Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Session 2: Human Aspects of
Information System Project
Management
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Learning Outcomes
• Students be able to identify the role of human
resources in managing project
• Students be able to explain the role of project
manager
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Discussion Topics
• IS project work environments
• Common project team problems
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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References
•
•
Information Systems Project Management,
David Olson, Olson, David L., 2003,
Introduction to Information Systems
Project Management, 2nd Ed.,
McGrawHill, ISBN: 0-07-282402-6.
Schwalbe, Kathy, 2003, Information
Technology Project Management, 3rd Ed.,
Course Technology, Inc., ISBN: 0619159847.
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
What is Project Human Resouce
Management?
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• Organizational Planning, which involves
identifying, assigning, and documenting project
roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships
• Staff acquisition, which involves getting the
needed personnel assgined to and working on
the project
• Team development, which involves building
individual and group skills to enhance project
performance
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Cooperation
• IS projects bring diverse people together
– Working with computers creates a machine
focus in some
– Working with people creates a different mindset
– IS project managers need to make both work
together
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Motivation Theories
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Physiological
Safety
Social
Esteem
Self Actualization
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Project Features
• Very valuable
• Highly diverse
–
–
–
–
Web sites
Transactional processing
Decision support systems
Enterprise resource planning systems
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Waterfall Development Model
Stage
Personnel
Feasibility analysis
Systems analysts, users, finance
Software requirements
Systems analysts, users
Product design
Systems analysts
Detailed design
Systems analysts
Coding
Programmers, Testers
Integration
Systems analysts, Programmers, Testers,
System administrators
Implementation
System administrators, Testers, users
Operation & Maintenance Maintenance
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Group Conflict
• Conflict inherent in
– Human organizations
– information systems
• Lack of trust & understanding
• Hostility
• Frustration
• Barki & Hartwick [2001]
• Disagreement
• Interference
• Negative emotion
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Project Characteristics & Conflict
Barki & Hartwick [2001]
Individual
Team
Personality
Size
Background
Project
Time
pressure
Heterogeneity Resources
Role & status Leadership
Success
Individual
goals
Top support
Participation
History
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Organization
Culture
Form
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Individual Characteristics
• Personality
– Technical people tend to dominate IS projects
– Users need to participate as well
• Background
– Different education, experience
• Organizational Role & Status
– Hierarchical power won’t match expertise
• Individual Needs & Goals
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Team Characteristics
• Team size
– Larger tends to have more conflict
• Team heterogeneity
– More diverse tends to have more conflict
• Team Leadership
• Participation
• History
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Project Characteristics
• Time pressure inherent in most IS projects
– People react differently
• Resource constraints
– Often have to work with what’s available
• Success criteria
– Expectations
• Top management support
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Organizational Characteristics
• Organizational culture
• Form of organization
– Many project organizations use Matrix
• Creates high pressure, highly dynamic environment
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Conflict & Performance
• Better to avoid interpersonal conflict
– High conflict in some high performing groups
• Need to be able to reach closure
– Low performing groups often had less conflict until the
end
• Encourage
– Open discussion
– High levels of personal respect
– Cohesive & supportive team leadership
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Influence and Power
• H.J. Thamhain and D.L. Wilemon identified 9
influence bases available to project managers:
– Authority –the legitimate hierarchical right to issue
orders
– Assignment-the project manager’s perceived ability to
influence a worker’s later work assignments
– Budget- the project manager’s perceived ability to
authorize other’s use of discretionary funds
– Promotion –the ability to improve a worker’s position
– Money -the ability to increase a worker’s pay and
benefits
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Influence and Power (Cont’d)
• H.J. Thamhain and D.L. Wilemon identified 9
influence bases available to project managers:
– Penalty –ability to dispense or cause punishment
– Work challenge –ability to assign work that capitalize
on a worker’s enjoyment of doing a particular task,
which taps an intrinsic motivational factor
– Expertise –perceive special knowledge that others
deem important
– Friendship –ability to establish personal relationships
between PM with others
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Five Main Types of Power include:
• Coercive Power: punishment, threats or other
negative approaches to get people to do things
• Legitimate Power: getting people to do things
based on a position of authority
• Expert Power: using one’s personal knowledge
and expertise to get people to change their
behaviour
• Reward Power
• Referent Power: personal’s charisma
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004
Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Summary
• Information systems projects very valuable
• Many difficulties in managing personnel
–
–
–
–
New activities
Diverse people
Dynamic environment
Pressure (time, budget)
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004