EFFECTIVE TEAM AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Effective Team and Performance Management



Table of Content

Introduction3

Motivation in Project Context3

Hypothesis5

Conditions for Team Success6

Study6

Key Motivators7

Current Work Environment8

Interpretation of Data8

Changing Project-Management Paradigm: From Tools And Techniques To Empowered Teams10

Project-Team Performance Model11

Logic of Model12

Project Leadership Model13

Conclusion14

References16

Appendix17

Effective Team and Performance Management

Introduction

The performance of project managers continues to be disappointing despite the widening literature on project management techniques, and a greater number of project managers driving an ever-increasing number of projects. As the scramble to find 'better ways' to manage projects intense, an issue that seems relatively unexplored is the motivation of the project manager and project team to complete projects to time, cost and quality objectives (Bauer, 1992, 450. The paper records the results of a study designed to explore the motives and drives of project managers and project teams, and to trigger debate in the area of goal-directed project management. The paper findings lead them to take the view that the fostering and development of a project environment which encourages mutuality, belonging, rewards, bounded power and creative autonomy is likely to result in improved project performance. To create such an environment, they offer a new paradigm, based around team empowerment and project leadership, which is designed to generate greater motivation to perform among project personnel.

Motivation in Project Context

In general, theories of motivation related to the workplace have attempted to explain what drives employees to high performance at work. Some theories focus on the satisfaction of individuals' needs, for example Maslow's John`s need of hierarchies 1993 74. John`s model for structured reflection theory suggests that staff are motivated by intrinsic factors such as the recognition of personal achievement, individual development, work involvement and responsibility, and extrinsic rewards, such as pay, security, and social needs (Johns, 1993, 74). Needs theories have influenced many organizations to use motivational tools that emphasize career trajectories designed to give individuals the notion of personal advancement, security, progressive autonomy, and increasing status within the organization. Extrinsic rewards are also designed to support the notion of careers, and, in many cases, financial rewards, company cars and other forms of remuneration, such as expense accounts or medical benefits, clearly reflect an individual's progression and position within the hierarchy. Other theories of motivation suggest that people's motives are conscious acts that focus on specific goals. Cognitive or process theories of motivation, of which valence-expectancy theory is probably the most well known, suggest that people are not automatically motivated by opportunities to satisfy needs, but make subjective assessments of such opportunities according to

valence V' that is the salience of the outcome or goal,

instrumentality I that is the instrumentality of goal achievement (which depends on resources and support systems as well as individual effort) in satisfying personal needs (through rewards),

expectancy E that is the probability that the effort required (at a given level of support and resources) leads to the achievement of the goal and the gaining of the rewards offered.

Thus

M (motivation) = f( V x I x E)

Crucial to valence-expectancy theory is the notion that people can be ...