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MODULE-5
STAFFING IN SOFTWARE PROJECTS
Staffing deals with the appoint personnel for the position that is identified by the organizational
structure. It involves: Defining requirement for personnel. Recruiting(identifying, interviewing,
and selecting candidates)

Staffing is the most important part of project management. It is the staff who will actuallycomplete
the project work.

MANAGING PEOPLE:

 A project team consists of different individuals with varying levels of authority.

 People management is also referred to as human resources management and includes the
recruitment, training, and management of employees.
 A company is made up of people of different ages, with various profiles and customs.
Some work well in teams, others are motivated by challenging goals, others are more
analytical.
 Its aims to manage the behavior of professionals and create teams that are more satisfied,
motivated, qualified and engaged with organizational goals, generating better results for the
business.

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.
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RESPONSIBILITIES OF PROJECT TEAMS:

 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 analyze the most productive way of doing manual tasks.

Taylor’s three basic objectives:

1. To select the best man for the job.

[Link] instruct them in the best methods

3. To give incentives in the form of higher wages to the best workers.

KEY ELEMENT:

 People
 Structure
 Technology
 External Environment
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i. PEOPLE:

Dynamic in nature as they interact with each other and also influence each [Link]
may form, change and dissolve. Organizations are established to serve the people.

ii. 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, withpeople

at each level having their own objectives.

iii. 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.

iv. TECHNOLOGY:

Managing technology is an important job of any management. It is an important element

of any unit. Selection of technology, procurement, installation, operationand maintenance
is important and no compromise should be made in procuring latest or advanced
technology.

 OBJECTIVES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

 Job Satisfaction.
 Finding the Right People.
 Organizational Culture.
 Leadership and Conflict Resolution.
 Understanding the Employees Better.
 Understand how to Develop Good Leaders.
 Develop a Good Team.
 Higher Productivity.
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BEST METHODS OF STAFF SELECTION

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 worsttimes too.
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MOTIVATION

 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.

 Motivation will help him achieve his personal goals. If an individual is motivated, he will
have job satisfaction. Motivation will help in self-development of individual. An
individual would always gain by working with a dynamic team.

 It’s the key to the success of any organization, after all, motivated employees work better.
Many people believe that motivation is only achieved with financial incentives, but the
methods for achieving this goal are diverse and may vary according to the employee
profile and company budget.

 The Four Forms of Motivation

1. Extrinsic Motivation

If an employee is motivated to succeed based on influences like increased financial gain (such
as commission or bonuses) or promotions, they are likelyextrinsically motivated.

2. Intrinsic Motivation

If an employee is motivated by an internal desire to succeed or desire self-actualizationor self-

exploration, they are likely intrinsically motivated.

3. Introjected Motivation

This form of motivation is more common than you think, and that’s not a good thing for
employee morale or productivity. Introjected motivation is a negative internalized
motivation, similar to negative reinforcement. The stimulus for introjected motivation may take
many forms, such as internalized guilt around a previous negative interaction with a boss or
colleague or consistent negative feedback without positive action items.

4. Identified Motivation

Sometimes called “self-determined motivation,” this is the most complex of the motivation forms
because it builds up over time. Identified motivation presents itself asfeeling the need to perform or
accomplish a task but not acting on the need until the desire to do so actualizes.
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THE OLDHAM HACKMAN JOB CHARACTERISTIC MODEL

OBJECTIVES:

 It helps in creating job design strategies.

 It improves job satisfaction.
 It enables job enrichment.
 Better delegation of tasks.
 Clear organizational information.
 It allows for straightforward performance appraisals and goal setting.

There are five components of model. Each one of these components can be adjusted to recalibrate a
job, making it more engaging for the employee.

 Skill variety
 Task identity
 Task significance
 Autonomy
 Feedback

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JOB MODEL:

1. Skill variety

This is the amount of variety in any one job. A grocery store cashier may have a job with little
variety–they scan groceries and deal with customer inquiries all day. The store manager, on the
other hand, needs to apply a variety of skills to carry out their daily tasks. They may handle
customer complaints; create employee schedules, order products, train new managers, and
numerous other tasks.

2. Task Identity

How much of one task does any individual employee accomplish? For example, if a designer
designs an entire room, that has a higher task identity than just designing the window
treatments.

3. Task Significance

What type of impact does this task have on the entire company or the customers? Jobs with higher
task impact tend to have a broader reach. For example, a chief marketing officer’s work affects the
whole company and has high task significance.
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4. Autonomy

Higher task autonomy brings a feeling of ownership and responsibility. Lower levels of autonomy
lead to feeling micromanaged and stifled.

5. Feedback

Feedback can come from traditional channels, such as manager feedback and customer
satisfaction surveys. Or, feedback can come as a natural result of the work. If a janitor’s job is to
clean the bathrooms, they can take a look at the bathroom and see how effective they are at their
job.
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 STRESS:

Stress is nothing but a condition where people get excited emotionally or in other words
” a disturbed mental state” affecting their well-being.

The agents may be physiological which can be medically treated or emotional which we are
more worried about as emotionally unstable individuals cannot think properly which again leads
to physical distress.

Project Manager (PM) is no doubt one of the most stressful jobs out there as the PM is directly
responsible and accountable for the success or failure of a project. Some PMs believe that they
can handle and cope with the high level of stress but there are some who are ignoring or
refusing to recognize that they are under stress. The experience of stress is not only impacting
cognitive and behavioral performance, it can also have a negative impact on your personal
health, wellbeing, and family life.

CAUSES OF STRESS :

 Unrealistic timeline
 Working in a matrix system which PM does not have the full control of theresources
 Lack of resources – human and/or equipment
 Proliferation of virtual teams and cross cultural influences
 Inter-group conflict in organization
 Project environment.
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HEALTH AND SAFETY

 Health and safety issues that relate to the conduct of a project is considered here.
 Responsibility for safety must be clearly defined at all levels. Top management must be
committed to the safety policy.
 The delegation of responsibility for safety must be clear.
 Those to whom responsibilities are delegated must understand the responsibilities and agree
to them.
 Job description should include definitions of duties related to safety.
 Deployment of a safety officer and the support of experts in particular technical areas.
 Consultation on safety.
 An adequate budgeting for safety costs.

 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:

1. Responsibilities that everyone has.

2. Responsibilities that people in organizations have.
3. Responsibilities relating to your profession.

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

 Accountability
When things go wrong, its 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 conductand 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 effect the health and safety of project team members or the public.
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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 andmitigate them.

 And not only that, but you’ll also be bringing a lot more creativity to the table.
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DECISION MAKING:

It is a process by which individuals select a particular course of action among several alternatives
to produce a desired result.

Purpose:

To direct the resources of an organization towards a future goals and reduce thegap between
the actual position and desired position and the desired position through effective problem
solving and exploiting business opportunities

A decision is a choice made from various available activities and are closely related to:

 Goals and objectives of organization

 Organizational Structure
 Organizational Design
 Budgets
 Time Period
 Staff - Salaries, Wages, Working hours, promotion, demotion
 Research And design.

Importance of Decision Making:

 Optimum and efficient utilization of resources

 Aids in Problem Solving and facing business challenges
 Helps in business growth and achieving objectives
 Facilitates effective management and innovation
 Motivates employees and improves overall business performance.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

1. Organizational structure refers to the way a company or organization is set up.

2. It is usually defined using a hierarchy chart that shows how groups or functions report
within the organization.
3. Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual performance and
activity within an organization.
4. It is the systematic study and application of knowledge about how individuals and groups
act within the organizations where they work.
5. OB draws from other disciplines to create a unique field.
6. An organizational structure could be described as the official line of authority and control
within an organization.
7. 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.
8. Project management structures tell us how reporting relationships work in a
particular organization.

Levels:

 Individual Level Analysis

Includes individual level analysis such as characteristics and behaviors of employees as well as
thought processes that are attributed to them, such asmotivation, perceptions, personalities, attitudes
and values.

 Group Level Analysis

Includes group dynamics, decisions, power, organizational politics, conflict,leadership, communication,
etc.

 Organization System Level Analysis

Includes how people structure their working relationships as well as howorganizations interact with
their external environment forces.
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Types:

1. Functional Organizational Structure

2. Matrix Organizational Structure
 Balanced matrix
 Strong Matrix
 Weak Matrix

3. Project Based Organization Structure

DISPERSED AND VIRTUAL TEAMS

A virtual team (aka “virtual workgroup”) is a group of people who participate in commonprojects
by making collaborative efforts to achieve shared goals and objectives. These people perform
tasks and jobs in a virtual work environment created and maintained through IT and software
technologies.

Types of Virtual Teams:

 Global virtual team:

As a rule, these teams are located in different countries and cities all over the world. They can be
employees of several companies which join their efforts and resources (incl. people, technology,
money) to perform shared outsourced projects and achieve common goals.

 Local virtual team:

Members of a local virtual workgroup usually belong to the same company. Thatcompany is either
big or small, and it has enough resources (technology is essential) to establish and maintain virtual
team workplaces and organize its employees into a productive remote group.
The combination of activities for assembling, building, organizing, controlling, and supervising
the virtual teamwork is called virtual team management. It is an essentialpart of project team
collaboration.

 Advantages:
 Reduced rents and technology savings
 Lower transportation costs and less time spent on commuting
 Instant communication and information exchange.
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 Disadvantages:

 Poorer control of virtual groups (this may result in reduced trust in

virtual teams), because there are no direct control tools
 Problems to establish good virtual team leadership (comparing to
“Physical” team leading)
 Unfitness to the projects which require on-site control and
management.

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.
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COMMUNICATION PLANS:

A project management communication plan identifies how important information will be

communicated to stakeholders throughout the project. It also determines who will be receiving the
communication, how those people will receive it, when they'll receive it, and how often they should
expect to receive that information.

Steps for successful communication plans:

1. Define the Purpose and Approach

Plan Purpose is the first item in the document. I would however, highly recommend creating it
last, so that you can pull from the entire plan and make sure that you’ve hit all the high points.

2. List Goals and Objectives

Above mentioned are the Components of Project Communication

 Promote awareness of the project inside the company or outside of it

 Increase employee acceptance or increase project traction company-wide
 Give an avenue for stakeholders to provide feedback

[Link] and Assign Roles

Some roles will have more responsibility than others. The project lead will be expected to
contribute more through the course of the project than the project sponsor. On the other hand,
each individual or group will be expected to provide the proper communication when it’s
requested.

4. Determine Methods

The tools and methods you’ll be using can span a variety of mediums. Some messages will need
to come in the form of presentations or meetings. Others can be accomplished using an email or
text message.
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5. Pinpoint High Level Communications

Taking things a step further for important communication events, you must clearly outline the
methods, frequency, and roles within the project communication plan. These can be internal
status reports, staff meetings, project update presentations, or the kick- off.

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.

Qualities 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
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 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

2. 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.

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