Project Leadership

MPM7002

1
Week 6
 Project teams & Teams Vs. Groups

2
Schedule
Sunday, 8.30
Introduction to Project Management to 12.30 –
Session 1 Chapters 1 & 2 November 05,
Leadership & Governance with Ethics
2023

Project Leadership and Leadership November 19,

Session 2 Chapters 3 & 5 2023
Behaviours and Skills
December 3,
Session 3 Leadership Theories and Styles Chapter 6 2023
December 10,
Session 4 Emotional Intelligence & Personality Traits Chapters 9 2023
December 17,
Session 5 Power to influence and Resistance to Change Chapter 7 & 8 2023

Chapters 12 & January 7 ,

Session 6 Project teams & Teams Vs. Groups 2024
13
Chapters 14 & January 14,
Session 7 Team Development Phases & Team Building 2024
15
Chapters 22 & January 21,
Session 8 Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving 2024
23
Session 9 Discussions on Assessments
3
Project Teams
 It is essential that the project leader
understands the characteristics and
features of project teams to be able to
lead the team effectively.
 We are all members of one team or
another; working in teams has become a
modern-day phenomenon.
Project Teams
 The project leader’s challenge is to
identify the team leadership techniques
that will encourage the project team to
work together towards achieving the
project’s objectives.
Project Teams
 A project team can be defined as a
number of people who work closely
together to achieve shared common goals.
 Through interaction and collaboration the
team strives to enhance its creativity,
innovation, problem solving, decision
making, support and work performance.
Project Teams
 From the definitions, a team implies a
number of people working together to
achieve results, while a group of people
(in project management speak) implies a
collection of individuals who, although
they might be working on the same
project, do not necessarily interact with
each other
Project Teams vs. Project Lifecycle
 The project lifecycle can be used to
subdivide the project teams by project
phase. This is a logical approach because,
by definition, each phase produces a
different set of deliverables
Corporate Vision Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Visionary and critical thinking skills to
enable them to produce a strategic
direction for the company.
 2. Ethical skills to enable them to define
corporate values that will underpin how
the company intends to do business
Corporate Requirements Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Market research skills to enable them
to identify and determine what actions
the company needs to take to maintain
competitive advantage.
 2. Entrepreneurial skills to enable them to
spot opportunities to exploit.
Business Case Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Problem-solving and networking skills
to enable them to develop innovative
solutions and business case proposals to
address the needs and opportunities
identified by the corporate requirements.
Project Feasibility Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Investigative and evaluation skills to
enable them to confirm the business case
is feasible within the defined constraints,
is making the best use of company
resources, and should give the investors a
return on their investment.
Project Definition Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Creative, innovative and design skills to
enable them to produce an efficient
design to achieve the operational
configuration requirements.
 2. Project planning skills to enable them
to produce a fully integrated project and
project build method.
Project Definition Phase
 The project lifecycle shows the relative
position of the teams within each phase,
and how their scope of work and
objectives within each phase are
interlinked by a common thread to
produce the phase deliverables
Project Construction and Execution
Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Project-specific technical and
construction skills to enable them to
manufacture or implement the project.
 2. Project production skills to develop an
efficient project execution strategy.
Project Commissioning and
Handover Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Quality inspection, testing and
observation skills to enable them to
confirm all the deliverables have been
made to the required condition.
 2. Contractual and documentation skills
to hand over the project.
Operation Start-up Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Production and operation management
skills to enable them to develop an
efficient operational start-up
implementation strategy.
Project Upgrade Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Market research skills to enable them
to identify and determine an optimal
project upgrade strategy to maintain
competitive advantage.
Project Disposal Phase
 Team members in this phase should be
selected for their:
 1. Technical and contractual skills to shut
down the project and remove it from
service.
 2. Environmental skills to enable them to
dispose of the project in an
environmentally friendly manner and
return the site to its original condition.
Why Companies Use Project Teams
 Project teams offer companies an efficient
and effective way of managing multi-
disciplined projects in a competitive
environment.
Why Companies Use Project Teams
 Volume of Work
 To complete the project on time the
volume of work needs to be distributed
and shared amongst a number of people.
 Range of Complementary Skills
 Teams are formed to bring together a set
of complementary skills and talents so
that the project will have all the available
competencies required to complete the
work
Why Companies Use Project Teams
 Creative Ideas
 Synergy
 Sounding Board
 Problem Solving
 Decision Making
Why Companies Use Project Teams
 Traditional functional organizations are
structured so that each worker only does
one specific job, but when working in
multi-disciplined project teams there is
greater flexibility as the members are
working next to people with different
skills
The Individual’s Purpose for Team
Membership
 Affiliation
 Ideas
 Support
 Camaraderie
 Fun
 Status
 Self-esteem
 Share Risk (continued…)
The Individual’s Purpose for Team
Membership
 Protection
 Motivation
 Emotional Support
 Interdependent
 Achieve Goals
 Teamwork
 Success
 Cohesion
 Social Skills
The Individual’s Purpose for Team
Membership
 The table outlines why many individuals
prefer to work in project teams.
 It should be mentioned, however, that not
everyone wants to work in a team –
some people prefer to work on their own
and be independent
Team Leader’s Ability
 In the past, corporations were
preoccupied with the ability of the
individual (particularly the leadership
qualities of the project manager)
 The qualities of a good project manager
would identify management abilities which
are mutually exclusive to any (normal)
individual
Conflicting Demands on the
Abilities of an Individual
 Highly intelligent But not too clever
 Forceful But also sensitive to people’s
feelings
 Dynamic But also patient
 Fluent communicator But also a good
listener
 Decisive But also reflective
 Expert In a wide range of different fields.
Benefits of Having a Team
 Selection - The team membership can be
selected with the required
complementary skills and the required
range of abilities.
 Shared Experience - A team can also
build up a store of shared and collectively
owned experiences, information and
judgment which can be passed on to new
team members through discussion and
closeout reports.
Benefits of Having a Team
 Synergy -Team synergy generates more
output than the sum of the individual inputs.
 Support - The team members can offer each
other a wide range of technical support.
 Renewal - A team can renew and
regenerate itself through new recruitment as
individual team members leave. In fact, for
the team to survive in the long term it must
change to reflect the needs of the market
and changing technology.
Team Charter
 The team charter outlines the purpose of
the project team and lays the ground
rules for the project team’s effective
operation.
 The team charter can be a simple
document outlining in a few words what
is required, or it can be a much larger
document defining precisely what is
required and how it should be carried out
Team Charter
1. Team Name
2. Team Motto
3. Team Objectives
4. Team Leadership
5. Team Roles
6. Responsibility and Authority
7. Team Ethics
8. Conflict Resolution
9. Stakeholders (continued….)
Team Charter
10. Resources
11. Constraints
12. Problem Solving.
13. Decision Making
14. Review
Why Teams Win
 Why are some teams successful and win
while other teams perform poorly and
lose?
 Is it luck, good judgment or something to
do with the composition, management
and leadership of the team?
Why Teams Win
 In the sports environment only one team
can win (by definition).
 But in the project environment, if winning
is quantified as achieving the project’s
goals (outlined in the project charter),
then with an effective project manager all
project teams could win
Why Teams Win
 Skills
 Leadership Style
 Strong Leader
 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - The project
manager is a charismatic leader who expects
the best from the team and unconsciously
transmits this expectation. The team
responds with pride and does whatever it
takes to complete the project successfully.
 Chairman
Why Teams Win
 Ideas
 Mental Abilities
 Compensation
 Problem Solving
 Decision Making
 Common Objectives
 Flexibility
 Cohesion.
 Rewards
 Complementarity
Why Teams Win
 Less Conflict
 Successful teams have a spread of
personalities and team roles, which gives
the team a balanced appearance. This
helps to provide checks and balances
which, in turn, reduce interpersonal
conflict.
 Balance
 Successful teams are able to balance the
task, the team and the individuals.
Why Teams Fail
 Although most of the reasons project
teams fail are the opposite to the reasons
why project teams win, there are some
other interesting reasons which might
come as a surprise
Why Teams Fail
 Mental Ability Problem Solving
Opportunities
 Inflexible Resource Availability.
 Education and Training.
 Unclear Purpose
 Resistance to Change.
 Negative Selection
 ‘A’ Team - Selecting a team of technical
experts can be counterproductive if they
have difficulty making mutually acceptable
decisions
Why Teams Fail
 Over Confidence
 Clever Leader - If team leaders impose
their views upon their teams, this might
discourage the members from
participating in the project, resulting in a
group of demotivated 'yes' men.
 Frustration
 Interpersonal Conflicts
Why Teams Fail
 Meetings - The main reason for project
meetings is to focus the collective skills of
the team on the common problems of the
project. If the meetings are poorly chaired
they will end up as time-wasting,
unproductive grumbling sessions.
 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
 Pointless Project
Why Teams Fail
 Lack of Trust
 Lack of Recognition
 Project Management - As projects grow in
size and complexity they increasingly rely
on effective planning and control systems
to process the information – without
these the project will end in chaos
 Negative Selection
Teams vs. Groups
Teams vs. Groups
 In the project environment, a team implies
a number of people working together to
achieve a common goal, while a group of
people implies a collection of individuals
who, although they might be working on
the same project, do not necessarily
interact with each other.
Teams vs. Groups
 Katzenbach and Smith (1993) define a
Team as:
 A small number of people with
complementary skills who are committed
to a common purpose, performance goals,
and approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable.
Teams vs. Groups
 Developing a team can take much
investment of time and energy, so we
need to question if we need a team for
every occasion.
 Both teams and groups can be used as
organization structures for effectively
managing projects
The Difference Between Groups
and Teams
 The terms project teams and project
groups are often used interchangeably to
describe a number of people who have
complementary skills and who work to
achieve a common goals
 The important distinction between a
team and a group is how the people are
managed and how they interact together,
because they might well be doing exactly
the same type of work.
Teams vs. Groups
 True teamwork implies participation and
empowerment to give the team members
sufficient authority and autonomy to
make their own decisions on a day-to-day
basis
 Group work implies that the project
manager is the key person with a number
of followers. All communication passes
through the project manager, and the
project manager makes all the decisions
 10 Significant Differences between the Attributes of Teams
and Groups (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993)
Real Teams Working Groups
Share leadership roles as they see fit Have a strong and clearly focused leader
Take mutual, collective accountability Take individual accountability
Create specific team objectives that Objectives imposed, mandated, granted or
They deliver themselves same as the broader organizational mission

Deliver collective products/outcomes Deliver individual products/outcomes

Encourage open-ended discussion and Run efficient meetings
active problem-solving meetings

Measure performance directly by Measure effectiveness indirectly by their

assessing collective products/outcomes influence on others
Discuss, decide and do real work Discuss, decide and delegate
Have open and honest dialogue Have polite discussions
Have fun working together, laugh a lot Just work
Can't wait to be together Meet because they have to.
Differences
 It is clear from these differences that a
group concentrates on delivering a task
with emphasis on efficiency.
 Efficiency is not always the best focus
because we might be working hard at
doing the wrong thing.
 Usually, the focus needs to be about doing
the right thing, or being effective.
Differences
 Effectiveness is measured by achievement
of the task through expectations set from
outside the group.
 Once the task is complete, there is no
reason for a group to continue to be
together.
 Indeed, such individuals can be members
of many different groups simultaneously.
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 Working Groups:
 Working groups are usually created by an
external mechanism for a specific purpose
or task. Once the task is completed, the
group can be disbanded.
 The working group provides only the
total of the ‘individual bests’ in the group
for their performance; there is no
interaction and therefore no synergy
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 The working group provides a comfortable
and low-risk environment where there is no
need for an individual to take responsibility
beyond their assigned accountability for
delivery of the assigned task
 There is no desire to extend beyond these
limitations for the group to have a common
purpose, a team approach or a feeling of
responsibility towards other members of the
group.
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 Pseudo Teams:
 If we require a team rather than a working
group, we need to develop commitment to
the team from all individuals and be
prepared for the risk of conflict within the
team
 It is unfortunate that many groups call
themselves teams, yet members are not
prepared to take these risks or make
personal commitments to the team. These
groups are at best pseudo teams.
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 The pseudo team is the weakest of all the
groups in terms of performance, often
because the energy used in interacting
with each other reduces the individual
performance of group members without
providing the desired joint team benefit
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 Potential Teams:
 A potential team realizes there is a
significant need to work as a real team
and makes the commitment to really try
to improve its performance.
 Research suggests that potential teams
are prevalent in organizations and, if a
team approach is suitable, we can see
some possible performance
improvements,
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 Real Teams:
 A real team is usually comprised of a
number of people who have
complementary skills and where each
individual exhibits the same level of
commitment to a common purpose and a
shared and agreed working approach for
which they are mutually accountable
Moving from Being a Group to
Being a Performing Team
 High-Performing Teams:
 A high-performing team is a ‘real’ team
that ‘has members who are also deeply
committed to each other’s personal
growth and success’
Should we use working groups or
teams ?
 If there are signs that a group is not
working like a team, it might be prudent
to try to improve the performance as a
working group, rather than trying to make
it into a team.
 Possibly, potential improvement in
performance as a team might not be
worth the risk if the group is not ready to
be a team
Should we use working groups or
teams ?
 Potential teams need to work actively
towards becoming a real team and their
priority must be in developing a common
purpose and approach
 Overcoming obstacles or responding
positively to failures can strengthen
potential teams.
Five characteristics are observed in
successful teams:
1. A team should involve a small number
of people (6–10) to provide a range of
skills.
2. A team should contain or develop
complementary skills in terms of
technical/functional expertise, problem
solving and decision-making skills and
interpersonal skills appropriate
for the task.
Five characteristics are observed in
successful teams:
3. A team should be committed to a
common purpose and performance goals
that are documented, agreed and shared.
4. Roles within the team should be clearly
defined and provide all that is needed to
ensure team success.
5. Team members should take mutual
responsibility. If it fails for one, it fails for
everyone.
Teams and real teams
 Teams will not become real teams until
they are mutually accountable.
 Real teams become high performing
teams when people are committed to the
team’s goals and each other.
 They practice teamwork and seem to
have extra energy reflected in their care,
support and concern for others.
How Can we Achieve Significant
Performance Results?
 Themes and Identity - Teams often adopt a
theme or mission that establishes and
conveys meaning about their purpose and
identity
 Enthusiasm and Energy Level - Teams both
work and play hard and with enthusiasm;
 Event-Driven Histories - Teams develop
stories about their successes and failures that
begin to define how they perceive
themselves and their performance
How Can we Achieve Significant
Performance Results?
 Personal Commitment - When there is
strong commitment to one another’s
development and success, there is always
enrichment of the team’s aspirations and
sense of purpose
 Performance/Results - Effective teams
need clearly established measures of
performance that set expectations.
Dangers of High Group Cohesion:
Groupthink
 When a team establishes a high level of
mutual commitment, there is a danger
that this cohesion can become more
important than the need to critically
evaluate its decisions and resulting actions
from a broader perspective.
 The notion is called ‘groupthink’
Causes of Groupthink
 Highly cohesive groups are much more
likely to engage in groupthink. The closer
the individuals, the less likely they are to
raise questions to break the cohesion.
 The group isolates itself from outside
experts and information.
 Strong leadership can provoke groupthink,
because the leader could promote his/her
own solution.
Have a great week
 Next week Session 7
 Team Development Phases & Team
Building
 Chapters 14 & 15

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