
• "difference" refers to the parties
• in an interdependent relationship
• having goals unable to coexist or
• parties perceive their goals to be mismatched.
 DIFFERENCE
• Example
An employee may desire and suggest a change in the conditions of employment. The
employer may not think the changes will benefit the organization—or at least holds that
perception.
 OPPOSITION
• when the goal or goals of one party are impeded/held back by the other party.
• Opposition often appears as competition
• for rewards or allocation of scarce resources.
• For avoidance of undesired outcomes.
• The parties to the conflict oppose each other by actions
• designed at preventing the other party from achieving its goals or obtaining the reward or
resource.
 OPPOSITION
• Example
The employer opposes the requested change in working conditions to protect the bottom
line. The employee may see this as an unwillingness to share the resources (the income) that
flow from their efforts.
 EXPRESSION
• The verbal and non-verbal/behavioral manifestation of the conflict are its expression.
• Unlike the tree falling in the forest—which makes a sound regardless of whether a listener is
present—there is no conflict unless it is expressed, which may occur verbally or nonverbally.
 EXPRESSION
• Example
The employee who does not receive the requested change in working conditions may
become resistant to other initiatives implemented by the employer. Conversely, the employer
may punish the overly demanding employee by imposing other work conditions unwanted
by the employee.
 EMOTIONS
• Conflicts almost always involve some level of feeling—usually a negative feeling often
expressed angrily.
• Emotions are our internal reaction to stimuli;
• reaction to stimuli in conflict situations frequently results in the use of a negative and angry
tone.
 EMOTIONS
• Example
The employee feels depressed/tensed that the employer does not care about his or her well
being, while the employer feels agitated by what he or she sees as unnecessary demands.
 CAN A CONFLICT BE A POSITIVE
THING?
• Morton Deutsch, often regarded as the founder of modern conflict management theory and
practice.
• In his research, Deutsch observed that in task-oriented groups with shared goals, most
conflicts arose over how to achieve the goals, not from the fact that one individual was
blocking another’s way in reaching an individual goal.
• Deutsch’s insight was that conflict might benefit task-oriented groups in finding better
ways to reach their shared goals.
 TWO TYPES OF CONFLICTS
• Deutsch identified two types of conflict

• competitive conflict—situations that require one party to lose so the other may win

• pure conflict—situations in which both parties can win.

 POSSIBLE OUTCOME IN THE
CONFLICT ARE
I WIN
Win / Win /
lose Win

I LOSE Lose Lose

/ lose / Win
U LOSE U WIN
Deutsch found that most conflicts are "pure," which means that we can pursue
a win–win solution; both parties can negotiate, and neither has to lose.
 PERCEPTION
• Perception is our awareness of the environment from which we assign meaning to the things
we observe.
• One observer may perceive a difference when none exists, while another may perceive a
different difference than the other party saw.
• To manage conflict well, we need to develop the ability to see things from the other person’s
point of view.
 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE
• Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann identified five conflict strategies
• arranged them in a model according to the degree to which each expressed
• "concern/focus on my needs/ desired outcome/agenda or stand for your views/point of view”
- Assertiveness
• "concern for the other person/mutual relationship” - Cooperation
 KENNETH THOMAS AND RALPH KILMANN
MODEL

COMPETITION COLLABORATION
(My way or the highway) (two heads better than one)
Win - Lose Win - Win
Assertiveness

COMPROMISE
No win – no lose
Partial Win – partial lose

AVOIDING /
ACCOMODATING
WITHDRAWAL
(My Pleasure)
(I’ll think about it)
Lose - Win
Lose - Lose

Cooperation
Style When to use it .

Compete When you are determine to get your needs met. When issue is something where you are not
required to compromise. When you are not concerned about maintaining the relationships.

Accommodate Where relationships take priority.

Compromise When time is short. When you need a practical solution that both parties can live with.

Avoid Cost of discussing topics outweigh any likely benefits. Where issues might not be open to
resolution. Discussing them can create more problems / disturbance.

Collaborate When relationship with other person is ongoing. When there is close coordination which
cannot be avoided.
 NEGOTIATION
• Negotiation: The process through which two or more parties seek an acceptable rate of
exchange for items they own or control.

• Objective of negotiation: To reduce or resolve conflict.

• “Reduce” means no further action against another party is contemplated.

• “Resolve” means all parties are satisfied to a point below the level of frustration.
 PRINCIPLES OF NEGOTIATIONS
Roger Fisher and William Ury developed four principles for win–win
negotiations.

1. Separate the people from the problem; that is, focus on events rather than
the parties.

2. Focus on interests not positions. An interest is the reason behind the

position taken on a particular issue.

3. Generate options for mutual benefit. This can be accomplished through

brainstorming, where ideas are generated and recorded without regard to their
merit; analysis of the merits comes later.

4. Base the choice of the ideas generated on objective criteria.