CH -16 People And Projects

Question 1

In projects, why is a hierarchy put in place?

Answer 1

To create a structure of authority so everyone knows who can make decisions.

To create a series of superior-subordinate relationships so each individual or group only has one boss.

Question 2

What is the hierarchy of various stakeholders involved in a project?

Answer 2

Project sponsor 
Project owner
Project customer 
project manager 
Project team

Question 3

What is the role of project sponsor?

Answer 3

Project sponsor makes yes/no decisions about the project.

Initiates the project. Must be satisfied that a business case exists to justify.

Appoints project manager
Approves project plan
Provides project resource and responsibile for its budget
Monitor progress from info provided by project manager
Provides support and senior management commitment to the project

Question 4

Define what the project owner is?

Answer 4

Person for whom project is being carried out
Interested in end result and their needs being met
More concerned in scope and functionality than budget
May be head of dept for which project is being carried out

Project owner is a senior stakeholder and usually sits on steering committee. May chair this committee instead of project sponsor

Question 5

Define what a projects customers/users are

Answer 5

Person or group of people whose needs the project should satisfy.
Because this stakeholder is a group can lead to problems
- agreement on what customer needs are
- as users are usually invited to participate in project, they may try to hijack project to satisfy personal needs above those of the organisation.

This can bring them into conflict with project owner despite them theoretically being on the same side.

In small projects, the sponsor, owner and customer may be the same person

Question 6

Define what project manager is

Answer 6

Responsible for delivery of project objectives to the satisfaction of the final customer.
Role involves-
Making decisions relating to system resources
Planning, monitoring and controlling project
Selecting, building and motivating project team, Leadership
Serving as a point of contact with management hierarchy
Communicating with the chain of command
Selecting and managing subcontractors
Recommending termination where necessary
Ensures project is on time, within cost, and to quality standards set by customer.

Question 7

What does project team do?

Answer 7

Members of project team will be given individual responsibility for parts of the project.
As projects are often interdisciplinary and cross organisational reporting lines, the project team is likely to be made up of members from different functions or divisions.
Each individual then has a dual role, as they maintain functional/divisional responsibilities as well as membership of the project team.

Question 8

What is project steering committee/project board?

Answer 8

Oversees project and makes all high level decisions
Smaller projects will have steering committee or board, larger projects may have both. In this case project board is above steering committee.
Steering committee may meet monthly, the board will meet less frequently.
Committee/board will be headed by project sponsor and members should represent all major areas of the project, each with sufficient seniority to make decisions on behalf of their areas

Question 9

What is a project champion?

Answer 9

Informal role with no decision making or reporting responsibilities. Role is simply to campaign on behalf of the project at the highest levels of the organisation. They show their support by marketing it at every opportunity.

Question 10

What other stakeholders are there in a project?

Answer 10

Suppliers, subcontractors,specialists.
Each will have own objectives, some of which will conflict with those of the project, eg suppliers will seek to maximise price of supply.

Question 11

What role could a CMA play in a project?

Answer 11

Project manager - possess required skills such as leadership, communication and analytical skills

Sponsor - is often a senior member of finance

Project customer/user - in terms of assessing the impact of change of a project on the accounting function

Team member - bring financial knowledge and are able to analyse and advise on the financial impact of the project on the organisation

Provides financial info for project - often involved in supplying info. At the outset during the feasibility study and throughout monitoring project spend against budget.

Question 12

What are the key points in managing stakeholder relationships?

Answer 12

Stakeholder interest and power needs to be assessed. Vital as understanding of stakeholders leads to ability to manage them.
A competent Project manager understands all stakeholders values,beliefs, assumptions and expectations.

Once stakeholders are identified they can be mapped into -

Likelihood of attempting to impress their expectations on others
Power and means available to do this
Impact of stakeholder expectations on the project

Could use mendelow matrix

Question 13

Where do most stakeholders conflict arise? give examples

Answer 13

Most conflict arise from the interaction of individuals.

Common reasons-
Unclear objectives for project
Role ambiguity in project team
Unclear schedules and performance targets
Project manager has low level of authority
Remote functional groups working almost independently.
Interference from local to functional management
Personality clashes, different styles of working

Question 14

What is the framework that a project manager can use to predict the potential for disputes?

Answer 14

Risk management - Since an unforeseen event (a risk) has the potential to create conflict; and

Dispute management - dispute procedure with a minimum impact on costs, progress and goodwill

Question 15

What are the techniques for dispute management?

Answer 15

Negotiation- involved parties discuss the problem. This may or may not work

Mediation - (assisted negotiation) involves a neutral third party.
In practice disputes are often resolved by accepting the view of the stakeholder that has financial responsibility for the project. In this situation negotiation and mediation may only deliver an outcome that reflects the original imbalance of power

Partnering- focus on creating communication links between project participants with intention of directing them toward a common goal - ahead of own self interest.

Compromise - most obvious approach ,but implies that both parties have to lose something.

Question 16

What are the skills required by a project manager?

Answer 16

Main -
Leadership -ability to obtain results through personal direction and influence. Ability to motivate team and create a team object they want to be part of.

Communication - with a range of stakeholders,using meetings (team,customer, individuals),written reports to management and customer, listening to all stakeholders.

Negotiation -on variety of project issues -available resources,schedules, standards, costs, quality and people issues.

Delegation - communicating overall project, then further clarifying individuals roles. Empowering project team and each member to accomplish the expected tasksfor their area of responsibility. Project manager has neither Time nor skills to carry out all project tasks, so must delegate responsibility to those who have.

Problem solving - gathering info about potential issues, encouraging team members to identify problems in their own areas and resolve on their own. communicate to manager tasks critical to overall achievement of project.
Change management skills- changes may be requested by customer,project team,caused by unexpected events,required by the users of the final project outcome.
Project manager must have skills to manage and control change. Generally the later the change in the project life cycle, the greater impact on achieving objective successfully.

Other-
Planning and control
Technical awareness
People skills
Financial awareness

Question 17

Give examples of the type of issue that a project manager will get involved in regarding negotiations.

Answer 17

Resources - funding, staff,time scale, equipment

Schedules - order ,duration,timing of activities. Deadlines

Priorities - over other projects or work, between cost quality and time, of members activities.

Procedures - methods,roles/responsibilities, reporting,relationships

Quality - Assurance checks, performance measures,fitness for purpose

Costs - estimates, budgets, expenditure

People - getting team to work together, getting required skills, work allocation, effort needed

Question 18

Tuckmans model of team devolpment can also be used to show the lifecycle of a project. What are the stages?

Answer 18

Forming - individuals brought together, often from different areas of the organisation. At this stage project manager should provide clear direction and ensure team understands objectives.

Storming - as individuals start to operate as a team, most teams go through this conflict stage. Team member try to test managers authority and challenge their given role. Project manager needs to demonstrate strong conflict resolution and leadership.

Norming - individuals settle into roles and team starts to perform. Project manager will begin to pass decision making authority to team members.

Performing- team operates at full potential. Project manager can concentrate on performance of the project

Adjourning (dorming). Once project objectives are achieved, team can be disbanded and individuals go back to their previous roles, or move to work on a new project.

Question 19

A project manager can’t complete a project on his own. It require teamwork and team motivation. A project manager should create an environment that is supportive and where team members feel enthusiastic and want to work towards the overall project goal.

How can a project manager create this environment?

Answer 19

Ensuring team made up of correct people. Awareness of Belbins model ensuring all required roles are met.

Adequate knowledge and experience in team

Adopting a participative management style

Encourage participation in project decision making

Delegating decision to team members thus encouraging involvement and ownership

Regular project meetings, regular one to one meeting

Ensure conflict is minimised, by ensuring team members are clear about their roles and what is required.

Question 20

What is a matrix structure?

Answer 20

A grid with project structure vertically and functional structure horizontally. Each individual has a dual role as they maintain their functional responsibilities as well as membership of a project team and therefore have to report to two managers.

Question 21

Where is it suitable to use a matrix structure?

Answer 21

Matrix structure is most suitable where -

Business of the organisation consists of a series of projects, each requiring staff and resources from a number of technical functions

Projects have different start and end dates so organisation is always reassigning resources from project to project.

Projects are complex, so staff benefit from being assigned to a technical function (eg finance, logistics) where they can share knowledge with colleagues.

Projects are expensive- having resources controlled by functional heads should lead to improved utilisation and reduced duplication across projects

Projects are customer facing, so the customer requires a single point of contact (the project manager) to deal with

Question 22

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the matrix structure?

Answer 22

Advantages
Improved decision making by bringing a wide range of expertise to problems.
Replacement of formal control by direct contact
Assists in development of managers by exposing them to company wide problems and decisions.
Improves lateral communication and cooperation between specialists

Disadvantages
A lack of clear responsibility
Clashes in priorities between project and function
Functions lose control of psychological contract
Difficult for one specialist to appraise performance of another discipline in a multi skilled team
Employees may be confused reporting to two bosses
Managers spend a lot of time in meetings to prioritise tasks
Project manager may be reluctant to impose authority as they may be subordinates in a later project