7. Human Resources Management

HR Processes cover the activities of setting up and leading the project team to success

• HR Management covers two areas

  • Resource Management (e.g. making sure that there isn’t too much overtime) → Chapter 4

  • Acquiring and leading the team → this chapter

1. Acquire the Project Team: Assign people to the roles defined in the HR plan

2. Develop the Project Team: Build a team out of the people assigned to the project

3. Manage the Project Team: Managing and controlling of the team

   • Track the performance

   • Provide feedback

   • Solve conflicts

   • Manage changes (in the human environment)

A set of inter- and intrapersonal skills are very useful for successful HR-management

• Example tools and skills

  • Conducting (a job) interview

  • Leading a team

  • Managing change

  • Solving conflicts

• Example communication skills

  • Speaking in public

  • Presenting information

  • Good written expression

  • Moderating discussions and meetings

  • Negotiating

  • Active Listening

The aim and purpose of acquiring a project team is to assign (the right) people to the roles defined in the project plan

• Covers internal and external resources

• Confirm availability of the potential team members

• Apply company rules and processes for acquiring team members should be applied

• Input source: Skill profiles or role descriptions for the required resources

Leadership and Management are often used synonyms but there are differences

• Leading is more informal and psychological. It includes:

  • Showing somebody the way

  • Guiding somebody

  • Brinding somebody to a particular destination

• Managing is more formal. It includes:

  • Being in charge or making decisions

  • Organizing

  • Keeping a person under control

The appropriate leadership style depends on the project, the situation and the involved persons

• Choice of the leadership style has significant impact on the performance of the project team

• All styles have advantages and disadvantages

• The leadership style should be adapted based on the project, the situation and the involved persons

  • E.g. an expert might not like an authoritarian style while a new person on the project like to be guided

  • E.g. a authoritarian style might be needed during an emergency

• Based on personal experience everyone develops 2-3 preferenced leadership styles → anyways a project manager should be able to adapt

In the four phases of team building different management styles should be used to maintain team performance

• Every team goes through those phases

• Every change to the team setup initiates the phases again (e.g. if a new team member joins)

  • The Agile Framework keeps this in mind and tries to keep teams stable

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

5. Adjourning 

Change in this context is related to a “cultural change”, e.g. changing from a waterfall to an agile approach

• There is also change management in the context of the project scope → see other chapter

• Projects often mean or initiate change for the stakeholders (e.g. a Digital Transformation project)

• Change is hard to deal with for humans → Therefore the agile approaches introduce constant micro-changes (which are easier to deal with)

Everyone goes through the same stages of emotions when confronted with change and usually experiences a drop of performance

• Targets of Change Management:

  • Reduce duration of the change process

  • Reduce the decrease of performance

  • Ensure increased performance after the change

• If change isn’t managed properly the productivity might be worse than before

  • This often happens if there are too many significant organizational changes

A conflict arises in the case when goals or values of persons, social groups, organizations or states are incompatible with each other

• Conflicts can have a negative effect on the project performance

• Consequences

  • Bind resources and cause unnecessary effort

  • Reduce motivation of the conflict parties → possibly the entire team

  • Reduce the quality of work results

• Efficient and effective conflict solving is a key success factor for project management

The different strategies for conflict solving depend on the degree of focus on the needs of one or the other part

• Each strategy has it advantages and disadvantages

• Compromises might not be always (technically possible) → e.g. if deciding between two technical approaches

• The best strategy depends on the situation (and project setup)

• Communication and negotiation skills are useful (e.g. the Harvard Concept)