Project Human Resource and Communication Management
Domain 8 covers acquiring and developing the team, motivation and conflict theory, and communication planning. Calculation items on communication channels are common, and scenario items ask you to identify a team-development stage or the best conflict-resolution approach.
Team management
- RACI assigns roles: R executes, A is accountable and must be unique per activity, C is consulted, I is informed.
- Tuckman's stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning. Conflict peaks in storming; the manager's job is to move the team forward, not to suppress conflict.
- Motivation: Maslow's hierarchy; Herzberg's two-factor theory where salary, policy, and working conditions are hygiene factors that prevent dissatisfaction but do not motivate, while achievement, recognition, responsibility, and growth motivate; McGregor's Theory X and Y; McClelland's need for achievement, power, and affiliation.
- Conflict methods: withdraw/avoid, smooth/accommodate, compromise, force, collaborate/problem-solve. Collaborate is best when the issue matters and time permits.
Communication
- Communication model: encode, medium, decode, with noise throughout; feedback closes the loop.
- Channels = N(N − 1) / 2, where N includes the project manager.
- Methods: interactive (most effective for complex, ambiguous messages), push, pull.
- The communication management plan defines who needs what, in what format, at what frequency, through which channel, plus escalation paths and glossary.
- Stakeholder engagement uses the power-interest grid to decide how closely each group is managed.
Worked example
A team of 12 including the project manager has 12 × 11 / 2 = 66 channels. Three specialists join, giving 15 members and 15 × 14 / 2 = 105 channels, an increase of 39. The project manager should update the communication management plan, formalise status reporting, and schedule structured coordination rather than assuming the extra people simply talk more.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming salary as a motivator under Herzberg.
- Treating forcing as the preferred conflict method; it is a last resort.
- Allowing two accountable owners for one activity in a RACI chart.
- Excluding the project manager when counting communication channels.
- Confusing the communication management plan with the stakeholder register.