Organizing and

Staffing
Successful project management, regardless of the
organizational structure, is only as good as the
individuals and leaders who are managing the key
functions. Project management is not a one-person
operation; it requires a group of individuals
dedicated to the achievement of a specific goal.
Project management includes:
• A project manager
• An assistant project manager
• A project (home) office
• A project team
 • What are the requirements •On the surface, these
Before the for an individual to become a questions may not seem
staffing successful project manager? especially complex. But
when we apply them to a
• Who should be a member of
function the project team?
project environment (which
is by definition a
begins, five • Who should be a member of
the project office?
“temporary” situation)
where a constant stream of
basic • What problems can occur projects is necessary for
corporate growth, the
questions are during recruiting activities?
staffing problems become
• What can happen complex, especially if the
usually downstream to cause the organization is understaffed.
loss of key team members?
considered:
 To understand the problems that occur
during staffing, we must first investigate the
characteristics of project management,
including the project environment, the
project management process, and the
project manager.

Two major kinds of problems are related to

the project environment:

personnel
personnel policy
performance
problems.
problems
Personnel performance
problems
• Performance is difficult for many individuals in the project
environment because it represents a change in the way of
doing business. Individuals, regardless of how competent
they are, find it difficult to adapt continually to a changing
situation in which they report to multiple managers.
• On the other hand, many individuals thrive on temporary
assignments because it gives them a “chance for glory.”
Unfortunately, some employees might consider the chance
for glory more important than the project. For example, an
employee may pay no attention to the instructions of the
project manager and instead perform the task his own way.
In this situation, the employee wants only to be recognized
as an achiever and really does not care if the project is a
success or failure, as long as he still has a functional home to
return to where he will be identified as an achiever with
good ideas.
Personnel performance
problems
• The second major performance problem lies in the
project–functional interface, where an individual
suddenly finds himself reporting to two bosses, the
functional manager and the project manager. If the
functional manager and the project manager are in
agreement about the work to be accomplished,
then performance may not be hampered. But if
conflicting directions are received, then the
individual may let his performance suffer because
of his com140 ORGANIZING AND STAFFING THE
PROJECT OFFICE AND TEAM CHAPTER04 12/4/02
11:30 AM Page 140 promising position. In this case,
the employee will “bend” in the direction of the
manager who controls his purse strings.
 Personnel policy problems
• Personnel policy problems can create havoc in an organization,
especially if the “grass is greener” in a project environment than in the
functional environment. Functional organizations normally specify
grades and salaries for employees. Project offices, on the other hand,
have no such requirements and can promote and pay according to
achievement. The difficulty here is that one can distinguish between
employees in grades 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 in a line organization, whereas
for a project manager the distinction might appear only in the size of the
project or the amount of responsibility. Bonuses are also easier to obtain
in the project office but may create conflict and jealousy between the
horizontal and vertical elements.
Project management is
successful only if the project Customer Project
manager and his team are liaison direction
totally dedicated to the
successful completion of the
project. This requires each Project Project
team member of the project
team and office to have a good planning control
understanding of the
fundamental project
requirements, which include: Project Project
evaluation reporting
Ultimately, the person with Honesty and integrity

the greatest influence Understanding of personnel problems

during the staffing phase is Understanding of project technology
the project manager. The Business management competence
personal attributes and • Management principles

abilities of project • Communications

Alertness and quickness

managers will either attract
or deter highly desirable Versatility

individuals. Basic Energy and toughness

characteristics include: Decision-making ability

Ability to evaluate risk and uncertainty

Probably the most difficult decision facing upper-level
management is the selection of project managers. Some
managers work best on long-duration projects where
decision-making can be slow; others may thrive on short-
duration projects that can result in a constant-pressure
environment. A director was asked whom he would choose
for a key project manager position—an individual who had
been a project manager on previous programs in which
there were severe problems and cost overruns, or a new
aggressive individual who might have the capability to be a
good project manager but had never had the opportunity.
The director responded that he would go with the
seasoned veteran assuming that the previous mistakes
would not be made again. The argument here is that the
project manager must learn from his own mistakes so they
will not be made again. The new individual is apt to make
the same mistakes the veteran made. However, this may
limit career path opportunities for younger personnel.
The selection What are the internal and external
sources?
process for project
managers is not How do we select?

easy. Five basic How do we provide career

development in project management?
questions must be
considered: How can we develop project
management skills?

How do we evaluate project

management performance?
 The major responsibilities of the
project manager include:
• To produce the end-item with the available resources and
within the constraints of time, cost, and
performance/technology
• To meet contractual profit objectives
• To make all required decisions whether they be for alternatives
or termination
• To act as the customer (external) and upper-level and functional
management (internal) communications focal point
• To “negotiate” with all functional disciplines for
accomplishment of the necessary work packages within the
constraints of time, cost, and performance/technology
• To resolve all conflicts
 • They must know what they are supposed to do.
One of the most • They must have a clear understanding of authority and
important but often least its limits.
understood • They must know what their relationship with other
characteristics of good people is.
project managers is the • They should know what constitutes a job well done in
ability to know their terms of specific results.
own strengths and
weaknesses and those of • They should know where and when they are falling short.
their employees. • They must be made aware of what can and should be
Managers must done to correct unsatisfactory results.
understand that in order • They must feel that their superior has an interest in them
for employees to as individuals.
perform efficiently. • They must feel that their superior believes in them and
wants them to succeed.
• Managing complex programs represents a
challenge requiring skills in team building,
leadership, conflict resolution, technical
expertise, planning, organization,
entrepreneurship, administration,
management support, and the allocation
of resources. This section examines these
skills relative to program management
effectiveness. A key factor to good
program performance is the program
manager’s ability to integrate personnel
from many disciplines into an effective
work team.
To get results, the program manager must
relate to
(1) the people to be managed,
(2) the task to be done,
(3) the tools available,
(4) the organizational structure,
(5) the organizational environment,
including the customer community
Effective program management
is directly related to proficiency
in these ten skills:
• Team building
• Leadership
• Conflict resolution
• Technical expertise
• Planning
• Organization
• Entrepreneurship
• Administration
• Management support
• Resource allocation
Thus far we have assumed that the project is
large enough for a full-time project manager
to be appointed. This is not always the case.
There are four major problem areas in
staffing projects:
• Part-time versus full-time assignments
• Several projects assigned to one project
manager
• Projects assigned to functional managers
• The project manager role retained by the
general manager
 Hard-Nosed
Maturity Availability
Tactics

Technical Customer
New Exposure
Expertise Orientation

Company
Exposure

SELECTING THE WRONG PROJECT

MANAGER
• As project management began to grow and mature,
the project manager was converted from a technical
manager to a business manager. The primary skills
needed to be an effective project manager in the
twenty-first century are:
● Knowledge of the business
● Risk management
● Integration skills
The critical skill is risk management. However, to
perform risk management effectively, a sound
knowledge of the business is required. Figure 4-3
shows the changes in project management skills
needed between 1985 and 2003.
Since projects, environments, and
organizations differ from company to company
as well as project to project, it is not unusual
for companies to struggle to provide
reasonable job descriptions of the project
manager and associated personnel. Below is a
simple list identifying the duties of a project
manager in the construction industry:
• Planning
• Organizing
• Directing
• The project team is a combination of the project
office and functional employees as shown in
Figure 4–6. Although the figure identifies the
project office personnel as assistant project
managers, some employees may not have any
such title. The advantage of such a title is that it
entitles the employee to speak directly to the
customer. For example, the project engineer
might also be called the assistant project
manager for engineering. The title is important
because when the assistant project manager
speaks to the customer, he represents the
company, whereas the functional employee
represents himself.
• The project office is an organization developed to support the project manager in
carrying out his duties. Project office personnel must have the same dedication
toward the project as the project manager and must have good working relationships
with both the project and functional managers.
• The major responsibility of the project manager and the project office personnel is
the integration of work across the functional lines of the organization. Functional
units, such as engineering, R&D, and manufacturing, together with extra-company
subcontractors, must work toward the same specifications, designs, and even
objectives. The lack of proper integration of these functional units is the most
common cause of project failure.
• One of the biggest challenges facing project managers is determining the size of the
project office. The optimal size is determined by a trade-off between the maximum
number of members necessary to assure compliance with requirements and the
maximum number for keeping the total administrative costs under control.
 Upper-level management can have an input into
the selection process for functional team
members but should not take an active role
unless the project and functional managers
cannot agree. Functional management must be
represented at all staffing meetings because
Functional functional staffing is directly dependent on
project requirements and because:
Team • Functional managers generally have more
expertise and can identify high-risk areas.
• Functional managers must develop a positive
attitude toward project success. This is best
achieved by inviting their participation in the
early activities of the planning phase.
 • One of the first requirements of the project
startup phase is to develop the organizational
chart for the project and determine its
relationship to the parent organizational
structure. Figure 4–8 shows, in abbreviated
PROJECT form, the six major programs at Dalton
Corporation. Our concern is with the Midas
ORGANIZATIO Program. Although the Midas Program may
NAL CHART have the lowest priority of the six programs, it
is placed at the top, and in boldface, to give
the impression that it is the top priority. This
type of representation usually makes the client
or customer feel that his program is important
to the contractor
• The implementation of project
management within an organization
requires strong executive support and an
implementation team that is dedicated to
making project management work.
Selecting the wrong team players can
either lengthen the implementation
process or reduce employee morale.
Some employees may play destructive
roles on a project team. These roles,
which undermine project management
implementation, are shown in Figure 4–14
and described below: