HR’s Role in Project
Management
Introduction
Introduction
• The project manager works with the project team and other stakeholders
to determine and use the appropriate generally recognized good practices
for each project.
• Determining the appropriate combination of processes, inputs, tools,
techniques, outputs and life cycle phases to manage a project is referred to
as “tailoring” the application of the knowledge.
Why is project management important?
• Can’t we just brief the team doing the work and manage them ourselves?
It’ll be loads cheaper.
• So, why is project management important?
Why is project management important?
• Running projects without good project management is a false economy.
• It’s often thought to be an unnecessary burden on the budget, and there’s
no doubt it can be expensive – as much as 20% of the overall project
budget.
• But can you afford to not have project management?
Project Management
• Great project management means much more than keeping project
management’s triangle in check, delivering on time, budget, and scope.
• It unites clients and teams, creates a vision for success and gets everyone
on the same page of what’s needed to stay on track for success.
• The human resources in Projects do just that. Their proper management is
key to project success.
Why HRM in Project Management?
HRM in Projects
• Human Resource in project management is important because it ensures what is being
delivered, is right, and will deliver real value against the business opportunity.
• Project management is important because it ensures there’s rigor in architecting projects properly so
that they fit well within the broader context of our client’s strategic frameworks.
• Good project management ensures that the goals of projects closely align with the strategic goals of
the business.
• Project management is also important because it brings leadership and direction to projects.
Without it a team can be like a ship without a rudder; moving but without direction, control or
purpose.
• Leadership allows and enables a team to do their best work. Project management provides leadership
and vision, motivation, removing roadblocks, coaching and inspiring the team to do their best work.
HRM in Projects
• HR in Project management is the mother of all system of processes,
practices, technologies, and skills that focuses on the development of that
unique product – the project.
• A good human resource plan is the glue that holds a project together and
ensures quality and objectives are met on time and on budget.
• There is a 50% failure rate of projects that do not underline project
management skills in organizations of which HR is in. Any type of project
human resource management methodology is better at meeting budget,
scope, quality standards and expected benefits while staying on schedule.
What is a Project?
• A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
• Unique product, service, or result.
• Projects are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables.
• An objective is defined as an outcome toward which work is to be directed, a strategic
position to be attained,
• a purpose to be achieved, a result to be obtained, a product to be produced, or a service to
be performed.
• A deliverable is defined as any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to
perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.
Examples of deliverables
• Fulfillment of project objectives may produce one or more of the following deliverables:
• A unique product that can be either a component of another item, an enhancement or correction to
an item, or a new end item in itself (e.g., the correction of a defect in an end item);
• A unique service or a capability to perform a service (e.g., a business function that supports
production or distribution);
• A unique result, such as an outcome or document (e.g., a research project that develops knowledge
that can be used to determine whether a trend exists or a new process will benefit society); and
• A unique combination of one or more products, services, or results (e.g., a software application, its
associated documentation, and help desk services
Examples of projects include but are not
limited to
• Developing a new pharmaceutical compound for market,
• Expanding a tour guide service,
• Merging two organizations,
• Improving a business process within an organization,
• Acquiring and installing a new computer hardware system for use in an organization,
• Exploring for oil in a region,
• Modifying a computer software program used in an organization,
• Conducting research to develop a new manufacturing process, and
• Constructing a building.
Temporary endeavor
• The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project has a definite beginning and end.
• Temporary does not necessarily mean a project has a short duration. The end of the project is
reached when one or more of the following is true:
• The project’s objectives have been achieved;
• The objectives will not or cannot be met;
• Funding is exhausted or no longer available for allocation to the project;
• The need for the project no longer exists
• The human or physical resources are no longer available; or
• The project is terminated for legal cause or convenience.
Projects drive change
• Projects drive change in organizations. From a business perspective, a
project is aimed at moving an organization from one state to another state
in order to achieve a specific objective.
• Before the project begins, the organization is commonly referred to as
being in the current state. The desired result of the change driven by the
project is described as the future state.
HR’s Role in Project Management
• Roads, electricity, water works. buildings, airports, rails, cars on the
streets all are projects or have been once.
• Examinations, shopping, birthdays, employment and shouldering our
responsibilities are all projects that spread all over our lives.
• In fact, life is itself an endless stream of projects – a river of success and
failures. As long as humanity is alive, projects will be created, they will
succeed and many may fail- but the cycle will never stop.
HR’s Role in Project Management
• Effective human resources management (HR) plays a crucial role in the
success of project operation systems.
• HR's job is not to fix the problem but to ensure that managers have the
skills needed to respond effectively to employees and that employees
themselves have the skills to overcome challenges.
• In any project setting, the Human Resource department fills a variety of
personnel needs that both employers and employees encounter
Examples of Specific Human Resources Management
Functions
• –Recruitment and Selection
– Employee Orientation
– Benefits & Compensation Management
– Training and Performance Monitoring
– Professional Development Programs
– Education about Local, District, State and Central Regulations
– Work place Safety
– Staff Morale & Retention
Keys to Project Success
Importance of HRM in projects
• Project human resource management represents a relatively new transformation in the field of
human resource management.
• It addresses itself to the role human resource management systems play in a project performance,
with a spotlight on the alignment of human resources as a means of gaining competitive advantage.
• This is just so because organizations are becoming aware that successful human resource policies
and practices may increase performance in different areas such as productivity, quality and finance.
• And contemporary organizations increasingly recognize human resource capabilities as a source of
sustained competitive advantage; about 80% of an organization's value is attributable to intangible
assets, including human assets and capital.
HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• Includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team which is
comprised of the people with assigned roles and responsibilities for completing the
project.
• Project team members may be assigned full or part-time jobs, and may be added or
removed from the team as the project progresses depending on when and where their
skill sets are required.
• Participation of team members during planning adds their expertise to the process and
strengthens their commitment to the project and are also referred to as the project's staff.
Although specific roles and responsibilities for the project team members are assigned,
the involvement of all team members in project planning and decision making is
beneficial.
Case study
• Services Provided: Program & Portfolio Management, Project Management, Project Recovery, Resource Management,
Business Strategic Planning & Consulting, and PMO
• Advisory services.
• Company: As a multi-billion-dollar world leader in manufacturing automotive components, this company’s customer base
includes virtually every major manufacturer in the global automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway markets.
• Challenge: As the company emerged from bankruptcy protection, its Human Resources (HR) executives wanted to reduce
service costs, which were averaging US $20 million annually. They developed a strategy to “right-source” key HR
functions that had been outsourced to a single contractor. By bringing the majority of services back in-house, and
partnering with an array of best-in-class service providers for select elements of the program, the company expected to both
improve HR services and cut costs dramatically. Overall, there were 15 discrete projects included in the HR Transformation
Program, encompassing all aspects of HR service delivery, such as Payroll, Benefits, Health and Welfare, and Pensions.
After eight months, however, the entire program was in danger. Key milestones and deliverables were not being met for any
of the projects, and critical cost overruns were adding up. With just four months remaining to complete the entire HR
Transformation Program, the CIO realized that the organization did not have the program management expertise to achieve
the expected results.
Questions
• What did you learn? Strengths and weaknesses.
• If you were manager in that organization, what would be your strategy to
deal with challenge?
• Give suggestions on the basis of your experience.
Steps in HRM of Projects
• Plan Human Resource Management—The process of identifying and documenting
project roles, responsibilities, required skills, reporting relationships, and creating a
staffing management plan.
• Acquire Project Team—The process of confirming human resource availability and
obtaining the team necessary to complete project activities.
• Develop Project Team—The process of improving competencies, team member
interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.
• Manage Project Team—The process of tracking team member performance, providing
feedback, resolving issues, and managing changes to optimize project performance.
• HRM of Projects has traditionally had two roles; a management support
role, providing the organization with competent people to undertake the
work processes, and an employee support role, involving employee well
being.
Keys resources
• People
• Money
• Equipment
• Facilities
• Materials and supplies
• Information
• Technology.
Who to Include On a Project
•
• Generally, a project will involve “significant contributors” who play a significant role in
the development and execution of the project, some key personnel who are also
significant contributors but with a bigger role, consultants and other external bodies or
people involved indirectly in the project.
• Key personnel are the individuals who contribute to the execution or the scientific
development of the project. Their contribution should also be measurable in a practicalh
way.
• Generally, the program director (in a company that sells services) or a product manager
(in a company selling goods) is considered key personnel in the project. Further, no
project can succeed without the inclusion of many other key personnel, in their
equivalent forms depending on the scope, scale and type of project.
THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN A
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN (PMP)
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
• People have been undertaking projects since the earliest days of organized
human activity.
• Large complex projects such as building the pyramids of Egypt and the
Great Wall of China are larger ones but in our own lives we speak of
everyday projects like sending one’s children through college or planning
a wedding and executing it. Even going shopping is a project.
What is included
• The Objective- What it is that we are going to buy. ENDRESULT or
GOAL
• Where will we acquire it? SITE and LOCATION
• How will we travel there? TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
• What will we use to complete the transaction? FINANCE
• And who will go there and come back. HR- Human Resource
• Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
techniques applied to project activities in order to meet the project
requirements.
• Project management is a process that includes planning, putting the project plan
into action, and measuring progress and performance. Applying good project
management discipline is the way to help reduce the risks.
• Having good project management skills does not completely eliminate
problems, risks, or surprises. The value of good project management is that you
have standard processes in place to deal with all contingencies.
PMP
• One of the most fundamental parts of managing any project including much of the
above is the project management plan or PMP.
• PMPs serve as the roadmap for the project and guide it along its way to
completion. They may seem complex and time-consuming, however in the long-
term their benefits do not go unnoticed.
• MP, then, is a formal part of the project that is created by the project manager
along with inputs from key stakeholders and team members. It is an approved
document that serves as the roadmap for the project and defines the execution of
the project, how it will be monitored and controlled.
PMP
• It should not be avoided and is key to project success and without a
project plan the results have a higher chance of being disastrous.
• With a project plan, a project team will have a clearer understanding of the
project scope, how to approach the project and what it will take to reach
the project’s goals.
• When the project itself actually begins, its progress can be measured
against the project plan which in turn allows the manager and team to
make sure that they are keeping on track of schedule.
What to Include in a Project Plan
• The project management processes for the entire life cycle of the project.
• How each process will be implemented.
• What people, tools and techniques will be used in the project management process? The way in which
the work will be executed i.e. How, when, where, by whom and with what resources in order to reach
the project’s objectives.
• What will change management look like. How will the project be monitored and controlled?
• The way in which performance will be measured.
• Communication plan i.e. how the communication process will look, frequency and channels.
• Management review process.
• Risk management plan.
Human Resource Plan
• Human resource planning should serve as a link between human
resource management and the overall strategic plan of an organization.
• The Human Resource Plan may not be the most important aspect of the Project
Plan but it is one of the key elements to plan for because after the material is
ordered, the humans will move it or get it moved to achieve the desired result.
• This plan defines the human element on the project team and for how long each
will work so that the wage cost is clear. Also each sub- project or project part has
to be completed within a timeline which decides the number of people who will
work.
Human Resource Plan
• The human resource plan links to the organizational strategic plan and
contributes to employee morale and overall organizational success.
• HR planning is a process for assessing current and future human resource
challenges and how to use recruitment, succession planning and retention
strategies to address these issues, how to prioritize them and develop
strategic staffing solutions.
• Also it lays down the process of developing action plans for successfully
communicating, executing, and monitoring the human resource plan.