Authors: Asare Bediako1 Adams, Lewis Billy Bonsu2 & Dr. David Ackah,PhD. 3
Regional Prog. Coordinator1, Director2, President3, Institute of Project Management Professionals (IPMP)1&3 Graduate Entrepreneurship & Business Incubation Centre2
email: adams.asare@ipmp-edu.org1 createcon@yahoo.com2 drackah@ipmp.edu.gh3
INTRODUCTION
A project can be defined as an activity with a specific goal occupying a specific period of time (Wild, 2002). A project is a finite activity, not only in time, but also in the use of resources. Examples of projects include construction of a bridge, highway, power plant, repair and maintenance of an oil refinery or an air plane; design, development and marketing of a new product, research and development work, etc. A project team is a group of individuals working interdependently to accomplish the project objective (Clements and Gido, 2012). According to Turner, 1993, Successful project management has been found to depend upon the adoption of an appropriate strategy design to ensure:
- There exists an attitude for success.
- The objectives by which success are to be measured are defined.
- There is a procedure for achieving objectives.
- The environment is supportive.
- Adequate and appropriate resources are available
Also, Turner, 1993, continue to state that, within such a strategy the most appropriate approach, or style, for project management, will normally involve the following:
- Manage through a structured breakdown, the management system is built around a structured breakdown of the facility delivered by the project into intermediate products or results;
- Focus on results, what to achieve, not how to do it; i.e. the deliverables, not the work and people, systems and organizational changes;
- Organize a contract between all the parties involved, defining their roles, responsibilities and working relationships;
- Adopt a clear and simple management approach
Project management encompasses the concepts of management and leadership. Although leadership and management research have made distinctions between the two concepts, the project management profession has integrated the two concepts, and project management refers to the leadership and management needed to lead and manage a project. A project manager leads people and manages work processes. There is nothing more important to the success of a project than the people who make up the project team (Newton, 2015). Without good people who possess the knowledge, experience, and motivation to get the job done, all of your other planning will be quickly wasted. Putting together a project team is one of the very first steps of setting up a new project. Without the people to compose a quality team, you won’t be able to make very much progress at all into the work that needs to be done.
Assembling a good team is important in any phase of business, but it is especially important when managing a project to make sure that the work can get done on time and on budget. The process of acquiring a project team takes place within the executing processes and is concerned with confirming human resource availability and obtaining the personnel needed to complete project assignments. It is complicated by the fact that individuals with different skill sets will be required at different points throughout the project. For example, a software project testing personnel are needed. Consequently, acquiring members for a project continues throughout the executing process group (Newton, 2015).
Issues, according to Cambridge dictionary is a subject or problem that people are thinking and talking about. Having managed several business staff over the years, I can say that we have seen many different personnel and team-related issues. As any experienced leader can attest, expecting a team of people to work together seamlessly from the start of a project to the end is likely unrealistic. Teams are made up of individuals who have their own personalities, feelings, backgrounds and more. Now let’s look at some of the critical team related issues that is likely to hinder the smooth progress of projects.
