MODULE THREE PAPER 1

Module Three Paper

Donovan Felice

Arizona State University

PMG 321: Project Leadership, Strategy and Scope

Ben Pandya
Module THREE paper 2

Part I: Project Managers Manage People

Project Management is a process which involved two things, people, and projects. The nature of

the project determines the schedule, the decision-making, the processes and sometimes the

results. The people are what really create a project’s success. Part of a project manager’s role is

to utilize persons working on the project properly. This includes motivating the employees,

increasing the team size, solving problems or team building. It’s about influencing behavior.

Simulation

I have found in my experience in real life and with the simulation, the variables needed to be

productive are very human factors. A lot of influencing behavior for example can be increasing

meetings to produce a happier and more productive workplace. In my simulations it often made

things worse when I tried to be proactive. When I scheduled I knew the team members could

produce greater results than what they were doing, so I lowered the time window, but that

spiraled things out of control. In a week, they were stressed, too stressed to work or be

productive which resulted in a recovery period of about 6 weeks until they were stress free and

happy to work.

This for me was a learning opportunity. The happy people are, the less stress they have on

them, the more productive they are. In real life, I have felt a similar experience, being stressed

overworked for several weeks, tired and frustrated my work began to suffer. The productivity

especially suffered when I was reminded of the impending deadline. Much like the simulation,

workers are stressed when there is an unrealistic deadline. I have felt that myself. So, I now

know when I am a project manager that deadlines, stress, and happiness are a huge factor in

productivity. People are more important than the spreadsheets.

Module THREE paper 3

A Team

A team is much more than a group, it is a cohesive unit of individuals willing and able to work

together to achieve a common goal, or action. In, Project Management: Best Practices –

Achieving Global Excellence from the author Harold Kerzner (2010), it is stated, “Some

organizations are fond of saying” that we all belong and are a part of “the team” criticizing that it

is too often just “management-speak” (pg. 408). When companies say to their employees that

they are part of the team, it is likely just a façade, rarely are companies even devoted to creating

a team, or focused on individual parts of the team. However, there are companies that do put a

focus on teams, a “second nature” of the company, willing and able to create competitive

collaboration of groups (Kerzner, 2010, p. 408). In this sense, its not just a management and

collaboration but it’s also about “working around people” (Fried, 2022). Often our over-reliance

on people, or certain people, to get work done. Meaning, if one person moves still, everyone else

stops, they’re busy and everyone else tries to “stand still” (Fried, 2022). This was a parallel in the

simulations. In simulation B, employees would leave due to competition, as a result the stress on

the remaining employees could be so immense it would cause them to be less productive,

essentially standing still.

When reflecting on my own experience and my understanding of project management, a team is

more than it’s parts. How far a team can go despite its limitations of even individual parts failing,

a “velocity” (Warnert 2017). Natalie Warnert describes this velocity to be the team capacity, it is

the workload, and how far they can go before problems arise (Warnert, 2017). In the simulations

this would be, how long until employees become something other than green morale. The greater

the velocity of the team, the more morale they can sustain. This produces greater work output,

based on said velocity. The author also mentions how a plan should not commit teams to full
Module THREE paper 4

capacity of new work (Warnert, 2017). Meaning, when beginning new projects or plans its

important not to have everyone working on it. This is because, output will not meat the expected

roadmap early on, “humans are excitable and don’t like change” (Warnert, 2017). People need

time to adapt to new expectations, which is why a sudden change in project deadlines can be so

difficult in the simulation. To catch the team of guard and cause undue stress.

What I learned

I learned that ultimately, a project informs behavior as much as the people involved do.

Throughout the readings I have concluded that the people, their happiness, stress, productivity is

ultimately one of the key driving factors in producing workplaces with a greater measure of

efficacy. When stressed, confused, or otherwise distracted with something besides work,

similarly the work drags and follows behind. This became clear in the simulations, the readings,

and my own personal experience with work. It’s all about reaching the end state of a project, the

done, how that work gets done is important. Is it completed in a state of disarray, confusion,

dullness, or malignance of the project itself or in a state of productivity, happiness, and clarity?

The key breaking moment of many projects are at a point of weakness, not of strength. The

buffer time of projects, the nature of developing projects, tests, analysis and plans like covered in

prior modules are important. However just like the first few points of momentum in a project, a

few missteps can ruin it, lead to over-budget projects and nightmare projects. I learned that no

single person is perfect, as such a project is never perfect, but it is important to strive for a

workplace filled with meaning, inspiration, and a commitment to a project beyond its inception

and end. The work of many and the few are judged by those in charge. A project manager should

know their role in this work, this project and help guide it from failure. People are at the core of

every project that endure it.

Module THREE paper 5

References

Fried, J. (2022, January 1). Jason Fried. world.hey.com. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from
https://world.hey.com/jason

Kerzner, H. (2010). Behavioral Excellence. In Project Management Best Practices: Achieving

Global Excellence (2nd ed., pp. 399–420). essay, Wiley.

Warnert, N. (2017, August 20). Capacity versus Velocity US. Natalie Warnert. Retrieved January
24, 2023, from https://nataliewarnert.com/the-surprising-truth-about-what-de-motivates-
us/#page-content