Description
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams within or across organizations to accomplish particular tasks under time constraints.
1
HRM Study on Managing people and project leadership
Table of contents: Section 1: teamwork and communication page 3
Section2: leadership and management of change within project management
7
Section 3: organisational structure and cultures
11
Number of Words: 0 including references word count.
2
Section 1: Critically discuss and evaluate issues of managing people in projects including teamwork and communication. Management of people is one of the most crucial activities to be undertaken by the employers of an organisation, as human resources are amongst important assets for them (Wellington, 2011). The problem in project management begins right from the early stages when the roles have to be assigned to each of the employee. The human resource management needs to ensure that each of the employees is provided with adequate care and allocated the roles of their interest and expertise. Once the roles are defined, the project manager needs to ensure that optimal results are obtained through the resources. The role of teamwork comes into existence in such a scenario. At the time of managing such human resources, the human resource department may encounter several problems, which are discussed in this section.
The team is formed to complete the project. If all the team members work in an appropriate manner as per the job roles allocated to them, the success of project is ascertained (Purcell et al., 2008). However, if the team work is not done as per standards, the problems may raise for the project manager. Therefore, the project manager shall work towards utilising the team and assigning appropriate tasks to each of the team members. The team should have a common goal and there should not be any conflict amongst the employees at the time of working towards attainment of their goals (Armstrong, 2010). If there raises a conflict, the focus of team may deviate towards the conflict instead of working for the attainment of their project aims and objectives. This encourages the need of teamwork for making the project successful. The whole project should be divided into different phases, and the team members should be clearly allocated their roles and responsibilities so as to fulfil those phases (Purcell et al., 2008). The task allocation should be done on the basis of skills of the team members. This helps in producing an optimal level of results from the available set of resources. Once the roles are allocated, the work progress should be checked on a regular basis (Armstrong, 2010). This does not mean punishing the ones found lagging behind the schedule. Instead,
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appropriate measures should be taken in advance, before it becomes too late for the project manger to recover from the situation. Therefore, the role of communication comes into existence (Wellington, 2011). Communication is the medium through which the work standard can be shared amongst the team members in order to make each other aware of the progress of the project. If any problem is recognised in the project, that problem can be rectified in advance because the team would be aware of that due to proper communication taking place amongst the employees. There may also be weak communication amongst the employees of a project, since due to conflicts the individuals may not wish to interact with each other (Schwalbe, 2006). Due to weak communication, the employees may not know about the work progress at different stages of the project. They may even find trouble in planning for next stages of the work (Kliem, 2007). The work plan cannot be implemented due to this, resulting in an overall failure of the project. Another issue is associated with the training of employees. The project manager has to train the employees if the project is huge and demands the use of complex set of techniques. For an instance, if the project demands the use of a sophisticated computer system so as to handle Management Information Systems, than the employees should be trained to make them capable enough for using such software (Purcell et al., 2008). This demands the use of training programs on a regular basis. Besides this, the training also helps in enhancement of skills, which are required while working on a project. There should be a regular communication amongst the team members, so that each of them is aware of the work progress (Hetrick and Martin, 2012). The delays, if any, should be treated with special care. The team should work in a collaborative manner instead of working as isolated entities for their project. For projects lasting for more than 6 months, it is suggested that there should be regular get-together of the employees so that they can interact with each other for formation of a strong team. The feeling of belongingness can be enhanced through this approach, which can help in favour of the project’s objectives (Wellington, 2011). Otherwise, the weak relations may lead to the failure of project because the team members may not be aware whether their different phases of project are going in a successful manner or not. Additionally, the employees may also find it hard to adjust to the needs of their project manager, because of the weak relationship amongst them.
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Conflicts are one of the most common problems found amongst the employees (Schwalbe, 2006). Due to these conflicts, the efficiency of entire team is reduced, which causes downgrade in the overall performance of the team. The conflicts may be due to human resource policies, or even may be due to the discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or colour. Due to conflicts, the employees may try to work against the objectives of each other, causing a negative impact on the project's goals. This may even lead to a delay in project, or the quality of project may be compromised. The employees may not even wish to work with each other in a team, due to the conflicts between them (Kliem, 2007). In order to manage such circumstances, the project manager has to work towards identification of key reasons for conflict, and should take remedial actions for this. In case the conflict increases, the employees may even leave the project, and under such a situation the whole project has to suffer because finding out new human resources is not an easy task. Additionally, the performance management should be conducted in such a manner that there does not raise any conflict amongst the team members (Purcell et al., 2008). Instead, they should be motivated to work in a collaborative manner as a team, and the reward for that team can be given as well. This would not only enhance their overall performance, but the team members may also get motivated to work as a team. It is recommended that instead of investing man hours and maintaining different aspects of the tasks, the project manager should recruit an efficient team of HR managers so as to look after the human resource assets. The HR management should establish a balance amongst the employees and help them in problem solving whenever needed. Additionally, there should not be any kind of biasness between the team members of the project; else the employees may get de-motivated to put their efforts for the success of their project. Another important point was found for the conflict management. By managing conflicts, the situations can be improved by the project manager. This can help in favour of the project as the chances of failure of the project are considerably reduced if each of the team members works with full efforts, and in favour of the overall project’s objectives.
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References Armstrong, M. (2010), Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to People Management, Kogan Page Publishers. Hetrick, S., & Martin, G. (2012), Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management, Routledge. Kliem, R. L. (2007), Effective Communications for Project Management, CRC Press. Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Swart, J., Rayton, B., & Hutchinson, S. (2008), People Management and Performance, Taylor & Francis US. Schwalbe, K. (2006), Introduction to Project Management, Cengage Learning. Wellington, P. (2011), Effective People Management: Improve Performance Delegate More Effectively Handle Poor Performance and Manage Conflict, Kogan Page Publishers.
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Section 2: Critically discuss and evaluate issues of leadership and management of change within project management. The leadership helps in enhancement of performance of the team in project management. It is the leader who motivates and encourages the whole team to work in the right direction, and checks them to ensure that the approach used by them is in correct direction (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). The leader motivates them on a regular basis for fulfilment of the desired objectives. Besides this, the leader also ensures that changes are successfully implemented in the organisation before anyone opposes such a change. The section here elaborates each of these aspects to evaluate the concept of leadership and change management in project management. Leader is a confident personality in the project, who is responsible for fulfilment of the desired objectives of the project (Dubrin, 2008). The leader is given responsibility to ensure that their actions are as per the needs of the project. Such a person views all the team members in positive manner by identifying the strengths associated with each of them (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). The leader allocates job responsibilities to each of these individuals as per their capabilities and is able to make them work in the best possible manner for producing positive results. The followers are also encouraged by the leader to accept changes that take place within the system, for improvement of results. Besides this, the leader also assists others for finding the meaning associated with their job roles, which motivates them in engaging with their job at their best. Thus, the improvement in employee performance takes place because of the capabilities of leader. The leader is confident towards the completion of tasks, and is capable of controlling his life (Dubrin, 2008). However, the most important aspect associated with leaders is their capability to make an appropriate use of the resources, and most importantly human resource assets. The leader knows how to make the team work in an appropriate direction for completing the desired objectives. The leader also does not feel afraid with the situation, but is ready to accept challenges. The efficient human resources are selected by the leader for the project (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). Once the project is about to begin, the leader divides whole task into set of sub-tasks so as to allocate it to the team members. Thereafter, the evaluation procedure is conducted at regular intervals for checking if the team members are working with their full efficiency or not. In case there is any lag between what is desirable
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and the degree of efforts put by the team, the leader does not feel nervous. Instead, he motivates the entire team to refocus their attention towards the common objective and make them work in their best possible manner. The leader knows how to make appropriate use of the time, and does not believe in wasting time on unnecessary efforts (Murugan, 2007). Instead, he works as per the desired objectives for confirming that there is no failure of the project. This is the reason he raises an environment of excitement amongst the team members to make them work with full energy and enthusiasm. The leader may be autocratic for the short term project, so as to make the employees work towards fulfilment of the desired objectives as per the guidelines suggested by him. However, if the project is of longer duration of 6 or more months, it is better to make use of participative leadership skills (Mayer, 2008). Under such a style, the leader motivates entire team to work in a collaborative manner and is open to hear to opinions of the team members. This helps in enhancement of the interest of employees, because greater attention and importance is given to the employees. Besides these, the Laissez Faire type of leaders believes that the team members are capable of fulfilling the tasks by themselves. Therefore, the leader just motivates the team and allows them to take decisions on an independent basis. This type of leadership is ideally suited when the team members work with the leader for long term, and the leader is confident that each of the team members is capable of fulfilling the desired objectives (Murugan, 2007). The leader can therefore trust on the employees to do the tasks by themselves. However, the leaders may find it a cumbersome task to incorporate changes within their project management. It is due to the reluctant nature of team members against accepting changes. They do not wish to follow new approach, or make use of a new type of strategy to do their daily work practices (Paton and McCalman, 2008). This is the reason they oppose the changes, so the role of leader comes into play. The leader takes every action to ensure that the team members are not against the new ideology proposed by the project manager, and focuses on the benefits that the team may have because of the change. It is not necessary that the change is instantly accepted. Instead, the leader motivates the employees to just try out working as per the new strategy in the form of beta- testing and
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once they are comfortable with it, the project can be based on such a new strategy. This change would not only lead in favour of the project, but may even improve the performance of entire team (Paton and McCalman, 2008). So, each of the benefit associated with the changes are described by the leader in a positive manner. The perception of team members is changed by the leader as most important tasks so as to raise their interest in accepting changes. The followers thus view the changes in positive terms, and do not run away from such changes. This helps in improvement of overall performance of the organisation because the leader makes use of his leadership skills for encouraging team members as and when desired, in order to motivate them towards acceptance of changes in their practices for the betterment of results (Hughes, 2006). The leader thus becomes the key responsible authority to change the perception of individuals towards the project policies and motivate them to adjust with the changing needs of the competitive marketplace for enhancement of results. The main reason behind opposition of changes in the project is because the team members may not be aware of how to work after changes. They may be worried that the changes would not help them, but would make them work with greater efforts for fulfilment of the desired tasks. They may even fear against making use of the change, for example using the software to submit daily report instead of the pen and paper based documentation, because they do not feel comfortable with using the new software. Therefore, the leader should take responsibility and ensure that each of the team members gets comfortable with the proposed changes in their operational activities. The leader may also highlight the benefits associated with the use of new technology. For this purpose, besides the motivation, the leader should arrange training sessions for the team, to make them learn advanced technology. They should be also intimated about the benefits associated with an up gradation of technology for better performance and improvement of results.
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References Dubrin, A. J. (2008), Essentials of management, 8th edn., Cengage Learning. Hughes, M. (2006), Change management: a critical perspective, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Mayer, T. (2008), What Makes a Good Leader and How Might the Performance of Leaders Be Measured, GRIN Verlag. Murugan, M. S. (2007), Management Principles And Practices, 2nd edn., New Age International. Paton, R. A., & McCalman, J. (2008), Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation, 3rd edn., SAGE. Taylor, R. L. & Rosenbach, W. E. (2006), Contemporary Issues in Leadership, Westview Press.
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Section 3: Critically discuss and evaluate the impact of organisational structure and cultures in projects. The structure of an organisation helps in identification of the most appropriate strategies that can be accepted and implemented by the project management team (Kerzner and Saladis, 2009). If the structure is versatile and flexible, there may be different types of strategies at different work stages; else the rigid structure may not allow the use of innovative strategies of business. Besides organisational structure, organisational culture is amongst the most important aspects of project management. It can be reflected from the way in which an analysis of the tasks is done, followed by evaluation of the goals for allocating responsibilities to the team members (Stare, 2011). Culture plays an important role in affecting the decision making capabilities of the team. The manner in which the people adopt any task is also based on the structure of an organisation and their culture. Each of these aspects is described in the section to evaluate their impact on the projects. The organisation may have functional structure in which all the departments work separately based on their functionalities such as finance department, marketing and sales department, HR department, Production and Operations department etc (Stare, 2011). Starting a project in such an organisation is not going to be beneficial unless necessary amendments are incorporated. Once the project is assigned to such a type of organisation, each of the department needs to allocate the project management responsibility to few of the individuals. Thereafter, the individuals should work as a team for fulfilment of the desired objectives. So, this type of structure is highly beneficial so as to run several projects simultaneously. However, for the case of organisations which are designed just for the project, the group of employees are allocated responsibility to complete the task (Brown, 2008). The employees are responsible for fulfilment of the project tasks only, and they do not need to get indulged in any other activity. They should all be lead by the project manager who is responsible for the success of the project. So, the structure is mainly designed as per the specific needs of the project, which increases the chances of success in such a project (Kerzner and Saladis, 2009). However, this aspect is not enough, and the team members should be efficient enough to produce positive results under the supervision of their project manager who is capable of motivating the team on a regular basis.
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In the case of organisation with matrix structure, project's responsibilities are shared amongst the line managers and project managers, causing more impact on the project due to the organisational structure (Levine, 2002). However, for the case of project matrix structure, the mixture of functional structure project based structure is used in a combined manner. Therefore, each of the employees is responsible for completion of their job tasks, and at the same time they even need to fulfil the job responsibilities allocated to them for the project. In this structure, each of the team members can work and interact with other team members in an easy manner, giving them the opportunity of sharing thoughts and ideas with each other. So, this structure adopts more use of efforts so as to get the tasks done on time and in a successful manner. This helps in enhancement of shared responsibilities and capability of solving problems through combined efforts of the team. Contrary to this, the structure may face troubles because of the requirement of reporting to dual bosses. Another major factor of consideration is the culture which is used by the management of an organisation. Culture plays an important role in influencing the behaviour of an individual who may be the team member, or even the project manager. The differences in approaches and philosophies are mainly found to take place due to culture of an organisation (Moore, 2002). The project can be implemented successfully only when the project culture is correctly utilised. The attitude of team members towards the project is the main characteristic of project culture. The project can be affected because of an organisational culture in four different ways (Pinto, 2010):• • Based on the manner in which project manager evaluates the project team's performance, and their way of viewing outcomes of the project. Planning of projects is also influenced by organisational culture based on the way in which allocation of resources is done for the project, and manner in which an estimation of work is conducted. • • The extent of commitment of employees towards their job roles is dependent on the culture so as to compete with the goals. Based on the manner in which each of the project department shall be interacting and supporting each other for an achievement of the overall projects' goals.
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Through the use of cooperative culture, the management actions can take place in an effective manner for all the levels of project management (Belassi et al., 2007). The policies used by an organisation may also affect the project management practices because these are the key cultural factors causing change in their approach towards the job responsibilities. However, it is important that the organisation follows singular method for their whole organisation, so that their project management takes place in a successful manner. In case this is not done, there may be the chances of conflicts causing the failure of projects, or the projects may get delayed resulting in excessive costs. So, the structure of an organisation and the culture adopted by them are the key factors for affecting the success or failure of project. The project can be successfully completed if it is run in an environment which is favourable for the project's goals and objectives. There should not be any deviation from the goals at the time of carrying out project management tasks. Therefore, the culture should be of supportive nature which does not restrict the team members from interacting with each other. Instead, the team should be motivated on a regular basis so as to share their thoughts with each other and improve their overall confidence level towards completion of the job roles as per the expectations of their project manager. Additionally, the structure of an organisation should also be adjusted as per the needs of the project. If there is a need of lots of communication amongst the team members, the structure should be given flexibility for interacting with each other on a regular basis. This can help in an overall improvement in overall performance of the project management team, leading to optimal results in the least possible time.
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References Belassi, W., Kondra, A. Z., & Tukel, O. I. (2007), New Product Development Projects: The Effects of Organizational Culture, Project Management Journal, 38(4), pp. 12-24. Brown, C. J. (2008), A comprehensive organisational model for the effective management of project management, South African Journal of Business Management, 39(3), pp. 1-10. Kerzner, H., & Saladis, F. P. (2009), What functional managers need to know about project management, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Levine, H. A. (2002), Practical project management: tips, tactics, and tools, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Moore, C. (2002), Best Practices in Workflow, Giga Information Group. Pinto, J. K. (2010), Project management: achieving competitive advantage, 2nd edn., New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Stare, A. (2011), The Impact of the Organisational Structure and Project Organisational Culture on Project Performance in Slovenian Enterprises, Management, 16(2), pp. 1-22.
doc_500327708.doc
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams within or across organizations to accomplish particular tasks under time constraints.
1
HRM Study on Managing people and project leadership
Table of contents: Section 1: teamwork and communication page 3
Section2: leadership and management of change within project management
7
Section 3: organisational structure and cultures
11
Number of Words: 0 including references word count.
2
Section 1: Critically discuss and evaluate issues of managing people in projects including teamwork and communication. Management of people is one of the most crucial activities to be undertaken by the employers of an organisation, as human resources are amongst important assets for them (Wellington, 2011). The problem in project management begins right from the early stages when the roles have to be assigned to each of the employee. The human resource management needs to ensure that each of the employees is provided with adequate care and allocated the roles of their interest and expertise. Once the roles are defined, the project manager needs to ensure that optimal results are obtained through the resources. The role of teamwork comes into existence in such a scenario. At the time of managing such human resources, the human resource department may encounter several problems, which are discussed in this section.
The team is formed to complete the project. If all the team members work in an appropriate manner as per the job roles allocated to them, the success of project is ascertained (Purcell et al., 2008). However, if the team work is not done as per standards, the problems may raise for the project manager. Therefore, the project manager shall work towards utilising the team and assigning appropriate tasks to each of the team members. The team should have a common goal and there should not be any conflict amongst the employees at the time of working towards attainment of their goals (Armstrong, 2010). If there raises a conflict, the focus of team may deviate towards the conflict instead of working for the attainment of their project aims and objectives. This encourages the need of teamwork for making the project successful. The whole project should be divided into different phases, and the team members should be clearly allocated their roles and responsibilities so as to fulfil those phases (Purcell et al., 2008). The task allocation should be done on the basis of skills of the team members. This helps in producing an optimal level of results from the available set of resources. Once the roles are allocated, the work progress should be checked on a regular basis (Armstrong, 2010). This does not mean punishing the ones found lagging behind the schedule. Instead,
3
appropriate measures should be taken in advance, before it becomes too late for the project manger to recover from the situation. Therefore, the role of communication comes into existence (Wellington, 2011). Communication is the medium through which the work standard can be shared amongst the team members in order to make each other aware of the progress of the project. If any problem is recognised in the project, that problem can be rectified in advance because the team would be aware of that due to proper communication taking place amongst the employees. There may also be weak communication amongst the employees of a project, since due to conflicts the individuals may not wish to interact with each other (Schwalbe, 2006). Due to weak communication, the employees may not know about the work progress at different stages of the project. They may even find trouble in planning for next stages of the work (Kliem, 2007). The work plan cannot be implemented due to this, resulting in an overall failure of the project. Another issue is associated with the training of employees. The project manager has to train the employees if the project is huge and demands the use of complex set of techniques. For an instance, if the project demands the use of a sophisticated computer system so as to handle Management Information Systems, than the employees should be trained to make them capable enough for using such software (Purcell et al., 2008). This demands the use of training programs on a regular basis. Besides this, the training also helps in enhancement of skills, which are required while working on a project. There should be a regular communication amongst the team members, so that each of them is aware of the work progress (Hetrick and Martin, 2012). The delays, if any, should be treated with special care. The team should work in a collaborative manner instead of working as isolated entities for their project. For projects lasting for more than 6 months, it is suggested that there should be regular get-together of the employees so that they can interact with each other for formation of a strong team. The feeling of belongingness can be enhanced through this approach, which can help in favour of the project’s objectives (Wellington, 2011). Otherwise, the weak relations may lead to the failure of project because the team members may not be aware whether their different phases of project are going in a successful manner or not. Additionally, the employees may also find it hard to adjust to the needs of their project manager, because of the weak relationship amongst them.
4
Conflicts are one of the most common problems found amongst the employees (Schwalbe, 2006). Due to these conflicts, the efficiency of entire team is reduced, which causes downgrade in the overall performance of the team. The conflicts may be due to human resource policies, or even may be due to the discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or colour. Due to conflicts, the employees may try to work against the objectives of each other, causing a negative impact on the project's goals. This may even lead to a delay in project, or the quality of project may be compromised. The employees may not even wish to work with each other in a team, due to the conflicts between them (Kliem, 2007). In order to manage such circumstances, the project manager has to work towards identification of key reasons for conflict, and should take remedial actions for this. In case the conflict increases, the employees may even leave the project, and under such a situation the whole project has to suffer because finding out new human resources is not an easy task. Additionally, the performance management should be conducted in such a manner that there does not raise any conflict amongst the team members (Purcell et al., 2008). Instead, they should be motivated to work in a collaborative manner as a team, and the reward for that team can be given as well. This would not only enhance their overall performance, but the team members may also get motivated to work as a team. It is recommended that instead of investing man hours and maintaining different aspects of the tasks, the project manager should recruit an efficient team of HR managers so as to look after the human resource assets. The HR management should establish a balance amongst the employees and help them in problem solving whenever needed. Additionally, there should not be any kind of biasness between the team members of the project; else the employees may get de-motivated to put their efforts for the success of their project. Another important point was found for the conflict management. By managing conflicts, the situations can be improved by the project manager. This can help in favour of the project as the chances of failure of the project are considerably reduced if each of the team members works with full efforts, and in favour of the overall project’s objectives.
5
References Armstrong, M. (2010), Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management Practice: A Guide to People Management, Kogan Page Publishers. Hetrick, S., & Martin, G. (2012), Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management, Routledge. Kliem, R. L. (2007), Effective Communications for Project Management, CRC Press. Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Swart, J., Rayton, B., & Hutchinson, S. (2008), People Management and Performance, Taylor & Francis US. Schwalbe, K. (2006), Introduction to Project Management, Cengage Learning. Wellington, P. (2011), Effective People Management: Improve Performance Delegate More Effectively Handle Poor Performance and Manage Conflict, Kogan Page Publishers.
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Section 2: Critically discuss and evaluate issues of leadership and management of change within project management. The leadership helps in enhancement of performance of the team in project management. It is the leader who motivates and encourages the whole team to work in the right direction, and checks them to ensure that the approach used by them is in correct direction (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). The leader motivates them on a regular basis for fulfilment of the desired objectives. Besides this, the leader also ensures that changes are successfully implemented in the organisation before anyone opposes such a change. The section here elaborates each of these aspects to evaluate the concept of leadership and change management in project management. Leader is a confident personality in the project, who is responsible for fulfilment of the desired objectives of the project (Dubrin, 2008). The leader is given responsibility to ensure that their actions are as per the needs of the project. Such a person views all the team members in positive manner by identifying the strengths associated with each of them (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). The leader allocates job responsibilities to each of these individuals as per their capabilities and is able to make them work in the best possible manner for producing positive results. The followers are also encouraged by the leader to accept changes that take place within the system, for improvement of results. Besides this, the leader also assists others for finding the meaning associated with their job roles, which motivates them in engaging with their job at their best. Thus, the improvement in employee performance takes place because of the capabilities of leader. The leader is confident towards the completion of tasks, and is capable of controlling his life (Dubrin, 2008). However, the most important aspect associated with leaders is their capability to make an appropriate use of the resources, and most importantly human resource assets. The leader knows how to make the team work in an appropriate direction for completing the desired objectives. The leader also does not feel afraid with the situation, but is ready to accept challenges. The efficient human resources are selected by the leader for the project (Taylor and Rosenbach, 2006). Once the project is about to begin, the leader divides whole task into set of sub-tasks so as to allocate it to the team members. Thereafter, the evaluation procedure is conducted at regular intervals for checking if the team members are working with their full efficiency or not. In case there is any lag between what is desirable
7
and the degree of efforts put by the team, the leader does not feel nervous. Instead, he motivates the entire team to refocus their attention towards the common objective and make them work in their best possible manner. The leader knows how to make appropriate use of the time, and does not believe in wasting time on unnecessary efforts (Murugan, 2007). Instead, he works as per the desired objectives for confirming that there is no failure of the project. This is the reason he raises an environment of excitement amongst the team members to make them work with full energy and enthusiasm. The leader may be autocratic for the short term project, so as to make the employees work towards fulfilment of the desired objectives as per the guidelines suggested by him. However, if the project is of longer duration of 6 or more months, it is better to make use of participative leadership skills (Mayer, 2008). Under such a style, the leader motivates entire team to work in a collaborative manner and is open to hear to opinions of the team members. This helps in enhancement of the interest of employees, because greater attention and importance is given to the employees. Besides these, the Laissez Faire type of leaders believes that the team members are capable of fulfilling the tasks by themselves. Therefore, the leader just motivates the team and allows them to take decisions on an independent basis. This type of leadership is ideally suited when the team members work with the leader for long term, and the leader is confident that each of the team members is capable of fulfilling the desired objectives (Murugan, 2007). The leader can therefore trust on the employees to do the tasks by themselves. However, the leaders may find it a cumbersome task to incorporate changes within their project management. It is due to the reluctant nature of team members against accepting changes. They do not wish to follow new approach, or make use of a new type of strategy to do their daily work practices (Paton and McCalman, 2008). This is the reason they oppose the changes, so the role of leader comes into play. The leader takes every action to ensure that the team members are not against the new ideology proposed by the project manager, and focuses on the benefits that the team may have because of the change. It is not necessary that the change is instantly accepted. Instead, the leader motivates the employees to just try out working as per the new strategy in the form of beta- testing and
8
once they are comfortable with it, the project can be based on such a new strategy. This change would not only lead in favour of the project, but may even improve the performance of entire team (Paton and McCalman, 2008). So, each of the benefit associated with the changes are described by the leader in a positive manner. The perception of team members is changed by the leader as most important tasks so as to raise their interest in accepting changes. The followers thus view the changes in positive terms, and do not run away from such changes. This helps in improvement of overall performance of the organisation because the leader makes use of his leadership skills for encouraging team members as and when desired, in order to motivate them towards acceptance of changes in their practices for the betterment of results (Hughes, 2006). The leader thus becomes the key responsible authority to change the perception of individuals towards the project policies and motivate them to adjust with the changing needs of the competitive marketplace for enhancement of results. The main reason behind opposition of changes in the project is because the team members may not be aware of how to work after changes. They may be worried that the changes would not help them, but would make them work with greater efforts for fulfilment of the desired tasks. They may even fear against making use of the change, for example using the software to submit daily report instead of the pen and paper based documentation, because they do not feel comfortable with using the new software. Therefore, the leader should take responsibility and ensure that each of the team members gets comfortable with the proposed changes in their operational activities. The leader may also highlight the benefits associated with the use of new technology. For this purpose, besides the motivation, the leader should arrange training sessions for the team, to make them learn advanced technology. They should be also intimated about the benefits associated with an up gradation of technology for better performance and improvement of results.
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References Dubrin, A. J. (2008), Essentials of management, 8th edn., Cengage Learning. Hughes, M. (2006), Change management: a critical perspective, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Mayer, T. (2008), What Makes a Good Leader and How Might the Performance of Leaders Be Measured, GRIN Verlag. Murugan, M. S. (2007), Management Principles And Practices, 2nd edn., New Age International. Paton, R. A., & McCalman, J. (2008), Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation, 3rd edn., SAGE. Taylor, R. L. & Rosenbach, W. E. (2006), Contemporary Issues in Leadership, Westview Press.
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Section 3: Critically discuss and evaluate the impact of organisational structure and cultures in projects. The structure of an organisation helps in identification of the most appropriate strategies that can be accepted and implemented by the project management team (Kerzner and Saladis, 2009). If the structure is versatile and flexible, there may be different types of strategies at different work stages; else the rigid structure may not allow the use of innovative strategies of business. Besides organisational structure, organisational culture is amongst the most important aspects of project management. It can be reflected from the way in which an analysis of the tasks is done, followed by evaluation of the goals for allocating responsibilities to the team members (Stare, 2011). Culture plays an important role in affecting the decision making capabilities of the team. The manner in which the people adopt any task is also based on the structure of an organisation and their culture. Each of these aspects is described in the section to evaluate their impact on the projects. The organisation may have functional structure in which all the departments work separately based on their functionalities such as finance department, marketing and sales department, HR department, Production and Operations department etc (Stare, 2011). Starting a project in such an organisation is not going to be beneficial unless necessary amendments are incorporated. Once the project is assigned to such a type of organisation, each of the department needs to allocate the project management responsibility to few of the individuals. Thereafter, the individuals should work as a team for fulfilment of the desired objectives. So, this type of structure is highly beneficial so as to run several projects simultaneously. However, for the case of organisations which are designed just for the project, the group of employees are allocated responsibility to complete the task (Brown, 2008). The employees are responsible for fulfilment of the project tasks only, and they do not need to get indulged in any other activity. They should all be lead by the project manager who is responsible for the success of the project. So, the structure is mainly designed as per the specific needs of the project, which increases the chances of success in such a project (Kerzner and Saladis, 2009). However, this aspect is not enough, and the team members should be efficient enough to produce positive results under the supervision of their project manager who is capable of motivating the team on a regular basis.
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In the case of organisation with matrix structure, project's responsibilities are shared amongst the line managers and project managers, causing more impact on the project due to the organisational structure (Levine, 2002). However, for the case of project matrix structure, the mixture of functional structure project based structure is used in a combined manner. Therefore, each of the employees is responsible for completion of their job tasks, and at the same time they even need to fulfil the job responsibilities allocated to them for the project. In this structure, each of the team members can work and interact with other team members in an easy manner, giving them the opportunity of sharing thoughts and ideas with each other. So, this structure adopts more use of efforts so as to get the tasks done on time and in a successful manner. This helps in enhancement of shared responsibilities and capability of solving problems through combined efforts of the team. Contrary to this, the structure may face troubles because of the requirement of reporting to dual bosses. Another major factor of consideration is the culture which is used by the management of an organisation. Culture plays an important role in influencing the behaviour of an individual who may be the team member, or even the project manager. The differences in approaches and philosophies are mainly found to take place due to culture of an organisation (Moore, 2002). The project can be implemented successfully only when the project culture is correctly utilised. The attitude of team members towards the project is the main characteristic of project culture. The project can be affected because of an organisational culture in four different ways (Pinto, 2010):• • Based on the manner in which project manager evaluates the project team's performance, and their way of viewing outcomes of the project. Planning of projects is also influenced by organisational culture based on the way in which allocation of resources is done for the project, and manner in which an estimation of work is conducted. • • The extent of commitment of employees towards their job roles is dependent on the culture so as to compete with the goals. Based on the manner in which each of the project department shall be interacting and supporting each other for an achievement of the overall projects' goals.
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Through the use of cooperative culture, the management actions can take place in an effective manner for all the levels of project management (Belassi et al., 2007). The policies used by an organisation may also affect the project management practices because these are the key cultural factors causing change in their approach towards the job responsibilities. However, it is important that the organisation follows singular method for their whole organisation, so that their project management takes place in a successful manner. In case this is not done, there may be the chances of conflicts causing the failure of projects, or the projects may get delayed resulting in excessive costs. So, the structure of an organisation and the culture adopted by them are the key factors for affecting the success or failure of project. The project can be successfully completed if it is run in an environment which is favourable for the project's goals and objectives. There should not be any deviation from the goals at the time of carrying out project management tasks. Therefore, the culture should be of supportive nature which does not restrict the team members from interacting with each other. Instead, the team should be motivated on a regular basis so as to share their thoughts with each other and improve their overall confidence level towards completion of the job roles as per the expectations of their project manager. Additionally, the structure of an organisation should also be adjusted as per the needs of the project. If there is a need of lots of communication amongst the team members, the structure should be given flexibility for interacting with each other on a regular basis. This can help in an overall improvement in overall performance of the project management team, leading to optimal results in the least possible time.
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References Belassi, W., Kondra, A. Z., & Tukel, O. I. (2007), New Product Development Projects: The Effects of Organizational Culture, Project Management Journal, 38(4), pp. 12-24. Brown, C. J. (2008), A comprehensive organisational model for the effective management of project management, South African Journal of Business Management, 39(3), pp. 1-10. Kerzner, H., & Saladis, F. P. (2009), What functional managers need to know about project management, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Levine, H. A. (2002), Practical project management: tips, tactics, and tools, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Moore, C. (2002), Best Practices in Workflow, Giga Information Group. Pinto, J. K. (2010), Project management: achieving competitive advantage, 2nd edn., New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Stare, A. (2011), The Impact of the Organisational Structure and Project Organisational Culture on Project Performance in Slovenian Enterprises, Management, 16(2), pp. 1-22.
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