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Project Teams and Team Leadership

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About this lesson

Project manager's role and authority is based in part upon the team structure and team leadership requirements.

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Quick reference

Project Teams and Team Leadership

Projects managers must apply appropriate interpersonal skills to be effective. The leadership and interpersonal skills identified are of particular importance in the project environment.

When to use

Interpersonal skills are just that – skills used for interacting with other persons on the project. Some are needed for working with project team members, others with senior management or external stakeholders, and some are appropriate in every situation. Assess the situation and use the appropriate skills. On many projects, the project manager does not have direct managerial authority over most of the team members, so the need for interpersonal skills is heightened.  Most of the project management processes identify interpersonal skills as best practice tool and technique.

Instructions

The PMBOK® Guide has defined several variations of project teams:

  • Project Team: “A set of individuals who support the project manager in performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives.” 
  • Project Management Team: “The members of the project team who are directly involved in project management activities.”
  • Virtual Team: “Groups of people with a shared goal who fulfil their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face.”
  • Project Team Directory: “A documented list of project team members, their project roles, and communication information.”

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Glossary definition Pages 716, 717, 725. 

Manager or Leader

Effective project managers must also apply leadership skills.  This is not an "either-or" decision.  The project manager must apply both.

Management

Leadership

Direct using positional power

Guide, influence, and collaborate using relational power

Maintain

Develop

Administrate

Innovate

Focus on systems and structures

Focus on relationships with people

Rely on control

Inspire trust

Focus on near-term goals

Focus on long-term vision

Ask how and when

Ask what and why

Focus on bottom line

Focus on the horizon

Accept status quo

Challenge status quo

Do things right

Do the right things

Focus on operational issues and problem-solving

Focus on vision, alignment, motivation, and inspiration

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Table 3-1, page 64. 

Project Team Structure

Project teams are organized in many different ways.  Each organization approach has its strengths and weaknesses.  The project structure should depend upon the organizational culture, the size and scope of the project, and the maturity of the project manager and project team.  The table below shows many different structures and highlight some of the characteristics.  One point of clarification.  When discussing matrix teams, the terms weak, strong, and balanced refer to the authority of the project manager and are not meant to indicate any preference in approach or structure.

Organizational Structure Type

Project Characteristics

Work Groups Arranged for:

Project Mgr’s Authority

Project Mgr’s Role

Resource Availability

Who Manages Project Budget

Project Mgmt Admin Staff

Organic or simple

Flexible, people work side-by-side

Little or none

Part-time; may or may not have role like coordinator

Little or none

Owner or operator

Little or none

Functional

Job being done

Little or none

Part-time; may or may not be a designated job

Little or none

Functional Mgr

Part time

Multi-divisional

One of many

Little or none

Part-time; may or may not be a designate job

Little or none

Functional Mgr

Part-time

Strong Matrix

By job function

Moderate to high

Full-time designated role

Moderate to high

Project Mgr

Full-time

Weak Matrix

Job function

Low

Part-time; part of another job

Low

Functional Mgr

Part-time

Balanced Matrix

Job Function

Low to moderate

Part-time; embedded in function as a skill

Low to moderate

Mixed

Part-time

Project-Oriented

Project

High to almost total

Full-time designated role

High to almost total

Project Mgr

Full-time

Virtual

Network Structure with contact nodes

Low to moderate

Part-time or Full-time

Low to moderate

Mixed

Full-time or part-time

Hybrid

Mix of other types

Mixed

Mixed

Mixed

Mixed

Mixed

PMO

Mix of other types

High to almost total

Full-time designated role

High to almost total

Project Mgr

Full-time

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Table 2-1, page 47.   PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:04 Hi this is Ray Sheen, let's talk now about the structure of project teams and
  • 00:09 team leadership.
  • 00:11 You may be wondering, what does this have to do with the PMP exam?
  • 00:15 But one of the most common techniques cited in the processes,
  • 00:19 is the interpersonal and team skills best practice.
  • 00:22 Which means that all of this is testable.
  • 00:25 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK guide,
  • 00:28 has several definitions for project teams and team members.
  • 00:32 A PMBOK guide defines a project team, as a set of individuals, who support
  • 00:36 the project manager performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives.
  • 00:41 It goes on to define the project management team, as the members of
  • 00:44 the project team, who are directly involved in project management activities.
  • 00:49 So the project management team is not an independent group.
  • 00:52 It is a subset of the project team.
  • 00:54 Many people refer to it as the core team.
  • 00:57 The PMBOK Guide defines a virtual team, as a group of people with a shared goal,
  • 01:02 who fulfill their role with little or no time spent meeting face to face.
  • 01:06 The virtual project team is becoming quite common.
  • 01:09 This changes the dynamics associated with both management and leadership.
  • 01:13 More about that in a minute.
  • 01:15 One final definition is the project team directory.
  • 01:18 This is a documented list of project team members, their project roles, and
  • 01:22 communication information.
  • 01:24 Again, on a small project, this document is probably not needed.
  • 01:28 But on a large project, it is an important element in communication planning and
  • 01:31 execution.
  • 01:33 Let's now look at some key considerations when composing a project team.
  • 01:38 There're many ways to organize your project team.
  • 01:40 Factors to consider are the structure within your company, the authority and
  • 01:44 responsibility that the company is willing to give to the project manager, and
  • 01:48 the scope and complexity of the project.
  • 01:50 I've seen many different team structures.
  • 01:52 We'll look at a few of them on the next slide.
  • 01:55 The role involvement of project staff, will also take on different forms.
  • 01:59 The staff maybe full time dedicated to a project for the life of the project, or
  • 02:03 they maybe dedicated, but only for a short time or one phase.
  • 02:07 They maybe part time for the life of the project, or they
  • 02:10 may only be on a project for a few hours or days to perform one task or activity.
  • 02:15 And a project team may have some people in each of those categories.
  • 02:19 The last comment about the composition of the team, is that in today's environment,
  • 02:23 they're as likely to be virtual as they are collocated.
  • 02:27 So let's look at how project teams are structured.
  • 02:30 There are attributes like project manager's role and authority along with
  • 02:34 the resource availability, and the control of the budget.
  • 02:38 This table shows different types of project team structures.
  • 02:41 It then looks at how those structures are normally deployed throughout
  • 02:44 the organization.
  • 02:46 Let's consider each one.
  • 02:47 The first is the organic or simple project.
  • 02:50 This is just people working together to get something done.
  • 02:52 So since this is often an ad hoc team, there's little of any authority for
  • 02:56 project managers.
  • 02:58 The owner or operator maintains the authority.
  • 03:01 Next is the functional team, a very common approach.
  • 03:04 In this case, functional managers stay in control.
  • 03:06 The project manager has little authority.
  • 03:09 The functions control everything.
  • 03:11 The multi-divisional approach is just a functional project
  • 03:14 with people in multiple locations doing similar work.
  • 03:18 So let's switch to the matrix team structure.
  • 03:21 The PMBOK categorizes matrix structures as either strong, weak, or balanced.
  • 03:25 This refers to the authority of the project manager,
  • 03:28 not the effectiveness of the team.
  • 03:30 In a strong matrix, the project leader has moderate to high authority, and
  • 03:34 full time project management staff.
  • 03:36 Team members may still be in job functions, but
  • 03:39 they are being managed on a day to day basis by the project manager,
  • 03:42 while on a weak matrix, the project manager has very little authority.
  • 03:46 They are typically a coordinator, not a manager.
  • 03:49 Leadership behavior is much more critical to a weak matrix,
  • 03:52 since there is very little positional authority.
  • 03:55 A balanced matrix is halfway between a strong and weak matrix.
  • 03:59 It's not any better or worse than either one.
  • 04:01 Just the recognition that there is a continuum.
  • 04:04 Now, beyond the strong matrix, there is the project tie structure.
  • 04:08 In this case, everyone on the project reports to the project manager.
  • 04:12 The manager has high authority and total control.
  • 04:15 The virtual team instructor shown here in the PMBOK table, is similar to a weak or
  • 04:19 balance matrix from a leadership standpoint.
  • 04:22 From a team member perspective, team members work in communication nodes.
  • 04:27 Hybrid approach is just that, a hybrid of those above it, and
  • 04:30 is therefore a mixture of all the categories.
  • 04:33 Finally, the PMO structure does mix some of the other types,
  • 04:36 although it typically looks a lot like a projectized or strong matrix structure.
  • 04:41 Let's wrap this up by looking at the difference between leadership and
  • 04:43 management, as it applies to the project manager role.
  • 04:47 This table compares the types of behaviors and
  • 04:49 focus of attention on the part of the project manager.
  • 04:53 Some of these are considered to be management actions, and
  • 04:55 some are considered to be leadership actions.
  • 04:58 As we go down through the table, we see a contrast between the manager side and
  • 05:02 the leadership side.
  • 05:04 Management uses positional power, and leadership uses relational power.
  • 05:08 Managers maintain and administer, while leaders develop and innovate.
  • 05:12 Managers focus on systems and structures, and
  • 05:15 leaders focus on relationships and people.
  • 05:18 Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust.
  • 05:22 Managers focus on the near term, leaders focus on the long term vision.
  • 05:26 Managers ask how and when, while leaders ask what and why?
  • 05:30 Managers focus on the bottom line, leaders focus on the horizon.
  • 05:35 Managers work to support the status quo, leaders challenge the status quo.
  • 05:39 Managers do things right, leaders strive to do the right things.
  • 05:44 Managers focus on operational issues and problem solving,
  • 05:47 while leaders focus on vision alignment, motivation, and inspiration.
  • 05:52 Let's be clear, we're not saying one side of the table is good, and
  • 05:56 the other is bad.
  • 05:57 Project managers need to be doing both sides.
  • 06:00 It's just a mix of these two sides of the table,
  • 06:03 will change from time to time based on some project circumstances and conditions.
  • 06:06 When managed well, and the roles and
  • 06:11 responsibilities are clear, any of these team structures will work.
  • 06:15 When managed poorly, with confused roles and responsibilities and
  • 06:18 poor interpersonal relationships, all of these will be a disaster.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Project Manager
03m:59s
PMO and Project Governance
05m:15s

PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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