Friday, November 4, 2011

Chapter 16: Human Resource Management


Aim: To understand the process “Develop Human Resource Plan”

The project manager must fulfill the role of manager and leader of the project team. The project manager has the following responsibilities:
• Determine the HR needs of the project
• Negotiate with line managers for internal resources
• Acquire external resources through the procurement process
• Determine training needs
• Identify/plan team-building activities
• Determine the performance review approach for a project’s human resources
• Determine the reward and recognition approach for motivational purposes
• Document the team structure and each team’s responsibilities
• Create a project organization chart
• Develop a staffing management plan

Exam Watch:
PMI puts a high value on the project manager’s responsibilities to the team. Make sure you are comfortable with applying PMBOK content to hypothetical situations.
Key Human Resource Principles

Human resource management is the set of processes used to organize and manage the project team, also referred to as the project staff. A subset of the project team is the project management team, composed of the project manager, project sponsor, and others responsible for project management activities such as planning, controlling, and closing the project.

Project human resource management is composed of human resource planning, acquiring, developing, and managing the team. HR planning has a number of key deliverables, including project organization charts, the staffing management plan, and determining the roles and responsibilities of each human resource.

The table below shows the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs for the develop human resource plan process.

Develop Human Resource Plan
Inputs Tools & Techniques Outputs

Activity resource requirements
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Organization charts and position descriptions
Networking
Organizational theory

Human resource plan
It is important to understand the various methods organizations use to depict and describe human resources and their attributes. They are:
1. Organizational breakdown structure (OBS) – The OBS Graphically displays work packages according to departments. It can be used to identify the work assigned to each department
2. Resource breakdown structure – The RBS Graphically displays resources by type. It is very effective in tracking costs. Also, it groups resources even if they are working on different deliverables
3. Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) – The RAM is a chart displaying resources and for which assignments they are responsible. It allows easy identification of all responsibilities for a given resource
4. RACI matrix – The RACI Matrix is a specific type of RAM that shows the resources that are responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed in project activities. It provides more detail than RAM
5. Position description – It is a text-based description of responsibilities. Provides a high level of detail for a given position

Note
An organizational breakdown structure (OBS) is a graphical representation of the project team arranged according to an organization’s existing structure. A resource breakdown structure is also a graphical representation but is organized according to resource type. A resource breakdown structure can contain resources other than human resources, such as equipment, and can be used to track costs as well.

In addition to graphical representations, resources might be documented in matrix-based documents such as a responsibility assignment (RACI) matrix.
These documents are effective communication tools to ensure team members understand for which assignments they are responsible.

Note: RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consult, inform.

The Staffing Management Plan

The staffing management plan is used to document the type of resources needed and the timing for those resources. The plan includes how the resources will be acquired, start and end dates, training requirements, policies and procedures for the team, and the team recognition approach and budget.

Exam Watch:
Resource leveling is a schedule network analysis that results in schedule changes, start and finish dates, based on resource constraints. That is, resource leveling might cause start and finish dates to change if multiple activities rely on over-committed resources.

You can learn more about the “Develop Human Resource Plan” process by Clicking Here

Prev: Chapter 15

Next: Chapter 17

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