Page 120 - Global Project Management Handbook

DEVELOPING MULTINATIONAL PROJECT TEAMS 5-9

TABLE 5.2 Benchmarking the Project Team
Table 5.1 can provide an important reference point for defining specific metrics, desirable for high-
performing teams and their organizational environments. Then this metrics can be used for
benchmarking teams or their task groups as part of a team self-assessment, managerial audit, or
organizational development. In this context, Table 5.1 can be used as a startup database for a force-
field analysis, 34 where team members diagnose what helps or hinders them in attaining desired
performance. It is a simple yet powerful technique that can help a project manager and team to identify
those forces which drive their projects toward success. The techniques also can help to identify the
barriers or restraining forces that may keep a team from attaining its goal, hence causing project failure.
Furthermore, Table 5.1 can be used for benchmarking the project environment and its leadership.
That is, the typology of Table 5.1 can assist in comparing established management practices with those
of other operations, including global experiences. As such, Table 5.1 can become the focus of a five-
step continuous improvement process that involves: (1) defining what should be benchmarked and
how it should be compared, (2) analyzing team performance and establishing operational norms and
performance targets, (3) communicating these targets to all organizational levels and developing
action plans, (4) implementing these action plans, and (5) fine-tuning and integrating the new practices
with the total business process.
If used properly, either the force-field analysis or the benchmarking process, or any combination of
the two, can be powerful tools for diagnosing the need for change and implementing it. The personal
involvement of the team members during the situational assessment and action plan development is
critical for buy-in and ultimate commitment to the necessary change process.

Minimizing Barriers to Team Performance

As functioning groups, project teams are subject to all the phenomena known as group
dynamics. As a highly visible and focused work group, the project team often takes on a
special significance and is accorded high status with commensurate expectations of per-
formance. Although these groups bring significant energy and perspective to a task, the
possibilities of malfunctions are great. 42,62
A myth is that the assembly of talented and committed individuals automatically
makes the team immune to many of the barriers commonly found in the project team

environment. 57,62,75 These barriers, while natural and predictable, take on additional facets
in global project situations, which are exposed to the many challenges discussed earlier.
Understanding these barriers, their potential causes, and their influences on performance
is an important prerequisite for managing them effectively and hence facilitating a work
environment where team members can focus their energy on desired results. The most
common barriers to effective team performance are discussed in the context of multina-
tional project environments.
Different Points of View. The purpose of a project team is to harness divergent skills
and talents to accomplish project objectives. Having drawn on various departments or
perhaps even different organizations, there is the strong likelihood that team members
naturally will see the world from their own unique point of view. There is a tendency to
stereotype and devalue other views. Such tendencies are heightened when projects
involve work groups from different countries with different work cultures, norms,
needs, and interests. Further, these barriers are particularly strong in highly technical
project situations where members speak in their own codes and languages. In addition,
there may be historical conflict among organizational units. In such a case, representa-
tives from these units more than likely will carry their prejudices into the team and