Project Human Resource Management

Study Notes

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved

 Points to Note

Please read Chapter 9 from PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition (pages 215-242).

The study notes explain topics that are important for PMP exam preparation, and you can expect
several questions from these topics.

It is very important to understand all the concepts discussed in this chapter, so please pay close
attention to all the terms used.

Try to relate the concepts to real life examples.

After reading the study notes, please answer the chapter test questions in this knowledge area.
The chapter questions improve your understanding of the concepts discussed in the study notes.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 2

 What is Project Human Resource
Management?

Processes that help project managers and other managers to organize, and manage all the
project stakeholders’ expectations.

Processes that explain how to make the most effective use of the people involved with the
project, including all stakeholders.

Major Human Resource Management processes are:

 Develop Human Resource Plan
 Acquire Project Team
 Develop Project Team
 Manage Project Team

Please refer to figure 9-1, on page 217, in PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, which provides
an overview of the processes in Project Human Resource Management.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 3

 Develop Human Resource Plan

Identifies and documents roles, responsibilities, required skills, and reporting

relationships and creates staffing management plan. The roles can be assigned to persons
or to groups, who could be part of the organization performing the project or external to
it.
.

Identifies the training needs, strategies for team building, programs to recognize and
reward, and issues regarding safety and compliance.

Is planned in the early stages in most projects.

Is closely linked with Communications Planning, since the performing organization’s

structure has a major influence on the project’s human resource requirements.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 4

 Human Resource Plan

Output of Develop Human Resource Plan

Part of the Project Management Plan

Provides guidance on how we should define, staff, manage, control, and finally release
project human resources

Should definitely include:

• Role and responsibility assignments:

o Project roles and responsibilities are closely linked to the Define Scope
process.
o Roles (who does what), authority (who decides what), responsibility (work
expected to be performed), and competency (skill and capacity needed to
complete the activities in the project) are defined, and role clarity is
documented for the project’s human resources.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 5

 Human Resource Plan (continued)

– Staffing management plan:

Describes when and how human resource requirements are met

Can be formal/informal, highly detailed/broadly framed depending on the needs of the

project

Contains information on staff acquisition, resource calendars, staff release plan, training
needs, recognition and rewards, compliance, and safety

Project organization chart:

Is a graphical display of project team members and their reporting relationships

Can be formal/informal, highly detailed/broadly framed depending on the need of the

project

For details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, page 222-223

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 6

 Acquire Project Team

In this process, human resource availability is confirmed, and the team necessary to complete
the project is acquired.

Points the project manager/project management team has to consider while acquiring the
project team:
• Effectively negotiate and influence those who can provide required human
resources
• Failure to acquire the required human resources could affect the success of the
project and could even result in project cancellation
• Alternative resources, even if less competent, should be assigned if, for any reason,
the required human resources are not available. By so doing, no
regulatory/legal/mandatory, or any other criteria should be violated

The tools and techniques used for this process are:

 Pre-assignment
 Negotiation
 Acquisition
 Virtual teams

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 7

 Acquire Project Team (continued)

The outputs for the Acquire Project Team process are:

 Project Staff Assignments: The project staff members are assigned, and the
assignments are documented

 Resource Calendars: They document the time periods each member works on the
project

 Project Management Plan Updates: The project management plan should be updated
with human resource plan after completion of the above two sub-processes

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 8

 Develop Project Team

Process that improves the competencies, interactions among the team members, and the
overall team environment to enhance project performance

Objectives of developing a project team include:

 Enhance the skills and knowledge of team members

 Enhance a feeling of trust and agreement among team members

 Enhance cohesiveness among team members to improve both individual and team
productivity

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 9

Tools And Techniques For Develop
Project Team

 Interpersonal Skills
 Training
 Team Building Activities
 Ground Rules
 Co-location
 Recognition and Rewards

For more details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, pages 232-234.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 10

 Manage Project Team

Process to track team member performance, provide feedback, resolve issues, and manage
changes to optimize project performance.

Project team management achieves the following objectives:

 Change results are submitted

 Human resource plan is updated
 Issues are resolved
 Inputs for performance appraisals are provided
 Lessons learned document is added to the organization’s database

The project management team should:

 Observe team behavior

 Manage conflict
 Resolve issues
 Appraise team members’ performance

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 11

 Tools and Techniques for
Manage Project Team

Observation and Conversation

Project performance Appraisals

Conflict Management

Issue Log

Interpersonal skills

For more details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, pages 238-241

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 12

 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Source: Project Management - A Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, And Controlling (pages
195-196)

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 13

 Herzberg's Theory of Motivators and
Hygiene Factors

Factors such as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions,
and salary are the hygiene factors. The absence of the hygiene factors can create job
dissatisfaction, but their presence does not guarantee motivation or satisfaction.

Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement are

motivators
(satisfiers). They are associated with long-term positive effects in job performance.
The hygiene
factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produce only short-term changes in job attitudes and
performance.

The satisfiers relate to what a person does, while the dissatisfiers relate to the situation
in which
the person does what he or she does.

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 14

 Handling Conflicts

Blake and Mouton have delineated five modes for handling conflicts:

 Withdrawal: Retreat or withdraw from a potential disagreement

 Smoothing: De-emphasize or avoid areas of differences and emphasize areas of

agreement

 Compromising: Bargain and search for solutions that bring some degree of
satisfaction to the parties in a dispute

 Forcing: Exert one’s viewpoint at the potential expense of another—characterized by

competitiveness and a win-lose situation

 Confrontation: Handling the conflict directly, which involves a problem solving

approach whereby affected parties work through their disagreements.

Source: Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, pages 304,
305, and 306

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 15

 Conflict Intensity

Most of the conflicts occur due to the following issues (in order of decreasing intensity)

Highest Intensity
 Schedules
 Priorities
 Manpower
 Technical
 Procedures
 Personality
 Costs
Lowest Intensity

Source: Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, page 302

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 16

 Management/Leadership Styles

Some common management/leadership styles are:

 Autocratic: Manager makes decisions himself or herself- allows subordinates little

involvement and discussion before a decision is made
 Laissez faire: Manager does not interfere with subordinates – so subordinates are
largely unsupervised, which may lead to anarchy
 Democratic: Manager allows subordinates to discuss issues and reach decisions,
although he or she will guide and advise
 Discussing: There is two-way communication and discussion between manager and
subordinates
 Directing: Managers tell people what tasks will be performed and when and how they
should be done
 Delegating: Manager delegates to get consensus on what has been achieved and
what needs to be done
 Coaching: Manager issues instructions to others
 Facilitating: Manager coordinates inputs from several sources before making a
decision
 Participatory
 Supportive
 Task oriented
 Team-based
 Assertive

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 17

 Types of Roles People Play in a Project

Destructive Roles
Supportive Roles

 Aggressor  Information Seekers
 Dominator  Information Givers
 Devil’s Advocate  Encouragers
 Topic Jumper  Clarifiers
 Recognition Seeker  Harmonizers
 Withdrawer  Consensus Takers
 Blocker  Gate Keepers
 Initiators

Reference: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (pages 181-182)

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 18

 Delegation

A method and style of management by which the project manager distributes
responsibility for proper performance of a task to a team member working on the project.

Project manager, even after delegating responsibility to a team member, still retains the
ultimate responsibility for the end results.

Project manager also agree to be held accountable for the decision to delegate.

Involves:
• Giving responsibility (obligation to perform the assigned tasks)
• Gaining acceptance (the team member's agreement to be responsible)
• Granting authority (the right and power to accomplish the tasks)
• Expecting reliability (assurance of best and consistent effort)
• Requiring accountability (accepting responsibility for success or failure).

Please note: The concept and process of delegation can be illustrated by the "4D's" model
(Drop, Delay, Delegate, and Do).

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 19

 Delegation (continued…)
Project managers should delegate:
• Routine tasks
• Tasks that require technical expertise
• What someone else can do better
• Projects involving the critical, visible issues of quality, quantity, cost, and timeliness
to self-managed project teams or self-directed teams.

Project managers should not fully delegate:

• Long range planning (although they should involve others)
• Selection, monitoring, motivation, evaluation (performance appraisal) and rewarding
of key team players
• Personal matters

Practical method for effective delegation:

• There are eight essential ingredients of effective delegation, which can be
represented by the acronym: 2 x ETFP, which stands for Easy To Follow Procedures.
Effective and successful delegation involves four steps, each having two major
ingredients.
o E ⇒ Entrust and Enlist
o T ⇒ Teach and Touch
o F ⇒ Familiarize and Follow up
o P ⇒ Praise (the Process) and Participate (in Feedback)

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 20

 Delegation (continued…)

The project manager must assign responsibility, grant appropriate authority, expect
reliability, and require accountability from the delegatees.

Authority confers the right to impose some degree of obedience.

Responsibility confers the obligation on the delegatee to act with or without detailed
guidance or specific authorization.

Reliability encompasses two main factors—track record and quality of work.

Accountability in the project context is the extent to which individuals are answerable and
must provide visible evidence of their actions.

Reference: Organizing Projects for Success (Human Aspects of Project Management) by Vijay
Verma. Chapter 4: Important Issues in Project Organizational Design

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 21

Delegation (continued…)

© 2009 PMstudy.com. All rights reserved 22