Human Resource Planning
The first of the process groups in project human resource management is human resource planning. According to PMBOK, this determines "roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, and creates the staff management plan." The roles and responsibilities can be for either a group of people or an individual. The groups may be internal, or they may be a contracted project management firm. In the case of the latter, it is absolutely necessary that the roles of the people as well as their responsibilities be documented before beginning the project.
With internal groups, the overall organizational policies and structures apply. So too do the roles and responsibilities and the reporting relationships that the team members have within the organization. The structure of reporting lines is extremely important for the project manager to consider because this will determine how the project manager handles the team.
For the most part, an internal project manager does not have complete control over the project team. The various team members with their variety of skill sets usually report to managers in the functional area they represent. As we discuss types of power later in this chapter, you will see how important this issue is for the project manager to consider and manage. Often the external or contracted project manager, if he or she is running his or her own contracted project team, will have control over the entire function of the team. This is one of the major differences in a project manager's span of control.