Exam - 20240223

Agenda

• Introduction
• Practice Quiz IV
• 4 mini-cases
• Other examples

Learning Objective 8

• Describe the main tasks and responsibilities of a project manager over the entire project lifecycle in industrial and technology intensive environments.
• Analyze the project manager’s learning and knowledge development in relation to this.

Mini-case question 1

• Scenario: Project manager for Botnia (Finland) building a pulp and paper mill in Fray Bentos, Uruguay (border with Argentina).
• Stakeholders:
  • Uruguay government and local community: Supportive due to job creation and economic growth.
  • Argentina local communities: Concerns about tourism and environmental impact.
  • Uruguay River Statute (1975): Requires Argentina and Uruguay to agree on issues concerning the river.

1a) Communication Plan

• Steering committee:
  • Why: Will the project have the desired benefits? Project status at decision points.
  • How: Steering committee meetings and as needed, reports.
  • Responsibility: PM, Project owner.
• Project group:
  • Why: Will the project achieve its goals? Project status.
  • How: Per schedule or as needed, reports or steering committee meetings, informal meetings.
  • Responsibility: PM.
• Project Manager:
  • Why: Planning their work/hours; activities that must be performed.
  • How: At the start of the project and as needed, project meetings, delegation.
  • Responsibility: PM.
• Resource owner:
  • Why: Project process; manage problems; work performed; resources used.
  • How: Weekly (more frequent) reports, project meetings, informal meetings.
  • Responsibility: PM.
• PM:
  • Why: Planning the operations; which resources are needed when.
  • How: At the start of the project and continuously, resource plan, meetings with PM.
  • Responsibility: PM.
• User:
  • Why: Ensuring realistic operations; background, purpose and goals.
  • How: At the start of the project and before hand-over, meetings, project web-site.
  • Responsibility: Project owner, Project sponsor.
• Uruguay's government:
  • Why: The projects potential to create new jobs and support economic growth; Background, purpose and goals.
  • How: At the start of the project and continuously, reports, project meetings.
  • Responsibility: Project owner, Project sponsor.
• Argentina's government:
  • Why: The projects potential to create new jobs and support economic growth; Background, purpose and goals.
  • How: At the start of the project and continuously, reports, project meetings.
  • Responsibility: Project owner, Project sponsor.
• Local communities in Argentina:
  • Why: Potential impacts on tourism and environment; Environmental analysis.
  • How: At the start of the project and continuously, meetings, project web-site.
  • Responsibility: PM.

1b) Sustainability Aspects

• Sustainable development: Meets present needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.
• Dimensions: Economical, social, and environmental.
• Considerations:
  • Does the project scope meet stakeholder needs?
  • Are resources procured sustainably?
  • Is adapting sustainable methods economical?
  • Is project staff managed fairly?
  • Are staff part of the communication loop?
  • Is regular feedback taken on work-life balance?
  • Is the cost of measuring environmental and social indexes included in the budget?
  • Is the design environmentally green?
  • Does the risk mitigation plan account for environmental well-being?
  • Are environmental indicators like carbon footprint measured?

Mini-case question 2

• Scenarios involving project manager (you) and team members in a medium-tech development project.

2a) Participating Leadership Style

• Scenario: Sponsor wants to shorten the project by at least 5 days after the schedule is created.
• Action: Tell the group what the sponsor has requested, participate in brainstorming, and support the team's solution.

2b) Delegating Leadership Style

• Scenario: Significant technical problem putting the project behind schedule; completion time is the #1 priority; team can solve the problem on their own.
• Action: Let the team resolve the problem independently, accept sponsor's supervision if offered.

2c) Selling Leadership Style

• Scenario: A competitor is about to release a similar product which poses a threat to the project success.
• Action: Take charge, ask the group to deliver the final results in versions or prototypes, utilize their suggestions but keep careful control of their work.

Mini-case question 3

• Lock Co.: Global leader in entrance solutions, incremental improvements in product aspects.
• Emphasis: Divide employees on as many projects as possible, start projects quickly, follow stage-gate process for control and efficiency.
• Issue: Almost none of the project managers has formal training in project management.

Knowledge Management and Learning Processes

• Importance:
  • Create an environment where employers are always looking for new knowledge to share.
  • Develop the business and enhance competitiveness.
  • Projects are excellent ways of sharing knowledge and developing competence.

Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge

• Explicit knowledge:
  • Can be codified and easily transferred without the knowing subject.
  • Generated through logical deduction, acquired through practical experience.
  • Aggregated at a single location, stored in objective forms, appropriated without the knowing subject.
• Tacit knowledge:
  • Intuitive and unarticulated, requires close interaction and shared understanding.
  • Acquired only through practical experience.
  • Personal, contextual, distributive, requires involvement and cooperation of the knowing subject.

Examples in New Product Development

• A major part of their knowledge on project management is probably tacit.
• Transforming tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.
• Articulating the tacit personal knowledge by sharing their knowledge, development and testing of prototypes.
• Project reports and then make them readily available is an example of codification.

Reasoning for Creating a Learning Organization

• Create an environment where employees seek and share knowledge.
• Develop the business and enhance competitiveness.
• Improve productivity and profitability.

Mini-case question 4

• Group dynamic phase model: Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing - Adjourning.

4a) Group Dynamic Phases

• Forming:
  • What: Group is developed, assignments are planned. People feel excited but also hesitative and worried.
  • PM Role: Steer towards the goal, identify the direction, work with the task/responsibility matrix.
• Storming:
  • What: Differences in opinions and values are expressed, discussions and conflicts arise. Motivation and moral might be low, there is a lot of frustration and irritation within several (all?) off the group members.
  • PM Role: Manage the work by dividing the assignments as well as handle conflicts and contradictions.
• Norming:
  • What: Relationships are established, discontent diminishes. Cohesion develops, you experience a context, you share knowledge.
  • PM Role: Supervisor, support the group. Planning is delegated to the team members.
• Performing:
  • What: The team members assure in their roles and responsibilities. The project members experience community, competence & goal fulfillment.
  • PM Role: Avoid detailed control without standing back and delegating responsibility.
• Adjourning:
  • What: Group is dissolved, separation. Feelings of emptiness and sadness.
  • PM Role: Acknowledge achievements, support dissolution, discuss opinions and suggestions for improvements.

4b) Hardware Development Project

• Model Use: Focus on team leadership in the beginning.
• Cooperation: Enhance cooperation, address challenges from new participants.

Other examples

Conflict Analysis

• Scenario: Software development project, conflict between two team members about a security module.

1a) Analyzing the Conflict

• Encourage functional conflict.
• Manage dysfunctional conflict (mediate, rearrange the team, accept the conflict).

1b) Managing the Conflict

• Conflict resolution strategies: Monitoring or Mediating.
• Leadership style: Delegatory or Participatory.

TechPro Solutions Corporation

• Scenario: Team assembled to develop and implement a new software system.

a) Group Development Models

• Tuckman's model:
  • Forming: Team members come together, get acquainted, and define the team's purpose and goals.
  • Storming: Conflicts and power struggles may arise as team members express their ideas, opinions, and different working styles.
  • Norming: Team begins to develop cohesion and a sense of shared purpose; team members establish common goals, values, and working guidelines.
  • Performing: Team reaches its full potential. Team members work together effectively, leveraging their diverse skills and experiences to achieve high-performance levels.
  • Adjourning: Team completes its project or task and disbands.

b) Analyzing the Software Implementation Team

• Stage: Storming phase.
• Focus: Resolving conflicts, clarifying roles, establishing effective communication and decision-making processes.

Negotiation Approaches

• Distributive (zero-sum) approach:
  • Goal: Claim as much value as possible.
  • Approach: Adversarial, concerns only one or a handful of parameters.
  • Tactics: Try not to disclose their information and should try to learn as much as possible about the other party to bid aggressively but not beyond the other’s party reach, the first bid is a strong psychological anchor.
• Integrative approach:
  • Goal: Increase the overall value while also claiming a fair share of it.
  • Approach: Less adversarial, requires mutual commitment, requires a prudent disclosure of needs/information.
  • Considerations/tactics: Rescoping the task, Thinking long-term, Seeking outside resources, Inventing creative options, Building workable packages.