5Z7V0004 Faculty of Business and Law
Module Code And Title – 5Z7V0004 Faculty of Business and Law
Introduction
Project management is defined as an area where specific knowledge, tools, skills and techniques are used to deliver value to the people (Heagney, 2016). Project management involves a team set up to execute a particular project. Development and management of the team are essential to execute a project and successfully deliver it to the people. The development and management of a team involve certain aspects to execute a project.
The entire process of developing and managing a team is based on strategic planning, administration, and control during a project life cycle. This is required to follow throughout the process of planning, executing, monitoring and exiting from a project. It helps in minimizing the project risks and ensures benefits to the project owner (Young, 2016). This report is based on Prime Group, a project management consultant group. The organization provides project management services to a range of industrial sectors like energy, hospitality, environment, automobile, and other industrial sectors.
In order to deliver the project to the sectors, the company holds four major departments which include engineering, marketing, R&D, and administration. The departments play a pivotal role in providing expertise to the projects. However, the organization faced certain complications in delivering projects due to the internal competition between departments as well as functional line managers. The CEO of the company is an ardent believer in project management and associated leadership, but his ideologies lack to make an effective impact on the team and affect the delivery of the project.
Based on the issues, this report focuses on analysing the development and management of teams in the organization. The report consists of the team development and management areas like leadership, stakeholder engagement, organizational structures, team role, communication and conflict resolutions. Based on the analysis, three recommendations have been given to the company.
Main discussion area
Contribution of leadership
In a project, a leader needs to lead the project towards success by involving the team members. It helps in ensuring efficient and effective outcomes from the project team members. The leaders for project management require the presence of a clear vision, along with the ability to attract talent for executing a project. Theoretically, it is claimed that a leader with a visionary approach and leadership style requires to follow the participative leadership style (Thoha & Avandana, 2020).
The participative leadership style is defined as an approach where all the members of an organization work together to make a decision and execute the project. Due to the involvement of every team member, the leadership style is also considered a democratic leadership style (Walker, 2015). Considering the situation of Prime Group, it can be said that lack of collaboration and relationship between the project team members is a major reason for conflict in the company which hinders in delivery of a project with high efficacy.
The CEO of the company intends to share information and influence the team members as well as departments to execute the project with success. However, the ideologies of the CEO lack to make an effective impact on the team members as well as departments. In this regard, it can be said that the participative leadership style can be effective for the company to influence the team members and departments. This is because the leadership style focuses on receiving output from everyone to execute a project and tasks.
The modus operandi under the leadership style is focused on developing agreement based on everyone’s perceptions with active participation. Such an aspect of the leadership style can help Prime Group to develop a strategy that is collaborative and agreed upon by everyone.
It can help in building a culture of interaction between the teams and departments (Boyle, 2017). In simpler words, the leadership style considers communication, collaboration and team leadership for executing projects. It can help the company to develop a leadership approach that is based on the major emotional intelligence competencies. With the leadership style, the organization can also able to make a positive impact on the overall organizational culture. This is because the leadership style will ensure the organization about a collaborative approach to working for solving the issues related to internal competition.
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement is defined as a systematic approach of identifying, analysing, planning and implementing actions to influence the stakeholders. The basic aspect of stakeholder engagement is identifying the basic needs of the major groups and working for meeting the needs of the group. The stakeholder engagement procedure inside an organization also involves the development and maintenance of relationships (Eskerod & Larsen, 2018). It is required for having the support of stakeholders to implement a change with the project management team.
The basic approach of stakeholder engagement is based on four key aspects which include the assessment of stakeholders, identification of risks and concerns, developing flexible communication, and creation as well as monitoring of stakeholder action plan. Based on the Prime Group, it can be said that the departments and teams have a high level of influence in executing a project under the company.
This is because the teams and departments provide their effort to execute a project through their intellectual abilities. In simpler words, the human resource value of the employees is key to making an influence in a project (Portny, 2017). The ability and execution of tasks by the project teams and departments are essential in having a positive impact on the outcome of a project.
The next step in stakeholder engagement is to identify the risks or concerns. The risk or concern regarding the stakeholder is an internal competition that leads to the delay in project delivery. The project team members and departments of the company are quite involved in competing with each other rather than focusing on a collaborative working approach (Heldman, 2018).
The functional line managers of the organization also hope that the reason and responsibility for the delay in a project would be passed to other functional line managers. Such an issue shows the lack of collaboration and internal competition to get relief from responsibility. In this regard, it can be said that the mitigating actions for the issues require to be focused on organizing meetings and other collaborative programs where all the team members and departments can participate.
Based on the stakeholder mapping, the organization is required to focus on flexible communication between the departments to execute projects. It can be said that the flexible communication between the team members and departments requires barrier-free. The way of communication needs to be based on a simple approach where numerous stages are not involved.
Further, the stakeholder engagement of the company requires adopting an approach where the internal conflicts and issues are not published publicly. It can lead to passing the message to the project owner. Thus, the project owner is also needed to be ensured about the ability and stability in the organization to deliver a project.
Organizational structures
Organizational structure is defined as a system that outlines the execution of activities to direct an organization towards organizational specific goals. The activities under the organizational structure can include roles, rules, and responsibilities. Based on the organizational structure, the flow of information inside an organization is decided.
Different types of organizational structures like hierarchical, functional, divisional, horizontal, matrix, team-based and network organizational structures exist. All the organizational structures have different functionality and influence over organizations. Based on the organizational approach and objectives, the organizational structure requires to exist in organizations (Young, 2016). The organizational structure existing in Prime Group is based on the divisional structure. This is because the organization performs its work with the presence of different teams and departments.
The organizational structure is considered to be one of the major reasons for complications in communications and internal competition in the company. This is why the organization requires to focus on executing its work with the consideration of a different organizational structure.
The matrix organizational structure can be effective for the company to solve the issues and execute the projects. Theoretically, the organizational structure is considered effective to recognize the need of project managers. However, a project manager does not have full control or authority over a project. It can be effective for the project manager to avoid an autocratic approach to execute projects. Further, the project-specific needs can also be identified by the project managers with a simplified approach if the matrix structure exists (Meredith, et al., 2017). The matrix-based organizational structure involves a format of work where employees report to two or more managers.
It helps in segregating the aspects of a project to properly oversee every important object of a project. With the presence of a matrix-based organizational structure, the organization can also have backup options to execute the project. Based on the assessment of stakeholders as well as the needs of employees, the organization can develop a team from a number of teams to execute the project.
Team roles
The team roles represent the responsibilities and assignments provided to the members of a team while walking across a group activity or project (Belbin, 2012). Teamwork is a critical component of organisational work for the successful accomplishment of the organisational goals and objectives including the delivery of seamless services to the clients.
Prime Group had been facing challenges in the area of teamwork that had resulted in delays and challenges to the client projects. This is due to the lack of coordination among the existing employees and the culture of blame across the organisation. The Belbin team roles advocate 9 team roles based on behavioural attributes that are important in the progress of a team. Identification of the team role of an employee in the project team is crucial for the assignment of the proper role and duties based on the expertise and knowledge of the individual members (Meslec & Curşeu, 2015).
This can be possible at the project management organisation by taking feedback from the existing employees and conducting an observer assessment. The first team role is that of a resource investigator including the personnel who use their inquisitive nature for generating new ideas. The people with this steamroll display the strengths of being outgoing and enthusiastic while the allowable weaknesses include being the over-optimistic and potential loss of interest.
The teamwork among the team roles includes the persons who help the team to work together and have the strength of being diplomatic and cooperative. These people have the allowable weaknesses of being in diseases in crafts situations (Belbin, 2012). A coordinator is a person in the team who focuses on the objectives of the overall team and the project for delegating work to the other team members according to their expertise.
The plant team role includes the group members who are highly creative at solving problems and have the strengths of being creative and imaginative for solving difficult challenges (Pandey & Karve, 2017). The allowable weaknesses for these people include ignoring incidentals along being preoccupied.
Monitor evaluator is a role that requires the delivery of impartial judgements and these people required the strengths of being sober and strategic whereas the allowable weaknesses for them include the lack of ability to inspire others. The specialist role belongs to the individuals having in-depth knowledge about a project area and the strengths include being dedicated while the allowable weakness is the potential dwelling on the technicalities (Belbin, 2012).
The role of the shaper requires the delivery of the necessary drivers for the team for ensuring momentum and it requires the person to have a challenging and dynamic attitude. An implementer is a person who executed the workable strategies with reliability whereas the complete finisher is an individual who works for perfection and performs the quality checks for scrutinizing the errors (Senaratne & Gunawardane, 2015).
Assignment of the roles and responsibilities according to the Belbin team roles based on the nine types would eliminate the issues surrounding internal competition and improve the commitment and collaboration among the employees (LEVI, 2014). All the team roles might not be needed to be located at all times but the implemented and complete finisher along with the monitor evaluator and plant are required for ensuring the continued progress in the projects undertaken by the company along with the reduction of delays.
Communication
Organisational communication is defined as the process of communication in the organisations internally among the employees and the supervisors that includes training modules along with interpersonal communication among the management and the staff (Marlow, et al., 2017). Professional communication in organisations includes writing emails and communicating directly with the customers and other official communication.
The lack of proper communication and feedback within an organisation can create multiple misunderstandings and risk the delivery of services to the customers. Prime Group suffers from the lack of having clearly established communication channels within the organisation leading to a communication gap among the functional line managers.
The organisation predominantly follows bureaucratic communication in which a high-level formal structure is followed for communication which is generally transmitted through the top executives via the functional line managers to the employees. The hierarchical approach to communication leads to many gaps and challenges including the distortion of Information and till it reaches the bottom line.
The bureaucracy in communication has eliminated the impossible structure leading to the establishment of a clear set of rules for controlling the workers (Misra & Srivastava, 2018). This is resulted in controlling the emotional oriented behaviours of the employees leading to the unpredictability in behaviour along with the nationality.
This can be related to the case study scenario as the functional manager working with the bottom line find faults in their peers instead of working together to solve the problems of the client. Bureaucracy is important to some level within the organisation while establishing the communication structure for controlling the workers along with the establishment of a predictable chain of command. However, this does not have room for feedback despite the promotion of standardization in the workplace.
The functional approach to corporate culture represents the perspectives surrounding culture as an indispensable aid to the organisation and its communication structure for enhancing the unification among the workers. This communication theory helps to improve the performance of the workers by establishing a strong organisational culture of collaboration and communication (Harris & Sherblom, 2018).
This also relates to the identification of the team roles of the organisational employees among each other for providing support and collaboration that also support the business environment and project service delivery. Some organisations across the world have achieved the benefits of a functional approach to corporate culture including Coca-Cola and Virgin Atlantic that enable them to achieve highly competitive advantage and growth.
Conflict resolutions
Organisational conflicts can be caused by a multitude of factors including the lack of agreement of two or more employees or management staff regarding a particular idea or decision (Masuda & Kostopoulos, 2016). The other causes of conflicts within organisations might include the disagreement regarding the assignment of roles and responsibilities along with the disapproval over the approach undertaken for completing work or reimbursement. Contract management is the process of timely intervention during a conflict for reducing the negative implications and increasing the positive aspects of the disapproval. Conflict management is an important component of leadership and strategic management within an organisation.
From the case study, it is evaluated that there are constant conflicts among the separate departments of the project delivery organisation. The functional line managers of various departments like marketing and engineering along with administration and R&D always remain engaged in conflicts with the CEO not being able to devise a solution.
Conflict management is important for achieving the organisational goals of delivering unique solutions to the critical challenges of the clients and optimising team performance. Attracting International clients would require the organisation to deliver excellent quality and differentiated value offerings that can only be possible by utilising the specialised skills and attributes of the individual employees working across the different departments under the functional line managers (Runde & Flanagan, 2012).
This would also require a constant flow of creative information and interpersonal communication among the organisational departments. The intervention of the organisational leaders would improve the situation of conflict management within the organisation as the adoption of the required conflict management styles would lead to the derivation of the positive aspects of the conflict.
The multiple approaches of conflict resolution within an organisation include competition during which one party seeks to satisfy their interest regardless of the implications on the other whereas the collaborating aspect of conflict resolution includes a winning situation for both parties. The compromise leads to both the parties winning and giving up on a particular aspect whereas avoiding leads to one or both the parties suppressing the conflict (Wong, et al., 2018). Accommodating is a conflict management style in which one party surrenders to the other party.
Collaboration is the best type of conflict management due to achieving positive gains from the conflict for both parties. The servant leadership style represents the concept of organisational leaders being highly effective when they serve the people including the organisation on stakeholders and employees along with the customers. This includes the delivery of better service to the people in comparison to attaining power.
The servant leadership style is suitable as a tool of conflict management and resolution within organisations as it delivers an impartial perspective to the leader. This impartial perspective is extended by the organisational leader to both the parties for working collaboratively and building trust. The project delivery organisation is in dire need of collaboration and trust among the functional departments and their managers for the delivery of innovative solutions to international clients.
Three recommendations for Prime Group’s future teams
Based on the analysis of the company’s project team development and management approach, it can be said that the organization lacks in a number of areas which leads to internal competition, the absence of effective leadership. Considering the issue of internal competition between the employees, it can be said that the organization requires to focus on adopting certain employee engagement activities to improve the relationship between employees and departments.
Implementing recognition programmes, as well as arranging workplace games or parties should be considered for the purpose. Prime Group can organize workplace games and parties which will help in bringing the employees closer to each other. Further, the recognition programmes should be implemented to encourage the employees in working their respective work with proper responsibilities.
The CEO of Prime Group is recommended to apply the functional approach to corporate culture for facilitating the project delivery company to establish a shared vision and values among the organisational workers while also creating effective rights and rituals within the workplace.
The application of the theory would allow the project delivery company to establish the organisational communication framework based on the cultural perspective and interpersonal special it is of the employees. This theory is based on the presumption of effective communication reflecting the organisational culture to the establishment of a bottom-up approach and cross-disciplinary approach that can promote communication among the functional line managers and enable the organisation to achieve competitive advantage.
Based on the high instances of conflict in the case study organisation, the organisation and leaders are recommended to adopt a servant leadership style for creating a positive atmosphere in the workplace and display a helpful attitude towards the employees. The servant leadership approach is recommended for the reduction of interpersonal conflicts among the employees with the implementation of a serving attitude and the goal of collaboration and collaborative learning culture. This can be achieved with the establishment of congruent goals across the organisations and focusing on the professional development of the employees for achieving a unified consensus.
Conclusion
This report has analysed the development and management of the team in Prime Group, a project management organization. The organization is facing issues regarding internal competition between the departments and functional line managers. The presence of different departments along with the lack of intention among the employees to work collaboratively is a major reason for the issue. The divisional organizational structure of the organization also makes it difficult to communicate and execute the tasks.
The leadership approach of the firm is also required to change to a participative leadership style for a better relationship with employees and managers to execute the tasks. From the report, it is concluded that the project delivery company needs to follow Belbin’s team roles for assigning the responsibilities and roles to the different team members and employees for increasing collaboration.
The organisation is also concluded to lack of proper communication framework among the team members and needs to adopt a functional approach to corporate culture for enhancing performance and unification among the employees. The organisational conflicts at the project delivery company have been concluded to be suitable for mitigation with the integration of a servant leadership approach.
References
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