Managing the project team involves "tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and coordinating changes to enhance project performance". As a result of managing the project team, the staffing management plan is updated, issues are resolved, change requests are submitted, and lessons learned are added to the organization's database if one is available. This topic is as complex and "hard" as any that the project manager has to face.
The inputs to managing the project team are organizational process assets, project staff assignments, roles and responsibilities, project organization charts, the staffing management plan, team performance assessment, work performance information, and performance reports. All of these have been discussed earlier.
The tools and techniques for managing the project team are observation and conversation, project performance appraisals, conflict management, and the issue log. As with all types of management, it is important to work directly with project members and to have personal interaction with them instead of just waiting for reports. Observation and conversation are two important parts of managing the project team. In fact, these are a major part of the management style known as MBWA, Management by Walking Around. As your project progresses, interpersonal management will keep you informed of how your team members are feeling and the ways in which you can help them be better at their jobs. No job is more important than this in project management.
How complex or simple the performance appraisals are will depend on the complexity of the project, labor contract requirements, any organizational policies that apply, and the length of the project. Some may be formal. These will generally be structured by the organization itself to get information about your project team. Other appraisals may be informal, particularly if the appraisals are ad hoc as you are doing MBWA.
If your performance appraisals are formal, you should begin with a set of objectives for the appraisal. Written documents are used for the most part in formal appraisals, and these documents should help you reach the objectives you set for the appraisal. During formal appraisals, you should give feedback to the team member. This feedback can be negative or positive, depending on performance. A management technique that works well is to give positive feedback before and after the negative. This is known as the "sandwich" technique, where you put negative feedback in between positive feedback. Do not be worried about negative feedback. Most people know when they have done something that is negative. Just make sure that you have it documented and can deliver the criticism without making it personal. Try to have positive ways to correct the actions when you do a performance report. In fact, this would be a good time to set personal objectives for the team member. Write these down and bring them up again when you have your next formal appraisal meeting.
Conflict management, if successful, can result in a better team performance. The more formal the ground rules and role definition are, the less conflict there may be. At first, it is a good idea to have the team members try to work out their own differences. If this is not possible, you should address the problem early and use a collaborative approach. It is important that you do not compromise when working on a conflict. Compromise is likely to make all parties unhappy and will not solve the conflict; it will merely keep it going until a later date. If you have continuing conflicts, you may have to use disciplinary actions or actions suggested by the organization for conflict resolution.
