Chapter 5:

Project Human Resource Management

July 7, 2023
 Contents

• What is Project Human Resources

Management?
• Managing People
• Organizational Planning
• Issues in Project Staff Acquisition and Team
Development
 What is Project Human Resource
Management?
• “Making the most effective use of the people involved with
a project”.
• Processes include:
• Developing the human resource plan: identifying and
documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships.
• Acquiring the project team: getting the needed personnel assigned
to and working on the project.
• Developing the project team: building individual and group skills
to enhance project performance.
• Managing the project team: tracking team member performance,
motivating team members, providing timely feedback, resolving
issues and conflicts, and coordinating changes to help enhance
project performance. July 7, 2023
 The Importance of Human Resource
Management
• Many corporate executives have said, “People are
our most important asset”.

• People determine the success and failure of

organizations and projects.
 Implications/Consequences for the Future of
IT Human Resource Management
• Proactive organizations are addressing workforce
needs by:
• Improving benefits

• Redefining work hours and incentives

• Finding future workers

July 7, 2023
 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

• Intrinsic motivation causes people to participate in an

activity for their own enjoyment.

• Extrinsic motivation causes people to do something for a

reward or to avoid a penalty.

• For example, some children take piano lessons for intrinsic

motivation (they enjoy it) while others take them for
extrinsic motivation (to get a reward or avoid punishment).

July 7, 2023
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

July 7, 2023
 Ways to Influence that Help and Hurt Projects

• Projects are more likely to succeed when project

managers influence with:
• Expertise
• Work challenge

• Projects are more likely to fail when project

managers rely too heavily on:
• Authority
• Money
• Penalty
 Improving Effectiveness
• Project managers can improve effectiveness on
projects
• Be proactive
• Begin with the end in mind
• Put first things first
• Think win/win
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen the saw
 Empathic Listening and Rapport

• Good project managers are empathic listeners; they listen

with the intent to understand.
• Before you can communicate with others, you have to have
rapport, a relation of harmony, conformity, accord, or
affinity.
• Mirroring is the matching of certain behaviors of the other
person, a technique to help establish rapport.
• IT professionals need to develop empathic listening and
other people skills to improve relationships with users and
other stakeholders.

July 7, 2023
 Developing the Human Resource Plan
• Involves identifying and documenting project roles,
responsibilities, and reporting relationships.

• Contents include:
• Project organizational charts
• Staffing management plan
• Responsibility assignment matrixes
• Resource histograms

July 7, 2023
 Staffing Management Plans and Resource
Histograms
• A staffing management plan describes when
and how people will be added to and taken off
the project team.

• A resource histogram is a column chart that

shows the number of resources assigned to a
project over time.
Sample Resource Histogram
 What Went Right?

• In addition to providing technical training for IT

personnel, several companies have made significant
investments in project management training to provide
career paths for project managers.
• Hewlett Packard(HP) employed only six registered PMPs in
1997,
• but by August 2004, it employed more than 1,500 PMPs and was
adding 500 more per year.
• While most consulting firms offer a single path to a leadership
position, IBM has four to allow their people to succeed by
focusing on their strengths and interests in one or more
disciplines.
 Acquiring the Project Team
• Acquiring qualified people for teams is crucial.
• It’s important to assign the appropriate type and
number of people to work on projects at the
appropriate times.
Resource Loading
• Resource loading refers to the amount of individual
resources an existing schedule requires during specific
time periods.
• Helps project managers develop a general
understanding of the demands a project will make on
the organization’s resources and individual people’s
schedules. July 7, 2023
 Resource Loading cont..
• So we have identified a task (work) that is to be completed.
• We identify the resources required to complete that task
within the time allotted.
• Overallocation means that the work requires more resources than
are available. We don’t have the resources that are required.
• So, Triple Constraint, 1) we can change the amount of work that
the task requires (scope), 2) increase the budget (cost) and obtain
more resources, and/ or 3) extend the schedule (time) for the task
to be completed.

July 7, 2023
 Resource Leveling
• Resource leveling is a technique for resolving resource
conflicts by delaying tasks (more time).

• The main purpose of resource leveling is to create a

smoother distribution of resource usage and reduce
overallocation.

July 7, 2023
 Developing & Managing the Project Team

• The main goal of team development is to help people

work together more effectively to improve project
performance.

• It takes teamwork to successfully complete most projects.

July 7, 2023
 Training
• Training can help people understand themselves,
each other, and
• how to work better in teams
• Team building activities include:
• Physical challenges
• Psychological preference indicator tools
 Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• MBTI is a popular tool for determining personality
preferences and helping teammates understand each other.
• Four dimensions include:
• Extrovert/Introvert (E/I)-
• Extraversion is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from
outside oneself. They enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic
, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. Extraverts are energized and
thrive off being around other people. They take pleasure in activities
that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community
activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups.
 Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) cont.

• Introversion is the state of being predominantly interested in one's

own mental self. Typically perceived as more reserved or reflective.
Introverts often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading,
writing, using computers, hiking and fishing. 
• Sensation /Intuition (S/N)
• Thinking/Feeling (T/F)
• Judgment/Perception (J/P)

• NTs or rationales are attracted to technology fields

• IT people vary most from the general population in not being
extroverted or sensing.
 Social Styles Profile

• People are perceived as behaving primarily in one of

four zones, based on their assertiveness and
responsiveness:
• Drivers
• Expressives
• Analyticals
• Amiables

• People on opposite corners (drivers and amiables,

analyticals and expressives) may have difficulties
getting along
Social Styles
 DISC Profiles
• Also uses a four-dimensional model of normal
behavior
• Dominance
• Influence
• Steadiness
• Compliance

• People in opposite quadrants can have problems

understanding each other
The DISC Profile
 Reward and Recognition Systems
• Team-based reward and recognition systems can
promote teamwork.
• Focus on rewarding teams for achieving specific goals.
• Allow time for team members to mentor and help each
other to meet project goals and develop human
resources.
 General Advice on Teams
• Be patient and kind with your team
• Fix the problem instead of blaming people
• Establish regular, effective meetings
• Allow time for teams to go through the basic
team-building stages
• Limit the size of work teams to three to seven
members
 General Advice on Teams (continued)
• Plan some social activities to help project team
members and other stakeholders get to know each
other better.
• Nurture team members and encourage them to help
each other.
• Take additional actions to work with virtual team
members.
 Five Dysfunctions of a Team
• “Teamwork remains the one sustainable competitive
advantage that has been largely untapped”*.

• The five dysfunctions of teams are:

1. Absence of trust
2. Fear of conflict
3. Lack of commitment
4. Avoidance of accountability
5. Inattention to results
 Project Resource Management Involves Much
More Than Using Software
• Project managers must:
• Treat people with consideration and respect
• Understand what motivates them
• Communicate carefully with them

• Focus on your goal of enabling project team

members to deliver their best work.