Outcome in Team and Size and Dynamics - Case Study Example

Running head: ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR Organisation Behaviour [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Organisation Behaviour Introduction Teams have become an essential part of Organisations. Now the concept of individual work and tasks has diminished. However, managing and motivating these teams is not an east task. This report consist of an hypothetical situation in which You have been assigned to lead a software project over the next year that requires the full-time involvement of approximately 100 people with diverse skills and backgrounds. The report will further analyze the steps which need to be taken to develop an effective team under these conditions and dhow to effectively lead and motivate these teams. Analysis According to Smith (2009) Teamwork is paramount— each individual engages both in leading and in watching someone else flourish in their leadership. Project manage has changed a great deal since 1970 . This has also brought about changes in the role of the project manager ( Korrapati & Rapaka 2009). Prior to 1970 project manager were supposed to have sound technical knowledge and experience (Korrapati & Rapaka 2009). Only those people were selected for the role who full filled the before mentioned criteria. A project was considered to be successful Project if it was technical , knowledge related to the customer was not considered an important element or prerequisite . By 1970 trends had changes and project management evolved. Behavioral aspects and the management skills, such as leadership skills were considered as important perquisites for the role of a project manager. Basically the trend was going towards people management. Team Development The process of building a big team of qualified and agile software developers of nearly 100 is not an easy task for the project manager. Very few incumbent may be available to be a part of your team; otherwise the manager has to work hard from the scratch to build a totally new group for the project. While assembling the team, it must be kept in mind that the member has an effective decision making skills, has the ability to meet strict deadlines while managing work stress. The Project manager has to define a set of rules which may help him to build a strong team which effectively deliver quality and innovative software. For a successful software developing team, the manager must select the smartest developer who can meet all the tasks (Whitfield etal 1995). Means that he/she will not only be limited to coding but will have the ability to come up with innovative ideas, fix errors and they increase the chances of achieving a successful result. In general a software developer who is efficient enough to analyze the complete scenario is a notable contributor to the project, as compared to one that has more experience only in coding. The project manager must try to find out if the potential team member has the most recent information about new technologies. It is not only important for the team member to have enough knowledge about the famous acronyms like XML, HTTP, SOAP, etc. However, it is important for the project manager to judge the potential team member’s performance. Inorder to do so the manager may use the white board test technique, in which he /she is asked to solve a problem related to coding or a discussion of an algorithm. This may help to judge the capability of the candidate regarding performance and the amount of in-depth knowledge he has. This method will also help the manager to judge the candidate’s ability to mange stress and pressure of the tasks in short deadlines. This may help to find the most intelligent and experienced software developers. The flowing points have been taken from Gorla and Lam’s (2004) article “whom should work with whom ? Building effective project teams” Project managers should realize that optimal personality of team members of small project teams are quite different as compared to those in large teams. Project managers should consider selecting people so carefully inorder to develop personality heterogeneity among the manager and other team members It is not at all important for the team to have a diversity of personalities as the member have to complete many diverse tasks The project manager should not only look for people with different personalities but also for people who have sound technical knowledge and experience. Identify Effective Team Members During building a team it is vital to select members whose abilities may compliment the project manager’s skills. If the manager is of technical type he/she will have to find members who will help him/her to organize. However, if the project manger is not technical enough he/she may need to hire people who are more technical then him/her (McCrimmon 1995). Selecting Non- Contributors. Individuals who are non contributors should not be avoided while assembling teams as they have abilities which could prove fruitful for the project. Unfortunately, as noted, “Teams of highly skilled technicians often make costly errors simply because the members fail to understand or follow a disciplined, systematic approach to project management”.( Forsberg, Mooz, and Cotterman (2000) Thus, it could be important for the project manager to select such people to be apart of the team. However, he/she should be careful about disciplining them in a manner in which the manager can discover their hidden talents of such team members and use them for project’s benefit Vigilant Team Members By default very software development project have problems. It is important for the manger to hire such developers who can reach the depth of the problem before it increases, solve them by using their abilities and take certain measures to ensure that the problem does not reoccur (Meyer 1994). It is strongly recommended for the project manager to play an active part in the problem solving process . If it is complex for him to handle then he should call for reinforcements. The manager may get more respect from his/her team member, if he gives immediate and serious attention to problems like serious bugs, and unstable code. These issues prevent the team members for completing their assigned work. Individual Recognition Every team member should be given an opportunity to gain recognition and success of their performance. The project manager should ensure that every member of the team must be successful (Wheatley & Szwejczewski 1994). The team members must be competitive with each other so that they can improve their performance. This inturn will provide fruitful results. For example if one ember does a good job the other will try to do it in a better manner so that he/she can gain recognition and praise from the project manager. Thus, this proves quite fruitful. Motivation of Team Members Project managers always face difficulties in managing people with differently backgrounds. It becomes extremely hard to find out what motivates the members, as every member may be motivated by a different factor. David McClelland's Human Motivation Theory may help the project manager to identify the team member’s motivating drivers (McClelland 1983). This may help giving praise and feedback efficiently, assigning members with appropriate tasks, and selecting drivers of motivation (O’Connor & Rosenblood 1996). The project manager can use the information regarding the team members motivating drivers to set goals and provide feedback, and this thus will help in motivating members and awarding them with rewards according to their motivator. Job description for the team members can also be designed according to the motivators. The following are steps which the project manager can follow to motivate the members. Identify Drivers The project manager will have to determine a dominant motivator for every member of the team. This can be done by evaluating the team member’s personality and past actions. For example, maybe one of the team members always tends to take the role of the leader when a task is assigned. He takes up the role the spokesman meetings to influence the manager and other team members, and he delegates tasks to other members so that the deadline can be met. In short that team member likes to be in complete control of the team. He is most likely driven by the power While on the other hand, the team may have a member who never speaks during meetings. He never disagrees with any member, he works hard to manage conflict, and he does not feel like high-risk, high-reward projects. Such a team member has a strong need for affiliation. Structure the Leadership Style After identifying the driving motivators of the team members the project manager should structure his/her leadership style accordingly. By doing so the team members will stay engaged, motivated, and happy. Thus, inturn the productivity will increase and the project may successfully be completed in the given deadline. According to Levasseur (2005) an extremely important choice which the project manager must make he /she is going to manage a tem is his or her leadership style. The choices range from autocratic to participative; that is, from top-down to collaborative decision making. The basis for this choice is the manager’s belief regarding the motivation of his team members is an important factor. He may motivate them by encouraging an individually focused, competitive dynamic or a group-focused, cooperative dynamic Managing Team Members Using the Three Motivators It is important to discuss how the project manager can manage team members are motivated by the dominant motivators present in McClelland's theory. The following is the explanation to how members are motivated by the dominant motivators: Achievement The project manager must keep in mind that members who are motivated by achievement require challenging, but not impractical, projects. They are motivated with the task of overcoming difficult problems, thus, the project manager can assign them task with involve such problem solving. Such team members prefer to work either on their own or with other members who are high achievers. When the project manager gives feedback to such a member it should be a fair and balanced appraisal like the 360 appraisal. This kind of appraisal provides a complete feedback. (Robbins etal 2011). As they want to work towards improvement. Affiliation Team members who are motivated by affiliation are true team players; they perform their best when they work in team. Thus, the project manager should try to give them tasks which usually involve the entire team; such member may avoid uncertainty and risk. Thus, in order to motivate such member the project manager should give them simple tasks. For motivation such team members require personal feedbacks. However, it should be a balanced feedback. Thus inorder to motivate them the project manager should start off by emphasizing their good working relationship, they will feel needed and become more productive. The best way to motivate such team members is to praise them in private. They feel less embarrassed. Power Team member who have a high need for power are more productive if the project manager gives them a leading role. They like competition, the project manager should assign them goal-oriented projects or tasks as they are more productive in such tasks. Such members are also very efficient in negotiations or in meetings in which the team has to convince the management. Such people are usually motivated by professional growth. Other Factors Which Help To Motivate Employees The project manager should reach out to his team leaders. He. Should keep in mind that he is a leader and not a top guy (Williams 2006). As the project manager is leading the team he has to leading to have people skills in abundance, this will help him in motivating employees as he will be able to relate to the problems and issues of both male and female employees as well as communicate effectively with the top management. Good communication skills may result in the team’s productivity as they will be highly motivated Organisational units may achieve swift coordination and reliable performance by melding hierarchical and bureaucratic role-based structures with flexibility-enhancing processes (Klein etal 2006) Conclusion By the above given analysis one can easily understand how a project manager in the given hypothetical situation can develop and manager his/her team. The fact that each member of the team is different from the other would mean that an approach needs to be used which caters more then one personality type. the most important element of a team is it’s development , if the project manager is successful in developing a prefect team then his project will not only meet the deadline but will be a prefect one. References Forsberg, K., Mooz, H., & Cotterman, H. (2000). Visualizing project management, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Gorla Narasimhaiah and Lam Wah Yan (2004), Who should work with whom?: building effective software project teams. Communications of the ACM - Wireless sensor networks. Volume 47 Issue 6 Klein J. Katherine , Jonathan C. Ziegert Andrew P. Knight Yan Xiao(2006) Dynamic Delegation: Shared, Hierarchical, and Deindividualized Leadership in Extreme Action Teams . Administrative Science Quarterly 51: 590-621 Korrapati, Raghu; Rapaka Satya Raju (2009), Successful Leadership Styles In Software Projects In Offshore Centers In India . Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Information and Management Sciences. Proceedings Levasseur E. Robert (2005). People Skills: Change Management Tools—Leading Teams Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 179–180 McClelland, David (1983). Human Motivation. New York: Addison-Wesley McCrimmon, M (1995). ‘Teams Without Roles: Empowering teams for greater creativity’, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 14, No. 6., pp.35-41. Meyer, C., (1994), ‘How the Right Measures Help Teams Excel’, Harvard Business Review, pp.95-102. O’Connor, S. C., & Rosenblood, L.K. (1996). Affiliation motivation in everyday experience: A theoretical comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 513-522. Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. & Boyle, T. (2011) Organisational Behaviour, Pearson, Frenchs Forest, NSW. (6th edition Smith Raymond (2006); Challenge Models: Leadership Development and Effective Team-Based Solutions . Leaders: Their Education and Development Today .issue S1 58–63 Williams Pat( 2006), Pat Williams: leading to win , healthcare (Inancial management Wheatley, M. and Szwejczewski, M.(1994). ‘How Teams Score’, Human Resources, pp.29-34 Whitfield, J., Anthony, W., Kacmar, K. (1995), ‘Evaluation of Team Based Management in a case study’, Journal of Organisational Change Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, , pp.17-28 Read More