Student Version

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Managing
Project Teams

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All
rights reserved.
Where We Are Now

11–2
 High-Performing Teams
•  Synergy
Ø  1 + 1 + 1 = 10 (positive synergy)
Ø  1 + 1 + 1 = 2 (negative synergy)
•  Characteristics of High-performing Teams
1.  Share a sense of common purpose
2.  Make effective use of individual talents and expertise
3.  Have balanced and shared roles
4.  Maintain a problem solving focus
5.  Accept differences of opinion and expression
6.  Encourage risk taking and creativity
7.  Sets high personal performance standards
8.  Identify with the team

11–3
 Conditions Favoring Development of
High Performance Project Teams

•  Ten or fewer team members •  Members report only to the

project manager
•  Voluntary team membership
•  All relevant functional areas
•  Continuous service on the
are represented on the team
team
•  The project has a compelling
•  Full-time assignment to the
objective
team
•  Members are in speaking
•  An organization culture of
distance of each other
cooperation and trust

11–4
Building High-Performance Project Teams
•  Recruiting Project Members
Ø Factors affecting recruiting
•  Importance of the project
•  Management structure used to complete the project
Ø How to recruit?
•  Ask for volunteers
Ø Who to recruit?
•  Problem-solving ability
•  Availability
•  Technological expertise
•  Credibility
•  Political connections
•  Ambition, initiative, and energy
11–5
 Project Team Meetings

Managing
Establishing
Subsequent
Ground Rules
Meetings

Conducting
Relationship Planning
Decisions Project Decisions
Meetings

Managing Change Tracking

Decisions Decisions

11–6
 Establishing a Team Identity

Effective Use
of Meetings

Co-location of
team members

Creation of project
team name

Team rituals

11–7
 Managing Project Reward Systems
•  Group Rewards
Ø Who gets what as an individual reward?
Ø How to make the reward have lasting significance?
Ø How to recognize individual performance?
•  Letters of commendation
•  Public recognition for outstanding work
•  Desirable job assignments
•  Increased personal flexibility

11–8
Orchestrating the Decision-Making Process

Problem Identification

Generating Alternatives

Reaching a Decision

Follow-up

11–9
Managing Conflict within the Project Team
•  Encouraging Functional Conflict
Ø Encourage dissent by asking tough questions.
Ø Bring in people with different points of view.
Ø Designate someone to be a devil’s advocate.
Ø Ask the team to consider an unthinkable alternative
•  Managing Dysfunctional Conflict
Ø Mediate the conflict.
Ø Arbitrate the conflict.
Ø Control the conflict.
Ø Accept the conflict.
Ø Eliminate the conflict.
11–10
 Rejuvenating the Project Team
•  Informal Techniques
Ø Institute new rituals.
Ø Take an off-site break as a team from the project.
Ø View an inspiration message or movie.
Ø Have the project sponsor give a pep talk.
•  Formal Techniques
Ø Hold a team building session facilitated by an outsider
to clarify ownership issues affecting performance.
Ø Engage in an outside activity that provides an intense
common experience to promote social development of
the team.

11–11
 Managing Virtual Project Teams
•  Challenges:
Ø Developing trust
•  Exchange of social information.
•  Set clear roles for each team member.

Ø Developing effective patterns of communication.

•  Keep team members informed on
how the overall project is going.
•  Don’t let team members vanish.
•  Establish a code of conduct to avoid delays.
•  Establish clear norms and protocols for surfacing
assumptions and conflicts.
•  Share the pain.

11–12
 Project Team Pitfalls

Bureaucratic
Groupthink
Bypass Syndrome

Team Spirit Becomes

Going Native
Team Infatuation

11–13
 Key Terms

Brainstorming
Dysfunctional conflict
Functional conflict
Groupthink
Nominal group technique (NGT)
Positive synergy
Project kickoff meeting
Project vision
Team building
Team rituals
Virtual project team
11–14
Celebration Task Force Agenda

FIGURE C11.1

11–15