DRIVE SPRING 2015

PROGRAM MBA (SEM 3)

SUBJECT CODE & NAME PM0013 – MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECTS
NAME RAJENDRA SINGH RAJPUT

Question No. 1

Write short notes on:

 Project resources
 Need for human resource management
 Project manager

Answer:-

Project resources:- Project resources are the materials and assets that are required to execute a
project. These can be human resources, funds, machineries, equipment, and physical facilities. A
project plan cannot be put into action if the resources are allocated and utilised properly. Therefore, a
project manager should ensure sufficient allocation and efficient utilisation of project resources.

Financial resources:-Finance is the lifeblood of any project. Financial resources refer to the money
or fund that a business or project requires in the forms of cash, loan etc.
Following are some the elements of a project for which financial resources are required:

 Land and site development

 Buildings and civil works
 Plant and machinery
 Technical know–how and engineering fees
 Expenses on technicians
 Expenses on training of employees
 Preliminary and capital issue expenses
 Pre-operative expenses
 Working capital

Adequate financial resources help a project manager to design a result oriented project plan. The cost
incurred and profits expected can only be managed when a project has adequate financial resources.
A project manager needs to consider the following types of costs while planning the financial
resources:

Indirect costs: The costs such as security costs, supervision costs, transportation, advertising cost,
maintenance cost etc. that are indirectly associated with the project are called indirect costs. These
costs are not directly involved in a project like the costs of raw materials, machineries, or equipment,
but play significant role behind project success or failure. For example, if you manufacture a product
and promote it amongst the target audience, the promotional and advertising costs are indirectly
associated with the project.

Direct cost: The costs such as human resources, labour, equipment, tools, and raw materials that are
directly involved in the project are called direct costs. For example, wages paid to the labour for
carrying the bricks and cement to construct a bridge.
Need for human resource management:-where you have sound project plan with adequate financial
resources, but do not have adequate number of people to execute various activities. Will you be able to
successfully complete the project? In any business practice or project, human resources are the most
important resources. People involved in the project start from concept building to executing a project.
The human resources of a project are the staff, employees, workers, managers, supervisors, operators
and labours of an organisation, factory or project without whom the set goal of an organization or
project cannot be accomplished. Humans are the support system of any organisation, as without them,
no activity or task can be performed. Hence, they are rightly termed as human assets or human capital.
The term capital is generally used to denote an asset, wealth, money, or property owned by an
individual or an organisation.
Human capital refers to the collective skills and knowledge of the total workforce of
an organisation that can be utilised to achieve long lasting benefits. In order to ensure that human
capital generates more wealth and productivity for the organisation, it is important to utilise and
manage it efficiently and effectively. In addition, the organisation should provide opportunities to
employees for their development and an environment conducive to work and performance results. This
leads to higher levels of employee retention.
The process of managing the right human resources, at right place, at right time is the
art of Human Resource Management (HRM). The term HRM is a newly emerged concept in the field
of contemporary business. This was earlier referred to as Personnel Management (PM). HRM aims to
develop human resources by ensuring them favourable work environment during a project. It also
focuses on effective recruitment, selection, training and development process for better outcome of the
project.

Project manager:- A Project manager is the person, who leads the project from initiation to closure.
The project manager is responsible for completing the assigned project within a pre-defined time
period. It is important for the project manager to set a clear and achievable objective for the project
team members and stimulate them towards the accomplishment of the set objective. A project manager
is also responsible for developing a good rapport with project sponsor and other project members to
exchange ideas, plan and suggestions. It further helps in successful completion of the project. Although
project managers are responsible for successful execution of projects, however their role and
responsibilities vary according to the nature, objective and duration of the project. Some organisations
hire project managers for specific projects and therefore their responsibilities end with the completion
of the assigned project. Many organisations work with the same project manager on multiple projects.
There are various associates, institutions or centres that provide various project certifications. Some of
them are Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in project Management
(CAPM), Program Management Professional (PgMP) etc.

Question No. 2

What are the major challenges in developing an efficient project team?

Answer:-

List the major challenges in developing an efficient project team:-

 Undefined Goals
  Scope Changes
 Inadequate Skills for the Project
 Lack of Accountability
 Improper Risk Management
 Ambiguous Contingency Plans
 Poor Communication
 Impossible Deadlines
 Resource Deprivation

Major challenges in developing an efficient project team:-

1. Undefined Goals: When goals are not clearly identified, it is impossible for the team to
meet them. And, since upper management cannot agree to or support undefined goals, the
project in question has little chance of succeeding. The project manager must ask the
right questions to establish and communicate clear goals from the outset.
2. Scope Changes: Also known as "scope creep," this phenomenon occurs when project
management allows the project's scope to extend beyond its original objectives.
Certainly, clients and supervisors will ask for changes to a project - but a good project
manager will evaluate each request and decide how and if to implement it, while
communicating the effects on budget and deadlines to all stakeholders.
3. Inadequate Skills for the Project: A project sometimes requires skills that the project's
contributors don't possess. Project management training can help a project leader
determine the needed competencies, assess the available workers and recommend
training, outsourcing or hiring additional staff.
4. Lack of Accountability: A project manager's leadership qualities really shine when each
member of the team takes responsibility for his or her role in achieving project success.
Conversely, a lack of accountability can bring a project to a complete halt. Finger-
pointing and avoiding blame are unproductive - but all-too-common - features of flawed
project management. Learning to direct teams toward a common goal is an important
aspect of project management training.
5. Improper Risk Management: Learning to deal with and plan for risk is an essential
piece of project management training. And risk tolerance is a desirable project manager
trait - because projects rarely go exactly according to plan. Gathering input, developing
trust and knowing which parts of a project are most likely to veer off course are all
aspects of the project manager's job.
6. Ambiguous Contingency Plans: It's important for project managers to know exactly
what direction to take in pre-defined "what-if" scenarios. But if those contingencies are
not identified, the entire project can become mired in an unexpected set of problems.
Asking others to identify potential problem areas can lead to a much smoother and more
successful project.
7. Poor Communication: Project managers provide direction at every step of the project,
so each team leader knows what's expected. Effective communication to everyone
involved in the project is crucial to its successful completion.
1. Project management training includes an emphasis on written and oral
communication skills
 2. Proper communication increases team members' morale by establishing clear
expectations
3. Good project managers keep communication and feedback flowing between upper
management and team leaders
8. Impossible Deadlines: A strong leader - and successful project manager - knows that
repeatedly asking a team for the impossible will result in declining morale and
productivity. The odds of successfully completing a project under unreasonable deadlines
are not very good.
9. Resource Deprivation: In order for a project to be run efficiently and effectively,
management must provide sufficient resources - human, time and money. Project
management training shows how to define needs and obtain approval up front, and helps
project managers assign and prioritize resources throughout the duration of a project.

Question No. 3

Write short notes on

 Skills required by a project manager
 Delphi technique of estimating manpower requirements of projects
 Importance of leadership in project management
 Goal setting theory

Answer:-

Skills required by a project manager:-Some of the key skills and qualities of a project
manager are as follows:

Shared vision: An effective project manager should have a common and clear vision to obtain
the project objectives within a stipulated time period.

Integrity: Integrity refers to the characteristic of honesty, reliability, morality and uprightness. It
is established when people act for the right reason, regardless of results. Project managers, with
the quality of integrity usually do not compromise on matters of principle and gain trust and
honour from their team members. For example, project managers with integrity help the
organisation to build client faith by demonstrating them the project reality and sharing accurate
information. In addition, project managers with integrity help in the retention and stability of
good team members. Employees stay with the organisation when they know their project
managers‘ integrity will not be taken aback during tough times.

Empathy: A project manager should share and understand the feelings and emotions of all team
members.

Competency: A project manager should have the required skills and knowledge to perform the
role properly and should encourage the team members to work efficiently.

Capability to delegate tasks: A project manager should be able to assign appropriate tasks to
the team members according to their skills and competencies.

Patience: A project manager should remain calm under various challenging situations like
deadline, meetings, supervision, decision etc. during the project.
Leadership skills: A project manager should be able to guide, direct and administer the team
members to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

Team building skills: A project manager should motivate the team members to work in unity.
The project manager can ensure the achievement of project objectives only when all team
members contribute together towards achieving a common goal.

Technical skills: A project manager should be well versed with the tools, equipments or
computer applications used in the project. Technical skills put project managers at advantageous
position.

Analytical skills: A project manager should be able to foresight what can go wrong and make a
result oriented decisions regarding the project.

Delphi technique of estimating manpower requirements of projects:-It is a technique in

which a series of questions is individually asked to a jury of experts about their perceptions of
future events. In this technique, direct interaction among the members of the group during
decision-making is avoided; as it could result in reaching an unfair consensus due to dominant
personality factors. Alternatively, the estimation and associated arguments are summarised by a
third party and responses, in conjunction with the added questions, are sent back to the experts.
This process is repeated until a consensus is reached and used for long-term forecasting. The
Delphi technique involves the use of questionnaires to prevent the disadvantages of groupthink.
In this technique, no committee is formed and experts’ opinions are not prejudiced by the
pressure of peers. As a result, the decision is not likely to be reached by an unfair consensus. The
main disadvantage of this technique is its low reliability and absence of consensus among the
experts. Moreover, it is a very time consuming and expensive technique. In practice, while
estimating manpower needs, usually key line managers produce their individual and anonymous
estimations based on asked questions. The human resource department analyses the responses of
line managers, and their analysed responses along with further questions are returned to the
experts. The line managers again rework their original predictions in the light of analysed
responses and this cycle is repeated until a consensus is reached.

Importance of leadership in project management:-A project comprises of various tasks and

activities that need to be performed by different people using different resources at different
times in the project lifecycle. For successful execution of these tasks, it is important to have a
leader who is able to strategies, plan and lead the collective efforts of the team members for
achieving the project goals. A leader is committed towards the project, delegates the work, and
provides support and motivation to the manpower to perform as a team. A leader provides
foresight, enthusiasm, imagination and initiative to group the team members to have a
uniqueness of interests, outlook and action. The significance of leadership in a project
management can be recognised by considering the various functions performed by leaders from
project initiation to closure. The functions of a leader that make leadership an indispensable part
of project management is:

 Delegate authority to subordinates

 Plan and organise the tasks of projects
 Guide, train and inspire the subordinates
 Motivate the subordinates to excel in their performances
  Influence the subordinates through rewards and punishments
 Create good work environment to achieve maximum employee efficiency
 Promote innovativeness
 Protect team members from operational threats or risks
 Develop and maintain the skills of subordinates
 Interact with subordinates and resolves their issues
 Build and sustain the effective organisational culture
 Comprehend the expectations and aspirations of subordinates
 Manage organisational resources
 Align individual goals of team members with the project
 Ensure that the right tools and training are provided to the team members to enable them
to perform to the best of their abilities.

Goal setting theory:-Edwin Locke, an American psychologist and a pioneer in goal-setting theory
explains that specific and difficult goals lead to higher performance than easy goals. It also suggests
that feedback and commitment lead to higher performance and bridges the gap between the actual and
expected performance of individuals. It also suggests that for self-improvement, an individual should
have SMART goals that is the goals that are specific (S), measurable (M), attainable (A), relevant (R)
and time-bound (T). The goal setting theory is based on the following five basic principles:

Clarity: Implies that the goals of individual should be measurable and unambiguous. Goals should also
be communicated clearly so that the employees may know what is expected from them.

Challenge: Implies that the goals should be a bit difficult to attain. It is important to note that the goals
must not be so challenging that they seem unrealistic, nor should they be non-challenging and keep the
employees demotivated. There should be an optimum level of challenge in the goals.

Commitment: Implies dedication of employees to achieve their goals. When the goals are challenging,
they increase the commitment of employees. The high commitment level ensures the improvement in
the performance of employees.

Feedback: Helps the employees to understand the goals clearly and overcome the obstacles in
achieving these goals.

Task Complexity: Implies the level of difficulty involved in a task. A challenging task keeps the
employees motivated. However, a highly challenging task may be burdensome for employees.

Question No. 4

What measures would you follow to deal with poor performers?

Answer:-

List the measures you would follow to deal with poor performers:-
  Performance assessment
 Quality circle
 Training
 Motivation
 Disciplinary action

Reason why you choose these measures (Training):-Training is a systematic and continuous
activity that aims at developing the skills and knowledge of new employees and upgrading the
skill sets of existing employees. It identifies existing performance gap and overcomes the same
to achieve the organisational objectives. This is done by evaluating the job requirements at
present and in future with the existing skill sets of the employees. As a continuous process,
training enriches the skills, knowledge, and aptitude of the employees so that they can attune
themselves to their respective jobs. The outcome of training is evaluated in terms of the learning
acquired by the employees. The learning acquired during training programs enables the
employees to perform their present job efficiently and prepares them for higher and complex jobs
in the organisation.

Explain the various measures you would follow to deal with poor performers and:- Poor
performances should be dealt with carefully. Terminating the poor performers from their
assigned tasks is not the only solution. Let us discuss how to deal with the poor performances.

Performance assessment: The performance of an employee whether effective or poor can be

identified through performance assessment or evaluation. After the assessment, the project
manager, team leader or any other superior project professional should provide feedback on
performance to the employee. This feedback helps the employee identify the performance gap
and gradually increase the performance level. In addition, while providing the performance
feedback, the supervisor should consider the level of difficulties or unfavourable circumstances
faced by a performer.

Quality circle: The quality circle is a small group of quality experts who consistently discuss
about how the desired level of quality and performance can be obtained in a project. In addition,
quality circle also focuses on recognising and resolving the work related issues and guiding the
employees to develop their performance.

Training: Training is a systematic and continuous activity that aims at developing the skills and
knowledge of new employees and upgrading the skill sets of existing employees. It identifies
existing performance gap and overcomes the same to achieve the organisational objectives. This
is done by evaluating the job requirements at present and in future with the existing skill sets of
the employees. As a continuous process, training enriches the skills, knowledge, and aptitude of
the employees so that they can attune themselves to their respective jobs. The outcome of
training is evaluated in terms of the learning acquired by the employees. The learning acquired
during training programs enables the employees to perform their present job efficiently and
prepares them for higher and complex jobs in the organisation.

Motivation: Heavy work schedules and tedious work pattern exhaust the employees and often
demoralise them performers. This impacts their contributions in the projects. Therefore, it is
important to motivate the employees by providing monetary or non-monetary rewards. Monetary
rewards may include incentives, increment in pay etc. Non-monetary reward may include
appreciation, recognition, outing, participation in major project decision etc. Motivation develops
work interest among the employees and boosts their performance level.

Disciplinary action: Taking action against an erring employee by penalising the employee
should be the last resort. It may either develop or bring down the performance. Such actions are
executed in certain specific cases, where the negligence, repetitive misconduct or absence of
performer affects the standard of project performance. In project management, disciplinary
action may include verbal warning, demotion, pay hold, layoff etc.

Analyse how these measures will improve the performance:-

Field review method: In this method, the measurement is done by a person outside the
assessor’s own department. It is usually done by someone from the corporate office or the HR
department. The outsider reviews the records and holds interviews with employees and their
superiors. This method is commonly used for making promotional decisions.

Group appraisal method: It is a method where a group of evaluators assesses the performance
of employees. This group is a mix of the immediate reporting authority (or reporting manager) of
the employee, other managers having close contact with the employee’s work, head of the
department and an HR expert. The group determines the standard of performance for the job,
measures actual performance of an employee analyses the causes of poor performance and offers
suggestions for improvements in future. Due to multiple evaluators, chances of personal bias are
less. However, this method is very time consuming.

Question No. 5

Explain various types of collective bargaining?

Answer:-

Types of collective bargaining:-Collective bargaining develops employees’ responsibility

towards the society and limits exploitation of labour during project operations. It can be
of four types.

Distributive bargaining: It is a type of bargaining where both the parties stress on supporting
their own benefits. Distributive bargaining involves less flexibility and understanding between
the parties because it prioritises the interest of one party over other and leaves no scope for win-
win situation. For example, the employee union of an organisation wants the organization to
raise their salary. On the other hand, the organisation wants to cut its total expenditure budget;
therefore, it resists the demand of salary raise. Now in such case, if both parties stress on their
own benefits and prioritise their interest over the other, it would be considered as distributive
bargaining.

Supportive bargaining: It is a type of bargaining, where the parties focus on supporting the
benefits of both. Supportive bargaining provides sufficient scope for flexibility, understanding
and cooperation between the parties. It considers the interests of both parties and finds a mid-
way to control the loss of both the parties. Take the example of distributive bargaining where
both the parties (the organisation and the employee union) have different interest. Now if the
parties instead of stressing on their own benefits focus on supporting the benefits of each other,
(i.e. the management listens to the demands of the union and takes actions accordingly or the
union reduces its demands by understanding the financial condition of the organisation) then
such bargaining is known as supportive bargaining.

Productive bargaining: It is a type of bargaining which focuses on increasing productivity so

that, both employers and employees are benefited from the outcome of negotiation. For example,
if the union and the management both consider that increased productivity is beneficial for both
the parties, then they assimilate their goals towards a single direction that aims at increasing the
productivity.

Composite bargaining: It is a type of bargaining where employees/unions bargain to get equity

in matters, such as work norms and policies, salary level, growth opportunities, working
conditions, and health and safety issues. For example, when the union, apart from considering
ways to increase productivity, negotiates on working standards to ensure that the work load of
the employees do not exceed, it is termed as composite bargaining.

Question No. 6

Discuss the concept of issue logs?

Answer:-

Issue log:- During the execution of a project, a project manager faces several issues that may
impact the project significantly. An issue is a problem, gap, inconsistency or conflict that may
arise unexpectedly during a project. These issues may be related to team members, suppliers,
distributers, technical failures, resource handling, material shortages, etc. It is very important for
a project manager to resolve these issues effectively before they grow enormously. Unsettled
issues may lead to unnecessary conflicts, delays or failures in project outcomes and unsatisfied
customers and shareholders. For example, if a trained team member unexpectedly meets with an
accident and takes leave for one week, then it is an issue that is to be resolved quickly in order to
minimise its effect on the project timelines.

Why should project managers solve issues, give examples:-

The aim of all project management is to deliver the right output, on time and on budget using the
available resources wisely. It involves a number of activities that can be grouped broadly under
headings such as planning, monitoring and control. It also involves a wide range of skills
involving people management and resource management. In these broad respects, managing an
Atern project is no different from managing any other project. It is the detailed activities
involved in Atern project management that are usually very different from those involved in
traditional project management. As a consequence of the wide range of possible project
situations, the following advice relating to the responsibilities of the Project Manager.

Details an issue log contain:-An issue log records issues that require resolution along with the
following details.

Issue name: This column records the name of the issue.

Issue type: This column defines the category of the issue. Categorising of issues helps project
managers in assigning them to the right person to resolve them. Following are the few categories
that can be included in this column:
Technical: These issues require technical expertise for resolution.
Resource: These are the issues related to with the human resources, equipment, materials, or
other resources used in the project.
Third party: These issues relate to factors that are external to the organisation and include
issues with the vendors, suppliers or any other third party.
Raised by:- This column records the name and identity of the person who raised the issue.
Date raised:- This column records the date on which the issue was entered in the issue log.
Description: This column basically elaborates on the issue for the better understanding of the
person who has to resolve the issue. The description can include the impact of the issue on the
project and why it is needed to be solved.
Priority: This column states rating of the issue in the order of its importance. Based on the
impact of the issue on the project, the priority ratings can be high, medium or low.
Assigned to:- This column states the name of the person who is responsible for handling and
resolving the issue. In some cases, the name of the person who is monitoring and tracking the
progress of issue management is also given in this column.
Target resolution date: This column states the deadline for resolving the issue.
Status: This column states the progress in resolving the issue. It may have labels like open,
implementing/in process or resolved.
Final solution: This column states the solution that was applied to resolve the issue in brief.

Explain how this issue log helps a project manager:- An issues log help a project manager to
do the following:

 Have a safe and reliable method for the team to raisse issues.
 Track and assign responsibility to specific people for each issue.
 Analyze and prioritize issues more easily.
 Record issue resolution for future reference and project learning.
 Monitor overall project health and status.