This slide deck was presented during Annual Summit on Business and Entrepreneurial Studies on 17-Oct-2011. It depicted what were some of the factors that had influenced project team effectiveness. Despite the pilot study was using convenient sample of 37, but later larger random sample of 133 shows the similar results (see last slide). We can infer from this study that the results can generalize to the entire population of PMI Malaysia Chapter.

1. Factors Influencing Project
Team Effectiveness as
Perceived by Project Managers
in Malaysia – A Pilot Study
FUNG Han Ping
ITIL v3 Expert, ITIL v2 Mgr, CISSP, PMP
IBM Malaysia, Global Technology Services
17-Oct-2011

2. Overview
1. Introduction
2. Research Problem
3. Research Objectives, Questions &
Knowledge Contribution
4. Literature Review
5. Conceptual Framework
6. Hypotheses
7. Research Methodology
8. Pilot Study Findings
9. Discussion
10. Conclusion
11. Q&A
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3. 1. Introduction – Operational Definitions
1. Project Team Effectiveness – project manager or leader’s
perception on team members’ performance in task completion, goal
achievement, empowerment, information sharing & team’s ability to
create & sustain a good working environment (Bourgault et al.,
2008)
2. Leadership Roles – collection of 8 roles including facilitator, mentor,
innovator, broker, producer, director, coordinator & monitor that an
effective project manager or leader can demonstrate appropriately
in a complex & rapid changing environment (Denison et al., 1995)
3. Team Building & Participation – process of helping a team of
individuals bound with a shared goal to participate & work
interdependently with other team members in completing a project
(PMI, 2008)
4. Team Shared Mental Models – shared knowledge about team
members’ characteristics & team interaction patterns that enable
team members to adapt & coordinate with other team members in
completing a task (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1993)
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4. 1. Introduction – Conceptual Framework
Proposed Framework to evaluate Factors influencing Project Team Effectiveness
underpinned on Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness Framework
Bailey’
10/15/2011 FUNG Han Ping 4

5. 2. Research Problem
Today many organizations achieving their business objectives through
project(s) which consists of various team members managing by project
manager(s)
Because project performance through team is more effective than individual
performance as team outcomes exceed the sum of individual outputs
Benefits studying project team effectiveness (Hoevemeyer, 1993):
1. Improve job productivity & morale among project team members
2. Frees up project manager from micro-manage day to day details – more time
focusing on other works
3. Enable team work within & between teams so that entire organization can
function more effectively
4. Improve service quality & customer satisfaction
Literature review shows lack of research on project team effectiveness &
factors influencing project team effectiveness in Malaysia
Problem statement is lack of understanding and empirical results on what
are the factors influencing project team effectiveness in multi-ethnical &
multi-cultural Malaysia context
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6. 2. Research Problem
Factors
Influencing Proposed
Project Team Research
Effectiveness Area
Research Project Team Benefits of Project
Gap Effectiveness Team Effectiveness
1. Improve job productivity & morale
(Hoevemeyer,
1993) 2. Frees up busy time of project manager
3. Enable organization functions more
effectively
4. Improve service quality & customer
satisfaction
(Hoevemeyer, 1993)
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7. 3. Research Objectives, Questions &
Knowledge Contribution
Research Objective:
1. Evaluate factors that can influence project team effectiveness as perceived
by project managers in Malaysia
Research Questions:
1. What are the factors influencing project team effectiveness?
2. Which is the most significant predictor for project team effectiveness?
Contribution to Knowledge:
1. Provide understanding on what & how team factors can positively influence
project team effectiveness in Malaysian context
2. Encourage management & project managers to demonstrate more of their
leadership roles, plan & organize more team building activities and
motivate their team members to participate – once they are done, team
shared mental models increased which will improve project team
effectiveness
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8. 4. Literature Review
Project Team Effectiveness – Cohen & Bailey (1997), Gladstein (1984) etc.
Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness
Framework serves as underpinning
theoretical framework for this study
Design Factors e.g. Supervision is mapped
to current study’s Leadership Roles as
supervision is a form of leadership duty that
project manager needs to cover to ensure
project is progressing onto the right
direction (Pinto, 2007)
Group Processes are mapped to current
study’s Team Building & Participation as
group/team processes are team events &
behaviors that can transform a team &
organization resources into team
performance (Gladstein, 1984) – other team
processes include conflict, communication,
cooperation, collaboration & interaction that
impact team effectiveness (Cohen & Bailey,
1997)
Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness
Bailey’
Framework
Group Psychosocial Traits are mapped to
current study’s Team Shared Mental Models
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9. 4. Literature Review
Leadership Roles - Webber (2002), Yukl (2002), PMI (2008), Denison et al. (1995),
Quinn (1988) etc.
Project team needs leadership to resolve project Leadership
problems like low team trust & cohesion, Roles Model
disintegration & negative performance due to (Quinn,
functional heterogeneity or diversity & multiple 1988)
reporting relationships (Webber, 2002)
Behavioral Complexity Leadership (BCL) theory
explains effective leaders will equip & perform
various leadership roles & opposing behaviors
simultaneously when confronting complex & fast
changing environments (Denison et al., 1995)
Lack of study on whether BCL influence Project
Team Effectiveness, Team Shared Mental Models
& Team Building & Participation in Malaysia
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10. 4. Literature Review
Team Building & Participation – PMI (2008), Cook et al. (1997), Guiney (2009),
Schermerhorn et al. (2008) etc.
Team building is “process of helping a group of
individuals, bound by a common sense of purpose,
to work interdependently with each other, the
leader, external stakeholders & the organization”
organization”
(PMI, 2008 p. 418)
Team building activities (Guiney, 2009) include:
Planning with project team
Building commitment among team members
Developing strong communication channels
Empowering team members
Manage conflict
Conducting team building sessions
Stimulating enthusiasm
Despite implementing team building activities,
team members participation is crucial Team Building Process (Schermerhorn et al.,
(Schermerhorn
(Schermerhorn et al., 2008) 2008)
Lack of research on how team building &
participation will affect team shared mental
models & project team effectiveness in Malaysia
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11. 4. Literature Review
Team Shared Mental Models – McShane & Von Glinow (2008), Rouse & Morris (1986),
Mathieu et al. (2000), Hsu et al. (2007) etc.
Mental model is an internal cognitive view Team SMM
formed in an individual’s mind after what s/he & Task SMM
had perceived from the external world e.g. a (Lee, 2007)
house, accident or process like caterpillar
development to a butterfly (McShane & Von
Glinow, 2008)
Mental model is a mechanism that an individual
is capable to produce understanding of a
system’s purpose, system’s form, explanation on
how the system is working, the system’s current
states & prediction on its future states (Rouse &
Morris, 1986)
Task Shared Mental Models are excluded from
this study as they are task related knowledge
only relevant to specific job or task which is very
domain specific & its contents are most stable &
will decrease the need for project team members
to interact openly (Mathieu et al., 2000)
Shared mental models do affect team
effectiveness, team commitment & team
performance in non-MY setting (Carley, 1997;
Heffner, 1998; Kraiger & Wenzel, 1997, Mathieu
et al., 2000 etc) Process of
Developing
Team building do influence team shared mental a SMM
models in non-MY setting (Hsu et al., 2007) (Lee, 2007)
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12. 4. Literature Review – Operational Definitions
1. Project Team Effectiveness – project manager or leader’s
perception on team members’ performance in task completion, goal
achievement, empowerment, information sharing & team’s ability to
create & sustain a good working environment (Bourgault et al.,
2008)
2. Leadership Roles – collection of 8 roles including facilitator, mentor,
innovator, broker, producer, director, coordinator & monitor that an
effective project manager or leader can demonstrate appropriately
in a complex & rapid changing environment (Denison et al., 1995)
3. Team Building & Participation – process of helping a team of
individuals bound with a shared goal to participate & work
interdependently with other team members in completing a project
(PMI, 2008)
4. Team Shared Mental Models – shared knowledge about team
members’ characteristics & team interaction patterns that enable
team members to adapt & coordinate with other team members in
completing a task (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1993)
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13. 5. Conceptual Framework
H1 +
Team Building
& Participation
H5 +
H2 +
Leadership H4 + Project Team
Roles Effectiveness
H3 +
H6 +
Team Shared
Mental Models
H7 M(TBP-TSMM-PTE)
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14. 5. Conceptual Framework
Proposed Framework to evaluate Factors influencing Project Team Effectiveness
underpinned on Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness Framework
Bailey’
10/15/2011 FUNG Han Ping 14

15. 5. Conceptual Framework - Epistemology
Proposed
Framework
Proposed framework based on underpinning Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness Framework
Bailey’
Team Effectiveness is substituted with Project Team Effectiveness
Supervision of Organization Context within Design Factors is substituted with Leadership Roles
with
Team Processes are substituted with Team Building & Participation
Shared Mental Models of Group Psychosocial Traits are substituted with Team Shared Mental Models
Even though Group Processes are correlated with Group Psychosocial Traits in Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team
Bailey’
Effectiveness Framework, a study by Hsu et al. (2007) indicated Team Building only one directional influencing
Team Shared Mental Models. Hence, in this study Team Building & Participation will only influence Team
Models.
Shared Mental Models, not the other way round.
round.
Environmental factors like turbulence & industry characteristics are not adopted as this study covers projects
from different industries and in different project phases
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16. 6. Hypotheses
H1 – Leadership Roles will positively influence Project Team
Effectiveness
H2 – Leadership Roles will positively influence Team Building &
Participation
H3 – Leadership Roles will positively influence Team Shared Mental
Models
H4 – Team Building & Participation will positively influence Team Shared
Mental Models
H5 – Team Building & Participation will positively influence Project Team
Effectiveness
H6 – Team Shared Mental Models will positively influence Project Team
Effectiveness
H7 – Team Shared Mental Models will mediate the relationship between
Team Building & Participation and Project Team Effectiveness
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17. 7. Research Methodology
Approach – Cross Sectional Quantitative Research with Online Survey Method based
on deductive research questions
Sampling & Data Collection:
Initial plan was to randomly select 500 project managers / team leaders via SPSS
v17 from PMI MY Chapter so that 500 emails could send out with online survey
hyperlink
But for pilot study, purposive sampling was used by soliciting AeU part-time
students who are in the roles of project managers / team leaders to fill up the
online survey
Reasons getting project managers / team leaders’ responses:
1. Bias view from team members in which they attribute negative project outcome to
external factors while attributing success to themselves (Standing et al., 2006)
2. Team members do not have vested interest in project team effectiveness compares to
project manager / team leader in which the latter normally adopt more balanced view
which attribute success to external factors & only partially to themselves, while they also
attribute significant personal responsibility for project team failure or negative outcome
(Standing et al., 2006)
3. Collecting data fr previous project team members is not feasible as they have
disbanded, not contactable or busy involve in other projects (Webber, 2002)
3-waves mailing is used & survey complete in 4 weeks
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18. 7. Research Methodology
Questionnaire:
Respondents were asked to refer to one project they had completed recently
disregard outcome was positive or negative in filling up the online survey
Total 72 questions (58 research + 14 Demographic) all with 5-point Likert
scale
Team Effectiveness (20 questions) – adapted fr Hoevemeyer (1993)
Leadership Roles (16 questions) – adapted fr Denison et al. (1995)
Team Building & Participation (12 questions) – adapted fr Hsu et al. (2007),
Carew & Carew (1990) & Law (1992)
Team Shared Mental Models (10 questions) – adapted fr Millward & Jeffries
(2001)
Data Analysis:
SPSS v17 Normality Test, Descriptive Statistics, Cronbach Alpha Reliability
Test, Validity Test, Pearson r Correlation Test, Multiple Regression Analysis,
AMOS v18 Path Analysis
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19. 8. Pilot Study Findings
Descriptive Statistics:
Among sample of 37 respondents, 86% are male & 62% of
them aged btw 31 & 50
More than half (58%) have 5 to 20 years of project
management experience, 80% holds a Master & Doctorate
degrees
37% of respondents are in firms with > 500 employees, 74%
are project managers & team leaders
More than half of the projects completed were in construction,
education, government & ICT industries and cost more than
RM5m each
75% of projects completed less than 2 years & each project has
average 20 team members
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20. 8. Pilot Study Findings
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21. 8. Pilot Study Findings
Path Analysis Result
4 conditions required to support TSMM as a mediator
(Baron & Kenny, 1986)
Condition 1 – TBP exerts significant influence on
TSMM
Condition 2 – TSMM exerts significant influence on
PTE
Condition 3 – TBP exerts significant influence on
PTE
Condition 4 – TBP exerts reduction of or
insignificance of influence on PTE with inclusion of
TSMM
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22. Explanation:
9. Discussion
1. When project manager is demonstrating more of his/her Leadership
Roles, this will lead to higher Team Building & Participation and
increased Team Shared Mental Models – these 2 direct effects are
supporting the same findings of Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) study
2. Team Shared Mental Models are affected by Team Building &
Participation – this direct effect also support same findings of
previous studies (Cohen & Bailey, 1997; Hsu et al., 2007)
3. Intervention of both Team Building & Participation and Team
Shared Mental Models can improve Project Team Effectiveness –
supporting similar finding of Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) study
4. Insignificant relationship btw Leadership Roles & Project Team
Effectiveness suggest Leadership Roles alone will not impact
Project Team Effectiveness directly (but rather intervened by both
Team Building & Participation, and Team Shared Mental Models) –
different from what Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) study had stated, this
may due to the fact that project team effectiveness is dependent on
outcomes of project manager’s leadership roles rather than his or
her leadership alone
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23. 9. Discussion (cont’d)
Lesson Learnt:
1. Project team members only perform more effectively based on outcome of
project manager’s leadership roles that they can experience e.g. team
building activities devised, how project manager encourage their
participation & how much project manager leads the team to share the
common knowledge about their characteristics & interaction patterns.
2. Team building activities & team members participation provide useful
intervention for project manager to build an effective project team as these
activities can improve communication, clarify team objectives, promote
mutual supportiveness, enable problem & conflict resolution, and facilitate
team empowerment.
3. Improved team shared mental models due to its 2 antecedents promote
common shared knowledge among team members that can make the team
more committed, improved decision making & perform more effectively
Answering Research Questions:
1. What are the factors influencing project team effectiveness? → Only Team
Building & Participation, and Team Shared Mental Models
2. Which is the most significant predictor for project team effectiveness? →
Team Shared Mental Models (regression weight of 0.72 vs Team Building &
Participation 0.47)
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24. Conclusion:
10. Conclusion
Based on purposive sample of 37, this empirical study confirmed that
project manager’s leadership roles alone can’t improve project team
effectiveness but rather his/her leadership roles can influence both team
building & participation, and team shared mental models in which these 2
intervening variables can significantly & directly improve project team
effectiveness
Limitation & Future Recommendation:
1. Lack of random sample – need more for future actual study
2. Survey only include project managers / team leaders – involve project team
members in future study
3. Included both leadership roles (internal & external focus) – future study can
focus on internal leadership roles which is more people & process
management oriented (evaluate whether leadership roles can directly
influence project team effectiveness)
4. Only team building & participation is assessed – future study can include
other team processes like team information processing, team dynamics,
team empowerment, team trust etc.
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25. 11. Questions & Answers?
hpfung2001@yahoo.com
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26. Backup
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27. AMOS Path Analysis Results
N = 133
N = 37
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