Project Team Selection Essay Example for Free

Project Team Selection Essay As a project manager you acquire a project team in most instances, therefore selecting the skills that each member on the team possess is not possible. You must make the most out of the team that you have been afforded and determine what skills you require to ensure project success. This paper will discuss the importance of team members and ways to utilize the skills on a project team successfully. Project Team Selection A project manager may have little to no influence on the selection of a project team, so it is important for a project manager to keep in mind team makeup can have a critical impact on everything from task execution to establishing team dynamics that will either energize or suck the life out of a project ( TheBigRocks. com, 2010). Excuting a project plan is only as effective as the project manager and its team. Wysocki (2012) suggests that when building and recruiting an effective team, you must consider the technical skills as well as the critical roles and chemistry that must exist between the project manager and the team. The knowledge and technical requirements needed to produce an effective project should be understood prior to seeking out individuals who possess the skills needed (Brown, Hyer 2010). Key stakeholders of the project should be represented to ensure there are no oversights or surprises in the project, so there should be a team member available to do so. The team should also have the ability to work together so Brown and Hyer (2010) suggests the diversity of views, expertise, perspectives and backgrounds can often develop better solutions faster than individuals working alone. Conflict resolution should be available to the team members so that if conflict arises, proper management can enhance team performance. As group size increases, communication, cohesiveness, and job satisfication may decline, while turnover, absenteeism and slacking may also increase (Brown and Hyer, 2010). It is important to consider the optimal team size for your project while ensuring the required skill sets are available. Brown and Hyer (2010) also suggests that it is important to ensure that each team member has enough time to devote to the project to ensure proper coordination of duties. Conclusion The right project team can make or break a project. The selection process must first identify all the roles needed for the project, then identify which roles, skills, bandwidth and authority must be addressed with a specific person, talent, effort level or skill to avoid putting the entire project at risk of failure (TheBigRocks.com, 2010).