Project Team Member Roles & Responsibilities | What Is a Project Team? – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

Video Transcript

Project Team Members

A successful project management team takes preparation and planning. Project team members are persons who work on one or multiple stages of a project. Team member roles will vary depending on the individual project. Team members have a variety of roles to contribute toward achieving the project’s aims and goals.

Projects call for collaborative effort in situations where one person does not have the entire knowledge base to carry out a duty. Project managers are then required to determine what knowledge and skills are needed for the task and then must organize for a group of individuals to work together to achieve a common goal.

Roles & Responsibilities

Project management teams function at their best when each member finds her/his role rewarding. It’s important each team member has an understanding of her/his duties and responsibilities before beginning work on the project. This helps reduce misunderstandings, disruptions, and confusion.

Project team members are responsible for following meeting rules and offering new viewpoints or ideas to solve problems. It’s necessary for team members to be engaged in discussions and to finish assignments within specified timelines. Another important role is to be supportive of the implementation of suggestions and changes.

Project team members’ duties also include documenting current or potential processes by identifying and mapping needs, providing advice in an area of expertise, collaborating to achieve the aims and goals of the project, or training others to establish change. Additional duties may include defining key indicators for reports.

A project facilitator is responsible for coaching and providing guidance to the team. The project facilitator supports team members in completing the project with accuracy, efficiency, and quality. Another important role on project teams is the recorder. This individual is responsible for writing and maintaining accurate meeting minutes. A third key role on project teams includes the timekeeper, who’s responsible for managing time for the meetings and the successful meeting of deadlines. These three roles may be joined by several others, depending on the needs of the project.

Team members may be internal employees or hired as consultants, and the time commitment of a project may be on a full-time basis or involve part-time hours. However, team members and project management can be made up of many different areas of a company. Departmental diversity among the project’s team members allow for creativity and new perceptions in accomplishing the project’s goals.

Example

Let’s look at an example. A healthcare organization needs to purchase new electronic software to be compliant with federal regulations. The Director of Technology puts together a team to demonstrate software products and to discuss, evaluate, and make recommendations to the company’s leadership team. The director includes members of the medical records department, the quality improvement department, and the information technology department, as well as clinical supervisors, physicians, and nurses. Several areas are represented at the meeting, and each possess a unique knowledge and skill set for specific functions within the new software program.

Lesson Summary

Let’s review. Project team members are persons who work on one or multiple stages of a project. Each individual is responsible for making contributions to the decision-making process. It’s important for team members to support the aims and goals of the project, where team members are willing to share their knowledge and skills. Team members should respect the viewpoints of others and help other team members complete work by given deadlines.