Leading Teams (Pocket Mentor)

NO. 1

After reading Leading Teams (Pocket Mentor), write a 3-4 page, double-spaced paper (700 to 1000 words) that examines the following questions:

● Discuss some characteristics of high performing and productive teams and consider the required methodologies needed to form work teams. Then, analyze some of the reasons most teams fail. As a newly hired senior project manager, describe the unique strategies you would employ to eliminate the reason why teams fail.

● Managing different personalities and talents in teams can become a big challenge sometimes. Illustrate how you would lead successful cohesive project teams, handle team problems/conflicts, and at the same time evaluate their individual performances.

● How does groupthink and social loafing take place in teams? Investigate the ways groupthink and social loafing can be harmful to building a highly effective functioning team. As a newly appointed project manager, how would you quickly eliminate groupthink and social loafing in your team?

● What linkages do you see to the methods of control Kendrick has set out in the first four chapters of his book?

No. 2
It is possible to identify four key roles in project management: leader, manager, facilitator, and mentor. In a paper of 1 to 3 pages (250 to 800 words), relate each of these four key roles of project management to the means of control (process, influence, and metrics) discussed by Kendrick. Discuss which role or roles are likely to be most prominent when you are exerting each method of control. Which roles require especially strong communications skills?

No. 3
Metrics is all about measurement, and measurement is necessary to ensure that a project is done within time, on budget, with the resources available, and according to other constraints.

Review Chapter 4 in Kendrick. Then, consider this scenario.

● Imagine you are the fundraiser for a social club whose meeting hall regularly serves as an election polling place. A large number of people are expected to vote in the coming election, and you see an opportunity to raise funds by running a bake sale. People leaving the meeting room (where the voting machines are located) must pass through a short hallway before the exit. In this hallway there is limited space available for tables to hold baked goods. However, an adjoining room is available for storage of baked goods that cannot be displayed until others are sold.

Obviously you want the widest selection of baked goods in order to generate the largest amount of funds. Some baked goods sell far better than others. Pricing must be thoughtfully considered: lower prices will encourage sales, yet you want to make as much money as possible. In addition, you know that you'll probably have to spend some money up front for setup and other costs. You have a staff (of volunteers):

○ Brad is your conduit to reaching group membership for volunteers to bake goods (a request that has never been made before).
○ Barbara has bake sale experience and knows what sells well and what doesn't (a potential problem as volunteers will bake what they feel like baking, not necessarily what sells well).
○ Don is the custodian, and he will take care of setting up the tables for the bake sale.
○ Felicia is on the group's finance committee and will take care of sales, but she does not want to get involved in pricing the individual items. Pricing will be your responsibility, working with Barbara.

These individuals make up your project team.

Answer the following questions in a paper of 1½ to 3 pages (350 to 800 words).

1. Referring to Figure 4-2 in Kendrick, page 71: What are your objective(s)?

2. What behavior(s) do you wish to instill in your project team?

3. What measures or metrics will you adopt that best connect behavior with objectives? Provide an example of a predictive, diagnostic, and retrospective metric, and explain their respective purposes.

4. What types of problems might arise from your selection of these metrics and how might you resolve these problems?