Building Effective Project Teams

1- Building the project team
1- Identify
necessary skills
sets.
6- Assemble the
team

2- Identify the
people who match
skills.

5- Builds in
fallback positions.

3- Talk to potential
team members

Copyright © 2010 Pearson
Education, Inc. Publishing as
Prentice Hall

4- Negotiate with
functional heads

6-2

Building the team

1- Identify necessary skill
sets:

2- Identify people who
match the skills.

• The 1st step is to conduct a
realistic assessment of all
needed types of skills, in order
to complement each other and
perform the project duties

• We have 2 options:
• 1- Hire new personnel for the
project
• 2- train current personnel to
become proficient in the
needed skills.

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6-3

Building the team

3- Talk to potential team
members.

4- Negotiation with
functional heads.

• The 3rd step consists of opening
team communication with likely
candidates for the team to
assess their level of interest in
the project.

• At the same time, we PM must
begin to enter in negotiation with
the functional heads.
• These conversations could be
complex and lengthy.
• Depriving a functional manager of
key personnel to serve on a project
team can be seen as threatening the
operating department. (next)

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6-4

Building the team

4- Negotiation with
functional heads.
• Negotiation is required to
decide in some issues:
• How long are the team member’s
services required? (full time, part time,
and the period)
• Who should choose the person to be
assigned to the project?
• What happens when special
circumstances arises? (the employee
may be recalled from his department.
How the PM will replace him?)
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5- Build in Fallback Positions
• If the negotiations are not
fruitful, the PM is faced with 3
basic alternatives:
• 1- Try to negotiate for partial
assistance.
• 2- Adjust project schedules and
priorities accordingly.
• 3- Notify the management of the
consequences.

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2- Effective Project Teams
Clear Sense of Mission: the mission should be mutually
understood and accepted by all team members.

Productive Interdependency: it refers to the degree of
joint activity among team members required in order to complete a
project. The concept of differentiation suggests that each individual

brings preconceived notions to the team. The interdependencies
refers to the degree of knowledge of the team interrelated efforts.
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Effective Project Teams
Cohesiveness: refers to the degree of mutual attraction
that team members hold for one another and their task.

Trust: for PM, trust refers to the team’s comfort level with
each individual member. Given the comfort level, trust is
manifested in the team’s ability and willingness to squarely
address differences of opinion, values and attitudes and deal

with them accordingly.

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Effective Project Teams
Enthusiasm: it is the catalyst for directing positive, high energy
toward project. It creates energy that drive effective project efforts. It
creates an environment that is:
Challenging: it offers the opportunity of personal growth, new
learning and the ability to stretch professionally.
Supportive: PM members gain a sense of team spirit and
group identity : communication, problem solving…
Personally rewarding: PM become more enthusiastic as they

perceive personal benefits arising from project completion.

Results Orientation: outcomes are related toward the same
orientation.
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3- Reasons why teams fail
1- Poor developed
or unclear goals

4- Poor
communication

2- Poorly defined
project team roles
and
interdependencies.

3- lack of project
team motivation

5- Poor leadership

6- Turnover among
project team
members.

7- Dysfunctional
behavior.
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6-9

3- Reasons Why Teams Fail
1- Poorly developed or unclear goals
Unclear goals permit multiple interpretations.
Unclear goals impede the willingness of team
members to work together,
Unclear goals increase conflict.

2- Poorly defined project team roles &
interdependencies.

 Interdependencies: is a state where team members’ activities coordinate


with and complement other team members’ work.
Unawareness of interdependencies leads to lose time.

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3- Lack of project team motivation
The project is perceived as unnecessary.
The project may have low priority.

4- Poor communication
Could be caused by: different orientations or
background, , uncertainty about the project structure
and interdependencies…
Resolving poor communication by: standard
information sharing, a frank atmosphere, and open
exchanges.
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5- Poor leadership

Refer to chapter 4.
6-Turnover among project team members

The higher the turnover among project team members, the
more it disrupts the project manager’s ability to create project
team cohesion.

The continual act of adding and removing personnel to project

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6-12

7-Dysfunctional behavior

It refers to disruptive acts of some project team
members due to: personality issues, hidden agendas or
interpersonal problems.

The solution calls for recognizing the members
involved and taking corrective steps.

A serious case may require to remove the concerned
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team member.

6-13

4- Stages in Group Development
• The process of group development is a dynamic
one.
• Groups go through several maturation stages that
are identifiable.
• The stages are: forming, storming, norming,
performing and adjourning.
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1. Forming – members become acquainted
1.

Members get to know one another to mold into a coherent
project team.

2.

They lay the basis for project and ground rules: standards of
behavior, communication channel…

2. Storming – conflict begins
1.

Conflict begins because team members begin to resist
authority.

2.
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Some hidden agendas, attempt to rewrite team rules.
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3. Norming – members reach agreement
1.

Norm is an unwritten rule of behavior.

2.

Members agree on operating procedures and seek to work
together and develop closer relationships.

3.

Members will commit to the project development process.

4. Performing – members work together to accomplish their tasks.
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5. Adjourning – group disbands
1.

Teams do not last forever.

2.

At the completion of the project, team members will disband to
return to their functional duties in the organization.

3.

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Members will commit to the project development process.

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Ponctuated Equilibrium– Connie Gersick developed a model for
project team development. She suggests that:
1.

Most teams develop a set of operating norms very quickly.

2.

These norms tend to guide group behavior and performance for
the project’s life.

3.

Group will operate as a result of these norms until some trigger
event occurs, almost precisely at the halfway point between the
initial meeting and the project deadline.

4.

The trigger may be: dissatisfaction with the project progress,
interpersonal antagonisms or other external force

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Ponctuated Equilibrium–

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Team Development Stages
4. Performing

Adjourn

1. Forming
Trust Flexible
Supportive
Confident
Efficient High
Morale

Productive
Organized
Establish procedures
Develop team skills
Confront issues Rebuild
morale

3. Norming
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Convene

Quiet Polite
Guarded
Impersonal
Business-like
High Morale

Testing
Infighting
Conflict over control
Confrontational
Alienation Personal
agendas Low morale

2. Storming
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5- Achieving Cross-Functional Cooperation
Task Outcomes

Superordinate Goals

Rules & Procedures
Cross-functional cooperation

Physical Proximity

Psycho-Social
Outcomes

Accessibility

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5- Achieving cross-functional coordination
1. Superordinate goals –
1.

It can be “ to develop a high-quality, user friendly, and generally
useful system that will enhance the operations of various
departments and functions.

2.

It provides a central objective and an overriding goal.

2. Rules and procedures
1.

They are essential because they offer a means for coordinating
or integrating activities that involve several units.

2.
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Project-specific rules and procedures facilitate its operations.

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3. Physical proximity
1.

Team members should be located within a physical spatial distances
that make it convenient to them to interact.

2.

The more the team members are close, the more is their
cooperation and coordination.

4. Accessibility
1.

It is the perception that a person is approachable for communicating
and interacting with problems for project success.

2.

Inaccessibility occurs because of different work schedules, varied
duties and priorities, and commitment to other agendas.

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5. Outcomes of cooperation

1.

Tasks outcomes: refer to the factors involved in the the actual
implementation of the project: time, schedule and project
functionality.

2.

Psychosocial outcomes: represent the team member’s
assessment that the project experience was worthwhile,
satisfying and productive.

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Building High-Performing Teams:
3 practical steps PM can take to build high-performing teams:

1st step: Make the project team tangible
– Publicity
– Terminology & language

2nd step: Reward good behavior
– Flexibility
– Creativity
– Pragmatism

3rd step: Develop a personal touch
– Lead by example
– Positive feedback for good performance
– Accessibility & consistency
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6- Virtual Project Teams
use electronic media to link members of a
geographically dispersed project team
How Can Virtual Teams Be Improved?
 Use face-to-face communication when possible
 Don’t let team members disappear (get together via
videoconferencing, e-mail and internet connections)

 Establish a code of conduct: get an agreement on types of information
that need to be shared.

 Keep everyone in the communication loop: awareness to keep
the communication channels open.

 Create a process for addressing conflict: PM should create a set of
guidelines for allowing
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free expression or disagreement among team members.

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7- Conflict Management
Conflict is a process that begins when you
perceive that someone has frustrated or is
about to frustrate a major concern of yours.

Categories

Views

• Goal-oriented
• Administrative
• Interpersonal

• Traditional
• Behavioral
• Interactionist

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7- Conflict Management
Conflict is a process that begins when you perceive that someone has
frustrated or is about to frustrate a major concern of yours.
Most types of conflict fit within 3 categories:

•

•
•

Goal-oriented conflict:
• associated with disagreements regarding results, scope outcomes, performance
specifications,…
• It result from a poor or vague or incomplete perception of the goals that may
allow the team members to make their own interpretations.
Administrative conflict:
• Arises through management hierarchy, organizational structure or philosophy
(authority and decisions).
Interpersonal conflict:
• Arises from personality differences.
• It includes work ethics, behavioral styles, egos….
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Sources of Conflict
Organizational

• Reward systems
• Scarce resources
• Uncertainty
• Differentiation

Interpersonal

• Faulty attributions
• Faulty communication
• Personal grudges &
prejudices

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Conflict Resolution
Mediate – PM uses defusion or confrontation to find a solution.
Defusion: PM is less concerned with the source of
conflict than with a mutually accepted solution.

Confrontation: involves working with both parties to
get at the root causes of the conflict.

Arbitrate – PM must be willing to impose a judgment on the warring
parties. After listening to both parties, the PM renders his decision which focuses
on the judgment itself. Ex: wrong, right….

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Conflict Resolution
Control – Not all problems can be resolved. In some cases, pragmatic response to
conflict might give a cool down period. It is not a cowardly response, but a selective way
to choose the best manner PM should intervene .

Accept – some conflicts are unmanageable . We just live the conflict as it is.
Eliminate – Sometimes the guilty member(s) should be transfer red to stop the
reason while of the conflict.

Conflict is often evidence of progress!
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8- Negotiation
a process that is predicated on a manager’s
ability to use influence productively
Questions to Ask Prior to Entering a Negotiation
1. How much power do I have?
2. What sort of time pressures are there?
3. Do I trust my opponent?
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Principled Negotiation
1. Separate the people from the problem
2. Focus on interests, not positions
3. Invent options for mutual gain
4. Insist on using objective criteria
Getting to Yes – Fisher & Ury
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Building Effective Project Teams

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