SUM-UP

Planning Steps (Phases) Our lectures

Define or orient the planning process to Value, Vision, Mission … etc.
a singular purpose or a desired result … Project Statement
Strategy Understand constraints
Market Demand Analysis
Assess the current situation
Analysis techniques
Establish goals Objectives goal setting principles
Scheduling Main steps and timeline Gantt Charts Effort impact grid.
Priorities. Pareto ratio.
Stakeholder & Power grid
Estimated time.
Identify Main Players for starting Work breakdown Structure
execution Reconfirm-Communicate: Project Manager &
Functional Manager & Project sponsor
Organisation Structure
Team management of the project
Responsibility matrix

1) WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) ...................................................................................................... 2

2) RECONFIRM-COMMUNICATE FULL PROJECT TEAM - LEADERS ..................................................................... 2
3) ORGANISATION STRUCTURE – ORGANISATION CHARTS .............................................................................. 3
A) TRADITIONAL (CLASSICAL) ORGANIZATION ................................................................................................... 3
B) TRADITIONAL (CLASSICAL) ORGANIZATION ADOPTED FOR FUNCTIONS AND DOT LINE REPORTS ................................ 4
C) MATRIX ORGANIZATIONAL FORM .................................................................................................................. 4
4) RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX (RM) (ASSIGNMENT RM AND COMMUNICATION RM)......................................... 5
5) PEOPLE MANAGEMENT TEAM PERFORMING AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE ................................................... 6
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE TEAM BUILDING AND SUGGESTED HANDLING APPROACHES............................................................... 8
FOUR BAD SIGNS: ABSENCE OF TRUST / FEAR OF CONFLICT / LACK OF COMMITMENT/ INATTENTION TO RESULTS ....................... 9
ROLES (BEHAVIOUR) THAT UNDERMINE PROJECT MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................ 10
ROLES THAT SUPPORT PROJECT MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ................................................................................... 11
IMPORTANT TO KNOW CRITICAL PATHWAY ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 14

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1) Work breakdown structure (WBS)
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a key project deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project into smaller
components and manageable sections. It is defined as "deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the
work to be executed by the project team." Sometimes it is known as How-to-How analysis. Sometimes it is
performed by numeric codes.

2) Reconfirm-Communicate full project team - leaders

Project Manager and Project sponsor

The integration activities performed by the project manager include:

● develop a project plan ● execute the plan ● make changes to the plan

Functional Manager, there are three elements to this role:

● The functional manager has the responsibility to define how the task will be done and where the task will be
done (i.e., the technical criteria).
● The functional manager has the responsibility to provide sufficient resources to accomplish the objective
within the project’s constraints (i.e., who will get the job done).
● The functional manager has the responsibility for the deliverable.

Project executive’s role, Project Sponsor

Executives are expected to interface a project as follows:
● In project planning and objective-setting ● In priority-setting ● In conflict resolution
●Monitor execution and final results ●Main customer engagement ●Overall budget allocation

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3) Organisation structure – Organisation charts
It is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of
its parts and positions/jobs.

A) TRADITIONAL (CLASSICAL) ORGANIZATION

Some Advantages Some Disadvantages

1) Continuity in the authorities and functions;
policies, procedures, and lines of responsibility.
2) Good control over personnel, since each
employee has one and only one person to report to.
3) Communication channels are vertical and well
established.
1) increase bureaucracy, slow down innovations and
flexibility to adopt changes
2) Decisions favour the strongest functional groups
3) Does not provide the project-oriented emphasis
necessary to accomplish the project tasks

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4) Clear Career path and promotion line. 4) Can cause employee to act in interest of the
department or direct manager instead of the
company as a whole

B) TRADITIONAL (CLASSICAL) ORGANIZATION Adopted for functions and dot line

reports

C) MATRIX ORGANIZATIONAL FORM

Each project manager reports directly to the vice president and general manager. Since each project
represents a potential profit centre, the power and authority used by the project manager
come directly from the general manager. The project manager has total responsibility and
accountability for project success. The functional departments, on the other hand, have
functional responsibility to maintain technical excellence on each of the project.

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 Some Advantages
1)The project manager maintains max project control
2) Rapid responses are possible to changes, conflict
resolution, and project needs
3) Authority and responsibility are shared.
4) Stress is distributed among the team (and the
functional managers).
Some Disadvantages
1) Potential for continuous conflict and conflict
resolution
2) Each project organization operates independently
3) Multidimensional information and work flow.
4) Employees and managers are more susceptible to
role ambiguity than in traditional form.
5) More effort and time are needed initially to define
policies and procedures, compared to traditional form

4) Responsibility matrix (RM) (Assignment RM and Communication RM).

A) Linear responsibility matrix (LRM) Or Assignment Responsibility Matrix (ARM)

A matrix that describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks for a project. It is
especially useful in clarifying roles and responsibilities in cross-functional/departmental projects and
processes.

Too many techniques as RACIO, Or CARIO (Main one to be used)

(R= Responsible, A= Accountable, Approves, C= consult, I = inform, O = Omit)

Another example: RASIC (responsible, approves, supports, is informed, is consulted)

Team Team Team

Task/Member P.Sponsor P.Managmer F.Manager
member 1 member 2 member 3
Task 1 A R A O O O
Task 2 R R A O O O
Task 3 A A A R O O
Task 4 O R O O R R
Task 5 O R O R O R

B) Linear responsibility matrix (LRM): Communication ‘report’ Responsibility Matrix

is used to describe how internal and external communications should take place. This type of
chart can be used to eliminate communications conflicts.

Report to
Team Team Team
Task/Member P.Sponsor P.Managmer F.Manager
member 1 member 2 member 3
P.Sponsor NA NA NA NA NA
P.Managmer Monthly Weekly NA NA NA
F.Manager Monthly Bi-Monthly NA NA NA
Team member 1 NA Daily Monthly NA NA
Team member 2 NA Bi-Weekly Bi-Monthly R NA
Team member 3 When request When Request When Request NA NA

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5) People Management Team performing and influencing people

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1) Belbin Team roles
Role Overview Strength Allowable weakness Do not surprise
Plant Tends to be highly Creative, imaginative, Might ignore incidentals, They could be
creative and good at free-thinking, generates and may be too absent-minded or
solving problems in ideas and solves difficult preoccupied to forgetful.
unconventional ways. problems. communicate effectively.

Monitor Provides a logical eye, Sober, strategic and Sometimes lacks the drive They could be slow
Thinking

Evaluator making impartial discerning. Sees all and ability to inspire to come to
judgements where options and judges others and can be overly decisions.
required and weighs up accurately. critical.
the team's options in a
dispassionate way.
Specialist Brings in-depth Single-minded, self- Tends to contribute on a They overload you
knowledge of a key area starting and dedicated. narrow front and can with information.
to the team. They provide specialist dwell on the
knowledge and skills. technicalities.
Teamworker Helps the team to gel, Co-operative, perceptive Can be indecisive in They might be
using their versatility to and diplomatic. Listens crunch situations and hesitant to make
identify the work and averts friction. tends to avoid unpopular
required and complete it confrontation. decisions.
on behalf of the team.

Co-ordinator Needed to focus on the Mature, confident, Can be seen as They might over-
People

team's objectives, draw identifies talent. Clarifies manipulative and might delegate, leaving
out team members and goals. offload their own share of themselves little
delegate work the work. work to do.
appropriately.
Resource Uses their inquisitive Outgoing, enthusiastic. Might be over-optimistic, They might forget
Investigator nature to find ideas to Explores opportunities and can lose interest once to follow up on a
bring back to the team. and develops contacts. the initial enthusiasm has lead.
passed.
Shaper Provides the necessary Challenging, dynamic, Can be prone to They could risk
drive to ensure that the thrives on pressure. Has provocation, and may becoming
team keeps moving and the drive and courage to sometimes offend aggressive and
does not lose focus or overcome obstacles. people's feelings. bad-humoured in
momentum. their attempts to
get things done.
Implementer Needed to plan a Practical, reliable, Can be a bit inflexible and They might be slow
workable strategy and efficient. Turns ideas into slow to respond to new to relinquish their
Actions

carry it out as efficiently actions and organises possibilities. plans in favour of

as possible. work that needs to be positive changes.
done
Completer Most effectively used at Searches out errors. Can be inclined to worry They could be
Finisher the end of tasks to polish Polishes and perfects. unduly, and reluctant to accused of taking
and scrutinise the work delegate. their perfectionism
for errors, subjecting it to to extremes.
the highest standards of
quality control.

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•Plant: generates off-the-wall ideas which feed into breakthrough thinking. But on its own these
ideas may be half-formed, underdeveloped and may fail in practice.

•Specialist: the technical expert.

• Shaper: helps to develop ideas into workable strategies.

• Implementer: actually, helps get the implementation done.

• Coordinator: brings together the ideas of different team members and reconciles them. Also
establishes the key roles so people know what they are doing.

• Monitor–evaluator: helps to make the ideas into an effective business case – and monitors results.

• Completer–finisher: maintains a focus on project milestones.

• Team worker: harmonises team interaction and its personal agendas.

• Resource investigator: ensures that interfaces with the organisational environment happen
smoothly.

Barriers to effective team building and suggested handling approaches

A) standard barrier that prevent success

No clear strategy ‘vision, mission, values, KPI …etc’, unclear agreement on objectives, no clear
timeline, poor split tasks and reasonability’s matrix, poor communication guidance … etc.

Solution: apply the basics of project management.

B) Role conflicts
As early in a project as feasible, ask team members where they see themselves fitting into the
project.

Assign/negotiate roles.

Determine how the overall project can best be divided into subsystems and subtasks (e.g., the work
breakdown structure).

Conduct regular status review meetings to keep team informed on progress and watch for
unanticipated role conflicts over the project’s life.

Conflict resolution
Get both people together in order to identify the problem.

Get them to agree who is responsible for making the decision – where there is deadlock you must
intervene, and your decision is final.

A good tactics is often to get each person to defend the other person’s point of view. This often
enables each person to see things from a different perspective and then compromise situations are
much easier to achieve.

Where there is a situation of “bad chemistry” between individuals i.e. the main issue is personal
differences between two people, there may be a need for accountable behaviour and professional
awareness of the personal insights. This may involve counselling sessions.
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 It is essential – mainly in conflict resolution- to always separate personal and professional aspects.
Business is business nothing personal.

Additional tips might be useful:

Talk to people as individuals try to get an understanding of who the chief protagonist is. This makes
mediation easier and intervention can be easily targeted to the issue under review.

It can be useful to talk with people’s friends to try and resolve problems. They might be able to shed
more light on the problem or be persuaded to try and convince them to accept a compromise.

Status within teams can be a problem, particularly with senior teams and the right for decision
making. This is mostly resolved by clear statements of roles and responsibilities and authority levels
clearly defined.

Both parties need to be made aware of the problems and where solutions cannot be found it may be
appropriate to split both people from the team, in order to prevent further damage to team morale.

Four Bad signs: Absence of trust / Fear of conflict / Lack of commitment/ Inattention
to results

Members of a team with an absence of trust… Members of trusting teams…

● Conceal their weakness and mistakes from one another
● Hesitate to ask for help or provide feedback
● Hesitate to offer help outside their own area of
responsibility
● Jump to conclusions about intentions and attitudes of
others without attempting to clarify them
● Failing to recognize and tap into another’s skills and
experiences
● Waste time and energy managing their behaviors for
effect
● Hold grudges
● Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending
time together
● Admit weaknesses and mistakes
● Ask for help and provide feedback
● Accept questions and input about their areas of
responsibility
● Give one another the benefit of the doubt
before arriving at a negative conclusion
● Appreciate and tap into one another's skills and
experiences
● Focus time and energy on important issues, not
politics!
● Offer and accept apologies without hesitation
● Look forward to meetings and their
opportunities to work as a group

Teams that fear conflict… Teams that engage in conflict…

● Have boring meetings ● Have lively, interesting meetings
● Create environments where back-channel politics and ● Extract and exploit the ideas of all team
personal attacks thrive members
● Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team ● Solve real problems quickly
success ● Minimize politics
● Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of ● Put critical topics on the table for discussion
team members
● Waste time and energy with posturing and
interpersonal risk management

A team that fails to commit… A team that commits…

● Creates ambiguity among the team about direction ● Creates clarity around direction and priorities
and priorities ● Aligns the entire team around common
objectives

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● Watches windows and opportunities closly due to
excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
● Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
● Revisits discussions and decisions again and again
● Encourages second-guessing among team members
● Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
● Takes advantage of opportunities before
competitors do
● Moves forward without hesitation
● Changes direction without hesitation or guilt

A team that is not focused on results…
● Stagnates/fails to grow
● Rarely defeats competitors
● Loses achievement-oriented employees
● Encourages team members to focus on their own
careers and individual goals
● Is easily distracted
●Creates resentment among team members who have
different standards or inferior performance
●Misses deadlines and key deliverables
●Places an undue burden on the team leader as the
sole source of discipline
A team that focuses on collective results…
● Enjoys success and suffers failure acutely
● Retains achievement-oriented employees
● Minimizes individualistic behavior
● Benefits from individuals who subjugate
their own goals/interests for the good of
the team
● Avoids distractions
● Ensures that poor performers feel
pressure and encouragement to improve
● On time
● Avoids excessive bureaucracy around
performance management and corrective
action

Roles (behaviour) that undermine project management implementation

1) The aggressor … action

● Criticizes everybody and everything on project management
● Deflates the status and ego of other team members
● Always acts aggressively

2) The dominator … action - people

● Always tries to take over
● Professes to know everything about project management
● Tries to manipulate people
● Will challenge those in charge for leadership role

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3) The devil’s advocate … thinking
● Finds fault in all areas of project management
● Refuses to support project management as he/she only finds faults
● Acts more of a devil than an advocate

4) The topic jumper … thinking - people

● Must be the first one with a new idea/approach to project management
● Constantly changes topics
● Cannot focus on ideas for a long time unless it is his/her idea
● Tries to keep project management implementation as an action item forever
(action/discussion/ re-action / re-discussion)

5) The recognition seeker … people – action

● Always argues in favor of his/her own ideas
● Always demonstrates status consciousness
● Volunteers to become the project manager if status is recognized
● Likes to hear himself/herself talk
● Likes to boast rather than provide meaningful information
● Ability to work based on self-rewards is really questionable

6) The withdrawer … thinking

● Is afraid to be criticized
● Will not participate openly unless threatened
● May withhold information
● May be shy

7) The blocker … thinking – action

● Likes to criticize
● Rejects the views of others
● Cites unrelated examples and personal experiences
● Has multiple reasons why project management will not work

Roles that support project management implementation

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1) The initiators
● “Is there a chance that this might work?”
● “Let’s try this.”

2) The information seekers

● “Have we tried anything like this before?”
● “Do we know other companies where this has worked?”
● “Can we get this information?”

3) The information givers

● “Other companies found that . . .”
● “The literature says that . . .”
● “Benchmarking studies indicate that . . .”

4) The encouragers
● “Your idea has a lot of merit.”
● “The idea is workable, but we may have to make small changes.”
● “What you said will really help us.”

5) The clarifiers
● “Are we saying that . . . ?”
● “Let me state in my own words what I’m hearing from the team.”
● “Let’s see if we can put this into perspective.”

6) The harmonizers
● “We sort of agree, don’t we?”
● “Your ideas and mine are close together.”
● “Aren’t we saying the same thing?”

7) The consensus takers

● “Let’s see if the team is in agreement.”
● “Let’s take a vote on this.”
● “Let’s see how the rest of the group feels about this.”

8)The gate keepers

● “Who has not given us their opinions on this yet?”
● “Should we keep our options open?”
● “Are we prepared to make a decision or recommendation, or is there additional
information to be reviewed?”

Common types of management pitfalls are

● Lack of self-control (knowing oneself)
● Activity traps
● Managing versus doing
● People versus task skills
● Ineffective communications
● Time management
● Management bottlenecks

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Common types of effective communication barriers include
➢ Factors
● Credibility
● Unmatched needs
● Personality and interests
● Interpersonal sensitivity
●Attitude, emotion, and self-interest
●Assumptions

➢ Barriers
● Sender and receiver having different perceptions. This is vitally important in interpreting
contractual requirements, statements of work, and proposal information requests.
●Sender did not check two pathway confirmation.
● Receiver hearing what he wants to hear. This results from people doing the same
job so long that they no longer listen.
● Receiver evaluating the source before accepting the communications.
● Receiver ignoring conflicting information and doing as he pleases.
● Words meaning different things to different people.
● Communicators ignoring nonverbal cues.
● Receiver being emotionally upset.

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Important to know Critical Pathway analysis
The critical path is that sequence of activities and events whose
accomplishment will require the greatest time, and if delayed, is likely to delay
the entire project.
Critical path analysis is at the very centre of traditional project management.

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Slack can be defined as the difference between the latest allowable date and
the earliest expected date based on the nomenclature below:
TE = the earliest time (date) on which an event can be expected to take place
TL = the latest date on which an event can take place without extending the
completion date of project
Slack time = TL – TE

Other variables that can be considered,

● the earliest time when an activity can start (ES)
● The earliest time when an activity can finish (EF)
● The latest time when an activity can start (LS)
● The latest time when an activity can finish (LF)

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