The Implementation Process: Managing People

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The Implementation Process Managing People

• William Tibben
• SITACS
• University of Wollongong. October 2002

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Overview

• What kind of skills do we require of the manager
  during implementation?
• The art of Conflict Management
• Coping with diversity of people and situations

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Essential Question 1.(Courtesy of Commworks,
2001)

• What is the timeline for network deployment?

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Essential Question 2 - Does your budget support
the timeline?
Work package cost estimate
Gray Larson, 2000, Figure 3-8
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Essential Question 2 - Does your budget support
the timeline?
Gray Larson, 2000, Figure 3-9
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Essential Question 3 - Have you accounted for all
tasks required to deploy the network?
Gray Larson, 2000, Figure 3-3
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Gray Larson, 2000, Figure 3-3
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Essential Question 4 - Who will do the work
required to deploy the network?
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Essential Question 5 - Do you have a strong
Project Manager in place to coordinate aspects of
deployment?
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Essential Question 6 - Who will manage all of the
vendors needed for deployment?
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Scenario

• Project manager Jack was a degree qualified
  engineer who demonstrated what not to do as a
  project manager. On the surface he appeared as a
  well organised manager who provided sufficient
  amounts of documentation in terms of drawings,
  project schedules, as well as very detailed
  instructions what technicians and tradespeople
  needed to do. Despite this, one feature of
  Jacks projects were the constant complaints from
  those carrying out the tasks. It was not
  uncommon for these problems to escalate to such a
  stage where meetings had to be arranged with the
  section manager where Jack and the other party
  were unwilling to compromise. As a consequence
  his projects went over schedule and budget.

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• What was the problem?
• Who was at fault?
• What strategies could Jack have employed to avoid
  these problems?

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Implementation Plan

• Gene told you last week
• The implementation plan is the single greatest
  point of failure of many technology strategies
• A successful plan should incorporate various
  components and should be highly detailed,
  controlled and monitored

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Definition (from lecture 4)

• Implementation Planning ensures the
  compatibility of the planning and budgeting
  processes to support strategic goalsIt
  prescribes commensurate milestones, resource
  requirements, schedules and performance criteria
  at both the program and task levels (NASA, 1996)

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Implementation Planning is an Information
Intensive Process

• Implementation Planning (Gray and Larson, 2002,
  p.89)
• provides the basis of scheduling labour and
  equipment
• determines how much money is required
• becomes an instrument that melds managers and
  groups together into meeting time, cost and
  performance objectives
• answers the question how long is it going to
  take?

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Implementation Plan Documents

• The most current state of the work to be done is
  represented by the Implementation Plan
• The Documents found in prototypical
  implementation plans include
• Deliverables Document
• Work Statements
• Sign-Off Sheets
• Schedule

• Problem Log
• Test Plan
• Implementation Management Teams
• Problem Reports
• Change Log
• Change Request
• Configuration Management
• Implementation Resource Requirements

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Implementation Planning is an Information
Intensive Process

• There is a need to communicate both
• the detail
• the vision

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Back to Project Manager Jack

• Project manager Jack was a degree qualified
  engineer who demonstrated what not to do as a
  project manager. On the surface he appeared as a
  well organised manager who provided sufficient
  amounts of documentation in terms of drawings,
  project schedules, as well as very detailed
  instructions what technicians and tradespeople
  needed to do. Despite this, one feature of
  Jacks projects were the constant complaints from
  those carrying out the tasks. It was not
  uncommon for these problems to escalate to such a
  stage where meetings had to be arranged with the
  section manager where Jack and the other party
  were unwilling to compromise. As a consequence
  his projects went over schedule and budget.

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Conflict is inevitable and must be managed
correctly

• The ability to manage conflict is one of the
  most important skills a project manager must
  possess (Verma, 1996, p. 113)
• Conflict can become either
• a positive force that will propel the project to
  meetings its stated objectives or
• A degenerative process of negative interaction
  between team members that slows the project down.

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Styles of Conflict (Filleys Model)
(Verma, 1996, p123)
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Styles of Conflict Project Failure/Success
(Verma, 1996, p123)
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In search of the golden bullet

• Filleys model tells us that relationship
  maintenance is at the heart of long term success
  in project management
• On the other hand, Robbins tells us that if you
  are surrounded by yes people and the emphasis
  is too much on compromise and not on project
  goals you may need to introduce conflict.

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Conflict as a positive force

• Evidence of
• Problem solving
• Collaboration
• Compromise

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Conflict as a negative force

• Evidence of
• Disengagement
• Poor communication
• Poor coordination
• Project milestones not achieved

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Active listening you must be in a position of
  understanding all arguments
• This has the potential of sapping the emotional
  energy from the debate because people feel that
  they have had their say and have been understood.

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Look for win-win solutions
• Aim not to punish dissenters who have high
  commitment to the project. There may be room for
  both.
• Separate warring individuals/groups by
• Having separate work areas
• Assigned to different aspects of the project

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Structured conflict - build teams that have
  complementary skills

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Structured conflict promote competition between
  teams
• E.g. Weekly competition to see who accomplishes
  most milestones

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Separate individuals from the problem situation
• Eg If I had efficient staff the project would be
  finished on time! The emphasis here is on the
  person rather than the schedule slippage

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Strategies for managing conflict

• Build on strengths (allocate tasks that the
  individual is good at)
• Minimise impact of weaknesses be realistic
  about what the individual is able to achieve
• Training - develop new understanding in the
  minds of colleagues to enable them to better work
  with available information

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Leadership and Management (revisited from Lecture
5)

• Leaders focus on
• Vision
• Selling what and why
• Longer range
• People
• Democracy
• Enabling
• Developing
• Challenging
• Originating
• Innovating
• Directing
• Policy

• Managers focus on
• Objectives
• Telling how and when
• Shorter range
• Organisation structure
• Autocracy
• Restraining
• Maintaining
• Conforming
• Imitating
• Administering
• Controlling
• Procedures

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Leadership and Management contd

• Leaders focus on
• Flexibility
• Risk (opportunity)
• Top line

• Managers focus on
• Consistency
• Risk (avoidance)
• Bottom line
• (Verma, 1996, p. 223)

How does one make sensible use of such a list of
attributes?
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Is There Only One Good Leadership Style?

• Opinion is divided between two types of a
  leadership style
• concern for Task and
• concern for People
• Concern for tasks is where leaders define their
  role in terms of the goals of the organisation
• Concern for people is where leaders promoted
  mutual trust, respect and concern for the
  feelings of others.

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Is There Only One Good Leadership Style?
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Is There Only One Good Leadership Style?

• The big draw back with concentrating on style is
  that it takes no account of the situation
  managers are working in
• ie. kind of tasks,
• the competency of staff
• attitudes of staff,
• the knowledge and attitudes of the manager
  him/herself etc.

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The approach that works best for me

• In times of conflict you as the project manager
  have two choices
• 1. Change the behaviour of individuals
• 2. Change the contingent circumstances
• The emphasis is often on 1.
• While 2. may be easier and more effective.

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1. Change individual behaviour

• Training
• Counselling
• Forcing (threaten dire consequences)

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2. Change Contingent Circumstances

• leader-member relations promoting better
  informal relations with staff,
• task structure negotiate greater responsibility
  for tasks promote ownership of the project
• position power delegating decision making to
  subordinates

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Summary

• Conflict is inevitable
• The skilful manager harnesses the potential of
  conflict to promote project goals.
• The win-at-all-costs manager is likely to
  promote disengagement and poor project outcomes

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References

• Gray, Clifford F and Larson, Erik W. 2000,
  Project management the managerial process /
  Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Boston.
• NASA, 1996 NASA Strategic Management Handbook,
  NASA. Available at http//www.hq.nasa.gov/office/
  codez/strahand/implemen.htm Accessed on 12
  August 2002
• Karunaratne, Ishan 2002, Callista Implementation
  Project, Northern Territory University,
  Available from http//mindil.ntu.edu.au/ntu/apps/
  callistaimp.nsf/vwURL/ImplementationPlanning?Open
  Document Accessed on 12 August 2002
• Commworks, 2001, As you Implement Planning for
  Deployment. Commworks Available from
  http//www.commworks.com/Professional_Services/Imp
  lement/Planning_Deployment/ Accessed on 12 August
  2002.
• GCRHCorporation 2002, Implementation Planning
  When its Got to be Appropriate, Now,
  GCRHCorporation, Midland Michigan. Available from
  http//www.rightanswer.com/english/plan.html
  Access on 12 August 2002.