Project Human Resource Management: Study Notes
Project Human Resource Management: Study Notes
Project Human Resource Management: Study Notes
Study Notes
PMI, PMP, CAPM, PMBOK, PM Network and the PMI Registered Education Provider logo are registered marks of the
Project Management Institute, Inc.
• Please read Chapter 9 from Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Fourth Edition, Project Management
Institute, Inc., 2008 (pages 215-242).
• The study notes explain topics that are important for PMP® exam preparation, and you can
expect several questions from these topics.
• It is very important to understand all the concepts discussed in this chapter, so please pay
close attention to all the terms used.
• After reading the study notes, please answer the chapter test questions in this knowledge
area. The chapter questions improve your understanding of the concepts discussed in the
study notes.
• Processes that explain how to make the most effective use of the people involved with the
project, including all stakeholders.
Please refer to figure 9-1, on page 217, in PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, which provides an
overview of the processes in Project Human Resource Management.
• Identifies and documents roles, responsibilities, required skills, and reporting relationships and
creates staffing management plan. The roles can be assigned to persons or to groups, who
could be part of the organization performing the project or external to it.
• Identifies the training needs, strategies for team building, programs to recognize and reward,
and issues regarding safety and compliance.
• Is closely linked with Communications Planning, since the performing organization’s structure
has a major influence on the project’s human resource requirements.
• Provides guidance on how we should define, staff, manage, control, and finally release project
human resources
For details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, page 222-223.
• In this process, human resource availability is confirmed, and the team necessary to complete
the project is acquired.
• Points the project manager/project management team has to consider while acquiring the
project team:
◦ Effectively negotiate and influence those who can provide required human resources
◦ Failure to acquire the required human resources could affect the success of the project and
could even result in project cancellation
◦ Alternative resources, even if less competent, should be assigned if, for any reason, the
required human resources are not available. By so doing, no regulatory/legal/mandatory, or
any other criteria should be violated
◦ Pre-assignment
◦ Negotiation
◦ Acquisition
◦ Virtual teams
◦ Project Staff Assignments: The project staff members are assigned, and the assignments
are documented
◦ Resource Calendars: They document the time periods each member works on the project
◦ Project Management Plan Updates: The project management plan should be updated with
human resource plan after completion of the above two sub-processes
• Process that improves the competencies, interactions among the team members, and the
overall team environment to enhance project performance
◦For more details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, pages 232-234.
• Process to track team member performance, provide feedback, resolve issues, and manage
changes to optimize project performance.
For more details, please refer to PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, pages 238-241
Source: Project Management - A Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, And Controlling (pages
195-196)
• Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement are motivators
(satisfiers). They are associated with long-term positive effects in job performance. The
hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) consistently produce only short-term changes in job attitudes
and performance.
• The satisfiers relate to what a person does, while the dissatisfiers relate to the situation in
which the person does what he or she does.
• Blake and Mouton have delineated five modes for handling conflicts:
◦ Compromising: Bargain and search for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to
the parties in a dispute
◦ Confrontation: Handling the conflict directly, which involves a problem solving approach
whereby affected parties work through their disagreements.
• Most of the conflicts occur due to the following issues (in order of decreasing intensity)
Highest Intensity
• Schedules
• Priorities
• Manpower
• Technical
• Procedures
• Personality
◦ Autocratic: Manager makes decisions himself or herself- allows subordinates little involvement and
discussion before a decision is made
◦ Laissez faire: Manager does not interfere with subordinates – so subordinates are largely unsupervised,
which may lead to anarchy
◦ Democratic: Manager allows subordinates to discuss issues and reach decisions, although he or she will
guide and advise
◦ Discussing: There is two-way communication and discussion between manager and subordinates
◦ Directing: Managers tell people what tasks will be performed and when and how they should be done
◦ Delegating: Manager delegates to get consensus on what has been achieved and what needs to be done
◦ Coaching: Manager issues instructions to others
◦ Facilitating: Manager coordinates inputs from several sources before making a decision
◦ Participatory
◦ Supportive
◦ Task oriented
◦ Team-based
◦ Assertive
• A method and style of management by which the project manager distributes responsibility for
proper performance of a task to a team member working on the project.
• Project manager, even after delegating responsibility to a team member, still retains the
ultimate responsibility for the end results.
• Project manager also agree to be held accountable for the decision to delegate.
• Involves:
Please note: The concept and process of delegation can be illustrated by the "4D's" model
(Drop, Delay, Delegate, and Do).
• The project manager must assign responsibility, grant appropriate authority, expect reliability,
and require accountability from the delegatees.
• Responsibility confers the obligation on the delegatee to act with or without detailed guidance
or specific authorization.
• Accountability in the project context is the extent to which individuals are answerable and must
provide visible evidence of their actions.
Reference: Organizing Projects for Success (Human Aspects of Project Management) by Vijay
Verma. Chapter 4: Important Issues in Project Organizational Design