Behavioral Aspects of Project Management
Behavioral Aspects of Project Management
The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational culture and human behavior influence the success of projects, in particular projects beset with issues. This paper will first answer how organizational culture influences the selection, sponsorship, prioritization, and ultimate success of projects. Secondly, answer the question of what role the project leadership plays in the success of projects and how a project manager can build and manage a successful project team. Finally, the paper will offer some strategies that could be used by a project manager to successfully manage the relationships among project team members and the relationships among the project team and external resources.
Organizational culture influences the selection, sponsorship, prioritization, and ultimate success of a project by establishing the standards for what an organization is to accomplish. Gray and Larson (2005) have identified 10 cultural dimensions of an organization which form an environment that is beneficial to carry out most complex projects which engage employees from various disciplines (p.77). The cultural dimensions include the following: 1. member identity, 2. team emphasis, 3. people focus, 4. unit integration, 5. control, 6. risk tolerance, 7. reward criteria, 8. conflict tolerance, 9. means-end orientation, 10. open-system focus. These characteristics determine the success or failure of a project within an organization. Each organization's culture is used to develop strategies and solutions that are more likely to be understood and accepted. In this manner, the organization's culture avoids violating key norms that would otherwise jeopardize the effectiveness of the strategies and solutions within the organization.
An organization's culture can create conditions that could lead to a project falling behind schedule, over budget, key team members resigning in disgust, and plummeting morale of the remaining team as
The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational culture and human behavior influence the success of projects, in particular projects beset with issues. This paper will first answer how organizational culture influences the selection, sponsorship, prioritization, and ultimate success of projects. Secondly, answer the question of what role the project leadership plays in the success of projects and how a project manager can build and manage a successful project team. Finally, the paper will offer some strategies that could be used by a project manager to successfully manage the relationships among project team members and the relationships among the project team and external resources.
Organizational culture influences the selection, sponsorship, prioritization, and ultimate success of a project by establishing the standards for what an organization is to accomplish. Gray and Larson (2005) have identified 10 cultural dimensions of an organization which form an environment that is beneficial to carry out most complex projects which engage employees from various disciplines (p.77). The cultural dimensions include the following: 1. member identity, 2. team emphasis, 3. people focus, 4. unit integration, 5. control, 6. risk tolerance, 7. reward criteria, 8. conflict tolerance, 9. means-end orientation, 10. open-system focus. These characteristics determine the success or failure of a project within an organization. Each organization's culture is used to develop strategies and solutions that are more likely to be understood and accepted. In this manner, the organization's culture avoids violating key norms that would otherwise jeopardize the effectiveness of the strategies and solutions within the organization.
An organization's culture can create conditions that could lead to a project falling behind schedule, over budget, key team members resigning in disgust, and plummeting morale of the remaining team as
References: Barber, E., Warn, J. (2005). Leadership in project management: from firefighter to firelighter. Management Decision, 43(7/8), 1032-1040. Retrieved on February 27, 2007, from ProQuest database. Gray, Larson. (2005). Project management: The managerial process. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved February 5, 2007, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, MGT 573—Project Management in the Business Environment Web site. Kotelnikov, V. (2007). Project leader skills. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from http://www.1000ventures.com Mehrotra, V. (2003). The truth about project managers. (Was it something I said?). OR/MS Today, 30(2), 12. Retrieved on February 27, 2007, from Thomson Gale database.