The perfect business Team? Article 3

 This is Part 6 of a series of articles about my research and writing about the creation of the perfect business team based on a methodological inquiry.

Utilizing fuzzy compatibility of skill for team selection in multi-phase projects

            This quantitative study stands out for its application of computer software algorithms to the field of quantitative analysis as a means to improve the way data can be collected and interpreted. The research was based on the requirements of more and more organizations to form project teams. Thomas Steward (1996) suggested that project management was the wave of the future. Four years later, when this study was originally conducted, that statement was even more appropriate as project management had moved outside the traditional engineering application to virtually every facet of business in the public and private sectors. Every project is managed by a leader through four stages: definition, planning, execution, and delivery (Gray and Larson, 2000).

            Utilizing the algorithm developed for this study, an application was presented for a real-world television station operating in a major metropolitan area that was concerned with producing lucrative commercials to enable the station to become more profitable. The model that was developed for this study focused on the definition stage of projects by setting a goal level of skills necessary to meet project specifications for each project phase. Individuals were evaluated for their ability to meet the desired skill set based on the responsibilities required for each project phase activity.

The benefit of this model is its deviation from the traditional heuristic approaches to team member selection which were based almost entirely on human behavior and personality characteristics considerations. While skills of the team members and the project activities are generally stressed as important considerations, no other model has a simple structured approach for selecting a team member based on compatibility of skill sets.

 Certainly, members selected to a project team must work together for project success. However, this model suggested that the primary focus of the selection process should be on the targeted skills necessary for a quality product or service to satisfy the potential customer. Trade-offs in membership due to budget considerations and/or potential member conflict could be made while achieving a fit between the project goal skill set and the individuals skill set. This model also addressed the significant evolution in team selection whereby virtual team membership is determined without direct human interface. In this virtual world, the skill sets are defined, goal sets determined, and budget constraints set to which respondents are selected based on their individual skills. The model as developed easily applied to selection of members to virtual multi-phase projects. 

Summary .

The application of fuzzy logic that originated in physic as well as in computer sciences to the issue of team selection was intriguing. One of the underlying aspects of this review is emphasized by this research. The issue of team selection can be enlightened in many different ways. New facets are found all the time. Researchers and authors seem to be concerned with replication as the intensive search for material has led to all the different perspectives for the team selection problem. This particular study stands in contracts to the other reviewed so far since it puts its focus almost exclusively on the skills of the individuals evaluated for selection. This is a more traditional perspective for member selection put into a very modern approach in regards to methodology.

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC