1. According the case of the reluctant workers, the core skills that were at play include team building, leadership and organizational skills. Team building is an important role of the program manager. It involves a myriad of skills needed to identify, commit, and integrate all the task groups for successful project implementation (Kerzner, 2009, p. 149). Team building helps a project manager to build a team that works together towards achieving a common goal. Being a young project manager, Tim did not receive any respect from his team. From the case study, team building comes into play when Tim says that he cannot motivate his team. He explains employees clear off their desk and leave for home y 4:30 P.M. Tim also explains another scenario where his team would storm out of an important meeting because they did not want to miss their car pool. He also expresses his fears that his people cannot communicate anymore because he told them to come to him for help but none think they need help. Effective program management requires “effective communication, sincere interest in the professional growth of team members, and commitment to the project” (Kerzner, 2009, p. 149). Tim should work on his team building skills create a suitable atmosphere for his team.
Organization skills require the project manager to understand how an organization works and develop an effective working team. Unlike planning, organizational skills are predominantly important during initiation and formation of the project. In order to come up with an effective team, the project manager should integrate people from a number of different disciplines. Facilitation of these work teams requires open communication, well-defined program objectives, good program leadership, and support of senior management (Kerzner, 2009, p. 152). From this case study, Tim made a statement that they had scheduled for a test and he could not understand why his employees were reluctant to change “programmed vacation” under any condition. As a project manager, Tim should know schedules of his employees. Tim was working with a team with an average age of forty-six and learning something on human behavior could have helped him understand personal interest of his team.
Another core skill of a project manager at play in the case is leadership skills and having the ability to lead a team. Leadership skills involve the ability of a project manager to integrate individual requirements, demand, and limitations into decisions and resolve conflict among team members (Kerzner, 2009, p. 150). From the case study, Tim had held this position for only three months, and this could mean lack experience in leadership skills on how to deal with support personnel. Additionally, personal values and personal conflicts resulting from “change of guard”, where new managers have different values from the older or more experienced manager (Kezner, 2009, pp.150-228). Considering both factors, Tim’s lack of credibility and experience within the organization, let alone his team, has amplified his ineffectiveness as a project manager, thereby aggravating the feeling of discontent between him and his team.
2. Tim Aston is a young project manager who has only held the position for a short period and needs time to hone his project management skills. In relation to team building skills, Tim had tried to motivate his people by organizing team meetings late in the afternoon, but his people walked out of the meeting because they were afraid of missing their car pool. He also encouraged his people to go to him in case they had a problem. Tim realized that his people did not need his help and he could not devise a means to make his people communicate more.
In relation to organizational skills, Tim had informed his people to come to him in case they had any problem. His efforts failed because his people thought that they had no problems hence no need to for his help. Effective organizational efforts require well-defined program objectives, open communication channels, senior management support, and good program leadership (Kerzner, 2009, p. 152). Tim’s efforts to establish open communication with his people failed because they feel that he is young and inexperienced to hold such a position. After realizing that he had problems with his team, Tim decided to seek the support of senior management and aired his problems to Phil Davies, director of project management. Tim was able to get advice on how to deal with his team from Phil.
Leadership skills involve the ability to integrate individual requirements, demands, and limitations into decisions, and to resolve inter-group conflicts (Kerzner, 2009, p. 150). After realizing that people could complete late afternoon team meetings, he toyed with the idea of scheduling morning team meetings. This could enable him get the full attention of his team members. After identifying an employee in the accounting department who had the potential to help in project management, the head of accounting department refused to allow Tim have the employ in his project management team. The accounting boss failed to let go his personal interest for the success of the project.
3. Companies invest a lot of time and effort in establishing project management departments and devising project methodologies required to deliver
their strategic initiatives. As often the case, such initiatives span the breadth and length of the organization, are complex in nature, and are enormously cross functional in their implementation. Tim was not able to receive support from the Phil telling him the problems he faced while working with the team as well as other department within the organization (Kerzner, 2009). When Tim organized a test for his people, the customer’s top management accepted to conduct firsthand observation of the process. In addition, after receiving Tim’s complaints, Phil was able to advice Tim on the way forward, including recommending Tim to do some reading on human behavior as this could provide solutions to some of the problems he faced.
Tim required some form of support across the organization, but he did not receive the help as he planned. To start with, Tim told Phil that he identified an employee in the accounting department who had interest in project management, but the boss of accounting department refused to release the employee to work in project management department. In this case, Tim was not able to receive the support he expected from the head of accounting department. The head of accounting department was reluctant to release the employee because he was more worried about his department that he does for what is best for the company. Tim did not receive any comment concerning the issue from Phil despite highlighting the importance of transferring the employee to project management department. Tim also required the support of the human resource department to help deal with employee motivation and behavior change. The human resource department could have helped Tim handle the test and plan for the best time for conducting the test. As a new employee, Tim required some induction to enable him familiarize himself with his team. Tim did not know the type of people he worked with, and this contributed to some of the problems he faced while working with the team. From the case, it is evident that Tim did not have firsthand knowledge on human behavior. Phil only had to tell him to do some reading in human behavior, while this affected the success of the project.
4. Tim is young and has only worked for the company for three months after changing employers. Tim does not have the experience and skills to handle project management. As such, the company should consider conducting internal or external training for Tim to equip him with the skills and expertise required to be an effective project manager. Tim lacks skills in personnel management and the company should consider registering Tim for a course in human behavior to help him understand how to deal with people within the organization and motivate his team. The company should also try to change organizational culture. From the case study, Phil tells Tim that people in the organization think they come first before everything. Changing this culture could help enhance involvement in project management and achieve the overall organizational goals. Concerning allocation of resources, the management should convince the head of accounting department to release the employee at the department help in project management.
Reference:
Kerzner, H.R. (2009). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling (10th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
