Project Management1

Project Management

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Project management is basically the application of methods, processes, skills, knowledge as well as the experiences in order to achieve the objectives of a project. A particular project can be said to be successful once it has been found to achieve all the objectives that it has set that are according to its acceptance criteria as well as the agreed budget and timescale. For a project to be successful, it must adhere to the time set, the cost, the scope of the project and lastly the quality of the project (Kerzner, 2013).

Numerous surveys have in most cases given suggestions of several problems which projects, particularly small projects, may face mostly on a daily basis. This can either be internally or externally. For this case, we are going to take a closer look at one internal problem that have been of great concern to many projects. This has caused a lot of projects to fail completely and sometimes even get out of the business market.

This problem is the lack of a clear plan which translates to lack of execution of the project (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996). When most small businesses start, they fail to plan on what they are going to do and what challenges they are prone to face as well as how best they are going to solve them. The projects in most cases ignore this because they feel their projects are so small that they do not need planning that bigger projects undergo. They feel they can handle anything that comes their way as the project is “small” as they term it. Thus, most of these small projects are thus not able to plan and they don’t know how to do it. This thus translates to a problem of wastage of cash. The cash is in most cases diverted to undertake other things that were not previously planned for. This can lead for the project to fail as they may lack cash when needed urgently in a business.

Equally important, the lack of planning can thus lead to lack of revising of the plan when the economic conditions are not favorable. Most small businesses do not plan but when they do, they make a one-time plan. When the business conditions or the economic conditions are not favorable, the project may fail to survive especially when recession occurs.

Lack of planning may lead to lack of execution of a project (Kerzner, 2013). This is the biggest problem that arises from lack of planning. When someone starts a business without planning, execution of some things in the line of the project may at most times fail terribly. In most cases, we may find that the strategies that are developed will never be executed at any point in the project. This is because the lack of planning in most times makes the project manager not sure of when to execute a strategy. They are not aware of the exact time to make these executions.

Secondly, lack of planning may lead to failure to make improvements of the project where needed (Kerzner, 2013). The project will thus remain stagnant for years. Most projects undergo this. We may find that this is not a problem to small businesses only. The larger businesses as well undergo this. At times the very large well-known stores have remained stagnant for more than ten years. No business improvements have been made on their existing stores and no expansions have been made whatsoever. This may at most cases be because the project managers spend very little time to plan the execution of the strategies that they have laid (Lipovetsky, Tishler, Dvir & Shenhar, 1997). We may find, for example, that they spend less than one hour per month to discuss these strategies.

According to Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996, employees at most times may not be aware of the set strategies for the business. All they do is undertake the business blindly without any focus on what is to be achieved. This can at times be blamed on them as well as the employers. The employers at times may not communicate well the strategies that they plan to achieve and thus the employees may not be aware of the same. On the other hand, the employees may be aware of this but they choose to ignore. This is because they become selfish on their own needs. As long as they get their monthly salaries, the rest is none of their business. Communication with their employees is very crucial as it will ensure everything that may have been planned is executed. Sensitization of the same is also important as they need to know what impact they have in the project.

Finally, these projects may lack meaningful performance measurement which may not be put in place. They may also fail to carry out the regular performance analysis. This may lead to the project not knowing where they are heading. This is evident where we may find most project managers being asked how much profit they make and they are not aware. This shows that they are not keeping track of the progress of the project.

These are problems that face many projects in the real world today. Thus, to solve this issues, a project however small should at all times ensure that they carry out project planning before the project commences. This ensures that everything is set in place. The project will be able to set clear the amount of finances that have been set in and thus take account of any of the profits that have been made. Alternatives should also be set so as to ensure that in case of a recession or any economic situation, the project will find a way through it. The business will also be able to make any improvements that will be necessary as the project will be monitored in its progress (Lipovetsky et al 1997).

The following are the core components that are required for project management so as to ensure its success.

It is important to define the necessity of the project

There is need to capture the requirements of the project, making specifications of the deliverables quality, estimating the timescales and resources

Making a justification of the investment by preparing a business case (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996).

Securing corporate funding and agreement

Development and implementation of a management plan for the business

Taking part in the motivation and leading of the management team

Managing the issues, risks and any changes that may occur in the project

Monitoring the progress of the project against the set plans

Managing the budget of the project

Maintaining constant communication with the project organization as well as the stakeholders

Closing the project when appropriate and in a controlled fashion (Kerzner, 2013).

The above mentioned components if put in place however large or small a business is, can be of great benefit in ensuring that the project executes all its objectives successfully. The investment in an effective project management will ensure that there are several numbers of benefits that’s are realized to the people involved as well as the host organizations who are involved in delivering the project. This will ensure the increased possibility in achieving the results that are desired. It will also ensure the best value of use as well as efficient used of the allocated resources. Finally, this will also ensure that the needs of the stakeholders is satisfied.

References

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

Lipovetsky, S., Tishler, A. Dvir, D., Shenhar, A. (1997). The relative importance of project success dimensions. R&D Management, 27(2), 97-106.

Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (1996). The role of project management in achieving project success. International journal of journal management, 14(2), 81-87.