Managing Human Resources in Project PM0004 Sem-3

Sikkim Manipal University Managing Human
Resources in Project PM0004
MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECT

- PM0004
MBA SEMESTER 3
ASSIGNMENT (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-
LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 1 of 27

MBA III Semester Assignment
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 Organizational Competence:

It 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

Q2. (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.
Ans:
a) A Management Skill 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 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.

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.

Q3 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.
Ans: 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:
2. 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.
3. Conflict over administrative procedures:
4. 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.
5. Conflict over technical opinions and performance
trade-off:
6. In technology-oriented projects, disagreements may
arise over technical issues. Performance
specifications, technical trade-offs and the means
to achieve performance.
7. Conflict over manpower resources:
8. 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.
9. Conflict over cost:

10. 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.
11. Conflict over schedules:
12. Disagreement may develop around the timing,
sequencing and scheduling of a project related
tasks.
13. Personality conflict:
14. 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.


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Sikkim Manipal University Managing Human

Resources in Project PM0004

MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECT

1. (a) What do you mean by Project Management &

A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 1 of 27

permanent functional work to produce products or

The primary challenge of project management is to

Project plan can be considered to have five key

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

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 2 of 27

(b) Competence is a standardized requirement for an

For instance, management competency includes the

Competence is also used to work with more general

I. The Organizational Competence:

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 3 of 27

It was initiated by David McClelland in the 1960s with

Nevertheless, as can be seen from Raven and

II. A core competency: is a specific factor that a

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 4 of 27

1. It provides consumer benefits

A core competency can take various forms, including

Core competencies are particular strengths relative to

The need for Competency is shown in action in a

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 5 of 27

time you have to act. In emergency contexts,

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 6 of 27

Q2. (a) Explain the need for development of

(b) Explain each of the following competencies

• Human Resource Management

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 7 of 27

(c) Explain the characteristics of a project team.

Steps involved in developing management skills:

Maintain the Status Quo

Establish yourself in your new role and gain the

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 8 of 27

Get to Know Your Team

Learn How to Delegate

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 9 of 27

Time management: refers to a range of skills, tools, and

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 10 of 27

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

First generation: reminders based on clocks and

Second generation: planning and preparation based

Third generation: planning, prioritizing, controlling

Fourth generation: being efficient and proactive using

Some of the recent general arguments related to "time"

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 11 of 27

actually imply that it is "the management of our own

Cost management is the process by which companies

For a company's management to be effective overall,

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 12 of 27

project is started, the anticipated costs should be

Human Resource Management

Human resource management: (HRM) is the strategic

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 13 of 27

Its features include:

Risk is defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 14 of 27

Methods, definitions and goals vary widely according to

The strategies to manage risk include transferring the

The term contract management is typically used in

LEARNING CENTRE JEDDAH Page 15 of 27