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CONCEPTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT:THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, Managerial Skills

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES:Systems, Programs, and Projects >>
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Project Management ­MGMT627
VU
LESSON 03
CONCEPTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Broad Contents
·
Project Management
·
Efficiency and effectiveness in projects
·
The project management system
·
Project manager
3.1
What is Project Management?
Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that
these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, time,
and cost constraints. It is important to note here that a project is a temporary and one-time
endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service that brings about beneficial change or
added value. This property of being a temporary and one-time undertaking contrasts with
processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to
create the same product or service over and over again. The management of these two systems
is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring the
development of project management.
Thus, in this regard, the first challenge of project management is ensuring that a project is
delivered within the defined constraints. The second, more ambitious, challenge is the
optimized allocation and integration of the inputs needed to meet those pre­defined objectives.
The project, therefore, is a carefully selected set of activities chosen to use resources (money,
people, materials, energy, space, provisions, communication, quality, risks, etc.) in order to
meet the objectives established by the organization.
Management in any project is concerned with productivity. This refers to efficiency and
effectiveness. These can be explained as follows:
Efficiency: In order to be efficient, management is concerned with minimizing resource costs.
Efficiency is "doing things right".
Effectiveness: In order to be effective, management is concerned with getting activities
completed. Effectiveness is "doing right things".
Thus, efficiency is concerned with means and effectiveness with ends. They are interrelated. It
is easier to be effective if one ignores efficiency. For example, some organizations are
reasonably effective, but are extremely inefficient. They get their jobs done, but at a very high
cost.
For the management of any project, it is important not only to get the activities completed
(effectiveness), but also to do so as efficiently as possible. Can organizations be efficient and
yet not effective? Yes, by doing wrong things well.
The following figure (figure 3.1) shows management seeking efficiency and effectiveness.
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Project Management ­MGMT627
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Figure 3.1: Efficiency and Effectiveness
3.2
THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Figure 3.2: Project Management System
Because of the interrelatedness of these driving forces, some people contend that the only true
driving force is survival. This is illustrated in Figure 3.3 below. When the company recognizes
that survival of the firm is at stake, the implementation of project management becomes easier.
The speed by which companies reach some degree of maturity in project management is most
often based upon how important they perceive the driving forces to be.
Figure 3.3: Components of survival
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Project Management ­MGMT627
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3.3
Who is a Project Manager?
A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. They have the
responsibility of the planning and execution of any project. A project manager's central duty is
to ensure the success of a project by minimizing risk throughout the lifetime of the project. This
is done through a variety of methods, both formal and informal. A project manager usually has
to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions, and resolve interpersonal conflicts, as
well as use more systematic management skills.
In whatever field, a successful project manager must be able to envisage the entire project from
start to finish and should have the ability to ensure that this vision is realized.
3.3.1
Types of Project Managers:
Project managers cannot perform their tasks well unless they have understanding of and are
responsive to many elements of the external environment, including; economic, technological
social, political and ethical factors that effect their areas of operations.The various types of
project managers are follows:
Line managers are responsible for activities making direct contributions to production of
organization's basic goods or services.
Staff managers use special technical expertise to advise and support the efforts of line workers.
Functional managers are responsible for only one area of activity, i.e. finance, marketing,
production, personnel, accounting, or sales.
General Managers are responsible for complex organizational unit that include many areas of
functional activity.
An administrator is someone who administers work in any kind of organization.
3.3.2
Activities of Project Managers:
Following are the four major activities that are undertaken by the project managers:
1. Traditional management: This includes decision making, planning, and
controlling
2. Communication: This refers to exchanging routine information and processing
paperwork.
3. Human Resource Management (HRM): It involves motivating, disciplining,
managing conflict, staffing, and training.
4. Networking: It includes socializing, and interacting with outsiders.
An average manager spends:
·  32% of time in traditional management activities
·  29% in communicating
·  20% in HRM activities
·  19% in networking
Today's business environment is moving away from the conventional practices and with this;
the role of the Project Managers is also witnessing rapid changes.
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Project Management ­MGMT627
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3.3.3 Success for Project Managers:
There are three general preconditions for achieving lasting success as Project Manager. These
include:
·
Ability (A)
·
Motivation to manage (M)
·
Opportunity (O)
Together, they constitute the basic formula for managerial success (S):
S=AxMxO
3.3.4
Ten Facts of Project Managerial Life:
i)
Project Managers work long hours. Number of hours worked tends to increase
as one climbs the managerial ladder.
ii)
Project Managers are busy. Typical manager's day is made up of hundreds of
brief incidents or episodes. Activity rates tend to decrease as rank increases.
iii)
Project Manager's work is fragmented. Given managers high activity level,
they have little time to devote to any single activity. Interruptions and
discontinuity are the rule.
iv)
Project Manager's job is varied. They engage in variety of activities
(paperwork, phone calls, scheduled and unscheduled meetings, and inspection
tours/visits). They interact with variety of people, and deal with variety of
content areas.
v)
Project Managers are "homebodies". They spend most of their time pursuing
activities within their own organizations. As managerial rank increases, they
spend proportionately more time outside their work areas and organizations.
vi)
Project Manager's work is primarily oral. At all levels, they spend most of the
time communicating verbally by personal contacts/ telephone etc.
vii)
Project Managers use a lot of contacts. Consistent with their high level of
verbal communication, managers continually exchange information with
superiors, peers, subordinates, and outsiders on ongoing basis.
viii)
Project Managers are not reflective planners. Typical manager is too busy to
find uninterrupted blocks of time for reflective planning.
ix)
Information is the basic ingredient of Project Manager's work. Managers spend
most of their time obtaining, interpreting, and giving information.
x)
Project Managers do not know how they spend their time. Managers
consistently overestimate the time they spend on production, reading and
writing, phone calls, thinking, and calculating and consistently underestimate
time spent on meetings as well as on informal discussions.
3.3.5
Managerial Skills:
A skill is an ability or proficiency in performing a particular task. Skills reflect the
ability to translate actions into results. They are of the following types:
·
Technical Skill is the knowledge of and proficiency in activities involving
methods, processes, and procedures.
·
Human Skill is the ability to work with people; cooperative effort; it is teamwork;
feel secure and free to express their opinions.
·
Conceptual Skill is the ability to see "big picture" in order to recognize significant
elements in a situation, and to understand relationships among elements.
·
Design Skill is the ability to solve problems in ways that will benefit enterprise.
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3.4
Tomorrow's Management Today
·
Average company will be smaller, employing fewer people.
·
Traditional organizational structures will become more team-based and without boundaries.
·
Employees will be empowered to make decisions.
·
Flatter organizations will be the norm.
·
Work will be organized around teams and processes.
·
Bases of power will change.
·
Knowledge-based organizations will exist.
·
Stress will be on vision and values.
·
Managers will be change agents.
·
Leadership will be more important.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT:Broad Contents, Functions of Management
  2. CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND NATURE OF PROJECTS:Why Projects are initiated?, Project Participants
  3. CONCEPTS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT:THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, Managerial Skills
  4. PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES:Systems, Programs, and Projects
  5. PROJECT LIFE CYCLES:Conceptual Phase, Implementation Phase, Engineering Project
  6. THE PROJECT MANAGER:Team Building Skills, Conflict Resolution Skills, Organizing
  7. THE PROJECT MANAGER (CONTD.):Project Champions, Project Authority Breakdown
  8. PROJECT CONCEPTION AND PROJECT FEASIBILITY:Feasibility Analysis
  9. PROJECT FEASIBILITY (CONTD.):Scope of Feasibility Analysis, Project Impacts
  10. PROJECT FEASIBILITY (CONTD.):Operations and Production, Sales and Marketing
  11. PROJECT SELECTION:Modeling, The Operating Necessity, The Competitive Necessity
  12. PROJECT SELECTION (CONTD.):Payback Period, Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
  13. PROJECT PROPOSAL:Preparation for Future Proposal, Proposal Effort
  14. PROJECT PROPOSAL (CONTD.):Background on the Opportunity, Costs, Resources Required
  15. PROJECT PLANNING:Planning of Execution, Operations, Installation and Use
  16. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):Outside Clients, Quality Control Planning
  17. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):Elements of a Project Plan, Potential Problems
  18. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):Sorting Out Project, Project Mission, Categories of Planning
  19. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):Identifying Strategic Project Variables, Competitive Resources
  20. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):Responsibilities of Key Players, Line manager will define
  21. PROJECT PLANNING (CONTD.):The Statement of Work (Sow)
  22. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE:Characteristics of Work Package
  23. WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE:Why Do Plans Fail?
  24. SCHEDULES AND CHARTS:Master Production Scheduling, Program Plan
  25. TOTAL PROJECT PLANNING:Management Control, Project Fast-Tracking
  26. PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT:Why is Scope Important?, Scope Management Plan
  27. PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT:Project Scope Definition, Scope Change Control
  28. NETWORK SCHEDULING TECHNIQUES:Historical Evolution of Networks, Dummy Activities
  29. NETWORK SCHEDULING TECHNIQUES:Slack Time Calculation, Network Re-planning
  30. NETWORK SCHEDULING TECHNIQUES:Total PERT/CPM Planning, PERT/CPM Problem Areas
  31. PRICING AND ESTIMATION:GLOBAL PRICING STRATEGIES, TYPES OF ESTIMATES
  32. PRICING AND ESTIMATION (CONTD.):LABOR DISTRIBUTIONS, OVERHEAD RATES
  33. PRICING AND ESTIMATION (CONTD.):MATERIALS/SUPPORT COSTS, PRICING OUT THE WORK
  34. QUALITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT:Value-Based Perspective, Customer-Driven Quality
  35. QUALITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT (CONTD.):Total Quality Management
  36. PRINCIPLES OF TOTAL QUALITY:EMPOWERMENT, COST OF QUALITY
  37. CUSTOMER FOCUSED PROJECT MANAGEMENT:Threshold Attributes
  38. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TOOLS:Data Tables, Identify the problem, Random method
  39. PROJECT EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY:Messages of Productivity, Productivity Improvement
  40. COST MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL IN PROJECTS:Project benefits, Understanding Control
  41. COST MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL IN PROJECTS:Variance, Depreciation
  42. PROJECT MANAGEMENT THROUGH LEADERSHIP:The Tasks of Leadership, The Job of a Leader
  43. COMMUNICATION IN THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT:Cost of Correspondence, CHANNEL
  44. PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT:Components of Risk, Categories of Risk, Risk Planning
  45. PROJECT PROCUREMENT, CONTRACT MANAGEMENT, AND ETHICS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT:Procurement Cycles