Name S.

AMEER ABBAS

Roll No. 520955311

Course MBA-Semester-3
Project Planning &
Subject
Scheduling
Subject Code PM 0004-Set-1
1. (a) What do you mean by Project Management & Mention Key
features of a Project?
(b) What do you mean by Competency & explain briefly: (i)
Organizational competency (ii) Core competency. Explain need for
competency.

Ans:

a. Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and

managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific
project goals and objectives. It is sometimes conflated with program
management, however technically a program is actually a higher level
construct: a group of related and somehow interdependent projects.

A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined beginning and end

(usually constrained by date, but can be by funding or deliverables),
undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, usually to bring about
beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in
contrast to business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive,
permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products or
services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often found to
be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical
skills and the adoption of separate management.

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the

project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived project
constraints. Typical constraints are scope, time, and budget. The secondary—
and more ambitious—challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration
of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.

Project plan can be considered to have five key characteristics that have to
be managed:

• Scope: defines what will be covered in a project.

• Resource: what can be used to meet the scope.

 • Time: what tasks are to be undertaken and when.

• Quality: the spread or deviation allowed from a desired standard.

• Risk: defines in advance what may happen to drive the plan off

course, and what will be done to recover the situation.

b.

Competence is a standardized requirement for an individual to

properly perform a specific job. It encompasses a combination of knowledge,
skills and behavior utilized to improve performance. More generally,
competence is the state or quality of being adequately or well qualified,
having the ability to perform a specific role.

For instance, management competency includes the traits of systems

thinking and emotional intelligence, and skills in influence and negotiation. A
person possesses a competence as long as the skills, abilities, and knowledge
that constitute that competence are a part of them, enabling the person to
perform effective action within a certain workplace environment. Therefore,
one might not lose knowledge, a skill, or an ability, but still lose a
competence if what is needed to do a job well changes.

Competence is also used to work with more general descriptions of the

requirements of human beings in organizations and communities.

i. The Organisational Competence was initiated by David McClelland

in the 1960s with a view to moving away from traditional attempts to
describe competence in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes and to focus
instead on the specific self-image, values, traits, and motive dispositions (i.e.
relatively enduring characteristics of people) that are found to consistently
distinguish outstanding from typical performance in a given job or role. It
should be noted that different competences predict outstanding performance
in different roles, and that there is a limited number of competences that
predict outstanding performance in any given job or role. Thus, a trait that is
a "competence" for one job might not predict outstanding performance in a
different role.

Nevertheless, as can be seen from Raven and Stephenson, there have been
important developments in research relating to the nature, development, and
assessment of high-level competencies in homes, schools, and workplaces.

ii. A core competency is a specific factor that a business sees as being

central to the way it, or its employees, works. It fulfills three key criteria:

1. It provides consumer benefits

2. It is not easy for competitors to imitate
3. It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.

A core competency can take various forms, including technical/subject

matter know-how, a reliable process and/or close relationships with
customers and suppliers. It may also include product development or culture,
such as employee dedication.

Core competencies are particular strengths relative to other organizations

in the industry which provide the fundamental basis for the provision of
added value. Core competencies are the collective learning in organizations,
and involve how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple
streams of technologies. It is communication, an involvement and a deep
commitment to working across organizational boundaries. Few companies are
likely to build world leadership in more than five or six fundamental
competencies.

The need for Competency is shown in action in a situation in a context

that might be different the next time you have to act. In emergency
contexts, competent people will react to the situation following behaviors
they have previously found to succeed, hopefully to good effect. To be
competent you need to be able to interpret the situation in the context and
to have a repertoire of possible actions to take and have trained in the
possible actions in the repertoire, if this is relevant. Regardless of training,
competence grows through experience and the extent of an individual to
learn and adapt. However, there has been much discussion among academics
about the issue of definitions. The concept of competence has different
meanings, and continues to remain one of the most diffuse terms in the
management development sector, and the organizational and occupational
literature

2. (a) Explain the need for development of management skills & also
explain different steps involved in developing management skills.

(b) Explain each of the following competencies briefly:

 Time Management

 Cost Management

 Human Resource Management

 Risk Management

 Contract Management

 Communication Management

 Scope Management

 Quality Management
(c) Explain the characteristics of a project team.

a)

Management skills in all business areas and human organization

activity is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and
objectives. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or
directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or
entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing
encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial
resources, technological resources, and natural resources.
Steps involved in developing management skills:

Maintain the Status Quo

While you may have been hired or promoted because of your creative vision,
don’t plan on implementing radical changes your first few weeks on the job,
especially if you’re new to the organization. Introducing too much change too
soon, can send the message to your team as well as other managers that
you think you understand the company’s workings better than they do.

Establish yourself in your new role and gain the confidence of others by
taking the time to get the lay of the land before you start sharing ideas that
affect the organization’s structure, processes and systems. Even if you do
know better, you’ll still need the support of people around you to make
things happen.

Get to Know Your Team

Make an effort to reach out individually to all those who now report into you.
Schedule one-on-one meetings to get an idea of what your team perceives to
be the department’s or company’s strengths and weaknesses and solicit their
ideas for solutions.

Learn How to Delegate

One the most basic management skills that’s often least used by first-time
managers is delegating. After all, when you complete a task yourself you
have complete control over the outcome. However, by not delegating you’re
doing both yourself and your staff a disservice.

Be Courteous
Don’t underestimate the effect of a simple “please”, “thank you” or “good
job” can have on your employees. Whether they’ve spent the last three days
archiving files or churning out a top-notch client presentation, acknowledging
their efforts goes a long way toward communicating the value they bring to
your team.
Avoid Burnout
A lot of new managers get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm of
their new positions and for all the right reasons: they want to learn as much
as they can as quickly as possible and start getting things done in order to
demonstrate their commitment to the company. As a result, first-time
managers often wind up working excessive hours and when you’re working
that hard, for that long, not all of those hours can be productive.

b)

Time Management

Time management refers to a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to

manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals. This set
encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning,
allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring,
organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially time management referred
to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to
include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed
combination of processes, tools and techniques.

Some authors (such as Stephen R. Covey) offered a categorization scheme

for the hundreds of time management approaches that they reviewed

• First generation: reminders based on clocks and watches, but with

computer implementation possible; can be used to alert a person when
a task is to be done.
• Second generation: planning and preparation based on calendar and
appointment books; includes setting goals.
• Third generation: planning, prioritizing, controlling (using a personal
organizer, other paper-based objects, or computer or PDA-based
 systems) activities on a daily basis. This approach implies spending
some time in clarifying values and priorities.
• Fourth generation: being efficient and proactive using any of the above
tools; places goals and roles as the controlling element of the system
and favors importance over urgency.

Some of the recent general arguments related to "time" and "management"

point out that the term "time management" is misleading and that the
concept should actually imply that it is "the management of our own
activities, to make sure that they are accomplished within the available or
allocated time, which is an unmanageable continuous resource".[

Cost Management

Cost management is the process by which companies control and plan

the costs of doing business. Individual projects should have customized cost
management plans, and companies as a whole also integrate cost
management into their overall business model. There is no single accepted
definition for this term, because it has such broad applications and possible
strategies. When properly implemented, cost management will translate into
reduced costs of production for products and services, as well as increased
value being delivered to the customer.

For a company's management to be effective overall, cost management must

be an integral feature of it. It is easiest to understand this concept if it is
explained in the context of a single project. For instance, before a project is
started, the anticipated costs should be identified and measured. These
expenses should then be approved before any purchasing occurs. During the
process of completing a project, all incurred costs should be noted and kept
in a record of some kind, to help ensure that the costs are controlled and
kept in line with initial expectations, to the extent that this is possible.
Human Resource Management

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent

approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the
people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the
achievement of the objectives of the business.[1] The terms "human resource
management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term
"personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in
managing people in organizations.[1] In simple sense, HRM means employing
people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating
their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement.

Its features include:

• Organizational management
• Personnel administration
• Manpower management
• Industrial management

Risk Management

Risk is defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives

(whether positive or negative). Risk management can therefore be
considered the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed
by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor,
and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events[1] or to
maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in
financial markets, project failures, legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents,
natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attacks from an adversary.
Several risk management standards have been developed including the
Project Management Institute, the National Institute of Science and
Technology, actuarial societies, and ISO standards.[2][3] Methods, definitions
and goals vary widely according to whether the risk management method is
in the context of project management, security, engineering, industrial
processes, financial portfolios, actuarial assessments, or public health and
safety.

The strategies to manage risk include transferring the risk to another party,
avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting
some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.

Contract Management

The term contract management is typically used in procurement or

purchasing departments. As part of the procurement department’s
responsibilities, the manager negotiates, accepts, and signs contracts with
suppliers of goods and services to the organization. Contract management is
the process of ensuring that the supplier honors their negotiated contract
terms. Although the role of procurement in the negotiation process is an
essential part of a cost management process, contract management is where
the actual savings are either achieved or missed.

Effective contract management practices result in lower operating costs,

efficient services, and a stronger bargaining position during the next round of
negotiations. Contract management includes ensuring contract compliance,
acting as the primary contact for issues related to service and dispute
resolution, as well as managing any payments or clauses negotiated into the
contract. In general, contract management can be broken down into three
main areas: thresholds, rebates, and performance clauses.
Communication Management

Communications management is the systematic planning,

implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication
within an organization, and between organizations; it also includes the
organization and dissemination of new communication directives connected
with an organization, network, or communications technology. Aspects of
communications management include developing corporate communication
strategies, designing internal and external communications directives, and
managing the flow of information, including online communication. New
technology forces constant innovation on the part of communications
managers

One simple and popular communications method is called the weekly

reporting method: every employee composes an e-mail report, once a week,
including information on their activities in the preceding week, their plans for
the following week, and any other information deemed relevant to the larger
group, bearing in mind length considerations. Reports are sent to managers,
who summarize and report to their own managers, eventually leading to an
overall summary led by the CEO, which is then sent to the board of directors.
The CEO then sends the board's summary back down the ladder, where each
manager can append an additional summary or note before referring it to
their employees.

Eventually, each employee will receive a long e-mail, containing many or all
of the above-mentioned summaries, from every level of management;
reading the full result is rarely a requirement. Curious or ambitious
employees are considered more likely to read the result; task-centered
employees, however, are not.
Scope Management
A plan which describes how project scope will be managed and how,
Scope change will be integrated into the project. Includes an assessment of
how likely and frequently the project scope may change and a description of
how scope changes will be identified and classified.

Scope Management Plan indicates:

• A subsidiary element of the overall project plan.

• Describes how project scope will be managed.

• Describes how scope changes will be integrated into the project.

• Should also include an assessment of the expected stability of the

project scope.

• Should also include a clear description of how scope changes will be

identified and classified.

Quality Management

Quality management can be considered to have three main

components: quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement.
Quality management is focused not only on product quality, but also the
means to achieve it. Quality management therefore uses quality assurance
and control of processes as well as products to achieve more consistent
quality.

The influence of quality thinking has spread to non-traditional applications

outside of walls of manufacturing, extending into service sectors and into
areas such as sales, marketing and customer service
C) Characteristics of a project team:

Commitment:
Commitment to the project by the core team is critical to the success
of the project. The project manager must know that eacrT core team
member places a high priority of fulfilling his or her roles and responsibilities
in the project. The core team must be proactive in fulfilling those
responsibilities and not need the constant reminders of schedule and
deliverables from the project manager.

Shared responsibility:
Shared responsibility means that success and failure are equally the
reward and blame of each team member. Having shared responsibility means
that you will never hear one team member taking individual credit for a
success on the projects nor blaming another team member for a failure on
the project.

Flexibility:
Team members must be willing to adapt to the situation. “That is not
my responsibility” doesn’t go very far in project work, schedules may have to
change at the last minute to accommodate an unexpected situation. It is the
success of the project that has priority, not the schedule of any one
individual on the project team.

Task-orientedness.:
In the final analysis it is the team members’ ability to get their
assigned work down according to the project plan that counts. In other
words, they must be results-oriented.

Ability to work within schedule and constraints:

Parts of being results-oriented, means being able to complete
assignments within the timeframe planned instead of offering excuses for not
doing so. It is easy to blame your delay on the delay of others – that is the
easy way out.

Willingness to give trust and mutual support:

Trust and mutual support are the hallmarks on an effective team.
That means that every member must convey these qualities. Team members
must be trusting and trustworthy.

Team-orientedness:
To be team-oriented means to put the welfare of the team ahead of
your own. Behaviors as simple as the individual’s frequencies of use of “I”
versus “we” in team meetings and conversations with other team members
are strong indicators of team orientation.

Open-mindedness:
The open-minded team member will welcome and encourage other
points of view and other solutions to problem situations. His or her objective
is clearly to do what is best for the team and not look for individual kudos.

Ability to work across structure and authorities:

In the contemporary organization, projects tend to cross organizational
lines. Cross-departmental teams are common. Projects such as these require
the team member to work with people form a variety of business disciplines.

Ability to use project management tools:

The team member must be able to leverage technology in carrying out
his or her project responsibilities. Projects are planned using a variety of
software tools, and the team member must have some familiarity with these
tools. Many project managers will require the team member to input activity
status and other project progress data directly into the project management
software tool.
3.What do you mean by Conflict, describe different sources of
conflicts faced by the project managers? What are the different steps
involved in resolving the conflicts.

A conflict is a dispute or a struggle in which each party expresses

opposition towards the other party or interferes intentionally with other
party’s goals attainment. Conflict can also be a disagreement about the
allocation of scarce resources or a clash of statuses, values, perceptions or
personalities. Behavioral scientists agree that conflict is an abnormal
phenomenon with only negative consequences.

Some of the characteristics of conflicts are:

• Conflict occurs when two parties have competing goals.

• Conflict is unavoidable, and we can learn how to handle it

effectively.

• Conflict is not always bad. Constructive conflict can help solve

problems and leads to new ideas.

• The Collaborating strategy is the most effective way of resolving

conflict –the resolution is mutually beneficial for all parties.

• The other conflict resolution strategies can be appropriate for

certain types of situations.

Potential conflict over project priorities:

1. Conflict over project priorities:

The views of project participants often differ over the sequence of

activities and tasks that should be understood to achieve
successfully. Conflict over priorities may also not only between the
project team and other support groups but also within the project
team.

2. Conflict over administrative procedures:

A number of managerial and administrative oriented conflicts may

develop over how the project is managed. The definition of project
manager’s reporting relationships, definition of responsibilities,
interface relationships, project operational requirements, plan of
execution, negotiated work agreements with other groups and
procedures for administrative support.

3. Conflict over technical opinions and performance trade-off:

In technology-oriented projects, disagreements may arise over

technical issues. Performance specifications, technical trade-offs
and the means to achieve performance.

4. Conflict over manpower resources:

Conflicts may arise around the planning of the project team with
personnel from other functional and support areas or from the
desire to use another department’s personnel for project support
even though the personnel remain under the authority of their
functional or staff superiors.

5. Conflict over cost:

Frequently, conflict may develop over cost estimates form support

areas regarding various project work breakdown packages. For
example, the funds allocated by a project manager to a functional;
support group might be perceived as insufficient for the support
requested.

6. Conflict over schedules:

 Disagreement may develop around the timing, sequencing and
scheduling of a project related tasks.

7. Personality conflict:

Disagreements may tend to center on interpersonal differences

rather than on technical issues. Conflicts often are ego-centered.

Steps to resolve conflicts

1. The strategy for managing conflicts is that of compromise

(give and take). In this approach conflicting parties are
asked to make certain sacrifices in exchange for some
concessions from the other party for the good of the
company.

2. We must encourage productive conflict and reduce

destructive conflict to foster the positive outcome of
disagreement and minimize more adverse effects.

3. Another strategy is handling conflict head-on. It is

nothing but standing firm and taking the role of a dictator
and rejecting the views and beliefs of the other party or
standing between the warring factions and ordering to
cease the conflict.

4. The success of resolving conflicts depends on the mutual

cooperation and creativity of the parties.

5. To successfully resolve a conflict, we must understand

both sides of the issues, discus how the conflict affects
people’s performance. Focus should be on facts and
behavior and not on feelings or personalities/egos.
 Name S.AMEER ABBAS

Roll No. 520955311

Course MBA-Semester-3
Project Planning &
Subject
Scheduling
Subject Code PM 0004-Set-2

1. (a) Explain team work in project context. Explain briefly about

team life cycle.
(b) What are the different factors influences the project team
performance, explain each briefly.

Although a good project plan generally leads to success, it's not

enough. Everything that we do and the things that we do are all connected
with people. We live because of people, we work with people, we work for
people and we could say that we depend of people. That's why in a project
the most important things is the team. So it's all about the people you work
with.
 The project team can be built up of human resources within one
functional organization, or it can consist of members from many different
functional organizations. A cross-functional team has members from multiple
organizations and this is a recommended thing to do.

The most important tasks that the project team has are:

• Understanding the work to be completed

• Planning out the assigned activities in more detail if needed
• Completing assigned work within the budget, timeline and quality
expectations
• Informing the project manager of issues, scope changes, risk and
quality concerns
• Proactively communicating status and managing expectations

A project team formed by some people that know very well what they are
doing and that are headed by a project manager who is responsible for the
successful outcome of the project. His job is very important because he must
also form and educate team members and teach them how to do what is
needed when they don't know.

The project team carry a huge responsibility upon it's shoulders: the
success or the failure of the project. It's members are the one who practically
execute the project, who give reports to the project manager, who make
changes and corrections when needed. Each member of this team has his
own task, which represents a part of the whole project. So it's important that
everyone respects what he must do so the final result is a good one

Time Life Cycle

The life cycle of a project team spans across the complete project, not
just a particular phase. For example, the Maruti Auto team responsible for
creating a new model integrates activities ranging from assessing an
opportunity to product research, feasibility analysis, development and
engineering, technology transfer to manufacturing, marketing, and field
services. This work may also involve bid proposals licensing, subcontracting,
acquisitions, and offshore manufacturing. The need for close integration of
activities across the entire project life cycle requires that these
multidisciplinary teams stay together as a unified, effective work group for
most of the product life cycle, rather than just for a particular phase of core
activities. For example, the primary mission of the product development
team may focus on the engineering phase, but the team also supports
activities ranging from recognition of an opportunity to feasibility analysis,
bid proposals, licensing, subcontracting, transferring technology to
manufacturing, distribution, and field service. This creates managerial
challenges in dealing effectively with resource leveling, priority conflicts, and
long – range multifunctional commitment.

Project Team Performance

Team performance is difficult to measure because of it involves highly

complex, interrelated sets of variables, including attitudes, personal
preferences, and perceptions that are difficult to quantify. Yet, in spite of the
existing cultural and philosophical differences among organizations, research
shows that a general agreement exists among managers on certain
performance measures for project teams and their results.

Project Performance Measures

Starting with the “bottom line” of team results and project success, a
considerable agreement exists among managers on the following metrics of
nine measures:

1. Project success according to agreed – on results

2. On-time budget performance

3. On-budget performance

An estimated 90 percent of project managers include these factors among

the three most important measures of project success. The majority of
managers rank these factors in the shown order. In addition, other factors
are often mentioned as important to project success. They include:
4. Overall customer or sponsor satisfaction

5. Responsiveness and flexibility to customer requirements and

changes

6. Dealing effectively with risk and uncertainty

7. Positioning the project for future business

8. Stretching beyond planned goals

9. Organizational learning to benefit future projects

2. (a) Explain how do you build high performing project teams. What
are the requirements of an effective team management?

(b) What is leadership? Explain briefly about project leadership

and leadership competency.

a.

Requirements of an effective team management

Individual department or functional managers need to embrace

ownership and responsibility for success and accomplishing defined strategic
initiatives. However, to maximize the effectiveness of the organization,
managers must be able to work with one another to achieve common goals.

To be effective the following six principles apply:

1. Accountability must be at the forefront of every initiative. Employees do

want to be held accountable and they willing accept responsibility given the
necessary training, information and the organization encourages
empowerment.
2. Minimize oversight through confidence and empowerment. Do not micro
manage. Workers will accept more responsibility if management isn't
constantly looking over their shoulder. This encourages innovation and
creativity but it requires effective communication.

3. Managers need to function more as facilitators and leaders. Coaching is a

skill set that should be required training for all managers to improve team
management. Regular performance discussions should be scheduled and
strictly held to.

4. Performance management & performance measurement are key

contributors to improved team management. Goals should be measurable
and specific. Creating score cards is an effective tool to improve team
performance.

5. Information sharing and effective communication are critical. Teams must

have unrestricted access to all relevant information. If you can't trust
someone on the team then they shouldn't be on the team.

6. Manager skill sets must be continuously reviewed and upgraded to allow

them the opportunity to adopt new skills specifically related to coaching and
mentoring. The manager's role must be redefined for the team environment
and an emphasis on the servant style of leadership

b.

Leadership has been written as the “process of social influence in

which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the
accomplishment of a common task.” Definitions more inclusive of followers
have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech states that, "Leadership is
ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something
extraordinary happen." Tom DeMarco says that leadership needs to be
distinguished from posturing.

Leadership remains one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational

context. However, defining leadership has been challenging and definitions
can vary depending on the situation. According to Ann Marie E. McSwain,
Assistant Professor at Lincoln University, “leadership is about capacity: the
capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting
point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision-making, to
establish processes and transparency in decision-making, to articulate their
own values and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about
setting and not just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating
change that makes for substantial improvement rather than managing
change.”

Project Leadership is a critical management skill, is the ability to motivate a

group of people toward a common project goal.
View of project leader is that individual who leads a project team
during the project life cycle and accomplishes the project objectives on time
and within budget. Project leadership is defined as a presence and a process
carried out within an organizational role that assumes responsibility for the
needs and rights of those people who choose to follow the leader in
accomplishing project results.

Project Leadership

It is essential to recognize the types of challenges found in running a

project, figuring out what to do and how to manage the creation of
something that currently does not exist, despite uncertainty, diversity, and
an enormous number of problems and challenges, and getting a
management job done through a diverse set of people despite having little
direct control over most of them.

The project management competence of a project manager is the

ability to fulfill all responsibilities specified in the role description. Besides the
project management knowledge and the appropriate experience depending
on the project type, a project manager needs product, company and industry
knowledge. In international projects cultural awareness and language
knowledge are prerequisites too. The project management knowledge and
experience required by the project manager depends on the approach
applied by the Project Organization. According to a process – oriented project
management approach, the project manager requires knowledge and
experience not just to apply project management methods but to design the
project management process creatively.

3. (a) what is communication management plan? Explain the

characteristics of CMP.
(i) What is issues management process? Explain issues management
challenges.
(b) Explain the role of stakeholders & explain different types of
stakeholders briefly.
(i) Explain the need for stakeholder’s management briefly.
(c) Explain distributed performance arrangements & explain
teamwork dimensions.
(ii) What do you mean by virtual teamwork & mention the guidelines
for virtual teamwork

Communication management plan

The purpose of the Communications Management Plan is to define the

communication requirements for the project and how information will be
distributed. The Communications Management Plan defines the following:

• - Communication requirements based on roles

• - What information will be communicated
• - How the information will be communicated
• - When will information be distributed
 • - Who does the communication
• - Who receives the communication

This Communications Management Plan sets the communications framework

for this project. It will serve as a guide for communications throughout the
life of the project and will be updated as communication needs change. This
plan identifies and defines the roles of persons involved in this project. It
also includes a communications matrix which maps the communication
requirements of this project. An in-depth guide for conducting meetings
details both the communications rules and how the meetings will be
conducted, ensuring successful meetings. A project team directory is
included to provide contact information for all stakeholders directly involved
in the project.

Issues management process

Issues Management is the process of identifying and resolving issues in a project

or organization.

Using this Issue Management Process, you can identify and resolve issues quickly,
before they have an undesirable impact.

Whether you experience staffing, supplier, equipment or other issues, this process
will guide you through the steps towards their speedy resolution.

Issues will arise throughout a project and beyond. There is a temptation to

try to avoid trouble by discouraging people from raising their concerns. Of
course, the opposite is the best policy. Any potential problem should be
surfaced as early as possible and dealt with efficiently.

Anyone concerned with the project may spot potential problems. The
participants should be encouraged and rewarded for bringing these to the
attention of the project leadership. Once an issue is raised, the Project
Manager should ensure that it is proactively pursued and dealt with to the
satisfaction of all concerned parties. It should be easy for the participants to
submit their concerns. It is a good idea to stimulate the submission of issues,
possibly by requesting input as part of the participants' regular progress
reporting. One way this might be done is by including an "issues" section on
the project timesheet.

The issue management process will normally involve a combination of

procedures, responsibilities and systems. The key to success is to have a
well-controlled but easy and efficient process. Define and agree:

 who does what,

 the detailed procedures, forms, tools etc,
 protocols for levels of authority, eg what type of corrective action can
be undertaken without reference to the project's senior leadership,
 linkage to other management procedures, eg the scope change
management process, configuration management,
 linkage to external supplier's procedures,
 which tools will be used to support and manage the process,
 how to communicate and promote the process and its importance to
all participants.

Stakeholders are those entities within or outside an organization which:

a) Sponsor a project or,

b) Have an interest or a gain upon a successful completion of a project.

c) May have a positive or negative influence in the Project Completion.

Examples of project stakeholders include the customer, the user group, the
project manager, the development team, the testers, etc.

Stakeholders are anyone who has an interest in the project. Project

stakeholders are individuals and organizations that are actively involved in
the project, or whose interests may be affected as a result of project
execution or project completion. They may also exert influence over the
project’s objectives and outcomes. The project management team must
identify the stakeholders, determine their requirements and expectations,
and, to the extent possible, manage their influence in relation to the
requirements to ensure a successful project

The following are examples of project stakeholders:

• Project leader
• Project team members
• Upper management
• Project customer
• Resource Managers
• Line Managers
• Product user group
• Project testers

Types of stakeholders

• People who will be affected by an endeavor and can influence it but

who are not directly involved with doing the work. In the private
sector,*People who are (or might be) affected by any action taken by
an organization or group. Examples are parents, children, customers,
owners, employees, associates, partners, contractors, suppliers,
people that are related or located near by. Any group or individual who
can affect or who is affected by achievement of a group's objectives.

• An individual or group with an interest in a group's or an organization's

success in delivering intended results and in maintaining the viability
of the group or the organization's product and/or service. Stakeholders
influence programs, products, and services.

• Any organization, governmental entity, or individual that has a stake in

or may be impacted by a given approach to environmental regulation,
pollution prevention, energy conservation, etc.
 • A participant in a community mobilization effort, representing a
particular segment of society. School board members, environmental
organizations, elected officials, chamber of commerce representatives,
neighborhood advisory council members, and religious leaders are all
examples of local stakeholders.

Market (or Primary) Stakeholders are those that engage in economic

transactions with the business. (For example stockholders, customers,
suppliers, creditors, and employees)

Non Market (or Secondary) Stakeholders are those who - although they do
not engage in direct economic exchange with the business - are affected by
or can affect its actions. (For example the general public, communities,
activist groups, business support groups, and the media)

Need for stakeholder’s management

Stakeholder management is critical to the success of every project in

every organization I have ever worked with. By engaging the right people in
the right way in your project, you can make a big difference to its success...
and to your career."

The amount of time you should allocate to Stakeholder Management

depends on the size and difficulty of your projects and goals, the time you
have available for communication, and the amount of help you need to
achieve the results you want.

Think through the help you need, the amount of time that will be
taken to manage this and the time you will need for communication. Help
with the project could include sponsorship of the project, advice and expert
input, reviews of material to increase quality, etc.
Stakeholder Management is the process by which you identify your key
stakeholders and win their support.

Stakeholder Analysis is the first stage of this, where you identify and start to
understand your most important stakeholders. The first step in this is
brainstorm who your stakeholders are. The next is to prioritize them by
power and interest, and to plot this on a Power/Interest Grid. The final step
is to get an understanding of what motivates your stakeholders and how you
need to win them around.

Good Stakeholder Management helps you to manage the politics that can
often come with major projects. It helps you win support for your projects
and eliminates a major source of project and work stress.

Distributed performance arrangements & teamwork dimensions:

As organizations become increasingly dependent on teams to operate
successfully, the globalization process poses a unique challenge: How do
organizations that are distributed globally use a system (i.e., teams) that is
traditionally co – located? Like organizations themselves, teams have been forced to
change with the times. Distributed performance arrangements allow teams to
operate across space – time. As few as a single team member, or as many members
as the entire team, may be physically located in different offices, time zones, or even
countries.

In the simplest sense, distribution is a performance arrangement that affects

how the team members send, receive, interpret, and encode information. The “space
between” thus has a profound impact on how team members think, act, and feel. For
example, distribution influences the nature of team members’ mental models and the
cues on which functional experts can call during naturalistic decision making.
Moreover, distributed performance arrangements can be traced to issues with
conflict and shared identity, workload or team opacity and team leadership.

Teamwork Dimensions
Major team functions include orientation functions (e.g., exchanging
information), coordination functions (e.g., performance monitoring and error
correction), and motivational functions (e.g., maintenance of norms, resolving
conflicts). These core teamwork dimensions may further also include performance
monitoring and feedback, communication, coordination, and adaptability.

Virtual teamwork & mention the guidelines for virtual teamwork

Virtual teams are not constrained by typical size limitations, have

distributed functional expertise, and interact a majority of the time via
computer – mediated communication.

Because of their distributed nature, virtual teams must rely on some

form of technology, ranging from primitive (e.g., telephone) to advance
(e.g., virtual reality). Thus, virtual teams are dispersed in space – time and
use some form to technology to cross their divide. Beyond these basic
parameters, there is considerable variability in defining what is meant by
virtual team.

Guidelines for Virtual Teamwork

On the basis of the information in the virtual teamwork literature to

date, certain trends can be identified. Although on could argue that different
guidelines should be applied to different types of teams, the following 17
points in general may help promote effective performance when teams are
not co – located:
1. Provide clear, engaging directions and specific individual
goes for virtual team members to enhance self – regulation,
Meta – cognition, and shared mental models.

2. Create structure, standard operating procedures, rules,

protocols, and guidelines to promote habitual routines.

3. Distribute leadership functions to the team, moving away

from hierarchical organization.

4. Support both synchronous and asynchronous interaction.

5. Select appropriate virtual work tasks that are not so complex

that they are better suited for FTF team.

6. Supply team members with information that may not be

available through the VE (e.g., team member availability).

7. Provide enhanced distributed activity using project

management software, structured workflow, and decision
support systems to teams using virtual technology.
8. Create opportunities for all team members to participate in
group discussions to maintain relationships among team
members.

9. Provide meta – cognitive training to promote efficiency in

distributed teams.

10. Hold initial FTF meetings to promote shared mental

models and the formation of interpersonal relationship.

11.Use scenario – based training to help distributed teams

develop team processes vital for success.

12. Provide tools to help team members adapt to changing

circumstances

13. Select team tasks that are appropriate for virtual

teamwork.

14. Provide team building and collaboration training.

15. Crate project deadlines that agree with the team

development model.

16. Share critical information among team members.

17. Allow personal communication and informal social time, if

only virtually, to foster improve interpersonal relations.