Project management: Managing the team

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Project management Managing the team I. About
teamwork The context of web-based project
management Groups and teams II.
Managing teams The managers
responsibilities The importance of
communication III. Leadership and project
management Being a leader
Managing for effectiveness
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Project management Managing the team I. The
context Where is the web going? Emergent
technologies and changing audiences Internet
access continues to increase There is increasing
demand for new web services Information,
entertainment, government services, commerce,
education There is a move towards increased
accessibility People are accessing the web with a
wide range of digital devices
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Web as information store It is a central
repository for important information Postal
services, digital libraries, government
services The interface must be simple and easy
to use Will require extensive and intuitive
searching People have to be able to find what
they want when searching large and complex
databases Web as interactive TV Broadband allows
richer media It can be accessed from televisions
and kiosks This will require designing for a
different type of interface
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The portable web Accessing the web with small
devices Cell phones, PDAs, wrist
devices Designing smaller interfaces Developing
minimalist and meaningful content Without
graphics (for the near term) The rise of
multimedia Designing 3D spaces, sound design,
animators, web- video development Increasing
importance of security This will be a specialist
position
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Groups and teams A group is an expression of
the needs and aspirations of the people who
constitute them A team is a group with three
additional characteristics They are formed by
management directive Members are responsible for
outcomes and operations They typically exist in
an supportive work contexts The organization
emphasizes the mutuality of interests between
employers and employees Team members can
influence work related decisions There is open
information and two way communication about
organizational policies and practices
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Project management Managing the team I. About
teamwork The context of web-based project
management Groups and teams II.
Managing teams The managers
responsibilities The importance of
communication III. Leadership and project
management Being a leader
Managing for effectiveness
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The managers responsibilities Keeping the team
together Staying current Introduce new
technologies into the group Give them the
opportunity to keep their skills sharp This
assumes that you are conversant with web
technologies and know how to evaluate them Send
team members to conferences Encourage them to
participate Its good for them and good for
business Encourage them to join user groups and
take classes They can become part of a local
community
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Help the team develop its skill sets HTML coding
is going away Static pages are for
babies Coders will have to learn how to create
dynamic pages This will involve learning
scripting languages Programmers will spend more
time working with servers, DBs, linking them to
dynamic web sites Application development,
server-side programming, CGI development Increasi
ng demands on creative team members As web site
users become more sophisticated, creatives will
have to develop more compelling user experiences
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Monitoring the team Detecting weaknesses among
the group This is a form of risk assessment How
strong and cohesive is your team? Does the team
miss deadlines? Are they over budget? How is
the quality of the work? Who is the weakest
link? Study the record Look at time sheets,
read project reports and talk to team members
regularly
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The importance of communication Information
exchange among team members is critical to team
success It develops over time and requires
learning and practice Poor communication People
from different disciplines do not have a
common language Lack of mutual understanding
of a common set of terms Ex What is
quality assurance and how can it be
measured? Personality differences
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Conflicting and hidden agendas The
expert Ineffective meetings Running a good
meeting is important Lack of proximity It is
possible to run virtual teams, but face to face
meetings are still important Members tacit
assumptions about the work and each
other Because these are not shared, people may
be working at cross purposes Poor infrastructure
and support If the ICT is not transparent,
communication will suffer
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How to evaluate team communication Can you
describe the communication flows? Can you
describe the underlying ICTs? Can members easily
handle the files they sent each other? Does every
team member know how to get in touch with every
other member? Are there lots of undocumented nd
ad hoc meetings? Who is getting together? Does
the team turn in projects over budget? How does
the manager find out about events and problems in
the workgroup?
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Documentation can help a team work more
efficiently Style guide Use the one that makes
sense to you and make it available to the
team APA has a 5th edition that covers digital
content Production guides This document explains
how the web site will be developed It
explains the conventions that will be used
throughout the project The guide provides the
team with an overview of the work flow and
allows them to see how their work fits in
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Production guides should include A map of the
directory structure Functional specs File
naming conventions Server information Target
audience specs Coding conventions Programming
conventions Rules for image formatting Explanati
on of version control Benchmarks and timeline
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Provide the team with a good communication
infrastructure Make sure everyone has the same
software for writing and email Develop an archive
of all project-related communication This will
be digital and paper-based Post important
documents to your secure web site Investigate
ways to automate parts of the communication
process For example, project management software
can automate task monitoring
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Project management Managing the team I. About
teamwork The context of web-based project
management Groups and teams II.
Managing teams The managers
responsibilities The importance of
communication III. Leadership and project
management Being a leader
Managing for effectiveness
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Being a leader Challenge how to manage a team
that can handle continuous adaptation to
change Without losing strategic
focus Transactional leaders work with their
systems They focus on rewards and exchanges in
the organization They try to meet the needs
of their teams This is a form of cultural
maintenance Charismatic leaders use the force of
their personalities They tend to be persistent
and committed to their long term goals
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Leadership involves managing people Conflict
management Identifies and takes steps to prevent
situations that could result in unpleasant
confrontations Manages and resolves conflicts
and disagreements in a positive and constructive
manner to minimize negative impact Promoting
diversity Recruits, develops, and retains a
diverse high quality workforce in an equitable
manner Leads and manages an inclusive workplace
that maximizes the talents of each person to
achieve sound business results
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Team building Inspires, motivates, and guides
others toward goals Develops and sustains
cooperative working relationships Encourages
and facilitates cooperation within the
organization and with customers Develops
leadership in others by coaching, mentoring,
rewarding, and guiding employees Service
orientation Creates and sustains an
organizational culture which encourages others
to provide high quality of service Enables
others to acquire the tools and support they
need to perform well
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Articulating a vision for the team Leaders
provide a realistic vision and mission for the
team It addresses the needs of all of the
stakeholders It requires depth knowledge of
the project and the environment What the
project is --gt what it can become --gt how the
team will get there The teams mission is a
framework for action It must articulate shared
values and goal and appeal to the major
stakeholders
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Then the vision must be disseminated All members
of the team should have a copy of the project
mission Then the leader seeks buy-in To gain a
sense of broad purpose Should be clear about the
direction and objectives and forceful about
the means In a sense, leadership is making meaning
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• Managing groups to help them work effectively
• How effectively groups work is generally a
  combination of the following three factors
• Level of effort
• How much effort the group applies to carry out
  its task
• Task performance strategies
• How do they carry out the task?
• Level and appropriateness of the skill
• What do group members bring to the task?

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• It is difficult to influence these three factors
  directly
• In part, this is because of the internal
  characteristics of people
• These are hard to access or change
• Look for external characteristics that can be
  manipulated
• Behavior norms
• Task Design
• Composition of the group
• These factors can be used to affect group
  performance indirectly

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• Changing norms is usually the best way of
  improving task performance strategies
• It can lead to increased effort
• A leader or group can require
• Regular attendance at meetings
• Regular reporting and accountability
• Redesign the task
• Improves both effort and task performance
  strategies
• Introduce greater specialization of
  responsibilities
• Increase amount of job enrichment
• Give members tasks that fit their experience

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Problems with teams Compliance Going along with
idea or behaving in a way consistent with the
majority Peer influence changing attitudes or
beliefs as a result of group pressure Groupthink
severe self-censorship and/or group pressures
to conform Particularly common in
long-established groups Tends to arise in us
versus them situations Presence of
mind-guards who deny/ridicule dissenting
opinions Can blind group to facts and
reasoning which may be useful in making a
decision
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Dealing with false consensus Describe the
problem without taking a position Encourage
critical evaluation from members If you lead,
accept criticism of your ideas Use other groups
in the organization, or sub groups of your own
group to work on the same issue in
parallel Invite outside experts Assign a group
member to be a devils advocate Deviant
thinking is particularly important whent he
decision is important or controversial When
the group is brand new or very old The problem
is ill-defined
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Managerial Problems Calling the unit a team but
really managing members as individuals Failing
to maintain the balance of authority between
management and the team Failing to provide the
team with appropriate amounts (too much/too
little) of structure for accomplishing the
task Failing to provide org supports for
accomplishing challenging team
objectives Assuming members have the required
competence to work well as a team