Project Team Acquisition free essay sample

Keeping together is progress, Working together is success. Henry Ford This is one of the eight executing processes in Project Management which falls under the Human Resource knowledge area. The objective of this process is to confirm the availability of human resources and obtain the required team members needed for the execution of a project. The roles, responsibilities and duration the team members are required for are outlined and regularly updated in the Human Resource Plan which is a part of the Project Management Plan. A team can be defined as a collection of interdependent individuals who work together, are committed to a common goal and share responsibility for specific outcomes for which they are mutually accountable. Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success† – Unknown. Teams are a great way to make the most of employee talents and because they can be assembled, organized and dispersed, they are more flexible and reactive to changing events than the conventional departments or other forms of permanent groupings. We will write a custom essay sample on Project Team Acquisition or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This document contains all the necessary actions for defining, preparing, integrating, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing the project. [4] An important section of this document is the Human Resource plan which contains the staffing management plan. The staffing management plan provides details of how the project team members will be acquired and dispersed based on the conditions of the project. [4] For example, a project may require an instrumentation engineer in the fourth phase of the project. The project manager may be required to present a job description of what the instrumentation engineer will be responsible for, the duration and work schedule, after which the human resource department or other functional managers would have to approve the request. Based on the staffing management plan which is regularly updated during and beyond the project duration, the human resource requirements, timing and process for staffing can be determined. Thus, making it a vital input for the â€Å"Acquire Project Team† execution process. This plan also affects several aspects such as the budget, schedule, quality, risks of the project. . Enterprise environmental factors: these are related to the internal or external environment of the performing organization and are very important factors which can alter the project management options which in turn, impact the success of the project positively or negatively. These Enterprise Environment Factors include all policies, cultural practices, procedures, communication channels, infrastructure, staffing guidelines, quality standards, risk tolerances of the project stakeholders, market standards and conditions relevant to the project, government tandards, codes of conduct, legislation, skills and expertise of currently available human resources, work authorization systems, political climate within and outside of the organization. [6] 3. Organizational process assets: these assets include all past documents, historical data and information, formal or informal plans, guidelines, work breakdown structure templates, contracts, registers, assessment tools, organizational standard policies, processes and procedures, lessons learnt, earned values, estimations, risks, proposal evaluation criteria, etc. Having records of all these contribute to the success of subsequent projects. For example, if an organization wants to embark on a project, by simply modifying the template of a project management plan for the same or similar kind of project that has been done in the past, time, cost and errors are minimized, thus, a more successful project. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the project manager or project management team to search through the records of the organization for such historical information and collect all the necessary and relevant documentations before executing a project. It also is their responsibility to update the organizational process assets throughout the life cycle of the project. â€Å"Today’s project would be tomorrow’s history†. [6] In the case of an entirely new project of which the organization has no record, information regarding similar projects has to be gotten from other external sources. The lessons learned from the previous projects executed by an organization and the corresponding historical information usually constitute the organization’s knowledge base. [6] These enable more efficient planning and execution of future project. 1. 2. Acquire Project Team: Tools and Techniques 1. Pre-assignment: Assigning individuals to a project before it has commenced is called â€Å"Pre-assignment†. Some reasons why some project team members are often pre-assigned to projects include: the availability of the individual for the project duration the individual being promised to be part of a competitive contract because he/she possesses specialized skills or knowledge related to the project [3] it is entailed as a part of the project charter of an internal project[3] an opportunity for the individual to complete on-the-job training. Negotiation: This is used to obtain the best individuals for a project. Teams can be put together in various ways. In many organizations, they are formed at the discretion of a senior member of staff or the human resource department of the organization. [5] As the personnel in charge of, and understanding the requirements of a project, the project manager or project management team have to negotiate with the human resource department, functional managers or whoever is in the position to select members of the team, specifying the type of team required and the characteristics of the individuals that would be needed to create such a team. An unguided choice and mix of team members could reduce the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the team which would in turn, adversely affect the project. It is not uncommon for Project managers to negotiate with other project managers to share the required human resources among projects, but in such agreements, the schedules of the concerned individuals have to be properly structured to ensure that the on-going projects are completed successfully and within the allocated time. 3] 3. Acquisition: This is used to obtain individuals from outside the organization [3]. The policies and procedures of the performing organization must be taken into consideration. â€Å"It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone† – Milton Olson It is very important for project teams to have the right blend of skills, expertise, abilities and personality types. 5] Based on the human resource plan, available funds and other factors, the sources of the individuals can be determined, whether to be hired from external sources, transferred in from other departments within the organization, hired as subcontractors on a contract basis, on a part-time or full-time basis or on a virtual platform. Unfortunately, the politics of an organization usually come into play with staff acquisitions. For example, in exchange for the most valuable personnel, functional managers may request for various â€Å"favors† from project managers. The following reasons may give the project manager no other option but to procure the project team or individuals to complete the project work: -The internal human resources of the organization lack the required skills or expertise to complete the project work. Training costs and duration are also not feasible. It is more cost effective to procure the project. -The required/proposed project team members within the organization would not be available for the project or have various on-going assignments and projects. 3] Team composition The following should be taken into consideration when obtaining individuals to make up a team: -Skills and experience: knowledge, proficiency, technical expertise, problem-solving, interpersonal and decision-making skills amongst several skills. The right mix of skills is crucial. One or more members could learn complementary skills in which the team is deficient. [3] -Personality: preferences and personalities e. g. open individuals communicate better thus, a more creative and innovative team. 1] -Roles: Selection so as to fill the various roles broadly categorized as: the task-oriented roles and the maintenance roles. The task-oriented as the name suggests, ensures that the tasks of group members are accomplished, while the maintenance roles ensure the group members maintain good relations. A balance of this two is important for team effectiveness. Some members of the team can play multiple roles. Thus, the importance to select members who value flexibility, who can then be cross-trained so as to do one another’s jobs. [1] -Diversity: A heterogeneous mix of individuals. Different functional, demographic or cultural characteristics (jobs, positions, work experiences, age, race, sex, citizenship). [1] -Size: the required number of individuals needed per team or per project. Interest level: the potential team members’ interest in working on the project. [3] Availability: certainty of the availability of the potential team member for the duration of the project. [3] 4. Virtual teams: used where the team is to spend little or no time face-to-face with each other. This team is unrestricted by geographical location, disabilities, mobility constraints nd expenses, thus, also saves cost and time. Members of such a team telecommunicate in order to achieve a common goal. The geographical locations could be as far apart as across continents, or within the same state and in some cases, within the same building. Online communication links such as wide-area networks, video/audio conferencing and emails are used. [4] An example of a virtual team is a softw are development team consisting of a project manager, business analyst, software architect, designer, software developers and software testers. The software architect, designer and developers may come up with different models or designs, exchange them via electronic mail, and upon completion of different phases send to the software testers who in turn go through them, test, troubleshoot or debug, then send them back to the developers with appraisals, suggestions or recommendations. The final product could also be electronically delivered to the client while they also receive payment electronically. Thus, in some cases, the company might not require a physical office yet still get many contracts and have them perfectly executed. Though virtual teams have many advantages, a few of its disadvantages include: †¢Possibility of a lack of teamwork spirit. †¢Possibility of less productivity as compared to physical teams. Thus, members of this team require a high level of self-discipline. 1. 2. 3Acquire Project Team: Outputs 1. Project Staff Assignments: The roles and responsibilities are assigned to each of the team members. Following the staffing of the required human resources and team formation, the directory, roles and responsibilities of each team member are updated into the project management plan. Resource Calendars: taking into consideration, the time schedule (availability and conflict) of each team member, a master schedule/ documentation of the available time periods each member of the team can put into the project can be created. 3. Project Management Plan Updates: the process of project team acquisition eventually leads to an updating of the project management plan, as the new development and information gathered requires documentation.