The people in the project

Terese Stenfors-Hayes

Agenda and objectives

• Agenda: Creating and managing a project team.– Conflict management, motivation, group

dynamics and some leadership theories• Objective: Basic understanding of theories

for the topics above.

Project manager vs. functional/traditional manager

• Limited time• Only one objective• Given competencies

within the group• Greater risks• Rapid changes• Greater risk of failure• No formal staff

responsibility

• Several objectives to prioritise between

• Staff needs competence development

• Greater distance to employees

• Greater formal power• Needs to obey the rules

and regulations of the organisation

The manager’s different roles (Mintzberg)

• Interpersonal– Team leader, ambassador and ceremonial leader

• Informative– Listener, information giver and spokes person

• Decision making– Visionary, problem solver, resurce allocator

and negotiator

Leadership• The team paradox• Great person theory

– Something you are born with• Great opportunity theory

– Something you can learn• Ask what the leader does instead of who he is• The more complex a project, the more formal the style

of management should be• The more technically uncertain a project, the more

flexible the style of management should be

Leadership styles (Lewin & Lippit)

• Authoritative• Democratic• Laissez-faire

Assumptions about humans (Schein)

• Rational-economic assumptions– Related to theory X (McGregor)

• Social assumptions• Self-actualisation assumptions

– Maslow, theory Y (McGregor)• The complicated human

Power (French & Raven)

• Legitimate• Reward• Coercive• Expert• Referent

How to create a team

Four important aspects• Task• People• Context• Process

Task

• What type of task is it?– Tactical– Problem solving– Creative

• Autonomy?• Subjective or objective solution?• Task design for individuals

People

• Number?• Competency?

– Technical– Communicative– Problem solving

• Roles?• Diversity?• Status system?• Norms?• Unity?• Cohesiveness?• Trust?

Context

• Resurces• Leadership and structure• Feedback and rewards

Process

• Aim• Objective• Confidence• Conflict management• Responsibility• Communication• Openness

Why work in groups? (Schein)

• Affiliation needs• Sense of identity and maintaining our self-

esteem• Establishing and testing social reality• Reducing insecurity, anxiety and sense of

powerlessness• Problem-solving, task-accomplishing

mechanism

Why is it so difficult?

• The work is so temporary • Everyone is used to his/her ways  • Geographical diversity • Size • Cultural diversity • Lack of time

Group development

• Forming• Storming• Norming• Performing• Adjourning

Characteristics of effective work groups (Mullins 2002)

• A belief in shared aims and objectives• A sense of commitment to the group• Acceptance of group values and norms• A feeling of mutual trust and dependency• Full participation by all members and decision making by

consensus• Free flow of information and communications• The open expression of feelings and disagreements• The resolution of conflict by the members themselves• A lower level of staff turnover, absenteeism, accidents, errors

and complaints

Belbin’s 9 team roles

• Specialist• Monitor/evaluator• Plant • Teamworker• Completer/finisher• Shaper• Coordinator• Implementer• Resource investigator

Social Loafing

• Ways to avoid it:– Individual results– Fun jobs– Reward and evaluate individuals– Participation in goal creation– Etc…

• …is only a problem when intrinsic motivation is low

Groupthink (Janis 1972)• The group feels invulnerable• Warnings are rationalised away• Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality• Opposers are ridiculed and stereotyped• Group pressure on opposers is high• Silence is taken as consent (a false sense of group

unanimity)• Members censor themselves not to deviate from norms• The group is protected from information or individuals

who would disrupt consensus

Why do we argue (Lee)?

• Communication problems• Structural design• Personal differences

Types of conflics

• Relationship conflicts• Task conflicts• Process conflicts• Conflicts can change from one type to

another. • And in most cases the conflict is

unnecessary

Dealing with conflicts

• Five ways:– Accomodation– Confrontation– Compromise– Collaboration– Avoiding

Avoiding or changing conflicts

• Strengthen the group identity• Acknowledge individual achievements• Good environment and surroundings• Identify a common goal• Practice conflict management• Separate people, tasks and other issues

Why is motivation important?

• To increase employee’s interest in taking an active responsiblity for work tasks and stated goals

• To decrease the number of conflicts, complaints, absence and staff turnover

• To increase ability to handle change and misfortune

• To increase chances to meet business objectives and improve results

Kill motivation• Unfair treatment• Little participation• Unrealistic goals• Faulty expectations• Unclear work tasks, rules and goals• Lack of challenges• Bureaucracy• Lack of trust for management• Scandals and doubtful ethics• Too much control and supervision• Internal politics

• Too much or too little to do• Favouring• Uncertainty for the future• Broken promises• Threats• Weak connection between reward

and achievement• Failing communication• Limited responsibilities• No feeling of control

Creating motivation• The daily work

• Leadership

• Personal development

• Social relations

• Status and image

• Respect and recognition

• Support for own ideas and initiatives

• ”Speed” of work

• Salary and benefits

• New things happening at the workplace

A motivating manager… (Insight Lab AB 2003)

• Self insight and a clear idea• Interest in other people• Active leadership• Clear delegation• Social relations and feeling of togetherness• Support employee’s personal development• Have a vision and be continuously improving

Hackman and Oldman’s work design model

How is it implemented?

• Combine tasks• Publish results• Let people work in teams• Empower• Open feedback channels

Goals•Goals are a motivating force

• Specific goals lead to increased performance

• Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher output than easy goals

• Participation in setting the goals might motivate further

• Set goals only, not the route to achieve it

•Private and organisational goals might collide•Goals should be:

–Few–Realistic–Agreed–Measured–Explicit

–Specific, time restricted, not relative, positive•Goals need to be part of a vision•MBO is a motivational program based on goal setting

Employee recognition• Using different ways to reward behaviour and publicly recognize both

individual and group accomplishment• Can be almost anything…

– A note…– A picture…– A thank you…

• Rewarding behavior with recognition immediately leads to its repetitionrepetition

• To maximize motivation potential, publicly communicatepublicly communicate who and why is being recognized

• Recognizing employee’s superior performance often costs littlecosts little

Employee involvement• A participative process to encourage increased

commitment to the organization's success• Involve workers in decisions decisions that will affect them • Increase their autonomyautonomy and control over their work lives • Include techniquestechniques with a common core:

– Employee participation– Participative management– Workplace democracy– Empowerment– Employee ownership

Reward programmes

• Based on what an individual values• Timely and clearly linked to a behaviour

– –always or sometimes• Who, why should be publicly and clearly

stated

Always evaluate!

• Learn for next time, both from mistakes and successes!– Evaluate the group– Conflict Management– How motivational strategies worked– The work task– The work process– Communication– Etc.

Recommended reading

• Essentials of Organizational Behavior– Stephen Robbins