Team selection is a very important aspect of project management which should be handled in a careful manner (Juli 2010, p. 23). The success of any project depends on the quality of team members selected for the project. Project managers have the responsibility of making sure that the working characteristics of team members are clearly observed before coming up with the final list of their team members (Juli 2010, p. 23).
The personality and skills of workers are among the criteria used to select a team to work on a project. The defined requirements of a project have to be met and the method used to select and build a team affects the performance of a selected team. The role of each team member should be understood by other members to enhance good working relationships within the team (Juli 2010, p. 23).
Belbin’s theory of team roles is very vital in modern day team selection. According to Belbin’s theory, the behavioral strengths and weaknesses of workers should be used to select team members. Information on people’s strengths and weaknesses can be used to improve working relationships and productivity within a team (Juli 2010, p. 23).
Self-awareness and trust among team members are very important elements in creating a strong and effective team. A team selection criteria based on behavior helps a great deal in identifying team roles. Project managers are able to use the strengths of team members for the benefit of the organization (Juli 2010, p. 25).
Project managers who are aware of the weaknesses within the team are in better position to manage them in the best way possible. The plant role represents the situation where creative and talented individuals who are good at solving problems are drafted into the team (Juli 2010, p. 27).
The monitor evaluator is needed in a team to make impartial judgments in a logical manner. It is important for every team to have a monitor evaluator with a dispassionate approach to issues (Juli 2010, p. 27).
A successful team should have a coordinator who can delegate duties and ensure that the goals and objectives of the team are realized (Juli 2010, p. 79). Resource investigators are very important to a team because they spy on the opposition’s activities and bring useful outside information to the team (Juli 2010, p. 79). It is very difficult for a team to execute its strategies and plans without implementers.
Implementers come up with workable and realistic strategies and ensure that all of them are executed in an efficient manner (Juli 2010, p. 79). According to Belbin, a team must also have a completer finisher who can point out the errors in a project and ensure that all the quality standards are met (Juli 2010, p. 79).
A good team must have team workers with good interpersonal skills who can bring unity within the team and at the same time be ready to work on behalf of the team (Juli 2010, p. 99). A good team must also have shapers who can motivate and challenge other team members to ensure that they remain focused on the task ahead of them.
Every team needs specialist with an in-depth knowledge on important areas and can make a special contribution to the team (Spinner 1997, p. 56). Every team member has different characteristics that are very important to the team. All of these characters are important when building a balanced team (Spinner 1997, p. 56).
All the nine team roles should be represented in team for it to be effective and efficient when working on project (Spinner 1997, p. 56). There are some weaknesses which are allowable in a team and must be well managed by project managers. The nine characters highlighted by Belbin are very essential in building a well balanced team (Spinner 1997, p. 56).
Building working relationships among team members in a newly assembled team is great challenge for many project managers (Spinner 1997, p. 105). Developing working relationships in a team during initial stages is very important in minimizing conflicts within the team (Spinner 1997, p. 105).
In order to build good working relationships within the team, the project manager should first of all assign tasks to every team member according to their talents and ability (Spinner 1997, p. 105). This is a way of demonstrating that the project manager is aware of the talents and abilities of each team member. Team members can be encouraged to perform beyond expectation through verbal motivation (Spinner 1997, p. 105).
Assigning tasks according to talents helps in building the strengths of team members and enables team members to appreciate the abilities of other members within the team. The project manager should act responsively and serve as a role model to team members (Spinner 1997, p. 105). A project manager who works hard tends to motivate team members to do the same and give out their best.
Trust among team members can only be achieved through working together towards achieving the set targets. Team members should be aware of the fact that they are responsible for all their actions. A good working relationship within a team can also be achieved through recognizing accomplishments and constructive criticism (Spinner 1997, p. 146).
In order to build good working relationships, any kind of criticism within the team should be objective and constructive without being personal so that no team member feels offended because of criticism (Spinner 1997, p. 146).
Team members should also be encouraged to recognize the strengths of fellow team members by appreciating the role played by other team members towards achieving the team’s goals and objectives (Spinner 1997, p. 146). A project manager should encourage team embers to share information about their personal life to make their relationships very close (Spinner 1997, p. 146).
Project managers should encourage team members to socialize beyond work and even celebrate personal events together. This helps a great deal in building and promoting positive working relationships within a team (Spinner 1997, p. 146).
Project methodologies are very important in ensuring that the project is executed successfully within the specified budget and time (Juli 2010, p. 178). A project methodology describes all the steps to be followed in carrying out various tasks in a project and when the project tasks are to be accomplished (Juli 2010, p. 178).
Projects in Controlled Environments is a project methodology that covers the organization and control of a project (Juli 2010, p. 178). The Ten Step Project Management Process is a project methodology that brings flexibility in a project.
The best practices project methodology and the unified project management methodology involve the use quality management tools to ensure that projects are completed according to the required standards (Juli 2010, p. 184). A project methodology helps project managers to manage their teams and at the same time come up with a project roadmap.
The type of organizational structure can lead to the success or failure of a project (Juli 2010, p. 184). The functional organizational structure allows teams to be formed according to skills and purpose. This structure is important in team projects because members with similar skills and ideals can be grouped together (Juli 2010, p. 184).
The major weakness of the functional organizational structure is that it does not bring balance in a team because some important team roles may not be available. The divisional structure gives room for independent departments to work in coordination with the central leadership (Juli 2010, p. 184).
This structure is good for team building because it allows members with different skills to work together for the benefit of the team (Juli 2010, p. 184). The matrix structure is a combination of the functional and the division organizational structures. The matrix structure can bring conflicts within a team because there is no proper definition of roles.
Tuchman’s model is very important in forming a team because it allows a team to have some kind of democracy and consensus on important issues because of its emphasis on norming and performance (Williams 2008, p. 62). Tuckman’s model allows team members to understand and get used to each other before embarking on serious work (Williams 2008, p. 62).
The success of a project entirely depends on the ability of a project manager to carry out his responsibilities and duties as expected (Williams 2008, p. 62). A project manager is involved in defining the scope of a project and drawing up the roadmap for a project. The two elements give a project some purpose and direction (Williams 2008, p. 62).
A project manager has to ensure that the resources meant for the project are well utilized according to plan. Time and cost estimates for a particular project are normally done by the project manager who has to ensure that all the team members adhere to them.
It is the responsibility of a project manager to conduct a risk analysis for a particular project and come up with ways of managing all the risks and other emerging issues (Williams 2008, p. 62). Project documentation is also done by the project manager for the sake of accountability. A Project manager should also monitor and report the progress of a project to his superiors.
A project manager is a team leader who should inspire and motivate all the team members working on particular project (Williams 2008, p. 62). A project manager has to ensure that a project meets the required standards by facilitating quality control (Williams 2008, p. 75).
Managing multiple simultaneous projects is a great challenge for project managers due to quite a number of reasons (Williams 2008, p. 75). To begin with, a project manager is not in a better position to monitor the tasks being carried by all project team in detail.
Some projects may have tight deadlines and therefore project managers may not have enough time to attend all meetings and at the same time supervise other tasks (Williams 2008, p. 75). A project manager has to handle multiple risks when it comes to multiple projects and is also expected to solve all the issues coming for each project.
There is a problem of being overloaded because some project managers may not be used to managing multiple simultaneous projects (Williams 2008, p. 75). Working with a limited resource pool may also be a great challenge for a project manager handling multiple simultaneous projects (Williams 2008, p. 83). The multiple projects being handled by a single project manager may have conflicting priorities.
The performance of team members may not be good due to unclear communication channels (Williams 2008, p. 83). It takes a lot of time for a project manager working on multiple projects to pass information to a particular team. It is also difficult to integrate multiple projects and at the same time be able beat the deadline for each project (Williams 2008, p. 83).
References
Juli, T 2010, Leadership principles for project success, CRC Press, New York, NY.
Spinner, M 1997, Project management: Principles and practices, Prentice Hall, London.
Williams, M 2008, The principles of project management, SitePoint, New York, NY.