Assignment

NAME

Yagyanika

ROLL NUMBER

1405010024

SUBJECT CODE & NAME

PM 0013 MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN

PROJECTS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROGRAM

1 Write short notes on:

(a)Characteristics of a project
The three key project characteristics are:

Time
Scope
Budget

Time (sometimes known as timeframe or schedule): This refers to how long

the project will take, and generally involves using past experience to predicate the
likely time that parts of a project will take
Scope: Scope refers to what is included within the project and what is excluded.
This is where you will establish if re-plumbing the kitchen is in scope, if installing
new whiteware such as a fridge or dishwasher is in scope, or if replacing the kitchen
floor is in scope. The clearer the scope, the easier for ambiguity to be reduced and
risks minimized.
Cost (also known as budget): The budget or cost of the project sets out your
expectation as to how much the project will cost. In my previous experience with
CRM systems, the vendor will provide a quote based on the number of hours it will
take to develop a given feature.

(b)Objectives of human resource management: HRM is useful not only to

organization, but the employees working therein, and also the society at large also
find it useful. The objectives can be as under:

Organizational Objectives: HRM is a means to achieve efficiency and

effectiveness.
Functional Objectives: HRM performs so many functions for other
departments.
Personal Objectives: In todays world there is shortage of requisite talent.
Employees are encouraged by competitive firms to change the jobs.

Societal Objectives: HRM must see that the legal, ethical, and social
environmental issues are properly attended to. Equal opportunity and equal
pay for equal work are the legal issues not to be violated.

(c) Project team members: The Project Team is the group responsible for
planning and executing the project. It consists of a Project Manager and a variable
number of Project Team members, who are brought in to deliver their tasks
according to the project schedule.
The Project Manager is the person responsible for ensuring that the Project Team
completes the project. The Project Manager develops the Project Plan with the team
and manages the teams performance of project tasks. It is also the responsibility of
the Project Manager to secure acceptance and approval of deliverables from the
Project Sponsor and Stakeholders. The Project Manager is responsible for
communication, including status reporting, risk management, escalation of issues
that cannot be resolved in the team, and, in general, making sure the project is
delivered in budget, on schedule, and within scope.

(d) Need for a project team: An organization can create a project using a topdown, bottom-up or a combined method. In the top-down method, upper
management comes up with the ideas for a project. In the bottom-up method,
employees and middle management create ideas for projects, and the combined
method uses everyone in the organization to come up with ideas for a project. An
organization commonly assigns different teams to different parts of the project. By
implementing a needs identification system, the organization helps to ensure the
proper allocation of assets to different projects within the organization.

2 Explain the various conflict resolution techniques.

Answer: With a basic understanding of the five conflict management strategies,
small business owners can better deal with conflicts before they escalate beyond
repair.

Accommodating: The accommodating strategy essentially entails giving the

opposing side what it wants. The use of accommodation often occurs when
one of the parties wishes to keep the peace or perceives the issue as minor.
For example, a business that requires formal dress may institute a "casual
Friday" policy as a low-stakes means of keeping the peace with the rank and
file. Employees who use accommodation as a primary conflict management
strategy, however, may keep track and develop resentment.

Avoiding: The avoidance strategy seeks to put off conflict indefinitely. By

delaying or ignoring the conflict, the avoider hopes the problem resolves

itself without a confrontation. Those who actively avoid conflict frequently

have low esteem or hold a position of low power. In some circumstances,
avoiding can serve as a profitable conflict management strategy, such as
after the dismissal of a popular but unproductive employee. The hiring of a
more productive replacement for the position soothes much of the conflict.

Collaborating: Collaboration works by integrating ideas set out by multiple

people. The object is to find a creative solution acceptable to everyone.
Collaboration, though useful, calls for a significant time commitment not
appropriate to all conflicts. For example, a business owner should work
collaboratively with the manager to establish policies, but collaborative
decision-making regarding office supplies wastes time better spent on other
activities..

Compromising: The compromising strategy typically calls for both sides of a

conflict to give up elements of their position in order to establish an
acceptable, if not agreeable, solution. This strategy prevails most often in
conflicts where the parties hold approximately equivalent power. Business
owners frequently employ compromise during contract negotiations with
other businesses when each party stands to lose something valuable, such as
a customer or necessary service.
Competing: Competition operates as a zero-sum game, in which one side
wins and other loses. Highly assertive personalities often fall back on
competition as a conflict management strategy. The competitive strategy
works best in a limited number of conflicts, such as emergency situations. In
general, business owners benefit from holding the competitive strategy in
reserve for crisis situations and decisions that generate ill-will, such as pay
cuts or layoffs.

3 Write short notes on

(a)Skills required by a project manager:

Inspires a Shared Vision: An effective project leader is often described as

having a vision of where to go and the ability to articulate it. Visionaries
thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries.
Good Communicator: The ability to communicate with people at all levels is
almost always named as the second most important skill by project managers
and team members. Project leadership calls for clear communication about
goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback.
Integrity: One of the most important things a project leader must remember
is that his or her actions, and not words, set the modus operandi for the
team. Good leadership demands commitment to, and demonstration of,
ethical practices.
Enthusiasm: Plain and simple, we don't like leaders who are negative - they
bring us down. We want leaders with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step,
with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an invigorating
journey - we want to feel alive.

Empathy: What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although

the words are similar, they are, in fact, mutually exclusive.
Competence: Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe that
that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not
however necessarily refer to the project leader's technical abilities in the core
technology of the business.

(b)Delphi technique of estimating manpower requirements of projects:

The objective of most Delphi applications is the reliable and creative exploration of
ideas or the production of suitable information for decision making. The Delphi
Method is based on a structured process for collecting and distilling knowledge from
a group of experts by means of a series of questionnaires interspersed with
controlled opinion feedback (Adler and Ziglio, 1996). According to Helmer (1977)
Delphi represents a useful communication device among a group of experts and
thus facilitates the formation of a group judgement. Wissema (1982) underlines the
importance of the Delphi Method as a monovariable exploration technique for
technology forecasting.

(c)Importance of leadership in project management: A project managers role

on any project goes far beyond task-related deliverables. Although the project
manager must be able to effectively manage goals related to time, scope and cost,
his or her work does not stop here since the project manager must also be able to
manage numerous issues and goals, and be able to lead the people performing
them. The desired leadership qualities for a project manager are discussed. As the
project manager develops his or her leadership skills and uses them to encourage,
motivate, and relate to the members on his or her team, he or she can expect to
see the emergence of a more positive environment. Not only will such an
environment improve job satisfaction and make the overall functioning of the team
easier to handle, studies have also shown evidence of improved job performance
and productivity, as well as a decline in the undesirable qualities that are known to
occur on a project.

(d)Goal setting theory: In 1960s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting
theory of motivation. This theory states that goal setting is essentially linked to task
performance. It states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate
feedback contribute to higher and better task performance.

In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what
needs to be done and how much efforts are required to be put in.
The important features of goal-setting theory are as follows:
Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance.
Unambiguous, measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for
completion avoids misunderstanding.

Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of

pride and triumph when he attains them, and sets him up for attainment of
next goal. The more challenging the goal, the greater is the reward generally
and the more is the passion for achieving it.

4 Explain the modern methods of performance management?

Answer:
1. Assessment centre method: This method was used for the first time in
1930 by the German army and then in 1960s by the British army. This
method tests a candidate in different social situations using a number of
assessor and procedures. The performance of an employee an also his
potential for a new job is evaluated in this method by assessing his
performance on job related simulations. Characteristics that the concerned
managers feel are important for the success of a particular job are included in
these simulations. Techniques like business games role playing and in basket
exercises are used in this method.
2. Human Resource Accounting Method: Human resources are a valuable
asset for any organization and it can be valued in monetary terms. This
method evaluates the performance of an employee in terms of costs and
contributions. HR costs include expenses incurred on HR planning recruitment
selection induction and training. The difference between this costs and the
contribution by an employee reflects the performance of that employee. This
method is still developing hence is not very popular at present.
3. Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS): This method combines the
graphic rating scale and the critical incident method. It determines in
advance the critical areas of the performance and the most effective behavior
to achieve the results. Then the actual job behavior of an employee is
evaluated against the predetermined behavior.
The following steps are used for constructing BARS.

Supervisor and other persons well acquainted with a job are asked to
described specific critical incidence of effective performance behavior
Then these persons categorized the incidents into sets of performance
dimensions and each set is then defined.
These people then reallocate the original critical incidents. They are given
the cluster definition and critical incidents and are asked to re-design each
incident to the dimensions that describes it the best. A critical incident is
retain only a some percentage that is usually between 50 80 percent of
this group assigns the incidents to the same cluster as was done by the
earlier group.

4. Appraisal through management by objectives (MBO): This concept was

introduced by Peter Drucker in 1954 who named it management by objectives and
self control. It is an effective way it is also known as goal setting approach to
appraisal .In this process the supervisor and subordinate members jointly identify

the common goals of the organization and set the areas of the responsibility of each
individual in terms of results expected from that person.
5 The 360 degree appraisal: The 360 degree method of performance appraisal is
used to make the appraisal process more transparent, objective and participative. It
introduced the concepts of self appraisal subordinates appraisal, peer appraisal and
appraisal by customers. It is called a 360 degree method because it involves the
evaluation of an employee by persons above him, below him and alongside him.

5 Explain various types of collective bargaining.

Answer:
Conjunctive / Distributive Bargaining: Distributive bargaining is the most
common type of bargaining & involves zero-sum negotiations, in other words, one
side wins and the other loses.

Both parties try to maximize their respective gains.

They try to settle economic issues such as wages, benefits, bonus, etc.
For Example, Unions negotiate for maximum wages & the management
wants to yield as little as possible while getting things done through
workers.

In distributive bargaining, unions and management have initial offers or

demands, target points (e.g.: desired wage level), resistance points (e.g.:
unacceptable wage levels) & settlement ranges (e.g.: acceptable wage level).
Another name for this type of bargaining is conjunctive bargaining.
Cooperative /Integrative Bargaining: Integrative bargaining is similar to
problem solving sessions in which both sides are trying to reach a mutually
beneficial alternative, i.e. a win-win situation.
Both the employer & the union try to resolve the conflict to the benefit of both
parties. Both sides share information about their interests and concerns and they
create a list of possible solutions to best meet everyones needs.
Productivity Bargaining:
The concept of productivity bargain involves a good understanding of the following
concepts. Based on these concepts both the parties must develop a productivity
linked scheme.
Composite Bargaining:
Workers believed that productivity bargaining agreements increased their
workloads. Rationalization, introduction of new technology, tight productivity norms
have added to this burden and made the life of a worker somewhat uneasy. As an
answer to such problems, labor has come in favor of composite bargaining.
Concessionary Bargaining:
Quite opposite to the other forms of bargaining, where the unions demanded from
the employers, in concessionary bargaining, the objective is to giving back to
management some of what it has gained in previous bargaining.

6 Discuss the concept of issue logs.

Answer: The issue log is a project document where all the issues are recorded and
tracked. When an issue log is created, it provides a tool for reporting and
communicating all that is happening within the project. An issue log is an important
tool which is used to manage these issues. It helps the project team to record issues
that require resolution. Along with each issue , the person or people responsible for
resolving the issue is also documented.
To create an issue log, a project manager can build his own spreadsheet or
database, or buy an issue management software from amongst a wide variety of
vendors.
Components of an issue log:
A project manager can successfully manage his issues if he is able to focus on the
type of information that is tracked rather than the issue tracking mechanism used in
the project.
We can include the following information in an issue log:

Issue Name: The name of the issue can be recorded.

Issue Type : By defining the categories of the issues that are likely to be
encountered in the project , a project manager can track issues and assign
the right people to resolve them .Some of the categories that can be included
in this column , are as follows:
Technical: These are the technical issues in the project.
Resource: These are issues related with human resources, equipment or
materials in the project. Third
Party: These are issues related with vendors, suppliers or any outside third
party .
Raised By: The name of the person who raised the issue can be recorded in
this column.
Date Raised: The date when the issue was raised can be recorded in this
column.
Description: The issue can be sufficiently described in this column. The
description of the issue can include the impact that the issue may have in the
project and the project objectives which may be affected by these issues.
Priority: A priority rating can be assigned to each issue in this column.
Priority ratings can be high , medium or low , based on the impact the issue
may have on the project
Assigned To: The name of the person who is responsible for the issue can be
included in this column .This person may or may not be responsible for
resolving the issue. However , he or she ,is responsible for tracking the issue
and ensuring that the issue is handled based on its priority.