Understanding Key Concepts For Project Resource Management
In my previous article, I have look at some of the facts that you need to know about resources for projects. In this article, I want to look at some of the basic concepts that you need to know for project resource management. Follow me as we are going to look at that in this article.
The project resource management processes are presented with discrete processes with defined interfaces while, in practice, they overlap and interact on ways that cannot be completely detailed here.
There is a distinction between the skills and competencies needed for the project manager to manage team resources versus physical resources.
Physical resources include equipment, materials, facilities, and infrastructure. Team resources or personnel refer to human resources.
Personnel may have varied skill sets, maybe assigned full or part-time, and may be added or removed from the project team as the project progresses.
The project team consist of individuals with assigned roles and responsibilities who work collectively to achieve a shared project goal. The project manager should invest suitable effort in acquiring, managing, motivating and empowering the project team.
Although specific roles and responsibilities for the project team members are assigned, the involvement of all team members in project planning and decision making is beneficial. Participation of team members during planning add expertise to the process and strengthens there commitment to the project.
The Project Manager should be both leader and manager of the project team. In addition to project management activities such as initiating, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing the various project phases, the project manager is responsible for the team formation as an Effect be a group. The project manager should be aware of different aspects that influence the team such as:
- Team environment
- Geographical locations of team members
- Communications among stakeholders
- Organisational change management
- Internal and external politics
- Cultural issues and organisational uniqueness.
- Other factors that may alter project performance.
As a leader, the project manager is also responsible for proactively developing team skills and competencies while retaining and improving team satisfaction and motivation. The project manager should be aware of, and subscribe to, professional and ethical behaviour, and ensure that all team members adhere to these behaviours.
Physical resources are concentrated in allocating and using the physical resources such as the material, equipment and supplies among others needed for successful completion of the project in an efficient and effective way.
In order to do that, organisations should have data on resource demands, resource configurations that will be required to meet those demands, and the supply of resources. Failing to manage and control resources efficiently is a source of risk for successful project completion.
For example:
- Failing to secure critical equipment or infrastructure on time may result in delays in the manufacturing of the final product.
- Ordering low-quality material may damage the quality of the product causing a high rate of recalls or rework.
- Keeping too much inventory may result in high operations costs and reduce organisation profit. Unacceptably low inventory level, on the other hand, may result in not satisfying customer demand and, again, reduce the organisation’s profit.
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