Organizing and Staffing the Project Office and Team - Coursework Example

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT Organizing and Staffing the Project Office and Team Name Course Tutor Date Organizing and Staffing the Project Office and Team The success of a project, from its planning to implementation stages, is highly dependent on the individual persons involved in the process. All personnel involved should work in togetherness to achieve set objectives. Significant considerations are done on what kind of persons the project team should have. This is in terms of skills, project requirements, time among other factors. The staffing environment of a project is usually faced with the problems of performance and policy challenges. This is usually as a result of the changing working environment. These problems could also be caused by lack of clear guidelines on instructions from project managers. To achieve success, the fundamentals that should be followed include project liaison, direction, planning, evaluation control and reporting. Project managers hold the overall authority in terms of staffing and hiring of personnel. They therefore have to hold human resource and personnel management skills. The decision to select the appropriate project manager is an executive one made by upper level management. Being the overall person responsible for the implementation of the project, top management has to get the decision right with the first trial. For project managers to carry out their roles effectively, they must constantly prove their abilities in management skills. The skills are in regard to the relationship with other project personnel and that of the top management, they have to show competence and reporting in progress and challenges faced. The main categories are resource management, planning and leadership, and interface management (Ker, 2009). Getting the ideal project manager is not much about the skills that they have but their personal attributes. Finding an all rounded person in the many aspects that a project entails can be a very hectic process. The skills that are most essential include team building, conflict resolution, entrepreneurship, leadership, administration, resource allocation among others. In this view, crucial aspects involve relationship with personnel being managed, resources available, overall work to be done, organizational structure and operating environment. The team manager should always ensure that the working environment is conducive for him and his team (Ker, 2009). Each of the skill required from a team managers have diverse aspects that they should know about and have the ability to take charge when they arise. Sometimes, projects face several challenges when fulfilling the staffing requirement. Different projects are faced with different challenges. For instance, problems regarding full versus part time engagement, one manager handling several projects at the same time, functional managers handling projects and existing managers taking the project management role are some of the challenges that may arise. These scenarios may depend on the size or magnitude of the project as a whole. Part time projects are usually short compared to full time projects. Managers may also handle projects that are related concurrently. It is also common for existing managers to handle projects especially if they have expertise in such areas. The main problem becomes time allocation and dedication to the projects. Due to the demanding nature of project management and selection process, it is sometimes possible to select a project manager who is not fit for the job. Normally, the selection criteria follow attributes such as maturity or age, customer understanding and orientation, exposure to project management and company orientation. These factors may be inadequate selection criteria in several ways. There are general techniques that should be considered when selecting project managers. First, top management should look at the experience and training those managers. Training should be in terms of academic qualifications and certification that individuals hold. Individuals should also have organizational development skills that are recognized in the industry. Success in one management portfolio does not translate to success in another. In this view, selection should not be based on management hierarchy but in terms of performance in related duties. Being the highest ranked or trained does not translate to project management abilities and skills Training project managers requires several considerations and can be achieved fin several ways. The most significant is through experience and should account most for the selection process. Education and professional activities are essential but not highly fundamental as experience. Unlike in the past, project managers are required to know the business, have risk assessment and management skills, and integration abilities. These attributes are necessary and essential for the modern project manager. In almost all projects, the duties of the project manager are similar. They revolve around planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. All these duties should be appropriately coordinated in achieving the overall project goal in a smooth environment with clear understanding of duties and responsibilities of each person. These duties are general but under each factor lay unique and specific sub duties relevant to individual projects. The organizing and staffing process may be long and complicated depending on the type of project. The main considerations here are the type of project, resource availability and where to source personnel from. Classical management bases its decisions on specialization of labor, span of management, type of organization, and chains of command. Even under this, communication, teamwork, and conflict management are essential. A project is operates separately but is always tied to the organization in question. Once the evaluation process is finished, the project mangers meets with top management to agree on policies, reporting and project staffing requirements. Here, the project manager request personnel based on the needs of the projects. The personnel brought on board should be competent and have an understanding of what is expected of them in conduct of their responsibilities. During the recruitment process, managers should ensure orientation is conclusive and any agreements are documented. They should also make sure that personnel understand that conflicts are normal and solving tem s what makes the difference. Recruiting and retaining quality personnel may be challenging for project managers. Personnel may have anxiety, uncertainty, and management conflicts among other issues. The employees in organizations should be given a chance to choose whether to work on projects or not. This ensures that only motivated and willing personnel are engaged in the process. Other problems that may arise include chain of command, lack of teamwork, and competition rather than cooperation (Ker, 2009). Sometimes, project mangers have to deal with incompetent personnel. They have the options of termination, correction of inadequacies, reassignment or performance assessments. This calls for managers to have adequate human resource skills to deal with such challenges Apart from the technical part of the project, the project office is an essential part. It provides significant support for information and reporting. It also ensures that all activities are on track in matters relating to timing costs and controls. The office also provides relevant documentation of activities and events. Its size will depend on project magnitude and number of activities. The office should coordinate activities and identify inadequacies that the project manager should address based on priorities. The project team comprises of project manger and the project office who work concurrently and together on the project. Functional mangers in the team are responsible for specific areas like sales, quality control, marketing, procurement, accounting among others. All personnel must understand their roles to ensure that the whole system works in synergy to achieve the ultimate objectives. When starting a project, an organizational chart is essential in determining its connection with the parent organization. It shows how he project depend on the parent organization and the placement of new positions that are necessitated by the project. It shows where all new offices and departments are placed in the project and organization as a whole. The biggest challenge is usually training of employees in their new roles, given the timing requirements. The overall team requires a strong team with dedication and vigor. These factors will determine the success or failure of project implementation. Reference Ker, H. (2009). Project Management. London: John Wiley & Sons. Read More