Performance Report

Running head: WEEK 3 PROJECT MANAGMENT LEADERSHIP

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

MATRIX ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE………………………………………
OLLO DIRECTOR…………………………………………………………………
FUNCTIONAL MANAGERS…………………………………………………….
OPTIMAL SKILLS FOR FUNCTIONAL MANAGERS………………………...
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS…………………………………………….................
PROJECT LEADERS STAFFING DECISONS…………………………………..
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………….	10
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………….	11

Matrix Organizational Structure justification

The team has chosen the Matrix organization structure to support the OLLO e-commerce sales project. The matrix organization structure puts the project manager in a position of authority with flexibility to make decisions from a resourcing perspective to achieving project objectives. A key benefit of any project using a Matrix organization structure is that it enables the PM to coordinate work between different departments and project resources. The Matrix organization also blurs the line of formal authority by allowing the PM and other matrixed project managers to intersect with the various functional teams based on current project deliverables and timelines.

Historically, Project manager's main limitation did not have enough authority to make critical decisions and provide appropriate instructions to meet project deadlines. A matrix management style resolves this challenge and removes formal boundaries and management layers to contact the resources in the time of need. One significant negative to matrix management is ordering or guiding functional staff can create resentment and conflict. To overcome resentment attitudes project managers should leverage other forms of influence to supplement the matrix management philosophy (Barron & Burke, 2014).

OLLO Director

The OLLO director is the top level resource for the matrix organization chart and, for our project, the project sponsor. The project sponsor has a tremendous influence towards the success of the project and provides direction in the following key areas:

• How the project links with the organization's overall strategy.

• Securing Project resources.

• Working with the PM to make sure the Project is on time, on a budget.

• Providing feedback on status reports and ensuring the reports reach the correct audience.

• Championing the project at steering committee meetings and other executive related meetings.

According to a KPMG survey, eighty-one percent of project managers at Federal and Government agencies indicated that strong project sponsorship had a significant impact on the success (PMI). The goal of the OLLO project is to cultivate a healthy relationship between sponsor and project manager and support a team work "us” framework and remove as many barriers between boss and subordinate. Our project will use an "emotional contract" the supports an agreement between the project manager and sponsor to determine how often they should meet, the frequency of reporting, and how problems should be escalated (PMI, n.d.).

Functional Managers (HR, Sales, Marketing, Project)

In a matrixed structured project, the functional manager relationship and project manager relationship is critical to the overall success of the project. Functional managers provide an important role in stabilizing resources, providing operational authority for their respective area, and as part of a matrix structure will work hand in hand with the other key functional managers of the OLLO project. The OLLO sales project has two key requirements for functional managers: provide administrative oversight when needed and act as a subject matter leader for their technical area or area of specialty.

In a matrix project structure, functional managers should not think of themselves as owners of the resources. They can work with the project a manager to set terms to which resources can be allocated but once assigned, resources are matrixed by the provisions of the project need, schedule and in many cases will be working with managers not part of the management landscape. The bottom line is that functional managers and project managers are in the business of making projects succeed and all aspects of communication and relationship building should always be geared toward this principle (Pitagorsky, 1998).

Optimal Skills for Functional Managers

Optimal skills for functional managers as a high level include stellar communications skills, the ability to set clear and understandable goals, delegation, ownership, a good sense of self and humor, honesty and transparency. Below are specific skills or traits for each role on the project team.

• Project Manager – a good project manager should be able to provide vision and possess the following skills and personal traits. Display leadership in all interactions, be confident, organized, and use sound judgment. Project managers must be calculated risk takers, able to influence teams, coach up, over, and down, and use sound judgment.

• Human Resources Manager – these managers must be able to take a grey situation and recolor it black and white. They must be ethical, read people very well, be well versed in conflict and change management, and be empathetic.

• Sales Manager – assure that they lead and lead by example, be willing to give all credit for successes to the team, quickly identify issues, be a great coach, and stay light and fun even in stressful months.

• Marketing Manager – are fun, creative, work off normal hours, great with numbers, up on trends, and flexible.

Interview Questions

1. Tell us about a project you have managed and how did your role contribute to the success or failure of the project. Then, looking back, what would you have done differently?

2. What is your definition of leadership?

3. One of your employees has just come to you with concerns about another member of the project team. Your employee states the other member of the project team will not let anyone else talk, and their ideas are the only valid ones, and that they would like to be excused from the team. How would you respond?

4. Give us an example of a time when you witnessed questionable behavior as in unethical or possible harassment, what actions did you take?

5. How have you assisted the company with strategic alignment?

6. What has been your proudest achievement at work?

7. Who do you look up to and what traits do you look for in a leader?

8. On the opposite end of the spectrum, explain the traits of a leader you do not admire.

9. Tell me why we should hire you over all other candidates?

10. What would you like to tell us about yourself that we may like to know?

Project Leader Staffing Decisions

Putting together the project team is a very important element of executing a successful project. Devoid of the correct people in position, the project will not set off very far. The best project managers are familiar with how to select the mainly suitable people for each task of project. The project leader require to devote the right sum of time at the commencement of the project appraising the team and determining who should be included and who should not—and those are not simple decisions. The project manger requires having a firm plan of management in place so as to staff the project appropriately. It will not overnight happen—and the project manager requires being eager to construct those hard decisions for the project benefit. Effective planning execution of a project needs systematic long-term and short-term staffing strategy and plan. (Gido J., & J, P. Clements, (2006).

The staffing plan must explain how the project manager will position the resources into the project and how they will be managing right through the complete lifecycle. In this project management plan, the manager require to detail how people will be fetched into the project, whether they are fresh hires or contractors, assigned from further departments in the organization or component of a matrix organization. From time to time, depending on the by and large company's strategy of growth, portfolio of project, and needs of department, the decision is carried out to hire new employees with requisite specialist experience and skills. The staffing plan must illustrate how the team is fetched up to speed, how it will be position into the project, and how everybody will be managed. Each one must have a clear perceptive of who is formulating decisions, who can assist them effort in the course of any issues, and who is allocating the work from a high-level perspective.

When selecting individuals for a team, the objective is to reproduce higher productivity by the team. Task limits connected with the budding projects are expected to influence the need for a variety of personnel abilities in teams; for instance, project of change management might need larger stress on definite communication skills, or an assignment that has especially tight time limit for execution might need better familiarity amongst team members. As a result, the requirement of skills, predominantly team-specific competencies and task- specific, require, to be driven evidently by the qualitative character of the task.( Rory Burke, Steve Barron, (April 2014) The project leader while selecting team members should:

• Determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for execution of project.

• Evaluate the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the individual employees

• Assigns work to the mainly suitable person

Smart leaders are familiar with the fact that for their teams to effort well, they have to accurately classify employees' sets of skill and allocate them tasks that are fine suited to their skills. When placing teams together, they select people they feel will work well together. The mutual endeavors of their team members not merely construct better results; they as well construct a sense of harmony in their organizations. Real teams turn out to be high performing teams when people are dedicated to the goals of team’s and each other. (Rory Burke, Steve Barron, (April 2014)

When allocating work to team member, the project leader requires to reflect on not merely what every employee is able of doing however also what assignments will offer challenges and opportunities of development to team members. While leaders regularly select people for project teams merely based on their specialized knowledge or bandwidth, this is not essentially the finest way to go as regards it. There many precise skills, leaders have to look for demonstrating who would serve up as a great asset and who would not append a great deal value to the team.

Once the likely blend of experts has been selected for team, the concluding step is to optimize those teams by considering teamwork skills and other attributes of members that will add to higher functioning of talent. As a project manager his or her role is to incessantly strengthen the belief that jointly they can complete the specific tasks essential for successful project performance.

Conclusion

Teams building have always been, and will always be, a necessary component for successful execution of a project. However constructing great teams isn't somewhat that merely happens. It requires great deal of planning and continuing endeavors to obtain them right--and to maintain them that way. Active and early appointment of managers and their participation in early planning efforts is vital to ensure aptly motivated and resourced project teams. One of the important standards of successful projects depends in team building and staff planning so as to make use of the finest accessible resources in the mainly efficient and best way.

References

Barron, S. Burke, R. (2014). Project management leadership: creative building teams (2nd ed., pp. 100-107). Wiley, UK.

Gido J., & J, P. Clements, (2006). Successful Project Management. (4th ed.). Ohio: Cenage Learning.

Pitagorsky, G. (1998). The project manager/functional manager partnership. Project Management Journal, 29(4), 7–16.

PMI White paper. (n.d.). Executive Engagement: The Role of the Sponsor. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/business-solutions/executive- engagement.pdf

Rory Burke, Steve Barron, (April, 2014) Project Management Leadership: Building Creative Teams, John Wiley & Sons. 2nd Edition