ICPM

For an organization whose fundamental work is the delivery of projects, it is extremely important that projects are viewed as a source of learning.

Project delivery is a process that produces an abundance of knowledge. Project teams encounter problems, assess and monitor risks, evaluate baselines, watch budgets and finance and manage stakeholder needs and expectations, as they do, they generate knowledge that is contained within the team.

Risk Response Planning is the process of developing options, and determining actions to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to the project’s objectives. It follows the Qualitative Risk Analysis and Quantitative Risk Analysis processes. It includes the identification and assignment of one or more persons (the “risk response owner”) to take responsibility for each agreed-to and funded risk response. Risk Response Planning addresses the risks by their priority, inserting resources and activities into the budget, schedule, and project management plan, as needed. 

PMI defines risk identification as determining which risk events are likely to affect the project and documenting the characteristics of each. This process involves identifying three related factors: (1) potential sources of risk (schedule, cost, technical, legal, and so on), (2) possible risk events, and (3) risk symptoms.

The timing of risk identification is also of vital importance. PMI® advocates that risk identification should first be accomplished at the outset of the project and then be updated regularly throughout the project life cycle. 

Information can be distributed through the following as well as other methods, according to project demands and as technology provides:

Common sense and your own experience will play a large role in your ability to answer the questions on this topic.

Communication Processes defined: Communication is the link between people, ideas, and information. Project Communications Management includes four processes:

Five theories are of particular importance: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, McGregor’s theory X and theory Y, Ouchi’s Theory Z, Herzberg’s theory of motivation, and the expectancy theory.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - According to Maslow, people work to take care of a hierarchy of needs. The pinnacle of their needs is self-actualization. People want to contribute, prove their work, and use their skills and ability. Five layers of needs, from the bottom-up, are:

Whether conflict has a net positive or negative effect on a project and its parent organization depends on how the project manager handles it. PMI® recognizes five methods for dealing with conflict:

Recruiting Team Members - The project manager has to follow the rules of the host organization. The PM must be aware of, and work well with, the levels of authority. If the PM is working within a Functional matrix, then he must be prepared to allow the employee’s functional manager to determine things like availability and the PM must provide feedback to the functional manager regarding performance. The PM has little authority to perform these tasks.

TYPES OF POWER

According to PMI®, the project manager can exert the following types of power:

The Powers of the Project Manager
Power	Definition
Expert	The project manager is an expert with the goal the project focuses on.
Reward	The project manager can reward the project team members.
Coercive	The project manager can punish the project team members.
Formal	The project manager is formally assigned to the role of the project manager.
Referent	The project team knows the project manager. The project manager refers to the person that assigned them to the role of project manager.

 

• Expert Power - Expert power can only be exercised by individuals who are held in particular esteem because of their special knowledge or skill. The project manager’s ability to use this power derives from reputation, knowledge, and experience.
• Reward Power - Reward power involves positive reinforcement and the ability to award people something of value in exchange for their cooperation. The project manager’s ability to use this power derives from his or her position in the organizational hierarchy and degree of control over the project.
• Coercive Power - Coercive power is predicated on fear (for example, subordinate fears being deprived of something for failing to do what the supervisor asks). The ability to use this power derives from the project manager’s control over the project and project personnel.
• Formal Power - Legitimate power is derived from the person’s formal position within the organization. The project manager’s ability to use this power derives from his or her position in the organizational hierarchy and his or her degree of control over the project, as modified by the organizational climate. Use of this power should be in conjunction with expert and reward power whenever possible.
• Referent Power - Referent power is based on citing the authority of a more powerful person (for example, one’s supervisor) as the basis for one’s own authority. The project manager’s ability to use this power derives from his or her position in the organizational hierarchy.

 

 

ORGANIZATIONAL SETUP

Functional
This traditional structure groups people by specialization (for example, marketing, contracting, accounting, and so on). The project manager has no formal authority over project resources and must rely on the informal power structure and his or her own interpersonal skills to obtain resource commitments from functional managers. Conflicts tend to develop over the relative priorities of various projects competing for limited resources.

Weak Matrix
The matrix organization maintains vertical functional lines of authority while establishing a relatively permanent horizontal structure containing the managers for various projects. The project managers interact with all functional units supporting their projects. In a weak matrix, the balance of power leans toward the functional manager rather than the project manager. That is, workers’ administrative relationships, physical proximity, and relative time expenditures favor the functional manager.

Strong Matrix
The strong matrix is the same as the weak matrix except that the balance of power favors the project manager rather than the functional manager. The project manager has medium to high formal authority.

Projectized
In a projectized organization, a separate, vertical structure is established for each project.  Personnel are assigned to particular projects on a full-time basis. The project manager has total authority over the project, subject only to the time, cost, and performance constraints specified in the project targets.

These are the functional organizations; project expeditor, which is little more than a functionary who helps support the concept of project management but not really the practice; the project coordinator is a step up from that. Then a weak matrix is where you actually have the project manager getting resources from the functional organizations; a strong matrix is where the balance of power is shifted to the project manager. The way you tell whether or not that balance of power has shifted is where the money and the reporting flow from. If all money and reports are generated by the project and are respected as being from the project, then it is a strong matrix. If the functional organizations are seen as generating revenue for the organization rather than the project organizations, then it is a weak matrix. And finally, PMI’s ideal structure: the projectized organization, a place where the project has its own reporting structure within the organization.

 

PM Level of Authority Matrix

PM Level of Authority Matrix
	PM's Authority	Budget control	Resource Control	PM’s role / Time
Functional	Little or None	Functional Manager	Little or none	Part time
Weak Matrix	Limited	Functional Manager	Limited	Part time
Balanced Matrix	Low	Mixed	Low	Full time
Strong Matrix	Moderate	Project Manager	Moderate	Full time
Projectized	High	Project Manager	High	Full time