Behaviors in scheduling
The scope of the article is to show the influence of human behaviors on project's planning, realization, monitoring with regards to time and resources scheduling. Behavior is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individual or system as the response to various stimuli [1]. Scheduling in turn means the process of creating the schedule, basic time-management tool, deciding how to arrange, control, optimize work and commit resources between the variety of possible tasks [2]. Plan Schedule Management is the process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how the project schedule will be managed throughout the project [3]. Whatever industry we take into consideration there will be projects that encountered delays, schedule changes and cost overruns that affect overall appraisal of given enterprise. Despite all of the tangible results schedule changes will also affect humans causing higher pressure, lower productivity and in general - quality reduction. This is due to high number or variables and possible risks even though usually those are thoroughly analyzed because it is not possible to predict any scenario. There are many traditional approaches in Project Management based on analytic techniques helping with facing misbehaviors. However, the new approaches are based on system dynamics, assuming a holistic view of the project organization, focusing on the behavior of project and how it relates to managerial strategies [4]. In project management human is also the decision making factor so it is vital to consider what mechanism drive people and their performance in the group. That is why it is of a great, practical value for Project Managers to know system dynamics and human behaviors in order to adapt appropriate actions towards human resources and customers.
Techniques in scheduling
GANTT Chart
GANTT Chart is a basic scheduling technique firstly introduced over a 100 years ago by Henry Gantt for a steel factory. Back then the charts were drawn on paper, nowadays there are many softwares helping with designing this chart and it has a great advantage of being a clear and visual tool. People think in pictures so having that chart as a visualization of even a complex issue will help them to understand it better. It organizes the project very well, highlighting the most important parts and also enables to show the progress, which helps to allocate resources according to the needs and effectively and enhances an understanding of what factors will be actually involved in the project at a certain period. An important advantage of GANTT chart in terms of human dynamics is the fact that all everyone involved in the project, including stakeholders and clients, can see themselves on the chart, what are the responsibilities of each and every person and how it will affect everyone else's work and the project itself. There are though also certain disadvantages to this method. First of all it can become a big challenge when designing the chart for a complex venture. In such case it has to be done very precisely and thoroughly. Failure to do so will result in a confusing chart that will be difficult to decipher and in effect will lower its functionality.
PERT
Project evaluation and review technique was primarily developed for monitoring and displaying results of work of groups quite dispersed geographically with a limited ways of communication and a wide diversity of procedures and methods [5]. The emphasis in this method is rather put on events and event times than activities. It can be presented in form of a precedence diagram, highlighting the tasks that are prioritized in the project, it is a very analytic and sophisticated method.
Critical Path Method
CPM, even though it is often used along with PERT, on the other hand is a more flexible, activities oriented technique. Neither of those methods takes into account the human factor but using critical path method requires keeping track of the risks from outside of the main focus which and may be more effective thanks to the fact that it allows overlapping of activities and therefore having a bigger overview on scheduling the resources.
There is no doubt that these methods help PMs to organize work but they also have a negative influence on human behaviors. Tightly structured project schedule will restrict cross-organizational communication and therefore will leave very little opportunity for creative contributions. It is also vital to make sure that the work groups do not change rapidly, otherwise workers will feel like unknown cogs in a complex machine [6].
CCPM
Critical chain project management differs from the traditional methods analyzed above in the fact that it emphasizes the resources, for example people, allocated to the tasks. It takes into consideration Parkinson's Law saying that „work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”, so while estimating in critical chain method the task duration is cut in half to actual duration. This leaves the tasks with less time to be completed but the extra time is kept in the end of critical paths a buffer. The method is resource dependent because any task cannot be started until the previous one is finished and the resources are freed. It is not possible to calculate or optimize project buffers in other way than to measure the progress and recalculate the critical chain. Therefore it is vital to make sure that team members are well aware of the scope of the method and the project [7].
Change management
A change can be understood as unavoidable result of an unexpected event, a transition or a project itself. With regards to this article change management techniques are useful facing an unexpected schedule change or if change is a deliverable in the project. Despite that there are key guidelines of communicating the change and concrete types of behaviors expressed in response. It is important to understand that all individuals go through different phases in the process, which are awareness, interest, trial and adoption. The communication should be clear, rational, valuable and provide a long term strategic direction. While communicating it is worth remembering that face-to-face is the best channel when our message is supposed to change the behavior of the recipient whereas nonverbal communique is most useful for short, quick information retrieval.
Basing on the “Diffusions of Innovations Theory” by Everett M. Rogers we can explain what one out of five statistical behaviors individuals show when facing change. The fact which group given individual will choose is based on how well the change is communicated and how well it aligns with their personal interests. It is important to understand that mechanism in order to apply a more conscious leadership.
The groups can be determined basing on the Bell curve and it divides individuals into Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Resisters [7]. The Early Adopters adopt to the change as the first ones not putting much effort into thinking it through no matter what is the subject and actively engaging in challenges. They normally are good examples for others hence they approach the change with maturity and credibility. On the opposite end of scale we have Resisters, cautious and skeptical. Both of those groups have a significant influence on the majority of people in the team and are unlikely to change their own approach, but Resisters can show either passive or active approach out of lack of interest or resistance. The smallest group on the chart is represented by Innovators, who are already mentally prepared to embrace the change finding it being aligned with their personal interests. Being very optimistic about the situation they may be perceived as the ones lacking realistic approach and therefore it is unlikely that they will influence others. The largest group consists of Early- and Late Majority, individuals that need to see that the change is doable and understand the process well. Once a Project Manager understands what types of individuals they have in the project team they will know how to approach the team when communicating and implementing the change.
In the process of change we can distinguish several stages of behavioral development and approaching the process. Basing on the ADKAR model [8] the first step is all about building awareness as a foundation and basic condition for the whole process. It includes good but basic understanding what will be going on, why it is being done and who will be concerned. It is of great importance to ensure that all of the team members acknowledged the information and understand it and to provide credible arguments based on facts and figures. At this level all members will need time to reflect about the project and should be engaged to ask questions and express doubts. It is crucial to respect all opinions in order to build engagement and a sense of common respect. Once an individual knows what will be the project or the change is to create the interest. The point is to align the scope of the project with personal objectives and assessing it in terms of positive and negative impacts. This way team members are provided with more details about the project and a mental attachment is created resulting in more engagement. Next stages are called 'Knowledge' and 'Ability' when resources and data are provided. This is when active work begins with all the risks involved and it is the most unpredictable stage so it is vital to support the process with structures, create routine and encourage communication. The process concludes with 'Reinforcement' stage which means acknowledging the results and celebrating successes. Recognition is very important here because it created motivation for further work.
1. Project manager as task-oriented individual
Project managers often underestimate the importance of informing their co-workers on early levels in the process whereas successful leaders do not interact with people only when a process demands they do, but build relationships with everyone involved on the project.
2. Student syndrome and Dunning–Kruger effect
The article will consider what methods and tools can be implemented to ensure a uniform distribution of work and objective estimatation of risks and deliverables.
3. Cost & resources management
Methods of distributing budget and resources throughout the lifetime of the project.
5. Approach to client vs. project team
Differences in communicating and settling the schedule with clients and the team responsible for project.
References
1. Murdick, R. G. (1976). Managing human resources in project management. Project Management Quarterly, 7(2), 21–25.
3. https://www.apm.org.uk/blog/people-and-behaviours-in-project-management/
4. DiTullio, L. A. (2009). Expected behaviors for project team performance: road rules, not road rage. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America, Orlando, FL. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
