23 Jan Team development plan in the form of a minimum two-page document. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, inc

Instructions

Part 6: Team Development Plan

For the project selected in Unit I, create a simple project team development plan. Your plan should follow the process for developing and managing a team, as referred to in Figures 6.1 and 6.2 in the textbook. Your plan should include an introduction and should answer the following questions:

1. What human resource tools will you draw upon in the overall development and management of the project team?

2. What approach will you take to kick off the project team?

3. What ground rules will you establish for team meetings and interaction?

4. What specific ways will you demonstrate emotional intelligence in the development of the project team?

5. What methods will you employ to resolve conflict throughout the stages of team development?

6. What will be the conflict sources within the team development process?

7. How will you set and measure goals and reward achievement?

Compile the team development plan that addresses the questions above. Feel free to use a table to summarize your policy and approach. (As one example, refer to Table 6.2 in the textbook).

Submit your team development plan in the form of a minimum two-page document. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, including in-text citations and references for all sources that are used. Please note that no abstract is needed.

.

Note: In Unit VIII of this course, you will include a summary of your team development plan as part of a PowerPoint presentation.

Figure 6

The scope of developing project human resources includes the following key activities:

• Improving project team skills and competencies

By comparing the wanted (target) skills and competencies with current (baseline) skills and competencies

By offering training and development opportunities to fill the skills and competencies gaps

• Improving interaction among project team members

By creating a culture based on trust, respect, and collaboration

By offering team-building opportunities

• Improving project team environment

By creating a project environment that is conducive for diverse teams to work together amicably

• Motivating project team members

By providing challenges and opportunities, providing coaching and feedback in a timely manner

By recognizing and rewarding the good behavior.

Timing

Started early in the project life cycle, the project team development process is performed throughout the project life cycle for ongoing improvements in the team performance and also for quicker onboarding of the new team members.

Mechanism

The following sections explain how to develop project human resources.

How to Develop Project Human Resources

The project human resource acquisition process contains the following key steps:

1. Review project staff assignments.

2. Review human resource management plan.

3. Determine resource availability.

4. Utilize project human resource management tools.

5. Conduct team performance assessments.

6. Update project environment information.

Figure 6.1 illustrates the overall flow of the project human resources development process. The arrows on the lines show the direction of the information flow.

Figure 6.1 Project Human Resources Development Process Flow

Review Project Staff Assignments

For a project manager to conduct the project human resource development process, the information on all human resources on the project and their assignments to various roles must be reviewed. Project Staff Assignments documents (project team directory, team memos, project organization charts, and project schedules) provide this information to the project manager.

Review Human Resource Management Plan

Described in  Chapter 2 , “ Planning Human Resource Management ,” the  human resource management plan  provides the guidance for all human resource management processes. This plan discusses how the project human resources should be identified, acquired, trained, managed, and released. It includes project roles and responsibilities, organization charts, staffing management plan, and project team development plans and strategies. It may also include information on performance baseline, performance feedback, rewards and recognition, bonus, disciplinary actions, conflict of interest, standards of business conduct, information security, overtime, flex time, telecommuting, and so on.

Determine Resource Availability

A project team usually includes diverse team members who may differ in their working hours, time zones, vacation days, local holidays, and involvement in other projects. The project manager must determine the availability of the project team members for them to take part in various team development activities.  Resource calendars  contain this information and depict the availability of individual team members.

Utilize Project Human Resource Management Tools

A project manager can use a variety of tools to develop project human resources. Some key tools are described in the following sections.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills  are sometimes also called soft skills. These skills include  emotional intelligence  (EI), communication skills, negotiation skills, motivational skills, facilitation skills, team building, and conflict resolution. These skills help a lot during the team development activities by fostering mutual understanding, tolerance, and influence. For instance, EI enables a project manager to identify, assess, and control the emotions of the team members by engaging in active listening with them, anticipating their actions and reactions, and understanding as well as addressing their concerns.

Emotional Intelligence

The project managers must not only possess traditional work management and administrative skills to be successful but they also possess strong leadership qualities such as emotional intelligence, toughness, determination, and vision for sustainable success. High degree of emotional intelligence, which includes self-awareness, 

, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill, truly sets a project manager apart as an effective leader.  Table 6.1  depicts the definitions of these five components of EI and the results of possessing them.

Table 6.1: The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Most large organizations today realize the significance of competencies demonstrating emotional intelligence, such as the ability to work with others and effectiveness in leading change, and they consider these competencies in identifying, training, and promoting the worthy individuals in the leadership arena.

Note: The Power of Brainstorming: Optimize Through Motivation

In his article published in the November 2010 issue of PM Network, “Creative force: Tired of blank stares and shrugs during brainstorming sessions? Here is how to get your team thinking like the true visionaries they are,” Chauncey Hollingsworth discusses how project managers can utilize brainstorming effectively to enable the team members to generate a wealth of ideas that can help them, the project managers, realize cost, time, and quality efficiencies. Here are some tips provided by Chauncey Hollingsworth:

1. Encourage all team members to talk a lot, think freely, and start putting their ideas in form of visual artwork and prints on the wall for other team members to see.

2. Inspire team members to think out-the-box and appreciate that thinking even if the idea generated and provided by that thinking is not used.

3. Kick start creativity by:

a. Having an open mind

b. Listening actively

c. Appreciating inquisitiveness

d. Acknowledging and recognizing when a creative thought is offered

4. Provide quick resolution to conflicts to provide sustainable nonhostile environment, which is pre-requisite for free creative thinking.

Coaching and Training

Generally, training is required when a project team member does not possess the skills and expertise to perform certain type of job responsibilities. However, the need for training can arise from multiple other reasons, such as to improve the competencies of the project team members to perform better in the existing job or to learn about new product, process, or equipment, to prepare project team members for promotional opportunities, or just to enhance the credibility of the organization to secure more business. The training can be formal or informal and can either be provided by an internal or an external provider. Formal or scheduled training programs are developed and managed by the human resources department, whereas informal or unplanned training usually occurs as a result of skill gaps observed during the performance evaluation of the project team members. The funding for training can come either from the individual project budget or from the performing organization’s budget, but it usually comes from the project budget for a projectized organization and from the organization’s budget for a matrix or functional organization. Various training methods include but are not limited to instructor-led classroom training, instructor-led online virtual training, computer-based training (CBT), and on-the-job training (OJT) provided by peers, mentors, or internal subject matter experts. Most large organizations both in the private and public sector, such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, IBM, Google, state and federal government agencies, and so on, provide free access to online learning resources, such as Books24x7 to their employees for continuous ongoing competency enhancement and for keeping their skills up to date.

Team-Building Activities

Team-buildings activities are instrumental in enhancing the team cohesiveness, improving working relationships, and building trust among the team members. These activities are even more important now than ever before due to the global nature of many projects involving remote team members.

Technology advancements have enabled the virtual work environments in which the project team members do not necessarily need to be co-located. Nonetheless, the importance of some level of face-to-face interaction among the team members cannot be discounted. Humans tend to work better with the people whom they have face-to-face interactions with. Arranging face-to-face interactions periodically through  team-building activities  can do wonders in enhancing the working relationships among the team members and hence improve their productivity and satisfaction.

Various methods to conduct team-building activities include but are not limited to dedicating some periodic team meetings for this purpose, engaging in some fun activities at a scheduled offsite together (for example, luncheons, golf, movies, and picnics), arranging team appreciation events, and so on. If not more, at least one session of team-building activities at the time of the project kick-off is highly recommended to establish some rapport among the team members.

Because of the dynamic nature of the project life, some existing team members may leave the project due to various reasons, and some new members may join the project team anytime until the project is finished. Thus, it is essential that the team-building activities are commenced during the early stages of the project and are conducted periodically throughout the project life cycle on an ongoing basis to assimilate the new team members.

Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, proposed a team development model that is one of the most commonly used models for team development. It includes five stages of the team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning:

• Forming: The project team members learn about the project and they learn about their roles and responsibilities.

• Storming: The team starts the project work, but there may be some conflicts and misunderstandings among the team members.

• Norming: The dust of conflicts and misunderstandings settles, and the team members normalize or adjust their work habits or behaviors to achieve mutual trust and effective working relationships. The project manager exhibits more leadership role during this phase.

• Performing: This is the phase in which the team is performing at an optimal level by resolving the issues, if any, smoothly and effectively. The project manager’s role in this phase is more of delegating, monitoring, and controlling.

• Adjourning: The project work is completed, the project is closed, and the team is released. At this point, the team members either go on to work on other projects or they go back to their individual functional departments.

Tips for Effective Team Building

The following are some tips for building teamwork effectively:

• Do not over-direct and smother the team; the same goes for too much freedom.

• Establish common ground rules and code of conduct.

• Define and communicate the project vision, goals, and objectives clearly.

• Define roles and responsibilities clearly.

• Establish accountability by empowering the team.

• Arrange training as appropriate.

• Provide continuous mentoring and coaching.

• Resolve conflicts and under-performance issues in a timely manner.

• Promote and reward team efforts.