How To Form A Project Team

By Author: johnsmith
Total Articles: 8
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Organizations exist to deliver specific goods and services. In a company, a set of employees with specific skill set are recruited to execute projects. However, sometimes the team size may be small and they may not be able to handle a large project. Some resources may resign their jobs. In such situations and during other contingencies the Project Team has to be dynamic and ever evolving. Let us look at the various ways in which Project Teams can be formed.

1. Decide if Team Size is Sufficient: If a large project has to be handled, the current team size may not be sufficient. In such situations, the project manager may initiate the recruitment of new team members. The HR and project management teams hire new resources that will be needed for the new big project.

2. Hire for New Skills: Sometimes the existing skill set of the employees may not be sufficient. So the project managers look at the competition or the market to head hunt for new skills. These new recruits must also have leadership and training skills as they have to train the existing employees with the new skills.

3. Decide mode of working: ...
... Some employees are dedicated and they work full-time on a project. Other employees may work only part-time on the project. There may be yet another set of employees who work on many projects at a time and so will split their time between projects.

4. Virtual or in-house Team Members: A person in another country may be talented and have the necessary skills and experience for doing your project. In such situations, distance should not be a problem. There should be flexibility to have virtual team members who can work from anywhere. This arrangement saves material charges for the company and commutation charges for the virtual employee.

In-house team members are easy to monitor and control. But, the same amount of communication, collaboration, and culture fit should be there for virtual employees also. The PMP Boot Camp equips aspiring project managers to select virtual or in-house teams.

5. Collaboration with Other Companies: Sometimes you may not be in a position to hire a lot of new employees. Your office space maybe less. Or you do not believe in retrenching employees once a project is over. In such a scenario, one company can get into an agreement with another company to complete one part of the project. So a project may be split between several companies also. Aspiring project managers who plan to take the PMP test must be well aware of collaboration among companies.

6. Authority of the Project Manager: The project manager has full control and authority over the team if he is the Line Manger of the team. In other scenarios, the project manager may be leading the team part-time or would have been hired on a contract to lead the team. This type of temporary managers has less organizational authority over their teams. You can enter the project management experience you have in the PMP application.

7. Create an Organization Chart for the Team: To get a clear picture of who is reporting to whom in the project, an organizational chart can be created. The chart can also explain what skills each of the project team members has.

Forming a project team is challenging as well as interesting. If the right mix of skills, authority, companies, and resources is formed, then the project can be executed smoothly.