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Introduction

As the leader of a team, you have to consider how to organise your team, how the team should address problem solving and decision making, and you need to learn how to effectively run a team meeting.

Overview

There are a number of different ways to organise an engineering team in an industrial setting.  These include functional based organisation, project based organisation, and the often confusing matrix-based organisation. 

One of the challenges a team must face is evaluating problems, coming up with solution plans and making decisions relative to those plans.  These are best approached in an organised fashion, and thus having a framework for approaching them is advisable and will be discussed in this section. 

Team members usually share their ideas in a meeting setting.  Meetings can consume huge amounts of time which could be spent more productively working on the project.  Therefore, it is important to know how to effectively and efficiently conduct a meeting.

Project Management in a Functional Organisation

A functional organization is one in which team members are placed into teams or groups wherein all the members of a particular group perform the same function within the overall organization.  Graphically it looks like this:

In an engineering organization, one functional group might be comprised of all the designers, while a second might include all of the stress analysts, and another all of the thermos and heat transfer specialists.  Manufacturing engineers would be a separate group, as would test engineers, and all such groups that perform a specialized function.  When a Project Manager is assigned the task of leading a particular project, they have to approach each Functional Manager to have a technical specialist assigned to work on their project, and they are at the mercy of that Functional Manager as to who they get, for how long, and have no say in whether that person may be reassigned and replaced on their project effort.

Project Management in a Project Based Organisation

A project based organization is one in which team members are placed into teams or groups which are assigned to work on a particular project.  They report directly to the manager for that project and are disconnected from other specialists in their expertise.  Graphically it looks like this:  

Frequently these project teams are referred to as Integrated Project Teams, of IPTs, because the experts from the individual fields are all integrated into one team whose sole task to is work on a particular project.

Project Management in a Matrixed Organisation

A matrixed organization is one in which individual employees are simultaneously assigned to both a functional manager, to whom they report on technical issues, and also a project manager, to whom they report on project-related issues.  Graphically, this looks like this:  

Problem Solving and Decision Making as a Team

A problem can be considered to simply represent a situation where what is actually happening differs from what is desired.  Here are the steps we might reasonably follow, if our team faces a problem:

1. Recognize the problem
2. Define the problem
3. Collect information / gather data
4. Analyse current processes from which the problem results
5. Identify possible causes
6. Generate alternative processes to eliminate the causes
7. Select the best course of action
8. Implement change steps
9. Assess the results
10. Learn from the results
11. Make the changes permanent

During such a problem solving activity, using a process as just described, decisions will have to be made.  How does a team make decisions?  There are a number of modes which may be applied, such as:

• Leader rules – Team supplies info to a manager who decides
• Majority rules – Team votes
• Consensus – Team agrees

The level of enthusiasm and commitment that the team has to implementing the solution which has been decided upon, is generally related to the amount of input the team had into the decision, as shown in the following figure.

Text version

Therefore, the approach that is used in executing the decision making process is important.  If we wish to attain the greatest commitment to the solution, the consensus approach is probably the best one.  So, how does one go about building a consensus solution?  Here are some tools which may be useful:

Running a Meeting

Meetings are vitally important for management and communication within a project team. When conducted correctly, meetings can save time, improve communication, increase motivation, increase productivity, solve problems and generate new ideas and initiatives. Effective meetings can achieve buy-in from all participants.  Meetings are more effective at diffusing potential conflict than emails or written memos.  Non-verbal communication such as facial expression or body language is lost in written communications.  The opportunity for feedback, questioning, brainstorming, problem solving, and interactive thought is not available through written communications either.  That's why meetings are a necessary means of interacting as a team.

Face-to-face meetings are the most effective means of conveying feelings and meanings. These are therefore preferable to phone or video-conferencing meetings, when dealing with a serious matter. However, in today’s global business-world, team members may be located at other facilities, and even in other time zones, so use of modern communication technology may be necessary.  Fortunately, recent advances in video-conferencing have made it possible to conduct meetings over the internet nearly as effectively as in person. 

Here are some guidelines for running an effective meeting:

1. Plan the meeting and create an agenda.
   • First off, determine if a meeting is really necessary. Meetings take people away from their assigned tasks.  Therefore a meeting is appropriate only if there is a legitimate reason why all the participants should be gathered together at the expense of their individual assignments.
   • Create an agenda containing all the items that need to be discussed and resolved. Assign a reasonable amount of time that each topic should take, and endeavour to stick to this time rather than letting the meeting stretch on and on. 
2. Circulate the meeting agenda well before the meeting.
   • This allows participants to be prepared and know what to expect.
   • It also allows them to schedule their efforts around a set time for the meeting.
3. Run the meeting effectively.
   • Call the meeting to order on time. Delaying because someone is late only creates the impression that there is no need to arrive at future meetings on time.
   • If someone is late, do not waste time repeating things so as to catch them up. It is their responsibility to catch up.
   • Pass out copies of the agenda. Also pass out either the minutes or the action item list from the prior meeting as a reference of what has gone on before.
   • Make sure everyone knows everyone else in attendance.
   • Stick to the assigned time schedule.
   • Assign someone to take minutes of the meeting.
     • This is important as it creates a record of what was discussed and decided.
     • It can be circulated to those unable to attend so that they are aware of what went on.
     • It provides something that can resolved disagreement relative to what occurred when at a later date people remember things differently.
   • Begin by quickly summarizing the purposes of the meeting.
     • Do not allow participants to steer the discussion off topic
   • Keep control - You need to manage the meeting, do not let the meeting manage you.
   • Never allow participants to become insulting, to talk over others, to conduct conversations extraneous to the meeting, or to belittle other participants. If someone is consistently behaving in such a manner, ask them to leave and deal with them after the meeting.
4. Agree on outcomes, actions and responsibilities.
   • Create an action item list for every action that was agreed to during the meeting.
   • Make sure someone is assigned to follow up on each action item, with an expected completion date.
   • There should be a running action item list which includes all the open action items from all meetings that have been conducted. This list should contain the responsible individual and completion date and the list should be circulated to all team members.
   • End your meeting on a positive note that inspires action. Summarize what each member has to do in order to accomplish the tasks discussed and put on the action item list.
5. Ensure that the minutes and action item list are produced in clear and concise written form and circulated to all participants, whether they were in the particular meeting or not.
6. Follow up on all agreed action items and ensure they are ready to be reported on at the next meeting

Summary

Teams are most effective when they function with a well-understood organizational structure, with a well-defined approach to problem solving and decision making, and when they communicate and assign responsibilities effectively.  The topics discussed in this section should assist the team in achieving these goals.

References & Bibliography

Dym, C. & Little, P. (2009). Engineering Design, 3^rd edition.  Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley.

Heizer, J., Munson, C. & Render, B. (2017). Operations Management.  New York: Pearson.

Horenstein, M. (2002).  Design Concepts for Engineers, 4^th Edition. \Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice.

McSween, D. (2015).  How to Conduct a Board Meeting Properly.  Accessed 14 September 2015, Online <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/conduct-board-meeting-properly-75586.html>

Meredith, J. & Mantel, S. (2012).   Project Management, 8^th edition. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley.