Mentorship and Coaching as Ways of Knowledge Transfer in the Process of Project Implementation - Literature review Example

Introduction Project management is a practice that entails scheduling, systematizing and administration of resources to facilitate the accomplishment of particular objectives and goals that have been identified in for a specific project (Boddy & Buchanan, 1999). Successful management of several projects in an organization enhances the accomplishment of its program goals, and therefore, organizational projects are short term activities that an organization undertakes to within a specific time period to accomplish the objectives of a particular program. Each project is overseen by a project manager, who needs to possess strong leadership qualities to effectively supervise and guide the project implementation workforce. The project manager also needs to clearly understand the project objectives and the strategies identified by the organization for effective accomplishment of the project goals. He is the person in charge of the project and therefore acts as a link between the workforce and the organization’s management. Fretty (2006 p 38) states that, “As Project Management evolves a new set of issues is demanding attention”. This paper is a critique of the issues that project managers need to pay attention to as the project progresses, which include mentorship programs to enhance the accomplishment of tasks by the junior members of the project workforce, team building as well as promotion of project management and awareness as well as strong leadership skills among the project managers. It analyzes the competences that are necessary for the accomplishment of the overall goal of the project, such as; strong leadership, understanding of strategies for success, strategies for performance management and staff motivation, effective communication as well as generation of strong working relationships between the junior staff and the organizational management. Understanding and paying attention to the emerging issues is significant for successful implementation of project and accomplishment of the overall goal. Issues Demanding Attention Mentorship Before inception of the project, the project managers are engaged according to the skills acquired through education. They bring fresh knowledge in to the project. However, there are many challenges that they are likely to face in the process. Problem solving requires skills that are mainly possessed by the longstanding project managers. It is therefore important for the project officers who have been in the organization for a longer period of time to provide mentorship for the newly engaged project officers. Mentorship is important as it offers the desired guidance regarding approaching issues. It is part of the training process that helps new project managers to understand the organization strategies that are usually employed for it to accomplish its project goals. If such managers are left to accomplish tasks on their own, they are likely to shun from taking risks for the purpose of the project success. On the other hand, Fretty (2006) observes that offering mentorship to new managers helps them to cautiously engage in significant risk taking. Moreover, they understand the company’s operating methodologies, which gives them a wider scope of reasoning rather than being narrowly focused solely on the paper work. As the project progresses, the senior project managers mentor the junior managers for the purpose of planning for succession. The mentored individuals develop skills, which are important for the success of a project (Boddy & Buchanan, 1999). Moreover, the mentee can also offer mentorship in future to other employees who might be engaged within the project’s life cycle. It requires high commitment among the mentees to acquire the desired knowledge through mentorship. They need to sacrifice more time and efforts to the project’s activities than the rest of the workforce for the mentorship program to be meaningful. Such programs promote workplace relationships and satisfaction among project managers, who in turn enhance employee satisfaction due to their understanding of organizational activities and procedures. This in turn is significant in the promotion of employee retention within the project. Mentorship of new project managers helps them in answering the questions of where they are at the beginning of the project, where they want to be at the end and how they are going to get there (Boddy & Buchanan, 1999). Moreover, it helps them to discover their talents as well as how they can utilize their skills effectively by suppressing their weaknesses that may hinder the utilization of their capabilities to the full potential. Mentorship is significant in providing an immediate feedback regarding the performance of the new project managers. They realize their accomplishments and failures and learn how to rectify them before the management can conduct a performance review. This generates confidence among the project officers, which is usually lost because of uncertainty in regard to whether the project tasks are being accomplished according to the management’s desires. They acquire professional skills with ease and become a significant asset for the organization. Mentorship exposes the project managers to organizational learning, which is important in career development. Project managers perform their subsequent tasks more effectively through organizational learning. The senior project managers need to be competent in provision of strategic guidance to the project managers who are less skilled (Fretty, 2006). Coaching is one of the significant ways of knowledge transfer in the process of the project implementation. In many situations, senior managers usually have encountered most of the tasks involved in a particular project and therefore it might be easier for them to understand the expectations of the repeated tasks. The sharing of experiences helps the junior project managers to visualize the accomplishments and the drawbacks that they might encounter in the project implementation; hence they can approach issues in a sophisticated way (Boddy & Buchanan, 1999). It helps in the avoidance of negligence since the employees are more careful in regard to accomplishing their tasks due to the regular meetings between the junior project officers with their coaches as well as mentors. These meetings present an avenue for reviewing the progress of the projects whereby the project managers can identify the mistakes as well as the improvements that can be made for effective accomplishment of project goals. Brainstorming in the mentorship and coaching programs generates important ideas that empower the junior project managers as well as helping them to undertake the project activities with an open mind. It is also useful in resolving issues arising in project management as well as conflict resolution. Team-building Project management involves the overseeing of many simple tasks to accomplish the overall project goal. These tasks are usually interdependent and can not be undertaken in isolation. For this reason, Robbins & Coulter (2002) observe that as project management advances, there is need to build effective teams and promote a shared vision in regard to the accomplishment of organizational goals. Building effective teams allows effective collaboration among the project staff, which is important in identifying solutions to emerging issues. The project managers need to be proactive in regard to serving as the link between strong project teams with the organizational management. Team-building is significant in awareness creation among the people in regard to the significance of working together. When the organization has employees working together, they share ideas without divisions in the workplace. Moreover, when a person feels as part of a team, he/she is obligated to accomplish his/her role, which is viewed as an integral part of the team. Each individual makes a significant contribution to the success of the team. Knowledge sharing is also accomplished through effective team building since each team member contributes a particular talent that is useful for the accomplishment of a common goal (Davenport et al. 1998). Employees working in a team are able to trust each other, making it possible for them to acquire the desired confidence and motivation for work. Team building helps in the development of trust amongst the workforce. People feel contented when they discover that their counterparts are focused on accomplishing similar goals as the ones that they are targeting. On reaching an agreement, they discover that they are not alone and therefore they acquire confidence in the accomplishment of tasks. It also encourages creativity especially due to the confidence instilled in the workforce. Every person feels part of the team and is focused on contributing towards the accomplishment of the shared objectives. Workers participate more especially due to the realization that the outcome is shared (Harold & Frank, 2009). The people involved in the project implementation have an opportunity to participate in the process through proactive teams. When the project managers and their subordinates support change in the process as a team, there is usually a high possibility of the change being recognized by the organizational management than in a situation whereby the project workforce undertake their tasks as individuals. When the project activities are accomplished through teams, the project managers have an opportunity for generating an atmosphere of motivation since each member works towards accomplishing objectives based on the performance of other members of the team. In essence, if the project team members have similar qualifications that an organization bases its recruitment and selection, the successful individuals who become project managers are expected to accomplish the project objectives competitively (Davenport et al. 1998). While working as an individual, it is difficult for a project manager to realize when there is a possibility of failure. For that reason, project managers who work as a team help each other to identify mistakes that may hinder the accomplishment of tasks. This allows effectiveness among members due to the practice of supervising each other within groups. According to Bhatt (2002), motivation of the workforce is accomplished through building successful teams since members work towards the accomplishment of a common objective. Individualism is eliminated in the workforce due to the fact that the management focuses on the team as one unit and therefore when applying performance and reward management, no person undergoes appraisal as an individual. This motivates the group to be proactive in assisting each other. In other words, since any accomplishments will be shared, the talented individuals have to share their knowledge and skills with the less skilled because even though they can accomplish much on their own, they still ca not assert their success unless the whole team is successful. In other words, when the project managers are focused on team building, they generate the perception that the focus should be on the result rather than on individual accomplishments. On the other hand, the project managers can apply performance and reward management more easily on a team than they can do while dealing with individuals (Jeffrey, 2007). Leadership Strong leadership is a core issue that needs to be addressed as the project management advances. Fretty (2006) argues that the project managers need to be aware of what the project entails so that they can offer guidance in regard to the accomplishment of project goals. The project leaders need to view their task as that of promoting the accomplishment of tasks rather than playing a supervisory role. They are in charge of facilitating individuals to accomplish tasks. They also need to demonstrate their membership to the work teams, which demonstrates their concern in regard to the accomplishment of the objectives of the team. They are significant in workplace conflict resolution and therefore need to be capable of promoting harmonious relations in the workplace. Cleland (1995) argues that for leadership among the project managers to be successful, effective communication with the work teams so that each member maintains awareness in regard to the progress of the project tasks. This confirms the need for the project managers to be fully aware of the project tasks. Effective communication in projects allows the employees to make informed decisions in regard to the project activities. According to Clifford & Erik (2008), project managers who are capable of promoting effective leadership communication among the project implementation team acquire essential information that can assist him/her to lead the teams. Open communication in leadership allows the people to air their views without intimidation, which is significant in determining the key areas that need attention. Such an approach is significant in problem solving within the project. The leader needs to understand the key motivating factors for the team, which can be accomplished through effective communication between the leader and the work team. Successful leadership needs to be focused on the achievement of tasks, whereby the leader is required to be visionary and to lead with a sense of purpose. Harold (2009) argues that careful planning is significant in assigning tasks to the workforce. This is critical to the accomplishment of project goals since if the workers are assigned tasks that they are not competent in, there is the likelihood of failure. The leader should also be capable of developing strong measures of performance that can be used to evaluate the accomplishments among the project teams. Resource allocation is the leader’s duty, and he should ensure that the project teams are effectively facilitated to accomplish tasks. The project managers need to be capable of making accurate predictions to evaluate potential risks and issues that may be encountered in the project. Project management requires competence in team management so that the project work teams can accomplish their tasks effectively. Jeffrey (2007) observes that it would be unnecessary to establish teams for project implementation and fail to provide the desired leadership. The project managers need to be able to set standards of behavior and performance among the team members and also identify the most appropriate ways of working. Even though the work teams should be allowed independence to a certain extent, the project manager should not be tempted to neglect the group in the name of working independently. He/she needs to be in charge of ensuring that the project teams are accomplishing the project activities according to the project plan. However, it is important to delegate tasks to enable the project teams to utilize their full potential. In the progress of project implementation, the project manager needs to be competent in identifying the needs of the project staffs. For example, he/she needs to be in a capacity to identify the training needs of the work groups for skills development, identification of the issues that may hamper the success of work teams as well as promote career development through knowledge sharing. Clifford & Erik (2008) observe that the project managers need to provide strong leadership through helping the project staff to discover their talents and strengths that they can capitalize on to accomplish project objectives. On the other hand, they also need to help the personnel to identify their weaknesses, which they need to identify the means of dealing with. Harold (2009) argues that workers are motivated through appreciation of their hard work. The project managers need to be capable of appreciating the project personnel for their accomplishments in the project tasks. Conclusion As the project progresses, the senior project managers mentor the junior managers for the purpose of planning for succession. Mentorship exposes the project managers to organizational learning, which is important in career development. Coaching is also among the significant ways of knowledge transfer in the process of the project implementation. The sharing of experiences helps the junior project managers to visualize the accomplishments and the drawbacks that they might encounter in the project implementation. On the other hand, building effective teams allows effective collaboration among the project staff, which is important in identifying solutions to emerging issues. Employees working in a team are able to trust each other, making it possible for them to acquire the desired confidence and motivation for work. Strong leadership is also a core issue that needs to be addressed as the project management advances. Successful leadership needs to be focused on the achievement of tasks, whereby the leader is required to be visionary and to lead with a sense of purpose. Project management requires competence in team management so that the project work teams can accomplish their tasks effectively. The project manager needs to be competent in identifying the needs of the project staffs. References Beardwell, I. & Holden, L., (2001). Human Resource Management- A Contemporary Approach, Third Edition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited Bhatt, G.D. (2002), “Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 6 No.1, pp.31-9. Boddy, D. & Buchanan, D. (1999), Take the Lead: Interpersonal Skills for Project Managers, Prentice Hall, New York, NY Cleland, D. I. (1995). “Leadership and the Project Management Body of Knowledge”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 13 No.2, pp.82-88 Clifford, F. G. & Erik, W. L. (2008). Project Management: The Managerial Process, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill. Davenport, T.H., Delong, D., & Beers, M. (1998), “Successful knowledge management projects”, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 39 No.2, pp.43-57. Fretty, P. (2006). Project Management, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, PM Network, 20, 7 p 38 Harold, K. (2009). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 10th Edition, John Wiley & sons. Harold, E. & Frank P. S. (2009). Value-Driven Project Management, John Wiley & sons.  Jeffrey, P. K. (2007). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Pearson Prentice Hall. Robbins, S. P & Coulter, M. (2002). Management, Sixth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice- Hall Inc. Read More