build project team and project closeout
Build Project Team and Project Closeout
Building a Project Team
In building the project team as a partnership of five, the team considers the independence of each individual, control of people in hierarchical manner and cooperation of the team. Since the team would focus on common goals working collaboratively with each other to attain such goals, it grows from formation stage to storming where everyone presents their personal objectives. After storming, the team moves to norming stage where agreement techniques are initiated, and then to performance stage where there is high productivity. The team may be adjourned at this stage having accomplished a stated goal. Through the stages, the team is likely to face challenges like resistance, dissatisfaction among team members and ambivalence. Developing trust among team members is vital since they are working towards a common goal. The leader has to know personal commitments of the stakeholders to situations within the team and their commitment in terms of sharing information which might harm them. According to (Meier 39), the leader must be sensitive to team members needs and requests and exercise a high degree of integrity.
Team Operating Agreement
This involves rules, procedures and codes of conduct that every member is expected to adhere to during the period within which they work as team. Operating agreement for a team involves full participation of all team members. Project manager ensures that all hopes and assumptions of individual team members are incorporated. Parties involved in the project team employ clear organization of responsibilities awarded on hierarchical basis. The project team had a project manager, Maitha, and appointed supervisors or directors for the specific activities carried out during the project. Being the project manager, Maitha will be in charge of consulting the mutual agreement on project basics and finally implementing a performance appraisal system. The team needs to state terms of communication, decision making, their responsibilities and roles as individuals, meetings and other aspects of operation the team will require to be documented.
Roles and responsibilities set involve consideration of different talents that team members possess. Among the team members, people are likely to have different skills and talents that can help in carrying out the project. Project manager needs to identify these skills and talents among team members. Introduction among team members plays a role in identifying team members capabilities and allowing room for volunteering in certain tasks. It is important to use the work breakdown structure as roles and responsibilities are assigned within the team to ensure that each task is entrusted to a specific person for coordination. In most cases, project manager selects their own team members by identifying specific skills and qualities that they need in execution of the project. Having each member participating in a given task ensures involvement and therefore motivation (Lewis 56).
Meera will be in charge of ensuring that the team obtains trade license and purchasing of land plot. In addition to this, she will also seek consultation by hiring an architectural consultant. Nada took care of ensuring that application for formalities and building permits is done and that the required equipment has been searched for. In addition to this, the team player ensures that the team gains exposure and employees are recruited. Maisoon was in charge of settling all payments and formalities and initiating work for employees and conducting tests. The team player will ensure that the team gains exposure and launches business.
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Since the project manager is the leader, she assumed responsibilities of a leader which indicates effectiveness and proper team work in handling the project. The project on Health mall project had a well-organized and coordinated internal alignment structure with its project manager and junior managers coordinating specific project activities.
Responsibilities are awarded in hierarchical manner. From the project manager, the organization had four managers in charge of the major project departments who are in charge of other employee supervision. The supervisors report directly to the project manager. The project team can be illustrated as below:
Health Mall Project: Manager and Team Members
All parties are fully involved in the project in terms of motivating junior staff during project processes. Constant and effective communication is a vital aspect of a project team. All possible viable channels of communication should be explored within the team and project manager should constantly seek feedback from the team. Members have the right to know the levels of confidentiality the team offers as aspects of communication are discussed. They must be an agreement on how sharing of information will be done and where specific documents with regard to the project will be stored.
Issues of decision making are likely to bring conflicts if a project team is not well organized. Authority should be clearly defined and decision making procedures clearly stated to members. Team manager must ensure that before implementing any decision, a consensus is met from all team members equally. Elements of meetings and how they are scheduled could also be incorporated. The need for voting might arise within the team especially if project is long term. Members need to indicate voting procedures and measures that can be taken in a case where members fail to agree on a common aspect (Meier 40).
The Project Closeout
Both long term and short term projects come to an end and activities are concluded. For the sake of assessment of the completed project, a closeout is important so as to confirm its completeness. The project might not be a final project and might include suggestions for a future project, a close out enables a project team to identify any lessons for the group and individuals and possible success techniques which are applicable to projects which would be conducted in future. Project close out can be divided into administrative and contract closure.
Most projects involve a project team who manages and ensures that a project is carried out effectively. This is the administration of the project. Administrative closure therefore involves a process pertaining to the team. The process outlines project team interactions with each other, their roles and responsibilities as stipulated in the team operations agreements, roles and responsibilities of other parties who were involved in the project administration and all activities that were carried out by the team. During administrative closure, all reports and archives of the project are collected by the team. From these records, the whole project is analyzed for any possible successes and failures accrued with the intention to derive any lessons that the team has learnt all through the project. Project outcome involving all products and services are then conveyed to production or operations or both. Although the project has been executed and results derived, all information pertaining to the project is not destroyed. The data is stored in archives so as to be used in future in other projects or management in case of an organization or institution (Lester 214).
During administrative closure process, it is up to the project team to ensure that expectation of major stakeholders is met. These involve the sponsor, team and customer where applicable. The sponsors expectation is important since they usually finance a project and most of the times are owners of projects. Project manager must ensure that all materials which were to be delivered are conveyed and acknowledged by recipient. Lastly, validation is vital to end the process (OAA 10).
Contract closure deals with closure operations relating to contracts and agreements created during the project. These contract agreements must be settled and closed including those created during administrative closure to formalize and support the closure procedure. The procedure confirms satisfactory completion of all project work and efficient updating of accounts for the contract agreements. In this case, there is also information storage for future use. Contract closure procedures are specific on ensuring that terms and conditions were complied with during execution of all contracts. Confirmation also involves ascertaining the appropriateness of exit criteria employed at the end of the contract. Close out should be included in the initial project plan and must be well provided for in terms of planning. Contract closure ensures formality in contracts closure (OAA 38).
Positivity is vital in project close out procedures. In some projects, outstanding work might be identified during close out. Positivity enables the team to appreciate their success as a team, acknowledge their failures and appreciate incomplete project work. Extra activities after the project involve ensuring that information form project is shared and transferred appropriately to users who will be involved in future operations. Using a check list in project close out ensures that no activity or item of the project is left out. This also helps in soliciting feedback and identifying areas where feedback has not been communicated.
