Activity C: People in Project Management

General Details
Your name:

Description
This activity is worth a total of 10 points.
Use this document to submit your results for this activity.
Excluding reading, you should expect to spend around 2 hours completing this activity.
It is worth remembering that project managers largely succeed through the endeavour of others. By this we mean that project managers rely on their project team (including consultants and contractors) to perform the work that needs to be achieved in order to complete the agreed project scope on time, within budget and to the agreed quality (specification) and, of course, in a safe, sustainable and reliable manner. We have often said that on many projects, especially those that are large, project managers don’t do any work. What project managers do is communicate with, lead and motivate their team in order to get the job done. In doing so they will inevitably need to resolve conflicts and negotiate on key aspects of the project.
With the above in mind, many consider that people skills (sometimes called soft or interpersonal skills) are fundamental to becoming a good project manager and indeed exceptional people skills are what differentiate a good project manager from a great project manager.
The readings from the APM PMQ Study Guide cover a range of critical “people in project management” topics including:
• Understanding communications, pages 14-22
• Teams, teamwork and team development, pages 42-50
• Leadership, pages 33-41
• Conflict Management, pages 23-28
• Negotiation, pages 28-32

• Organisation structure can be found in a separate file.
Many of you will have come across some or all of the concepts before, perhaps as part of other training courses or while undertaking university studies. If this is the case, you will find the readings relatively easy. If the whole content is new to you, then you may find that you require more time to assimilate the knowledge. Because of the nature of the subjects being dealt with, further information on many of the topics and models discussed can be found on the Internet. Indeed, it may be possible to download some of the questionnaires or models for you to work through.
The four questions that make up this activity are designed to not only test your knowledge but also to allow you to reflect on real situations that you have experienced. In answering the questions, ensure that you satisfy the requirements of the APM PMQ key exam words: ‘state’, ‘describe’ and ‘explain’.
Please note that in order to gain full marks in Questions 1 and 2 you must ensure that you directly link your examples to one or more of the theories from the reading materials.

 
Question 1
Think of a situation where you were either part of a team or a team leader (maybe even project manager) and describe the team situation. This situation could be drawn from any experience you have had. It could be within your current company (this is preferable), a previous company, a sports team or club, or maybe as a volunteer.
Consider what you have read about communication, leadership, motivation and teamwork and then reflect on how the team performed (note this question specifically excludes conflict management and negotiation). Once you have spent time reflecting, answer the following questions:
1. Using three theories you studied in this Activity (excluding Tuckman’s team development model – this is part of the next question), explain how well the team performed, providing reasons for good and/or poor performance, in at least two of the following topic areas communication, leadership, motivation or teamwork. You should write one paragraph for each theory.
2. Applying Tuckman’s team development model:
a) State the latest development stage (from Forming, Storming, Norming or Performing) the team actually achieved (note this excludes Adjourning).
b) Explain your conclusion using the attributes that characterise the different team development stages. You do not need to explain any of the preceding stages, just the latest stage your team reached.
3. Describe what major lessons, in at least two of the following topic areas: communication, leadership, motivation or teamwork, you have learned from this experience that will enable you to be a better project manager in the future? The lessons learned should be explicitly linked to the situation you described above and not just general practices.

When answering this question please be as honest as possible; however, we respect that you might not want to mention any real names or organisations. With this in mind feel free to make changes in order to protect identities.
Maximum 4 points; expected answer length is 1 page.

 
Question 2
Think of a situation where you either witnessed or you were an active participant in some form of conflict and describe the situation. This situation could be drawn from any experience you have had. It could be within your current company (this is preferable), a previous company or perhaps in a non-work associated situation.
Consider what you have read about conflict management and then reflect on how well you consider that the conflict was dealt with. Once you have spent time reflecting, answer the following questions:
1. Applying one theory relating to conflict management that you have studied in this Activity, explain how well the conflict situation was managed covering the good and/or bad aspects that you witnessed or contributed to. Please make it clear which theory you are referring to.
2. In your opinion:
a) Describe how both parties to the conflict felt afterwards i.e. after the conflict was over.
b) Explain whether this is what you would have expected from the theory applied in (1)?
3. Describe what lessons you have learned from this experience about conflict management that will enable you to be a better project manager in the future? The lessons learned should be explicitly linked to the situation you described above and not just general practices.

When answering this question please be as honest as possible; however, we respect that you might not want to mention any real names or organisations. With this in mind feel free to make changes in order to protect identities.
Maximum 3 points; expected answer length is 1 page.

 
Question 3

Based on the reading ‘Organisation Structures’:
a) State what type of organisation structure you work in.
b) Explain why you believe this is the case. To do this you must make direct links to the descriptions of each organisation structure from the readings.

Maximum 1 point; expected answer length is ½ page.

 
Question 4

APM PMQ for Tafawoq Sample Question:
Explain the five stages of a negotiation process using a real project-based example to further illustrate the points you are making. Please ensure that in each paragraph you include both negotiation theory and the project-based example in the explanation of every stage (at least two sentences on each aspect).
Maximum 2 points; expected answer length is 1 page.