Retired course

This course has been retired and is no longer supported.

About this lesson

The Resource Management processes provide guidance for managing the project team and the management and deployment of physical resources to support the project activities.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s related exercise files.

Project Resource Management.docx
64.2 KB Project Resource Management - Solution.docx
60 KB

Quick reference

Project Resource Management

The Resource Management processes provide guidance for managing the physical resources and the project team including the core team, extended team and any project staff.

When to use

Many of these processes will need to be used frequently throughout the lifecycle of the project.  Different physical resources become available at different times during the project.  Team members change, roles change, outside factors can influence internal team performance and relationships.  If there are people involved (and there are always people involved) these processes apply.

Instructions

Project Resource Management

"Project Resource Management includes the processes to identify, acquire, and manage the resources needed for the successful completion of the project.” PMBOK® Guide

These processes apply to physical resources such as facilities and equipment and to the project team and team issues.  The project may use few physical resources and have a very small team who know each other well.  The project may be controlling massive amounts of equipment and physical resources with a large multi-location, multi-cultural team that have never met each other before.  In either case these processes should be used, but the amount of time and effort to achieve the process outputs and the number of tools and techniques needed may change dramatically.  In some cases the project team, or a portion of it, may report directly to the project manager.  In most cases, they do not.  When that is the case, the value of these processes is heightened.  Although it should go without saying, I will repeat it anyway.  Ethical behavior is essential to maintain effectiveness with your project team.  If they ever suspect you of lying, stealing, or cheating, it is virtually impossible to ever regain their confidence.

Project Resource Management Processes

There are four Project Human Resources Management Processes.  They relate to each other as shown in the diagram below.  The four processes are:

  • 9.1 Plan Resource Management: “The process defining how to estimate, acquire, manage, and utilize physical and team resources.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 9.2 Estimate Activity Resources: “The process of estimating team resources and the type and quantity of material, equipment and supplies necessary to perform project work.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 9.3 Acquire Resources: “The process of obtaining team members, facilities, equipment, material, supplies and other resources necessary to complete project work.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 9.4 Develop Team: “The process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 9.5 Manage Team:  “The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing team changes to optimize project performance.” PMBOK® Guide
  • 9.6 Control Resources:  “The process of ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated to the project are available as planned as well as monitoring the planned versus actual use of the resources, and performing corrective action as necessary.” PMBOK® Guide

Definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Pages 698, 702, 705, 706, 710, 713, and 717. PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Project Team Management

There are many tools and techniques that can be used to assist the project manager in the management of the project team.  One of the most commonly cited tools and techniques is Interpersonal and Team Skills. In addition to the personal interactions, the project manager will normally need to get the team working together.  He or she can not do all the communication and interactions, the team will need to connect and function together.  There are several techniques that are very useful to the management of the team interactions. 

If the project has more than just three or four team members, you should plan on using a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), often referred to as a RACI matrix.   In addition, as the team starts to work together it often goes through stages of team development interactions: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. 

Just as a side note, most project teams cycle back and forth between Storming and Norming, only occasionally getting to Performing.  That is due to the temporary and unique nature of the project. Normally some of the team members have never worked together before, so they need to storm and then norm.  Just about the time they get the teams “norms” worked out, a new team member joins, or the project moves to a new phase, the responsibilities change. 

Which leads to the last tool I want to discuss.  Teams often face conflict.  When that occurs, first and foremost strive to keep it on a level of professional disagreement and not personal attacks.  The Thomas Kilman Model is a great technique for determining a strategy to pursue to resolve the conflict.  Just remember, projects may not have time to find the collaborative answer and will need to fall back to a compromise solution.

Login to download
  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I'd now like to look at the project resource management knowledge area.
  • 00:11 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK guide, defines this as
  • 00:15 Project Resource Management includes the processes to identify, acquire, and
  • 00:19 manage the resources needed for the successful completion of the project.
  • 00:23 This project management process went through a significant overhaul with the of
  • 00:28 the PMBOK.
  • 00:28 It now includes the management of physical resources like equipment, facilities, and
  • 00:33 raw material along with the management of the project team members.
  • 00:37 The process must be exercised often as team members on a project team will
  • 00:41 often change.
  • 00:42 Some team members are only part time,
  • 00:44 where an individual is being moved regularly from project to project.
  • 00:47 Even if the team is stable, the team dynamics can change.
  • 00:50 So the team leader needs to be watching for
  • 00:52 signs of trouble throughout the project life cycle.
  • 00:55 There are six project resource management processes.
  • 00:58 The first one is to plan resource management.
  • 01:01 This will create the resource management plan that contains policies and
  • 01:04 procedures that the project will follow with respect to acquisition and management
  • 01:08 of physical resources, and with respect to project team and staffing the project.
  • 01:14 Another planning process is estimate activity resources, which determines which
  • 01:18 resources are needed to complete each of the project activities.
  • 01:22 Next is acquire resources.
  • 01:24 This process is just what it says.
  • 01:26 It's finding the people and physical resources needed for the project,
  • 01:30 confirming their availability, and getting them onto the team.
  • 01:34 Develop Team focuses on improving the competencies of team members
  • 01:37 with respect to team behavior and project management activities.
  • 01:41 This should lead to a project team that is working well together.
  • 01:44 A third process focused on the team is manage team.
  • 01:48 Teams will inevitably face conflict.
  • 01:50 In addition, people may be joining or leaving the project, and
  • 01:53 many people are over allocated which often leads to underperforming on the project.
  • 01:58 The project manager must assess the team and individual performance and
  • 02:02 take appropriate action to ensure the project's goal are met.
  • 02:06 The last process is Control Resources.
  • 02:08 This process focuses mostly on the physical resources to ensure that they
  • 02:12 are being used in the appropriate manner and
  • 02:14 taking corrective action when there are problems.
  • 02:17 There are several techniques that the project manager can use to develop and
  • 02:20 manage the project team.
  • 02:22 One of these is the Responsibility Accountability Matrix,
  • 02:25 sometimes called the RACI matrix.
  • 02:28 It clarifies roles and responsibilities and
  • 02:30 can assist the project manager when acquiring project team members
  • 02:34 to ensure that they recruit someone with the needed skills.
  • 02:37 The matrix has the WBS task on one side and the project team members on the other.
  • 02:42 It then assigns specific roles for the appropriate individual on each task.
  • 02:47 The assignment clarifies expectations for each team member.
  • 02:51 The next technique is team building.
  • 02:53 There are many approaches to team building, and
  • 02:55 this is one of the more common ones used in project management.
  • 02:58 A team goes through the stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and
  • 03:01 then adjourning.
  • 03:03 A challenge of project teams is that the team members are often changing, and
  • 03:07 as soon as the project team begins to work together through the forming, storming,
  • 03:10 and norming stages, a new person joins the team or
  • 03:13 someone leaves, and responsibilities change.
  • 03:16 Then the project team drops back down and must start over.
  • 03:20 The third technique is a framework for addressing conflict management.
  • 03:23 There are number of different conflict management approaches.
  • 03:26 I like the Skillmann model shown here, and it's referenced in the PMBO Guide.
  • 03:30 Project teams will face conflict at some point.
  • 03:33 I'm not saying that there will be yelling and screaming and fist fights.
  • 03:36 But there will be different opinions on how a should be done, or
  • 03:39 whether a result meets the requirements.
  • 03:42 In this model, the manager should assess the situation and
  • 03:44 choose an interaction strategy that best fits the needed outcome.
  • 03:49 So let's take a look at how resource management processes interact
  • 03:52 with each other.
  • 03:53 We start with the Plan Resource Management process.
  • 03:56 We see a familiar pattern.
  • 03:58 This process creates a resource management plan
  • 04:01 that is incorporated into the overall project management plan.
  • 04:04 The project management plan is an input to all the other processes and
  • 04:08 is an input back to this process.
  • 04:10 In addition,
  • 04:11 this process creates team charters, which are maintained as a project document.
  • 04:15 Note this is not the project charter, this is a team charter and addresses how
  • 04:20 the team members will interact during the conduct of the project.
  • 04:24 The estimate activity resources process creates three of our project documents.
  • 04:29 The resource requirements, basis of estimates, and
  • 04:31 a resource breakdown structure,
  • 04:33 which is a hierarchical organization of resources by categories or types.
  • 04:38 Acquire resources also creates three project documents.
  • 04:42 These are physical resource assignment, project team assignments, and
  • 04:45 resource calendars.
  • 04:47 All six of the processes will periodically provide project document updates and
  • 04:52 acquire resources, develop team, manage team, and
  • 04:56 control resources will provide updates back to the project management plan.
  • 05:01 Of course, we need resources to do the work of the project.
  • 05:05 And depending upon your available resources, this set of project management
  • 05:09 processes will either be the easiest part of your job or your biggest headache.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Gift this course