Managing Team Resources

Managing Team Resources

Question 1

My team has five members, including Alejandro, Sandra, Jim, Karla, and myself (leader). All team members must possess the right skills and display exemplary task performance ability for effective team building. As a leader, I will be responsible for ensuring the team’s goals are accomplished. I need leadership skills such as active listening, strategic thinking, trustworthiness, and positivity to achieve this (Zaccaro et al., 2001). These leadership skills are key in motivating other team members to pursue the group’s goals.

The second member is a facilitator who documents all team plans and ideas discussed during brainstorming. The facilitator should possess outstanding communication, motivation, and management ethics skills (Zaccaro et al., 2001). Their role is to help the team accomplish tasks within prescribed deadlines.  The rest of the team members will be responsible for executing the team tasks. They are required to participate in all team meetings and provide any support they may require. In collaboration with a facilitator, this cohort of team members will play a role in setting deadlines.

 Question 2

The available human resources can complete the project within the prescribed timeline. However, a team leader must embrace some strategies to ensure the project is accomplished two weeks earlier than prescribed. Firstly, there is a need to set goals correctly by using the SMART method. To that end, the goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Also, setting priorities will come in handy, including handling more urgent tasks first and delegating or scheduling the non-essential tasks for later. The third strategy to complete the tasks on time is by setting a time limit to complete a task. That way, it will be easier to figure out potential problems and address them on time as they unfold.

Question 3

Some tasks of the project can be skipped or set aside for the future. For instance, if the client expects a report, members can elect to present a comprehensive executive summary and deliver the whole report at a later date. The implication of postponing some tasks is that it may result in design errors since it is a hurried process. Also, since team members have to meet at a later date, the cost of executing the entire project may increase.

Question 4

Moving the deadline backward may require more costs for completing the project. Some of the extra costs will go towards motivating the team to commit to working outside the normal parameters and attain project objectives. For instance, offering incentives will motivate team members to work extra harder within the prescribed timeline (Zaccaro et al., 2001). Also, more expenses will go towards offering rewards for team members who accomplish tasks on time.

Question 5

Since some team members are having a conflict and may not see eye to eye, there is a need to introduce compromise. By compromising, each team member will give up something just to ensure they collaborate for the team’s sake (Overton & Lowry, 2013). Also, a team leader may employ competition, a strategy whereby relationships are sacrificed to attain team objectives. Although the strategy may fail, it makes members compete to accomplish tasks; hence, it is possible to meet project requirements.

Question 6

A face-to-face meeting is the best way to communicate team objectives to the rest of the team. Such a meeting will allow a team leader to clearly explain the team’s objectives and why the deadline was moved backward. Besides, team members can make inquiries and get satisfactory feedback immediately.

References

Overton, A., & Lowry, A. (2013). Conflict Management: Difficult Conversations with Difficult People. Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, 26(04), 259–264. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0033-1356728

Zaccaro, S. J., Rittman, A. L., & Marks, M. A. (2001). Team leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(4), 451–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1048-9843(01)00093-5

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Say your supervisor has just informed you that the deadline for completing your team’s goal has been moved up by two weeks. You now have less time to complete the same amount of work. Your supervisor has asked for a short summary of your plan for achieving the goal within your shortened timeline.

Managing Team Resources

Write a 350- to 525-word summary on how you will manage the team’s resources in the face of these new timelines. Answer the following questions in your summary:

How many people are on your team? What are their roles? What are their skill sets? How can these be rearranged to meet the new requirements?
Are there enough human resources to complete the project two weeks earlier? If not, how can you increase the team’s capacity?
Are there aspects of the project that can be condensed or skipped? What are the implications of skipping or condensing tasks?
Are there costs to be considered with these changes?
How can you leverage what you’ve learned about solving problems in teams to meet the new project requirements?
How do you intend to communicate the new requirements to the team in order to gain their buy-in?