Project Team Building

Team is small no of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable Team building is one of the prime responsibilities of the project manager. Team building involves a whole idea of management skills required to identify, commit and integrate to various tasks group To make the team effective it must have a # REASON AND CHARTER from the larger system # INTER-DEPENDENCE, members need each others skills and knowledge to support the project # WORKING TOGETHER will lead to more effective decisions than working alone # TEAM creates measurable accountability to a larger or main system. TEAM building process consists of following as a monitoring part - IT develops a role for understanding and clarity on the part of members - IT must define and refine the very purpose of the team - PROPER communication for enhancing the efficiency of effectiveness of team - GROUP members need emotional and resource (material) based support - PERSONALITY of team must be known by processes and dynamism of team - PROBLEM solving strategies must be clarified at all levels - CONFLICT must be used more as opportunity for creativity than for destruction - ABILITY to work with other group in collaborative way is must - TEAM must develop a sense of self-consciousness and group-consciousness TEAM must be built on following solid foundation THE team must share the LEADERSHIP ROLE IT must carry individual and mutual accountability THE team is formed for specific purpose and ensure it delivers THE team works collectively and encourages open ended discussion PERFORMANCE measurement must be on collective (Team) basis REAL team is one that discusses, decides, and delivers To make the team effective, involvement of all concern must be integrated properly by effective and understandable communication. The team must aim at professional growth of team members, who develop sense of commitment to the project

At the end we can say that team building and development has five stages like- Forming / Storming / Norming / Performing / Adjourning Different types of groups cover - Membership group / Reference group / In-group and Out-group / Friendship group and Informal group Team structure shall shape the behaviour of the employees like leader, role, norms, group status, size etc Team exists in organization mainly to share information so as to enable the members to perform his role within pre designated area of responsibility. Effectiveness of team depends on variables like work design, composition of team, context of team etc.

ACQUIRING A PROJECT TEAM

Means getting the required people (right man, right time, right cost) for the particular project. Invariably top corporate decides about acquisition of project and a specific team for that project. In fact a specific project management team must carry out the work of selecting a specific team. There are several considerations needed to be looked in to get team and how to get it. Three points need to be considered before hand by the team leader before acquiring a project team. 1)He must be able to communicate effectively.
2)

He has an honest interest in growth and development of team and its members

3)He must be committed to the project

When project manager identifies a team, he need to ensure that - Members of the team are available from within

- Who is available and when?

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What competencies are needed and are these possessed by the prospective team members?

- Work experience on similar project or better type or quality of project - Interest of an individual member to work on such project particularly the type of project you have in mind
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Cost shall be the important factor as to whether the project can afford in hiring the specific person for a short period or may be hired on deputation from other organization

ON SELECTION of a team it is necessary to ensure that the selected person is in line with org. processes, policies, practices and he becomes a part of normal working/guidelines for the team ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES This shall indicate the different skills / levels of authorities / competency required for a specific project. This also invites a constant review of responsibilities, which are subject to change from time to time/ project to project CHART- Org. chart provide information on whos who in org. in hierarchical form. It indicates a integration of people and also indicates as how many people are required to handle the particular project. Reporting line indicates the various authorities and power centers with their responsibilities in org structure. It also indicates relationships between two centres in team/org. WORK Staffing requirement is a scheduled activity. This indicates the acquiring and release of staff for particular project ,

including the relocation of staff. For successful completion of project it is a must to get best team. By getting a right team the manager shall have the full opportunity in his pocket to see his project is moving towards success. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Pre-assignment is to know in advance the extent to which the people in org to do the job and who would do it better. NEGOTIATIONS Indicate getting the right people for right jobs in org. You need to detail out about such employees with their expectations and aspirations. The terms and conditions of their employment must be discussed and communicated in advance to give opportunity to the person to decide suitably about his availability for that project/org. SPECIALISTS At certain times working org may not have all required people at that time and therefore may need a help of specialists or experts on the job. Such people may be hired for a short term on attractive terms mutually agreeable.

DEVELOPING A PROJECT TEAM

While developing a team you must know as what team has to do? In short it must be a focused idea as to what is to be done? The leader or team boss must identify some focused task where involvement of each member is possible and is contributing. It could be for the purpose of meetings/ identifying problems, scheduling, tracking, review meeting etc. The team head must be in a position to clearly define each ones expectations and contributions in respect of problems on project in measurable terms and levels where one can understand his assessment in terms of

- Reliability - Dependability - Helpfulness - Cooperation - Knowledge sharing - Learn to make every person a project manager where he understands in clarifying his responsibilities - One starts working on his mission the task - Regularly discuss the problems and ask their suggestions, share your experiences, opinion, with them to develop a team

PROJECT ASSIGNMENTS This indicates the answering of following questions in detail. 1. whos who? 2. who is doing what? 3. whether any improvement is needed and possible in the project work ? 4. Whether expectations from the project are likely to be fulfilled?

STAFFING PLANS indicates 1. Meeting with the human resources requirement of the project at right time, at cost, at place and opportunity

for every member of a team at appropriate level to get fantastic results 2. Learn useful and novel ways of selecting developing right team 3. Focus an specialty team members who are scarce commodity 4. Discover future professionals for organization

RESOURCES AVAILABILITY These are needed to be identified before- hand when the team can take on with any situation TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Team structure shall shape the behavior of the employee like a leader, specific role etc. Team exists in org mainly to share information so as to enable the members to perform their respective roles with pre designated area of responsibility. Effectiveness of a team depends on variables like work design, composition of a team, context of a team. Tools and techniques also covers the following 1. Developing soft skills for the members 2. Continuous training and building activities 3. Expectations, in terms of behavior and work must be clarified 4. Preferable focusing at one workplace at a time to improve the cohesiveness in a team 5. Establish empathy, encourage openness and restate concerns about the project from time to time

OUTPUT of a team is indicative of preferred / desired performance 1. The goal must be set in clear terms for better understanding 2. Creating positive climate in team working 3. Improving the interpersonal relationship among the members
Case Incident : It takes much more to be a team leader Arun joins ZAPTO chain of casual wear stores as sales representative, immediately after the completion of graduation and a diploma in sales management. The firm was very happy with his extremely good performance. Arun was awarded the Star Performer Prize for his continuous display of the highest sales volume record for 12 consecutive months. The General Manager of ZAPTO chain of stores, Rajkumar was informed by his Marketing Manager Madhuraj, that Arun was a very aggressive and dynamic sales representative having a strong target commitment and orientation. Within a span of two years, based on his good performance appraisal, Arun was promoted to the position of Assistant Marketing Manager. Under his new assignment, Arun had 8 sales representatives reporting to him and also to ensure that the sales target of his shop was met. Arun took to his new promoted assignments with the same zeal and enthusiasm. Arun now set the targets to be met by his team members for the first month and communicated the same, clearly indicating that all the team members have to meet the target without fail. The eight team members (sales representatives) felt that the targets set was too ambitious but declined to comment on it directly. After the meeting, during the informal chat all the team members discussed the matter amongst themselves and then dispersed. Arun called for a review meeting at the end of a fortnight to take stock of the situation and was shocked and disappointed to learn that all the representatives were well behind the target set for them. Arun could not control his disappointment and openly and bluntly condemned them for not reaching the target. He once again reiterated that he expected all his team members to achieve their targets by the end of the month. After the meeting, the team members amongst themselves admitted that they found Arun to be a difficult person with an unapproachable mind set. However, they also decided to give in their best efforts to achieve the targets assigned to them. But even with their sustained efforts they could achieve only 70% of the target set by Arun, by the end of the month. At the end of the month, when Arun reviewed the sales statements of his team, he was disappointed though slightly happy with the marginal improved efforts of his team. However, in the meeting instead of praising and encouraging his teams efforts, Arun communicated his displeasure and once again was emphatic and told his team that lack of commitment from them was stopping them from attaining their target, so they had to try hard once again. This outburst was not liked by his team. And in the next month end

briefing, Arun was greeted with well below the target set. Arun now openly rebuked his sales representatives team, for their slow performance and refused to accept that he had set too high targets for his team, Ultimately, the team members met their Marketing Manager Madhuraj and conveyed everything to him. Madhuraj was shocked but promised to talk to Arun. Questions for discussion: 1. In the above case what are the specific variables affecting the teams effectiveness and performance? 2. Do you feel Madhuraj should modify team members roles before talking to Arun? 3. Can you suggest ways by which Arun can be made a good team leader? CONFLICT MANAGEMENT Conflict can be defined as a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party Mostly conflict is perceived phenomenon, if one thinks is on then may be it is on and if one thinks it is not then it is not. From organizational point it is an interaction among the people due to behavioural expectations of differences of opinions, views etc. $ Conflict is in the form of disagreement or collision $ Conflict is considered as traditional and is avoidable. In current view it inevitable is a part of day to day working Sometimes conflicts in organization are desired as it as it may help the team to achieve its goal or even motivate the employees. It is called as functional conflict. On the other hand Some conflicts hinder the performance of a team/s may become a block in organization working. Such conflict is known a dysfunctional conflict. Varieties of conflict Good conflict results out of incompatibility of some people in the team Cognitive conflict is a conflict between the ideas of different individuals Affectionate conflict takes place when there is a conflict in ideas and thoughts Procedural conflicts arises when there is individual differences over the of processes in resolving various issues Attitudes towards conflict Positive attitude indicates stimulation to problem solving attitude Negative attitude normally indicates psychological aspects of human attitude. Balanced attitude is indicative of giving due consideration of positive and negative attitude LEVELS OF CONFLICT - Intra personal means within the person

Inter personal means between two persons Intra group means within the group itself Inter group means between two groups CONFLICT RESOLUTION For resolving the conflict following steps may be taken 1. Development of company wide conflict resolution policy and procedure 2. Use of hierarchical referral 3. Requirement of direct approach to the problrm THE MANAGEMENT OF CONFLICT CAN BE HANDLED BY 1. Styding the problem and collecting all available information 2. Developing situational approach or methodology 3. Setting the appropriate atmosphere or climate TEAM HAS TO UNDERSTAND THAT CONFLICT MINIMIZATION PROCEDURE BE FOLLOWED - Pausing and thinking before reacting - Building trust in project team - Trying to understand the motives under the conflict - Keeping the meeting under control - Listening to all involved - Maintaining give and take attitude - Willing to accept when you are wrongs Conflict Case Incident : Can Giri Cause? Giridhar had come a long way from when he joined R.P. Communications ( having a turnover of Rs. 20 lakhs) as atrainee artist in 1995 and today he had come to occupy the position of Creative Head at R.P. Communications (with turnover of Ra. 15 crores). As a young trainee (in 1995), Giri (as Giridhar is addressed by his colleagues) has been an amicable personality, he had always displayed keenness to gain knowledge learn more, many visible traits of creativity in the sense try to make unique/different from others presentations, willing to share information and so on. It was typically these qualities of Giri which made him approachable to others and appreciated by one and all, and also saw him rising in the organization structure. Nicky Tanwar, the Creative Director at R.P. Communications, who had known Giri right from the time he had joined R.P. Communications as trainee, was surprised and recalling the contents of the just concluded meeting with the members of the creative team at R.P. Communications. Meena ( a recent recruit at R.P. Communications) had said, Madam, Giri Sir, scares the hell out of us by refusing to listen to our point of view. Raj an executive at R.P. Communications had revealed Madam, Giri withholds important

information from us, and creates conflict when he has to interact with other teams at R.P. Mohan, a senior creative manager at R.P. had said Giri, seems to have changed, he seems to prefer to adopt a forcing style, like a controller, and expects all the assignments to be completed before time, and doesnt entertain any questions/or queries from any of the creative team members. Nicky found it hard to believe that a likeable person such as Giri could cause conflict. Nicky had promised the creative team to look into the matter and have a talk with Giri also. After an informal chat with Giri, Nicky felt that one of the causes of Giris behaviour could be Role Ambiguity. This she had concluded from one statement made by Giri You know Nicky, my team is good, however, they expect me to behave as I was before. I am trying my best to convince them that in my new role I am expected to perform even better than before. Nicky decided to seek the help of the CEO of Learn and Grow Leadership centre, a Training firm, who regularly holds workshops meant for helping professionals and executives of firms to diagnose their own behaviour patterns as well on how to manage stress that could cause various levels of conflicts for the individual as well as the organization. Questions for discussion: 1. What do you think is the major cause of the problems in the above case? 2. Do you agree with Nicky that Role Ambiguity may have caused a change in Giris behaviour? Why? 3. Can you suggest ways in which firms such as R.P. Communications can avoid such occurrences in future

SOFT SKILLS DISCUSSION 1. COMMUNICATION 2. LEADERSHIP

1. COMMUNICATION Communication is the sum of all the things one does to create understanding in the mind of others. It involves a systematic and continuous process of writing, telling, listening and understanding. Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons. VARIOUS TYPES OF COMMUNICATION A) On the basis of organizational structure

$ Formal communication normal channels of exchanging info $ Informal communication practical way of info exchange B) On the basis of direction of communication $ Downward communication Superior to subordinate ( instructions) $ Upward communication Subordinate to superior ( Info sharing / reporting ) $ Horizontal communication Dept to dept mostly at equal levels C) On the basis of way of expression $ Verbal communication Usage of language $ Non-verbal communication Body language (body and facial expresions ) $ Written communication Normal / official way of info sharing # Communication helps in controlling the behaviour of the employee # It fosters motivation # It helps in releasing emotional strains, may be on employees # It helps the individual in decision making if communication is proper Communication is a very important process in every aspect of life. It is all the more important in management, as it covers two groups at a time. Firstly it is individual ability to cover his personality, clear thinking, and skill in expression. On the other hand it is whole system of organizational communication through verbal, written and group systems and so on. Both activities are vast, covers whole human system and are interrelated. COMMUNICATION to be effective must be based on following - Clarity in conveying idea - Communication must be purposive and goal oriented - Be emphatic while communicating - Appropriate language and flow or continuity of communication

Oh! How to help Jyothi to solve the problem? Jyothi Gupta is a senior Vice President at a Medical Equipment Manufacturing firm based in New Delhi. She had come up to occupy the senior position in such a big firm due to determination, urge to learn and grow, and total commitment to any job assigned to her. She had valued all such qualities and without any gender bias would encourage all with such skills to work hard and give their best to the organization. Molly Mathews was one such sales manager who had proved her ability in successfully solving all the challenging assignments given to her. It was this ability and attitude which made the organization send Molly to Korea to bag a deal as a strategic partner with a Korean distributor, Huzen. Just before lunch, Jyothis personal secretary brought her a fax from one of the companys Korean distributors where the latter was asking why was the company not considering him as a strategic partner and sending a woman to work out the agreement? Jyothi recalled her meeting with the president, Manohar Pandit when the latter had suggested sending Molly to Korea to sign the deal. Manohar had emphasized that Korean placed a lot of importance on personal connections and business people spent a lot of time in maintaining such harmonious relationship. When Jyothi had expressed fears about sending a woman (Molly) because of their (Koreans) value system which teaches that women have to obey the male members of the society and must occupy only lower job status than their male counterparts, Manohar had brushed aside her inhibitions by saying that now with so many companies such as LG, Hyundai, Samsung etc., setting up base in India, they must have seen Indians (both males and females) matching and working neck to neck in all business activities and transactions. Thus they must be more receptive to accept business talks from such an able and qualified person as Molly. Towards the evening, Jyothi received a e-mail from Molly which read These Korean people just dont listen when I talk. They feel everything is fine as things are functioning as it should and object to any suggestion made by me. I feel they are just not willing to communicate with me. What should I do? Can you help me? Molly. Since Manohar had gone to attend an international conference, Jyothi had to take a decision whether to recall Molly and send another man to represent the company? Or Follow the companys policy of letting the most efficient employee (here Molly) to persist and work out an agreement with the Korean distributor. Questions for discussion 1. Do you feel Molly has a communication problem or is it a cross cultural communication barrier? Explain with reasons. 2. Can you suggest ways in which Jyothi can solve this problem? 3. How would you help Molly to streamline her communication process, if she were asked to continue to try and strike a deal?

2. LEADERSHIP 1. A leader is referred to as one who reflects the key attributes of leadership such as ideas, vision, values, influence and inspires, along with the ability to take tough decisions. 2. The behaviour theories try to arrive at conclusive evidence regarding the impact of behaviour on leadership. The theories work on the underlying premise that it is possible to train people to be effective leaders if one knows which behaviour is desired to be a successful leader. 3. Trait theories help and attempt at identifying some key traits which are responsible in the development of effective leaders. The traits like, to be charismatic, enthusiastic, courageous, ambitious etc are covered in this. 4 Contingency Theories attempt at studying situational factors influencing leadership. 5 Neo Charismatic Theories (Models), namely the Charismatic leadership model and Transactional leadership model emphasizes on symbolism, emotional appeal with extra ordinary follower commitment. 6 Transformational Leadership involves anticipating future trends, inspiring followers to understand and adopt a new vision of possibilities and moulding followers to be better leaders and build up the organization. 7 There are many leadership styles like authoritarian style, democratic style, coercive style, pace-setting style, affiliative and coaching styles. These styles can be said to be typical approaches adopted by the leader to lead people. 8 The current issues encompassing leadership are emotional intelligence

comprises of self awareness, self management, self motivation, empathy and social skills Case : Incident : Manish, why dont you modify your leadership style? Manish, a young man with a M. Sc. Degree in Chemistry was happy to join as a Chemist in the R & D department of a leading pharmaceutical firm. Although Manish had only been a above average student, his interest in Chemistry had made him a superb technical expert. This technical knowledge made him a star performer very early in his career. His personality also made him approachable, whenever anyone in the firm needed help. Seeing his ability and knowledge, the management of his firm decided to promote him as the chief chemist. Manish was happy with his new job and went about performing the job with his usual enthusiasm. Being happy with Manishs continued performance, the management now promoted him as the Head of the team evolved in developing a new product within a stipulated time. The other team members were also research scholars and equally competent and self motivated as Manish. So as a project leader, Manish tried to project himself as a model on how to do first-class scientific work, give ones best and also be able to complete the work under tremendous deadline pressure. Accordingly, Manish completed the said assignment even before the scheduled time. The management of Manishs firm felt that he could easily be groomed to be a leader as he not only sets extremely high performance standards for himself but also exemplifies them. S a new assignment was handed over to Manish. He was put in charge of R& D for his entire division. Manish was happy with his new job and displayed a keenness to do things better and taster and also expected the same of everyone around him. In his new role and as his tasks expanded, Manish realized he had to create a vision for his team, work out strategies to coordinate projects, delegate authority and groom his subordinates. All these tasks started telling on Manishs performance and he began to slip. He was quick to identify poor performers and demand more from them. When they failed to rise to the occasions, Manish started distrusting his subordinates to be as capable as himself. He started becoming almost a micro manager obsessed with details and taking over from others when their performance was dissatisfactory. Instead of becoming a true leader and adopting a coaching style and trying to counsel subordinates so as to enable them to improve with guidance and development. Manish started stretching himself and working nights and weekends so as to cover up other employees lapses. All these started affecting Manishs mental and physical health. Manishs

subordinates also started feeling that Manish didnt trust them to work in their own way and all their initial initiative and enthusiasm started evaporating. Since Manish rarely gave any feedback to hem. They started feeling the task was too focused, routine and proving. Finally they all decided to meet the Human Resource leader and put forward their case to him. Questions: 1. Do you feel that the pace setting leadership style adopted by Manish was wrong? And why? 2. What remedy do you suggest to stop Manish from faltering and motivate subordinates?