6.10 Click on the Web page for project teams at www .projectsmart.co.uk/five-steps-to-a-winning-project-team .php. Which of these five steps seems to be easier for a project manager to perform and which seems to be more difficult? Why? How do the ideas in this chapter compare to the advice given in a related link on “five essentials to project team success” at www.projectsmart.co.uk/5-essentials-to-project-team-success.php? What does this suggest about the importance of setting the stage for project success through team development?
6.11 Go to the Web site of a professional sports team and explore the site. What clues do you get regarding the importance of “teams” and “teamwork” from this site? Give two or three specific examples.
6.12 Go to the Web site of a pharmaceutical company. Explore the site, particularly information on new research. What kinds of project teams are used within pharmaceutical companies? Can you identify at least five functional areas within these organizations that should work together in a project team to develop a new drug?
6.13 Go to www.ebxml.org/project_teams/project_teams.htm and explore the projects and project teams listed. Notice the size and diversity of some of these project teams. What challenges would you find in attempting to bring these individuals together into a project team? How does the fact that some of the teams are made up of personnel from different organizations affect our best attempts to mold a
project team?
6.14 Go to http://tele-immersion.citris-uc.org/ and explore the nature of the project working to develop tele-immersion technology. Click the link marked “Projects” and observe the different fields and uses for tele-immersion technology. What are projected advances and uses for this science into
the future?
PMP CERTIFICATION SAMPLE QUESTIONS
6.15 The project manager is experiencing serious, deep-rooted conflict between two key project team members. It is apparent that these differences are based on different interpretations of the project’s scope. Which conflict resolution approach would be the most useful for the project manager to employ?
a. Compromising
b. Withdrawal
c. Punishment
d. Problem-solving
6.16 Which of the following is not an example of a team development strategy?
a. Creating a WBS for the project
b. Performance reviews
c. Project team outing to a sporting event
d. Team lunches
6.17 Two programmers are involved in a conflict that is threatening to disrupt the development of the project. The project manager calls the two programmers into her office and reminds them that they are both “on the same side” in working to develop the software application for the company. Her conflict resolution style would best be seen as:
a. Arbitration
b. Diffusion
c. Controlling the conflict
d. Eliminating the conflict
6.18 Carrie is from the marketing department and she has become increasingly upset with the attitude of the production member of the project team, Andrew. He seems to either ignore her opinions or make disparaging comments every time she speaks, usually referring to marketing in an unpleasant way. Which stage of group development is the project team addressing, as evidenced by the interactions of Carrie and Andrew?
a. Norming
b. Performing
c. Storming
d. Adjourning
6.19 Among the useful means to develop a sense of teamwork in personnel from different functional departments are all of the following EXCEPT:
a. Collocation (physical proximity)
b. Common goals
c. Organizational rules governing their interaction
d. Flexible working hours
6.20 Which of the following is NOT a constructive team role?
a. Compromiser
b. Gatekeeper
c. Withdrawer
d. Smoother
6.21 Which stage of group development is most closely associated with “floundering” and initial engagement?
a. Forming
b. Storming
c. Norming
d. Performing
6.22 A project manager is experiencing problems when dealing with an engineering department head. The functional manager from engineering refuses to release resources to the project despite repeated requests from the project manager. Which of the following would be best at helping to resolve this conflict?
a. The client
b. A coalition of other functional managers
c. Senior management
d. A member of the engineering department
6.23 Smoothing, forcing, and withdrawing are all forms of?
a. Organizing
b. Power
c. Stakeholder relationship management
d. Conflict resolution
6.24 Joanie is in charge of a project with an extensive virtual team. She routinely deals with team members from different countries, cultures, and educational backgrounds. All of the following would be methods for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of her virtual project team meetings EXCEPT:
a. Augmenting virtual communication with face-to-face interactions when possible
b. Carefully avoid creating codes of conduct
c. Keeping all members in the communications loop
d. Enforcing a clear process for addressing conflict
Answers
6.15. d—Problem-solving would be the best alternative when the issues are not so much personal as they are perceptual (based on the interpretation of the project’s scope). Compromising would be a problem because it could lead to watering down the deliverables.
6.16. a—The other activities can all result in team development.
6.17. b—Because the project manager emphasizes commonalities and working together, this would be considered a method of conflict resolution through diffusion.
6.18. c—They are clearly exhibiting behaviors that are associated with storming.
6.19. d—Flexible working hours have no impact on the willingness of personnel to work cooperatively with members of other departments.
6.20. c—withdrawers do not take part in team activities and deliberately avoid decision-making.
6.21. a—forming is the stage where team members may feel that they are floundering until the structure and process norms emerge.
6.22. c—senior management is best equipped to adjudicate disagreements between functional managers and project managers.
6.23. d—these are all methods for resolving conflicts.
6.24. b—codes of conduct can be a critical tool in improving virtual team efficiency and effectiveness.
Notes
1. Hotson, E., (2016), “Zombies and heli-skiing: How team away days got extreme,” BBC, Aug 16, http://www.bbc. com/capital/story/20160815-zombies-horses-heli-skiinghow-team-away-days-got-extreme.
2. Verma, V. K. (1996). Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager. Upper Darby, PA: Project Management Institute; Verma, V. K. (1997). Managing the Project Team. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. 3. Hoegl, M., and Parboteeah, K. P. (2003). “Goal setting and
team performance in innovative projects: On the moderating role of teamwork quality,” Small Group Research,
34: 3–19; McComb, S. A., and Green, S. G. (1999). “Project goals, team performance, and shared understanding,” Engineering Management Journal, 11(3).
4. Pinto, J. K., and Prescott, J. E. (1988). “Variations in critical success factors over the stages in the project life cycle,” Journal of Management, 14(1): 5–18.
5. Hartman, F. T. (2000). Don’t Park Your Brain Outside A Practical Guide to Improving Shareholder Value Through SMART Management. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute; Karlsen, J. T., Grae, K., and Massaoud, M. J. (2008). “The role of trust in project-stakeholder relationships: A study of a construction project,” International Journal of Project Organization and Management, 1: 105–118; Lander, M. C., Purvis, R. L., McCray, G. E., and Leigh, W. (2004). “Trust-building mechanisms utilized in outsourced IS development projects: A case study,” Information and
Management, 41: 509–28; Kadefors, A. (2004). “Trust in project relationships—inside the black box,” International Journal of Project Management, 22: 175–82; Smyth, H. J., and Thompson, N. J. (2005). “Managing conditions of trust within a framework of trust,” Journal of Construction Procurement, 11(1): 4–18.
6. Hartman, F. T. (2002). “Update on trust: A collection of trust-based research findings,” in Slevin, D. P., Pinto, J. K., and Cleland, D. I. (Eds.), Proceedings of the PMI Research Conference 2002. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, pp. 247–53.
7. Gido, J., and Clements, J. P. (2003). Successful Project Management, 2nd ed. Mason, OH: South Western.
8. Tuchman, B. W., and Jensen, M. A. (1977). “Stages in small group development revisited,” Group and Organizational Studies, 2: 419–27.
9. Tuchman, B. W., and Jensen, M. A. (1977), ibid.
10. Verma, V. K. (1997). Managing the Project Team, p. 71, as cited in note 2.
11. Gersick, C. (1988). “Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development,” Academy of Management Journal, 31: 9–41; Gersick, C. (1989). “Making time predictable transitions in task groups.” Academy of Management Journal, 32: 274–309; Chang, A., Bordia, P., and Duck, J., (2003). “Punctuated equilibrium and linear progression: Toward a new understanding of group development,” Academy of Management Journal, 46: 106–117.
12. Pinto, M. B. (1988). “Cross-functional cooperation in the implementation of marketing decisions: The effects of superordinate goals, rules and procedures, and physical environment.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, PA; Pinto, M. B., Pinto, J. K., and Prescott, J. E. (1993). “Antecedents and consequences of project team cross-functional cooperation,” Management Science, 39: 1281–97.
13. Sherif, M. (1958). “Superordinate goals in the reduction of intergroup conflict,” American Journal of Sociology, 63(4): 349–56.
14. Galbraith, J. R. (1977). Organization Design. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
15. Davis, T. E. (1984). “The influence of the physical environment in offices,” Academy of Management Review, 9(2): 271–83.
16. Frame, J. D. (2002). The New Project Management, 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; Wang, H., Law, K. S., Hackett, R. D., and Chen, Z. X. (2005). “Leader-Member Exchange as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ performance and
organizational citizenship behavior,” Academy of Management Journal, 48: 420–432.
17. Tjosvold, D. (1993). Teamwork for Customers: Building Organizations That Take Pride in Serving. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; Logue, A. C. (2002). “Building and keeping the dream team,” PMNetwork, 16(3): 30–36.
18. Adams, J. R., and Adams, L. L. (1997). “The virtual projects: Management of tomorrow’s team today,” PMNetwork, 11(1): 37–41; Kostner, J. (1994). Knights of the Tele-Round Table. New York: Warner Books; Delisle, C. (2001). “Success and communication in virtual project teams.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Project Management Specialization, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta; Fagerhaug, T. (2002). “Virtual project organizations—design of and challenges for,” in Slevin, D. P., Pinto, J. K., and Cleland, D. I. (Eds.), Proceedings of PMI Research Conference 2002. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, pp. 217–23.
19. Coutu, D. L. (1998). “Organization: Trust in virtual teams,” Harvard Business Review, 76(3): 20–21.
20. Smith, P. G., and Blank, E. L. (2002). “From experience: Leading dispersed teams,” Journal of Product Innovation Management, 19: 294–304.
21. Smith, P. G., and Blank, E. L. (2002), ibid.
22. Lanier, J. (2001, April). “Virtually there: Three-dimensional tele-immersion may eventually bring the world to your desk,” Scientific American, 284(4): 66–75.
23. Ditlea, S. (2001, January). “Tele-immersion: Tomorrow’s teleconferencing,” Computer Graphics World, www.cgw.com; (2008). tele-immersion.citris-uc.org/video
24. Posner, B. Z. (1986). “What’s all the fighting about? Conflicts in project management,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, EM-33: 207–11; Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1975). “Conflict management in project life cycles,” Sloan Management Review, 16(3): 31–50; Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1977). “Leadership, conflict, and program management effectiveness,” Sloan Management Review, 19(1): 69–89; Chan, M. (1989). “Intergroup conflict
and conflict management in the R&D divisions of four aerospace companies,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, EM-36: 95–104; Adams, J. R., and Barndt, S. E. (1988). “Behavioral implications of the project life cycle,” in Cleland, D. I., and King, W. R. (Eds.), Project Management Handbook, 2nd ed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 206–30.
25. Thomas, K. W., and Schmidt, W. H. (1976). “A survey of managerial interests with respect to conflict,” Academy of Management Journal, 10: 315–18.
26. Thomas, K. W. (1992). “Conflict and negotiation processes in organizations,” in Dunnette, M. D. (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, pp. 889–935; Pondy, L. (1968). “Organizational conflict: Concepts and models,”
Administrative Science Quarterly, 12: 296–320.
27. Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1975), as cited in note 24.
28. Verma, V. K. (1998). “Conflict management,” in Pinto, J. K. (Ed.), The Project Management Institute’s Project Management Handbook. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
29. Verma, V. K. (1996), as cited in note 2; Robbins, S. P. (1974). Managing Organizational Conflict: A Nontraditional Approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
30. Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1975), as cited in note 24; Posner, B. Z. (1986), as cited in note 24.
31. Verma, V. K. (1998), as cited in note 28.
32. Ware, J. (1983). “Some aspect of problem-solving and conflict resolution in management groups,” in Schlesinger, L. A., Eccles, R. G., and Gabarro, J. L. (Eds.), Managing Behavior in Organization: Text, Cases, Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 101–15.
33. Patel, P. (2009, December 9). “Engineers without borders,” IEEE Spectrum. http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/ profiles/engineers-without-borders; http://www.ewbusa.org/
34. Slevin, D. P. (1989). The Whole Manager. New York: AMACOM.
35. Fisher, R., and Ury, W. (1981). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
36. Fisher, R., and Ury, W. (1981), ibid.
37. Fisher, R., and Ury, W. (1981), ibid.
38. Fisher, R., and Ury, W. (1981), ibid.
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