UNIT- 5 th

Staffing in Software Projects

Managing Staff:
A project team consists of different individuals with varying levels of
authority. Their way of operation is dependent on the organizational
culture and the methodology in use.

How to manage project teams effectively

1. Ensure balance within the team.

2. Ensure visibility and transparency.
3. Ensure effective communication within the team.
4. Foster a culture of collaboration.
5. Value each suggestion and discuss progress with your team.
6. Establish success metrics and reward excelling members.
7. Delegate tasks to groom future leaders
8. Manage internal conflicts
9. Use all available resources at your disposal to facilitate teamwork.
10. Take part in regular team building activities and celebrations

Responsibilities of project teams are:

 Working with the project manager throughout the project life cycle
 Completing the assigned deliverables and meeting all project
requirements
 Documenting the process
 Contributing to the team’s overall performance
 Presenting possible solutions to the managers in case of a
bottleneck
  Keeping the project manager informed of the progress

Organizational behavior:
Organizational behavior can be defined as the understanding, prediction
and management of the human behavior that affects the performance of
the organizations.
It is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, how human
behavior interacts with the organization, and the organization itself.
Organizational behavior theories inform real-world evaluation and
management of groups of people.
Fredrick Taylor attempted to analyse the most productive way of doing
manual tasks.
Taylor’s three basic objectives :
1. To select the best man for the job.
2.To instruct them in the best methods
3.To give incentives in the form of higher wages to the best workers.
Key elements are:

1. People
2. Structure
3. Technology
4. External Environment

People:
Dynamic in nature as they interact with each other and also influence
each other.Groups may form,change and dissolve.Organizations are
established to serve the people.
Structure:
There are two types of organizations, formal and informal.
  Informal organizations do not have a specified structure.

 Formal organizations are built based upon the objective set for it.
Organizational structure in such an organization is hierarchical in
nature, with people at each level having their own objectives.
Environment:
Study of the environment is very wide and encompasses economic,
cultural, social, government rules and regulations, legal aspects, political
climate, demographics and its impact.
Technology:
Managing technology is an important job of any management. It is an
important element of any unit. Selection of technology, procurement,
installation, operation and maintenance is important and no compromise
should be made in procuring latest or advanced technology.
Objectives of Organizational Behavior:

1. Human resources approach

2. Contingency approach
3. System approach
4. Productivity approach

Best methods of staff selection:

Ability Tests:
It helps in the measurement of mental abilities of an employee such as
his/ her verbal, reasoning, mathematical ability and the reading ability.
Integrity Tests:
It helps in measuring the attitude and experiences of a particular
employee. Also helps in relating the individual with his honesty, the art
of dependability and the nature of trustworthiness.

Personality Tests:
These personality tests help in the assessment of certain traits that help
in the development of an employee and help pave the way to the road of
success.

Data revealing biodata tests:

This test allows the employee to write about his personal characteristics,
his interests, likes and dislikes and so on.
It focuses on how effectively the employee has performed in the past
and will perform in the near future.

Situational Tests:
Generally, crisis management is the most given situation in these tests as
it showcases how well an individual handles it and leads the company in
worst times too.

Motivation

A poorly motivated team has been known to unravel(undo) even the best
project plan.
A good project manager needs to know how to harness(control) the
initial excitement that comes with starting a project and use it to
maintain motivation leading to success throughout the project’s
lifecycle.
The biggest demotivator is when a project receives poor support from
senior management of the client organisation. Other demotivators
include: internal conflict, an absence of effective performance
management, micro-management or disparity in work allocation or
rewards.

1.Setting Goals:
It is about explaining, not just the required outcomes but, how the
objectives relate to the organisation and its overall priorities.

2.Innovation:
A good motivator we have identified is that of establishing a culture of
innovation and celebrating success when new ideas come to fruition.

3.Group Problem Solving

4.Organic Team Development: Provide opportunities for employees to

work together on tasks, train, and learn from each other, which leads to
productive relationships being formed naturally.

5.Celebrate Wins: Lunches, trophies, letters of appreciation, a mention

at team meetings and publishing stories about key contributors in the
newsletter are some ways that recognition can be achieved. Never
underestimate how powerful a simple ‘thank you’ can be.

6.Set an Example: Team members will learn from the leader’s

behaviour and as a result will mirror such behaviours.

7.Identify What’s in it for Them: Whether it is an important social

project that aligns with their values, or it gives them an opportunity to
gain a qualification and earn sufficient money to achieve personal goals
team members are ultimately concerned with.
 Stress Management

Stress, as most people understand the term, is a reaction to excess

pressure. This may come from life events, work, or simply a feeling of
being a bit out of control. The vast majority of people will suffer from
stress at least once in their lives, and many live with it much of the time.

How to Reduce Stress

It is of utmost importance that an organization takes this i ssue seriously.
The organization can help reduce stress by:
 Reducing the number of hours for which their employees would
have to work per week. This will, in the long run, contribute to a
more efficient functioning of the organization, as employees
would have more time to rest at home and will come back the next
day feeling refreshed.
Working hours should be flexible. This may also include shifts
and the rotation of employees.
 A tried and tested technique that many organizations have begun
using is the provision of lounges and other recreational facilities
to help employees relax during the day should they require some
time off.
You may even choose to add refreshments and a TV so that they
could forget all the worries of work for a few minutes. Investing
in such facilities is a great idea for any organization. You may
also allow them to take more holidays throughout the year to
ensure that they have a good break.
 Female employees may find that they do not have enough time to
spend with their newborn if they have just had a baby.
You should make allowance for such situations. Providing longer
maternity leave could help your female employee to come back to
 work without having too much on her mind with regard to the
baby and any postnatal depression.
Another idea would be to provide childcare facilities at the office
so that mothers with young children could peep in and ensure their
kids are okay every few hours.
 As an employee, you should also make it a point to occasionally
have a casual chat with your employees to ensure that they are
satisfied with their jobs and have no issues at work.
You should also encourage them and appreciate and praise
him/her for tasks carried out very well. This would reduce any
worries they may have of the risks of losing their jobs and help
them to feel more secure.

Safety - Health Program

Many factors are put in place to create and maintain a safe and working
environment. To succeed in creating a safe workplace, the key is to
develop and implement an effective safety management system.
A safety management system is a combination of a variety of elements
in the organization that need attention to provide a safe working
environment for everyone who enters it. A well-designed and efficient
safety management system make health and safety an inseparable part
of your business’s core operation.

Elements of Safety Program

Following are the most important elements of a safety program −

 Proper planning to fulfill the safety and health policy needs

 Dedication at all levels; by all stakeholders of the organization
 Implementation and operation in accordance with set planning
  Training and education to all who are the beneficiaries of the
safety plan
 Auditing and reporting performance
 Preparation of an effective workplace safety and health policy
program
 Regular supervision of safety and health performance
A stay-at-work program can be yet another master plan or tool to help
construct a safety culture and safeguard injury and/or illness. A
specially educated consultant on your team can help offer human
engineering involvement for those employees considered “high risk.”
Health and Safety Program - Responsibilities
As a manager, you have a responsibility to identify and fortify
productivity and efficiency in your employees, and point out and
motivate improvement where required. But to start with, you require
viewing performance management as a two-way conversation that goes
on throughout the year.
Your employees should never be surprised by the grades and feedback
they receive in their basic performance reviews.
As a manager, you are expected to −
 Utilize the performance management procedure as a precious tool
for holding up the employee’s development and enhancement.
 If your employees feel a lack of interest on your part, they'll lose
interest too.
 When talking with your team about the procedure, be sure to focus
its advantages, and motivate the employees to take possession of
their own performance and development.
 Control a suitable plan for daily performance conversations with
those you control directly.
Conduct short, daily meetings to talk over and track achievements,
deed, successes and challenges as they happen, when details are fresh in
both your minds. This will permit you to better detect progress on goals,
and provide coaching as needed.
These short meetings also minimize the effort it takes to compose for
and conduct your annual performance reviews because you've followed
progress and performance and given the needed feedback when it was
most precious.
 Utilize the annual performance analysis meeting to analyses the
attainments, issues, development and training that have already
been conversed throughout the year and then use these particulars
to set up goals and a development plan for the coming year.
 Provide daily affirmative and constructive feedback. Give
employees feedback during one-on-one meetings and as casually
and regularly as possible.
 Praise your employee in front of their companions. Make
performance notes about each employee in the period between
discussions, so that in the time of discussion, you have solid
examples to share.
 Remember that the aim of feedback is to narrate desired behaviors
and expectations, not to live on unpleasant behaviors.
 Check-in on goal progress. Daily check in with employees on their
advancement on goals; offer guidance or help, or reconsider goals
as necessary.
 Impart and call for performance expectations. Tell your
organizations’ performance standards and expectations to your
employees. This will help your employees distinguish between
adequate and intolerable behaviors and results and minimize any
misunderstandings.
 Upgrade your management and leadership skills. Take the time to
learn how to be a best manager.
  Instruct the employee ahead of time the issues you want to discuss.
Emphasis on narrating your expectations and the required
behaviors rather than describing the rift.
 On daily basis, ask the employees about their career desires and
assists them to recognize the areas they may hope to refine or
develop, as well as resources available.
 Give your employees the time they need to complete learning and
development activities.

Ethical and Professional concerns

Ethics relates to the moral obligation to respect the rights and interests
of others – goes beyond strictly legal responsibilities
Three groups of responsibilities:

 Responsibilities that everyone has

 Responsibilities that people in organizations have

 Responsibilities relating to your profession or calling

Ethical Issues in Project Management (& How to Deal with Them)

 Accountability. When things go wrong, it's human nature to try to

avoid the consequences and place the blame somewhere else. ...

 Conflicts of Interest:
As a project manager, you should make sure that all parties involved in a
project understand your company’s standards for bidding and vendor
selection, and that the definition of a conflict of interest is clear to
everyone.
  Workplace Culture.
Project managers should be very familiar with their company’s code of
conduct and should ensure that all employees, contractors and business
partners understand what is expected of them.

 Health and Safety Concerns.

On large enterprise projects, the stakes are high, and so is the pressure to
get the job done. Unfortunately, this pressure sometimes leads
stakeholders to ignore or even conceal issues that might jeopardize the
health and safety of project team members or the public.

Working in teams

Importance:
Great teamwork in project management achieves three very important
goals:

 Projects are completed on time and in full

 Individual team members feel more satisfied with their roles which
gives them extra motivation to perform
 A well-oiled team contributes to a healthy work environment.
Tip:
Good project managers know that the best way to help their team work
together is by delegating tasks and responsibilities clearly.
For example, if your team has to create an app and you have two front-
end developers, you should make the tasks and responsibilities very
clear.
Real Life Strategy:
Problems are never something we want to experience, but they’re vital
to improving teamwork.
If you encourage your team to work together on solving projects and
acknowledge different perspectives, you’ll be able to spot risks earlier
and mitigate them.
And not only that, but you’ll also be bringing a lot more creativity to the
table.

Organizational structures
 Organizational structure refers to the way a company or
organization is set up.
 It is usually defined using a hierarchy chart that shows how groups
or functions report within the organization.
 Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual
performance and activity within an organization.
 It is the systematic study and application of knowledge about how
individuals and groups act within the organizations where they
work.
 OB draws from other disciplines to create a unique field
 An organizational structure could be described as the official line
of authority and control within an organization.
 Organizational behavior is a combination of responses to external
and internal stimuli by a person as an individual or as a part of a
group.
 Project management structures tell us how reporting relationships
work in a particular organization.
Levels:

1. Individual Level Analysis

Includes individual level analysis such as characteristics and behaviours

of employees as well as thought processes that are attributed to
them,such as motivation,perceptions,personalities,attitudes,and values.
1. Group Level Analysis
Includes group dynamics,decisions,power,organizational
politics,conflict,leadership,communication,etc.
1. Organization System Level Analysis

Includes how people structure their working relationships as well as how

organizations interact with their external environment forces.
Types:

 Functional Organizational Structure

 Matrix Organizational Structure –
o Balanced matrix
o Strong Matrix
o Weak Matrix
 Project Based Organization Structure

Communications genres:

 Communication is a critical factor in project management. There

are instances where projects have failed because of
miscommunication and communication gaps.
 Project managers fill this gap by devising a good communication
mechanism that will help him to communicate with the team
members as well as stakeholders, sponsors, top-tier management
and all the people who are connected to the project.
 If an effective communication methodology is not followed by the
project manager, it may lead to many discrepancies and ultimately
may also lead to project failure, which is not appropriate for the
organization.
 It is also important that the right information is delivered to the
right person.
 So, project managers have the responsibility to properly channelize
the communication process, so that the right persons receive the
right information.
  Another important point that project managers must make a note of
is that the information sent must be clear, concise and informative.

Leadership
 Leadership is the ability to get things done through others,focusing
the efforts of a group of people toward a common goal and
enabling them to work as a team.
 Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that

is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking

effective action to realize your own leadership potential.
 Leadership is a quality that should be expressed by everyone. It’s

not just leading by example, such as the project manager rolling up

their sleeves and joining in on the work as needed, but everyone on
the project team must take a leadership role. They need to own
their responsibilities and manage the tasks assigned to them.
 Project leadership, most simply, is the act of leading a team

towards the successful completion of a project. But of course, it is

much more than that. It’s about getting something done well
through others. But project leadership requires skills in both
managing people and tasks.
 It is a soft skill; part art, part science.

 A project leader is someone who leads a project, but that doesn’t

really get to the bottom of this seemingly simple title. There are
project managers, who are responsible for many of the aspects that
we associate with leadership. They assemble the team, devise the
plan and manage resources to maintain the schedule and keep
within budget.
Attributes of a Good and Ideal Leader:

 They are grounded and centered

 They are aware and mindful
  They create solutions
 They are analytical

 They can evaluate risk

 They can generate a sense of urgency

 They are insightful

 They build cohesion

 They motivate people

 They achieve results

There are two types of leaders:

1. Transactional Leaders

They guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established

goals by clarifying role and task requirements
1. Transformational Leaders

They inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good
of the organization, and who are capable of having a profound and
extraordinary effect on his or her followers