Managing Project Teams Case Study

Introduction - Analyzing Key Theories in Teamwork and Leadership

Teamwork is a great route to get things done in the company and reach an organization's objective easily (Rosen, et. al. 2018). It is very difficult to direct a group of people in the same direction with a different mindsets. A project manager is a person who leads the different teams in a firm. So, a project manager should have effective skills and qualities to handle the team. This report expresses the overall understanding of team management and required project manager skills. The study also pays attention to highlighting the best optimization of the group in project management by the project manager of the company along with the explanation of Belbin's team theory.

Figure 1: team work

PART-1: Theoretical Perspectives and Reflections on Effective Teamwork and Leadership

Theories related to teamwork

Following is the list of top theories related to the teamwork handled by the project manager in an organization:

Bruce Tuckman’s Model of team stages- This theory is created through four stages that are title forming, storming, norming, or performing(Solomon, 2020). The theory is usually referred to as the origin of successful team building.

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy theory- This theory states a pyramid of motivation in employees and humans(Hopper, 2020). The pyramid shows the bottom to top five stages such as physiological needs, safety needs, belonging needs, and esteem needs, and the topmost stage is self-actualization needs.

Douglas McGregor X and Y theory- This theory is generated to show the description or way that how employees are motivated(Madero-Gómez, and Rodríguez-Delgado, 2018). In this theory, X is related to strict supervision which is mostly disliked by the team members, and theory Y is related to the work satisfaction of workers which seems effective in the company.

Critical analysis of the theoretical perspective of the management and leadership of the project teams

Tuckman’s theory has various pros and cons to be implemented in project management. Firstly, this theory aids to understand more about the primary or secondary tension created by team communication. On the other hand, it is very difficult for project managers to maintain this theory's stages one by one.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory creates strong importance in the business world as it aids to motivate humans at their workplace. On the other side, this theory's stated needs are not empirical as the satisfaction level of the employees cannot be tested.

The McGregor X and Y theory's biggest advantage of using this theory is that it is easy to understand by the manager as well as the employees. And this theory was flawed or in turn assumptions that were not even demonstrative of the defective material.

Belbin’s team

There are nine roles listed in this theory that each group or team should have according to this theory. The roles included in Belbin's theory is a plant, coordinator, resource investigator, shaper, team worker, monitor evaluator, completer-finisher, specialist, or implementer(Flores Ureba,et. al. 2022). This theory covers all the points that a project manager wants to implement in an organizational project. This theory covers all relatable points starting from plan creation and ending with the achievement of the following goals of that project and company.

Project manager reflection related to teamwork

A project manager is a key person who handles the team and directs the team in a goal-achievable direction. The project manager has to choose one theory related to teamwork, but the finest theory for teamwork is Belbin's team role theory which should be opted by the project manager(Flores-Parra,et. al. 2018). Because this theory helps the group to gel, by using adaptability to classify work necessary or complete it on the behalf of a team.

PART-2: Organizational Structures and Culture in Project Management

Internal and external factors that impact the operation of the project team and the role of the project manager

The following are the internal factors that affected the project team:

• Mission - The mission of the project or company influence the team worker to mindset their work into achieving that target effectively and efficiently(Bjorvatn, and Wald, 2018). As well as project manager has to plan its operations by keeping the project mission in the mind. It shows that both team workers and project managers are bounded by the decided mission.
• Leadership - The project manager should have this quality to motivate and directs the team members(Rudolph, et. al. 2020). If the manager is not able to direct the team or motivate them then this lead to a negative impact on the team and project manager's performance.
• Organizational structure - There are different types of organizations. The project manager and team performance are depended on the structure of the company. If the team member or project manager has a certain amount of authority and responsibility, then they will feel motivated and perform effectively.
  External factors that affected the project teamand project manager's performance are discussed below:

• Political - This factor also heavily impacted the performance of the company. The changes that occur in tax policy, trade policy, etc. during the project functioning time will lead to the adoption of changes in the project implementation also(Kertzer,et. al. 2022). These changes show the project manager's ability to modify the project and how inspire the team as well.
• Social - The cultural changes in different boundaries of the country can impact the operations of the team. Any project should be implemented by the project manager after an analysis of the socio-cultural activities of the country.
• Technological - Any changes in the technology may highly affect the company's project and its team workers. The sudden trend of new technology pressurizes the project manager to adopt that technology in completing the project(Orishev, and Burkhonov, 2021). On the other hand, team members take time to understand that new technology impacted their performance.

Understanding organizational structures with its culture

Below is a discussion of different types of organizational structures:

• Functional - This structure is used to organize the workers within a particular group according to their knowledge and skills(Lewis, et. al. 2019). In this structure, every department has its own rules and targets to combine to achieve the overall organization's targets.
• Divisional - This structure classifies activities of the company around the market, geography, and goods or service groups(Connell, et. al. 2020). This structure is created to meet the needs of local cultures and markets.
• Matrix - This structure shows the combination of two or more types of structures of an organization. Its culture depends on the commands of the different structures adopted by the company.
• Boundaryless - This organizational structure breaks down locational constraints, hierarchies, and traditions of more traditional business structures.
• Project-based - This organizational structure can be designed by various types of companies comprising matrix, and functional(Boss, and Krauss, 2022).

How best to optimize individual and group performance

There are various ways through which the project manager of the company can extract the best performance of the group as well as the team of the company(Hartman, et. al. 2022). Optimizing ways include training and development, incentivizing performance, making meetings productive, giving recognition, feedback collection, sharing purpose, culture, or vision, etc.

Conclusion

From the above-mentioned report, it is concluded that the project manager has a vital role in teamwork and its performance in an organization. The project manager has various options to improve team productivity without harming the humanities. On the other hand, the project manager's plan and its team worker's also influenced by the internal and external factors of the company.

References

Bjorvatn, T. and Wald, A., 2018. Project complexity and team-level absorptive capacity as drivers of project management performance. International Journal of Project Management, 36(6), pp.876-888.

Boss, S. and Krauss, J., 2022. Reinventing project-based learning: Your field guide to real-world projects in the digital age. International Society for Technology in Education.

Connell, R.W., Ashenden, D.J., Kessler, S. and Dowsett, G.W., 2020. Making the difference: Schools, families and social division. Routledge.

Flores Ureba, S., Simón de Blas, C., Borrás-Gené, O. and Macías-Guillén, A., 2022. Analyzing the Influence of Belbin’s Roles on the Quality of Collaborative Learning for the Study of Business Fundamentals. Education Sciences, 12(9), p.594.

Flores-Parra, J.M., Castañón-Puga, M., Evans, R.D., Rosales-Cisneros, R. and Gaxiola-Pacheco, C., 2018, June. Towards team formation using belbin role types and a social networks analysis approach. In 2018 IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Conference (TEMSCON) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Hartman, L., Shaw, J. and Johansen, D., 2022, March. INFLUENCES AND CONSEQUENCES OF PROJECT MANAGERS’ATTITUDES TOWARD CHANGE. In 9th Annual Conference March 24-25, 2022 Hosted by Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, Kentucky (Vol. 2, p. 93).

Hopper, E., 2020. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explained. ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 24.

i2imarketing, 2022. 5 myths about teamwork you need to forget to work better (online). <https://i2idirectmarketing.com/5-myths-about-teamwork-you-need-to-forget-to-work-better/> (accessed on 26 December 2022).

Kertzer, J.D. and Renshon, J., 2022. Experiments and surveys on political elites. Annual Review of Political Science, 25, pp.529-550.

Lewis, S.M., Williams, A. and Eisenbarth, S.C., 2019. Structure and function of the immune system in the spleen. Science immunology, 4(33), p.eaau6085.

Madero-Gómez, S.M. and Rodríguez-Delgado, D.R., 2018. Relationships between McGregor's X and Y theory, compensation form, and job satisfaction. CienciaUAT, 13(1), pp.95-107.

Orishev, J. and Burkhonov, R., 2021. Project for training professional skills for future teachers of technological education. Mental Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal, 2021(2), pp.139-150.

Rosen, M.A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A.S., Benishek, L.E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P.J. and Weaver, S.J., 2018. Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), p.433.

Rudolph, C.W., Murphy, L.D. and Zacher, H., 2020. A systematic review and critique of research on “healthy leadership”. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), p.101335.

Solomon, D., 2020. The Worth of Steady Digital Team Formation Strategy A Case Study of Bruce Tuckman's Model in Software Industry.