Module6 (1) (1)

Project Management

Student’s Name

Institution’s Name

Date

1) List and describe the critical roles of senior/executive management during the life cycle of the project.

a. Coming Up with Strategic Goals

The management has the important role of ensuring that the various activities and processes in the organization follow the set goals (Burke, 2013). Setting strategic goals puts the company in the right direction and enables it to gauge the various activities done in the organization with the goals set in place. It is, therefore, crucial to ensure that the strategic goals drive the company toward the intended direction set by the management and to make sure that everyone in the organization has a plan of what the company requires of them.

b. Project Selection

The management further helps in the choice of projects that are to benefit the company. Selection is crucial in that it helps the organization get projects that will provide various business opportunities, which will benefit the organization in the end. The managers usually focus on the projects that will benefit the company and further direct the project managers to generate plans for feasible projects (Meredith & Mantel, 2011).

c. Come Up with Strategies for Projects

In addition, they ensure that there are strategies whereby the selected projects can work with to ensure that the organization is successful in its project ventures. The strategies developed by the management are usually geared towards preparing the organization in dealing with projects and managing them (Wysocki, 2011). Project managers in such a case have to follow the strategies and thus the organizational design that guides the project management process together with the work of project managers.

d. Monitor Progress of Project

Monitoring project process is another function essential to the management. Them management thus monitors the progress of the projects to ensure that they are working towards meeting the set timelines and the progress further evaluated after every two or three months (. Therefore, the management scrutinizes the project to ensure that everything is carried out according to the plan laid down.

e. Approving Necessary Changes to the Project

The senior management can also change the project while at the same time reviewing the impact of the changes on the project progress before approving them. Therefore, they act as decision makers in many areas that concern the project (Lock, 2013). Therefore, the senior management usually looks at the various changes to be made to the project especially those requested by project managers while examining the changes to ensure that they do not have an adverse impact on the success of the project.

f. Allocation of Resources

The project manager allocated the various resources to the project activities according to their urgency. The resources usually include human, financial resources among others, which are assigned to the different tasks taking place in the project. The allocation is made based on the provision of services and the mission of the organization to ensure quality in their work. Therefore, the management receives the required resources from the project managers and then allocates the resources according to their urgency and the requirement of employees regarding work to be completed.

g. Project Leadership

The senior management provides leadership through coaching, training and mentoring project managers and thus preparing them to be effective people in managing projects and the related activities associated with the projects (Kerzner, 2013). Therefore, they aim to ensure that project managers are trained to increase their capacity and capability of working on projects in an efficient manner.

2) Describe how adopting various types of management structures and initiatives impact project management. Consider the following:

i. Concurrent Engineering

Concurrent engineering involves the integration of the development process associated with the product. Concurrent engineering consists of team values about sharing trust and cooperation whereby the various people through a consensus while further involving multiple pointers in different project life cycle stages reach decision-making. Concurrent engineering, therefore, has various processes that include software, facilities, multidisciplinary teams and various processes (Heagney, 2012). In using concurrent engineering, more people are involved, and solutions are reached at with the majority to ensure that the best possible approach is employed in the execution of projects in place.

ii. Total Quality Management

Total quality management involves a structured and comprehensive approach to management with the aim of enhancing the quality of services and commodities with information gathered from feedback to the company’s services. The quality improvement in the organization is more or less different from various organizations though it has to conform to the ISO 9000 standards. The quality management according to TQM usually focuses on the customer’s view of the product or services. TQM concentrates mostly on various categories, which include act, check, do and plan. The planning stage involves the definition of the problems in the organization (Ika, 2009). The doing stage involves the implementation of the solution and coming up with mechanisms that can measure the efficiency of the solution implemented. Checking involves examining the data before and after carrying out various solutions. The acting stage involves the informing the people of the different variation about the changes that have been made in the company to align it with its goals.

Therefore, if the feedback from eh customers is positive, it has an affirmative impact on the business and, therefore, makes the organizational activities more marketable. Total quality management, therefore, plays a great role in ensuring that the company carries out its mandate as effectively as possible.

iii. Empowerment

Empowering of team members in project management is crucial to ensuring that the people are prepared for the various activities associated with the project. Empowering an employee boosts confidence and courage to make sure that the employees are better placed to carry out their work with more independence while at the same time being accountable for their actions. Empowerment usually creates a flat structure in the organization and brings on board many players who are well skilled in their work and thus can make concrete and efficient decisions towards the work processes and further increase efficiency in the organization (Stevenson & Sum, 2009). Empowerment, therefore, helps more teamwork in project management and enhances the process of decision making giving the project manager more options to deal with other issues that are more urgent while living some of the decision making to other team members.

iv. Self-Directed Work for Teams

Self-directed teams are important to any project. They are team members who have different skills and are combined work towards a particular task with little or no supervision at all. The team has to come up with a working structure and ensure that it can complete the task assigned to at in particular period. The team is usually formed to do more than one task, and therefore, the composition and the way the members coordinate with each other determines how the team will perform. Therefore, the team directs its effort without much involvement of the management in performing various tasks and in ensuring that the what is require of the team is done appropriately and timely.

As is the case with most teams it is important for the team members to work together to ensure that that the team succeeds. In such a group, the various team members usually have to work towards solving the various problems associated with the tasks being done (Andersen & Grude, 2009). The organization often helps the self-directed teams in providing them with guidance and the mission statement to align their activities with the organization. Therefore, self-directed teams in project management are important as they help in ensuring that groups are formed to perform specific functions that are to be directed towards meeting the objectives and goals of the company.

v. Life Cycle Costing

Life cycle costing usually uses economic analysis regarding the various expenses associated with the business that including maintenance, operations and building costs in a particular period (Farr, 2011). Utility costs are thus calculated over time to ensure how the various escalation rates and their relations to the rise of utility costs. It tends to forecast on the future expected costs that are expressed using the dollars values at present while using a discounting rate. Life cycle costing helps in coming up with forecasted costs for the project lifecycle to ensure that the management has an idea of the various additional costs that may be needed for the project and to come up with estimates that will help in planning on whether more resources are needed in the different life cycles of the project.

3) In a matrix organization, people are often assigned full-time to a project. What is the responsibility of the project manager to the assigned resource and the manager the support is “borrowed” from?

The project manager has the responsibility of ensuring that the resources allocated to him are used effectively to meet the goals of the organization and further in finishing the project at hand. The resources needed for projects are usually scarce, and project managers sometimes borrow from other managers who may need the same resources to be used in another project. Project managers have the task of showing leadership in the project especially in directing the workers to do their tasks in time. Finishing on time will enable the manager to spread resources to other areas associated with the project and thus ensure that the people are used effectively to meet the organization’s goals. To the directors, the project manager cooperates with the various managers to make sure that the resources are used efficiently and on time. Project managers are therefore tasked with the mandate of managing the resources they are given effectively to prevent any misuse of the resources while at the same time ensuring that the resources are used accordingly and especially about the various requests made by the project manager other managers in the organization.

4) What should be the role of the project manager in the planning endeavors, including strategic and operational planning, of his or her company?

The project manager has the important role of managing resources by following the various plans laid out. The project manager plays a significant role in planning since he or she brings about the various changes and focusses on how the project can be directed to effective results. Since the project manager is tasked with handling the project and even completing it, he is important in the progression of the project. The project manager thus helps in planning the use of the human and financial resources that is needed for the smooth running of the project. The project manager gives the necessary information that is crucial for the execution of the project to the management and thus provides the management with various strategies that can help in ensuring that the project is carried out efficiently. The project manager has the additional role of managing the different tasks assigned to him and ensuring that they are managed properly for the benefit of the organization. The project manager further deals with the inter-functional and inter-organizational integration in while carrying out the projects.

Therefore, the project manager has to ensure that he or she in strategic planning helps in directing the project especially those working under him in executing the task associated with the project successfully. In strategic planning, the project manager helps in setting objectives and goals and further coming up with strategies that will assist the organization in achieving the set targets. Therefore, the project manager helps achieve the strategic goals by implementing various strategies. The operational plan is another aspect that the project manager has to deal with in ensuring that the day-to-day operations are done efficiently and in helping the project align with achieving the goals of the organization. In operational planning the project manager deals with the acquisition of labor and other resources to ensure that the daily tasks are performed accordingly (Aubry & Hobbs, 2011).

Furthermore, in following operational planning the project manager has to ensure that the tasks and strategies in place are done accordingly. In dealing with the various people and the tasks, they carry out the project manager has to ensure that they are carried out timely. Therefore, the project managers have a significant role to play the planning process in the organization particularly when it involves the project that the project manager is assigned to.

5) Describe how quality can be measured so that quality improvement efforts can be evaluated for effectiveness.

The project manager usually helps in ensuring the various measures of quality that are supposed to grade the project. Therefore, it is important that the relevant quality standards be made according to the project. Quality assurance, therefore, deals with activities that involve activities that are geared towards planning for systematic qualities to ensure that the various projects meet the desired criteria (Young, 2013).

The quality measures in place involve the use of certain indicators to determine whether there are potential problems associated with a particular stage in the project. Quality measures can take particularly when the company looks at the technical perception qualities of the projects. The perception measures of the project will entail the inclusion of the clients and other related parties. According to the Hawthorne effect, quality improves because people are more concentrate on quality. Other things that can help in ensuring that quality is maintained is document both good and bad practices associated with the project. There are various indicators that are used to measure quality, and they include engagement measures like involvement of customers in important projects (Collins, 2011). Other indicators are assessment measures, which include surveys filled by customers’ expectations, from the different stakeholders. All the indicators mentioned are quality indicators and such indicators are global and thus can be used according to the set standards.

The indicators, therefore, help one to know the quality of the project and to ensure that the project goes according to plan and meets the specified goals of the organization. Customers contribute immensely to the measure of quality especially when they provide information regarding the products and services offered by the company. Quality as such is an important aspect of project management and needs the project manager to engage the various indicators to ensure quality is maintained. Such results help the organization to make sure that the different needs of projects are given to provide efficient performance in carrying out the project.

References

Andersen, E. S., & Grude, K. (2009). Goal directed project management: effective techniques and strategies. Kogan Page drafters.

Aubry, M., & Hobbs, B. (2011). A fresh look at the contribution of project management to organizational performance. Project Management Journal, 42(1), 3-16.

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Collins, R. J. (2011). Project management. New York: Nova Science drafters.

Farr, J. V. (2011). Systems life cycle costing: Economic analysis, estimation, and management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Heagney, J. (2012). Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Ika, L. A. (2009). Project success as a topic in project management journals. Project Management Journal, 40(4), 6-19.

Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Lock, D. (2013). Project management. Farnham: Gower.

Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2011). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Stevenson, W. J., & Sum, C. C. (2009). Operations management (Vol. 8). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Wysocki, R. K. (2011). Effective project management: traditional, agile, extreme. John Wiley & Sons.

Young, T. L. (2013). Successful project management (Vol. 52). Kogan Page drafters.