Chapter 2 Grit
People working on projects
Line organization
Companies are organized in different ways. An organization chart is a diagram that includes all
departments within an organization and the balance of power between them.
A distinction is made between the line and staff departments. There is a balance of power among
the line departments. The departmental manager is also the head of the sub-departments. The
manager of the production department is also the boss of the manager of the bicycle department.
A staff department provides advice or support but does not have the power to command other
departments.
The project organization
To carry out a project, management must establish a separate project organization. This organization
is “outside” of the normal line organization and has its own, temporary project manager, who
manages the members of the project team.
- The project group
A project group is made up of people who have been brought together because of their capacities,
expertise and attitude.
Project management. A larger project may be divided into various working groups
with a working group manager in charge of each
Project secretary consists of taking care of the correspondence, taking the minutes
of meetings, noting how much time has gone into the tasks and managing the
project’s files
Project members are selected based on their expertise and their capacity to execute
the project. They may be recruited from within the organization itself but may be
brought in from outside.
Consultants these re very often experts from the withing organization itself,
consultants from outside may also need to be hired.
- Working group
The working group is responsible for carrying out a separate sub-task of the project. Might be
responsible for the advertising campaign; and might even be put together to organize a training
course after a new information has been installed at a company.
- The outside world
A project group does not do its work in isolation and has a certain relationship with the “outside
world”. People from outside the organization may include the following:
The project sponsors
A steering committee
A committee of experts
Departmental heads
A representative advisory board
The government
Interest groups
,All interested parties in a project are called stakeholders. Stakeholders can benefit or be harmed by
a project and may be able to influence the project. For projects involving large numbers of
stakeholders a stakeholder analysis is carried out. The project group needs to let the parent
organization and the outside world know what it is doing. This can be done verbally or in writing.
The project sponsor
The project sponsor is responsible for initiating the project and providing the funding. He will
support the project and communicate with the project manager on regular basis.
The project planning provides the sponsor with an indication of when the product can be expected.
The sponsor has the ultimate say in whether the project result is acceptable.
If a project does not have a single, clearly identifiable sponsor, the chances that it will be successful
are small.
Once the project group starts working and submits the intermediate results, the sponsor may
change his mind about certain aspects and demand changes.
Future users
The sponsor pays for the project, but it is ultimately the users who must work with its results. It is
essential to involve the future users in the project from its onset and to keep them involved
throughout the entire project
The project manager
Is the owner of the project’s results. The project results must provide an answer to the following
question: what product must this project group deliver?
The project members
The members of the project team must be able to discuss how to divide the tasks among them and
to plan when these tasks need to be done. They must be able to stimulate each other’s creativity
and listen to each other’s ideas.
Relationship sponsor and project manager
The sponsor has an interest in and is responsible for the project goal. This project goal must
contribute to the general goals of his organization. Ex. increasing the profit or the market share.
During the project, the sponsor is responsible for taking decisions which relate to the project goals.
, Task oriented and people oriented leadership
If a project manager is solely task oriented or people oriented the project will suffer. A task oriented
project manager will try to get a large project done in as short a time as he possibly can.
People oriented project manager constantly tries to please his workers, the job will suffer.
A project manager who is neither of both is known as a deserter: somebody who shirks his
responsibilities. Such a manager pays little attention to his team and the result is that interaction
between the group members determines what is done. This approach makes the members uncertain
about what is expected of them and leaves without a clear direction. This type of leadership is called
laisser faire (letting go) and is not really leadership.
Working on a project
The success of a project depends largely on the ability of the project team to work together as a
whole. Teambuilding involves getting a group of individuals together and getting them to collaborate
as a unit.
Each and every member of the team must know what can be expected of the other members. There
should be clear agreement about the division of roles
Team roles according to Belbin
Some project teams function perfectly while others perform less efficiently. Nine are the identified
roles played in a team.
Implementer: is a hard worker with good common sense, considerable self-discipline and
practical
Coordinator: knows how to command respect, is often domineering and knows how to
make the most of other people’s abilities
Shaper: has a lot of energy, is driven, ambitious, extraverted and dynamic.
Plant: is an imaginative individualist with a lot of original ideas.
Resource investigator: is curious, enthusiastic, communicative, extraverted and has a
capacity for contacting people
Monitor valuator: has a good sense of judgement, is competent, critical, unemotional,
professional, and cautious.
Team worker: is people oriented, diplomatic, promotes team spirit, sensitive and responds
positively
Completer finisher: is orderly, quality conscious, perfectionist and conscientious
Specialist: possesses considerable professional knowledge and tries to expand on this
Mix of roles: of the nine described by Belbin, one person can fulfil a combination of roles,
such as the company man and completer, at the same time.
The project and cultural differences