Project Management

 

1. What relationship do you see or believe exists between a firm’s strategic plan and its projects?

 

2. How does organizational strategy impact the management of projects? Provide specific examples.

 

3. Describe the role of a project manager.

 

4. What are the key attributes/skills of a good PM?

 

5. Explain the specific elements of project management. Which ones are most important in an organization that manages projects and why?

 

6. How would you go about managing a project?

 

Select something simple like planning a vacation, doing a remodel to your home, or doing some volunteer work for your church, school, etc to demonstrate the process you would use.

 

Answer 1:

 

Relationship between a Firm’s Strategic Plan and Its Projects: In the present competitive environment, strategic planning and project management both are important parts of the organization in term of accomplishing projects successfully. There is high dependency of these terms on each other for continuous improvement at workplace (Strategic plan Assignment Help). In order to attain the more achievable and realistic results of the projects, it is important for the firms to align their strategies with their projects. In this way, strategic plan works as a base for project to provide different ideas, objectives and plans to start the project (The Need for Strategic Planning for Project Management).

 

Additionally, success of project mainly depends on the execution of the strategic plans due to high involvement of strategic planning to take or develop unique efforts to accomplish the project. The firm focuses on different factors or supportable things that are required to attain the success under the strategic plan. These things are monitor schedules, budget, deliverables of project etc (Project Management and Issues Assignment Help). In addition of this, project results constrain strategic changes due to the relationship with the strategic planning contents. At the same time, outcomes of the project are highly concerned about the strategic plan in the form of highlighting loopholes or weak areas and strong point of the strategic plan (The Need for Strategic Planning for Project Management). So, on the other hand, it can be sated that there are many key points those indicates the relationship between strategic plan of the firm and its project such as:

 

• Strategic plan works as startup for the project
• Strategic plan provides best time and ideas for project closure
• Strategic plan provides budgeting and resource authorization support to the project
• Strategic plan resolve the conflicts and problems of resources and set the priorities of the project
• Project management supports the strategic changes

So, these points indicate to the relationship between strategic plan and project of the firm.

 

Answer 2:

 

Impact of Organizational Strategy on the Management of Project: In the global era of competition, every firm aligns their projects with the organizational strategies to attain a sustainable competitive advantage by completing project successfully. Organizational strategy impacts the management of the projects in positive and negative manner. Organizational strategies impact the management of the project by providing in-depth analysis to develop portfolio of the project (Risk Management Assignment Help).

 

This portfolio of the project is impacted by the organizational strategies in both positive and negative manner. Success or failure of the project is also impacted by the organizational strategies of the firm by allocating role and responsibilities of the project managers. Additionally, organizational strategies also have a great impact on the outcomes of the project by aligning and maintaining interest and expectation of the project members in the project. Through this step, organizational strategies develop a strategic criterion to increase the chances of attaining outcomes according to the expectation.

 

Organizational strategies also impact the culture and environment of the workplace during the project and help to follow equal work policies and practices for all the members. At the same time, by allocating resources and providing other supportive tools, organizational strategies impact on the management of the project. Communication and efficiency during management of the project are also impacted by the organizational strategies of the firm due to involving pattern of communication like two-way or one-way communication (Project Management Communication Plan Assignment Help).

 

For example, Business Improvement Architects in Canada have to follow change management under their project due to their strategic changes. In this, organizational culture was missing in their projects that were integrated by the organizational strategies of the firm like, reporting structure, performance measurement system, project prioritization, etc. in the management of the project for making projects success. It indicates the impact of organizational strategies on managing the projects (Strategic Plan Assignment Help for University Students).

 

Answer 3:

 

Role of a Project Manager: Project Manager is the key person to achieve the goals and objectives of a project on time.  The project Manager is responsible for the monitoring and management of all planned activities and the project. The roles and responsibilities of a project manager should match needs of the team, needs of tasks and individual needs.  His main role is to integrate and utilize all the resources such as financial, human, operational, etc. in an optimum way. The main responsibilities of a project manager are as follow:

 

• Mobilization of various resources in the best interest of the project and organization.
• Proper coordination in the efforts of project team members and reporting to the top management.
• Monitoring and measuring performance of project team members.
• Project scheduling and achieving the scheduled performance to complete the project without overruns.
• Estimating probable problems and making contingency plans.
• Proper administration of project office.
• Risk management and environmental control.
• Establishing effective communication system in the project organization.

The project manager organizes the weekly and monthly meetings with the project team members to oversee that all the tasks are scheduled on time for completion. These meetings will allow the project manager to know about the uncompleted tasks and other problems that may arise in organizing the project (Role of Manager in Organization Assignment Help).

 

A project manager has the responsibility to develop an effective control system in the project, in order to control the schedules of time and cost, also to achieve the required quality and reduce the risks connected with the project. A project manager develops an effective reporting system to give information on all vital aspects in a structured manner at daily, weekly, monthly frequency which is must for the success of the project (Project Leadership Assignment Help).

 

Answer 4:

 

Key Attributes and Skills of a Good Project Manager: A project manager needs both the technical competence to understand and meet the project goals and the managerial skills to complete the project with diverse group team members. A good project manager should have following skills and attributes:

 

• Good Analyst: A project manager should have skills to analyze the impact of organizational and environmental changes on the project. It is necessary for the manager to have skills to understand the changing environment and manage project as per these changes. This impact is also known as ripple effect. Sometimes this effect leads project into negative direction.
• Good Communication and leadership skills: A project manager should have good skills to communicate the information with team members on time.  Effective and successful communication is essential to manage team work. Effective leadership skills are also essential to manage teams and motivate the team members to work with zeal and enthusiasm.
• Budgeting and Resource Allocation: A project manager should have skills of budgeting and resource allocation to control and monitor the cost of operations. This skill is also necessary to increase profit and utilize all resources in a well efficient manner.

Additionally, a project manager should have the skills of integrity, honesty, empathy, calmness, intelligence, and competency. The manager should have problem-solving skills to leads the project towards success and accomplish the goals on time. He should be proactive to manage the emergency situation and control the risk. The manager should be punctual and optimistic (Project Evaluation Plan Assignment). He should have ability to delegate authority to the right person and develop an effective team by resolving conflicts.

 

Answer 5:

 

Specific Element of Project Management: Project management has become a key for organizations to achieve long-term customer satisfaction, improve quality, and increase profits and employee morale. In project management, a project can be viewed as a pyramid with five basic interrelated elements that must be kept in balance and manage effectively for the success of project. The key elements of project management include identification of project, project’s resources, time management, cost management, quality management, risk management, and scope of project (Project Management Practices Assignment Help).

 

A project manager must effectively manage all these elements that help to accomplish objectives of the project. Identification of right project for an organization is the first step of project management that plays an important role in the success of business. At the same time, project’s resources and cost of these resources are key elements of a project, because improper management of these elements can affect progress of project. Similarly, the quality management and time management are also important aspects for a project manager to successfully execute all the activities within set time period with quality. In project management, scope of the project is one of the most important elements for an organization that helps to effectively manage projects through scope statements.

 

It is because; scope of a particular project for an organization in future in term of improving efficiency and effectiveness, and increase its business. At the same time, cost of the project can also important for an organization due to lack of financial resources, higher cost of activities, and ineffectively utilizes resources.

 

Answer 6:

 

Managing a Project: In project management, a project manager will manage a project through a clearly defined process that includes many steps. The project management steps help to effectively manage any project that includes defines scope statement; determine available resources, assemble project team, list out all activities or tasks, develop a preliminary plan, monitor progress of team members, and develop an effective communication network (Retail Management Assignment Help). For instance, all these project management steps can use to effectively plan and manage a project like planning for vacation. A project management process to manage a vacation project is as follows:

 

• Define scope: First of all define the scope of vacation project that includes objectives, requirements, and cost estimation of activities. The project objectives include where to go to spend vacation and selection of place for vacation.
• Determine available resources: In order to successfully plan and manage vacation project, the determination and arrangement of resources will require for completion of project.
• List out activities: List out all the activities and tasks of vacation project that includes informing all members about vacation plan, selection of place for vacation, arrangement of capital, make travel arrangements, booking of hotels for stay etc.
• Develop a preliminary plan: Develop a preliminary plan that assembles all the activities, steps or tasks of vacation project. This plan will also useful to define which resources are used to complete steps. Project manager will develop an effective communication with all members to communicate relevant information about the vacation plan and its day to day activities. So, all these steps will be useful to effectively plan and manage vacation project.