Project Management Review - Essay Example

? Project Management Review One has to take three steps to confirm that the ‘outsourcer’ thoroughly understands one’srequirements. For this, firstly the individual must document his requirements after he has conveyed his message verbally. The main purpose of written communication is that the majority of people easily understand written expressions rather than spoken ones since they get more time to process the message contained in it. Secondly, the individual should insist the outsourcers to re-document the placed requirements in their own words. If outsourcers fail to re-document the message according to the individual requirements, it means that outsourcers did not get the content of the actual message. It is recommendable for the individual not to settle a response such as “Yes, I got the message’. Finally, the individual has to request outsourcers to create a prototype for the order placed. This prototype would be very helpful for the individual to ensure that outsourcers have absolutely understood his wants and needs. In order to make the communication between individual and outsourcers better, it is advisable to make use of pictures as they are more powerful tools for communication. In this way, everybody working on a placed order can thoroughly understand how the final product looks like. By undergoing these phases, an individual may ensure that outsourcers clearly understand his requirements. 2. It seems that a project manager’s trust is the key to exercising influence in an organization. A project manager deals with each and every aspect of a particular project, from creating a methodology for specific task completion to formulating a quick plan changes in response to unforeseen contingencies. While considering time-sensitive as well as cost consuming nature of modern business projects, the project manager’s trust is very vital to an organization’s financial success. It is obvious that project managers often preside over business projects that may have very definite deadlines. Likewise, a project manager’s trust is highly essential to ensure employee morale and greater productivity, which in turn would assist organizations to meet project goals. The project Management Institute suggests that every project team must “have sufficient checks and balances in place to insure against untrustworthy behaviors” either by project team members or by other concerned parties (Bourne, 2010). Therefore, a project manager’s trust is vital to make sure better accountability and thereby a positive reputation for the organization. A project manager’s stature also plays a significant role in contributing to organizational flexibility. Since the modern business environment is highly unpredictable, proposed project structure may need to be changed in times of contingencies. A project manager cannot delegate such last-minute changes if he has not earned the trust of his teams. 3. “Principled negotiation is an interest-based approach to negotiation that focuses primarily on conflict management and conflict resolution” (Principled negotiation). This concept mainly uses an integrative approach with intent to explore a mutually shared outcome. The concept of principled negotiations was firstly introduced in the book “Getting to Yes” which was published in 1981 by Roger Fisher and William Ury. The principled negotiation is based upon four key points which are illustrated below. 1. Separate people from the problem 2. Focus on interests, not positions 3. Invent options for mutual gain 4. Insist on objective criteria The first key point reflects the fact that relationship issues must be separated from substantive issues. According to Fisher, Ury, and Patton (1991, p. 21), popular problems mainly involve issues related to perception, emotion, and communication. Negotiating on interests does not indicate that it must be about things which people express as a want or need. Often, people tend to achieve extreme positions which are capable of confronting with their opponents’ positions. Hence, negotiations must completely focus on things that people really want and need. In other words, assigned options must be mutually exclusive. Finally, insistence on objective criteria would provide more assistance to both parties in determining what is ‘fair’ and what may hurt the interest of either party. 4. In my opinion, managing and leading a project may not be necessarily the same thing. Although concepts of management and leadership contain some common elements, they are the two sides of a coin. Simply, it can be stated that leaders are the heart of a business while managers are the brain of a venture. Leadership strategies on a project mainly aim to inspire a group of people with intent to integrate them for the particular project. In contrast, project management policies establish systems, rules and working procedures, and also implement incentive programs. While proceeding with a project, leaders vehemently try to motivate, congratulate, and work with subordinates so as to keep them bonded and thereby to complete the task successfully. Moreover, project leading is associated with setting directions, communication of the proposed directions to people, and keeping individuals psyched. On the other hand, project management gives greater focus on business but not the people. While managing a project, people are considered as an important element of getting the job done. 5. Project partnering is an effective management tool that enables project teams to improve working relationships among customers, contractors, designers, and suppliers. This concept plays a notable role in managing projects. If a project manager negotiates directly with contractors or construction professionals, it can be a prolific strategy to avoid unnecessary conflicts, and to ensure on-time project delivery by improving teamwork. The project partnering policy may also aid project teams to establish non-contract ground rules for ethical and responsible practices, and to introduce ranges of conflict solving methods. Moreover, the project partnering may provide synergies of integrated operations. In this modern era, project partnering is established as an effective non-adversarial and a performance enhancing approach to deal with global market operations. 6. I strongly agree with the statement. It is obvious that an effective team building is necessary for a project work since this process plays a great role in completing the task timely and successfully. An effectual team building process also minimizes the chances of increased employee conflicts and ensures smooth project flow. However, team building process is only a contributing factor to successful project completion. In contrast, planning is the essence of a project since this element can have a great influence on project efficacy. Similarly, it has been observed that many projects became unsuccessful or ineffective due to technical issues. Planning and technical challenges often threaten core intentions of the developing project. Generally, project planning comprises of different factors such as project goals, project deliverables, project schedule, and supporting plans. A project becomes a comprehensive failure when it fails to identify the stakeholders. Often, project teams struggle to identify stakeholders especially, those impacted indirectly. Sometimes they miss certain project goals which are necessary in meeting specific tasks. Such pitfalls may raise great threats to a project’s functionality. Determination of project deliverables is another potential threat to project planning as this factor would affect project accuracy. Another major issue related to project planning is time estimation and cost calculation. If a project team fails to deliver the project within the specified time and cost, it would adversely affect firm’s reputation. In short, project planning process includes a series of risk elements that are potential to impede project advancement. In addition, there are a number of technical challenges for a budding project to confront with. For instance, sometimes changes in governmental policies may adversely affect the project development process. Government policy changes may often force the project managers to completely restructure the planned project design; this condition would increase project development costs if the framed design is not flexible. Similarly, global financial market fluctuations threaten project success as this condition may result in huge economic losses. However, planning and technical challenges associated with project development can be reduced to some extent if the management team is efficient and flexible. In short, the project development team must really concentrate on planning and technical challenges rather than team building process. References Bourne, L. (April 2010). Voices on project management: The value of trust. PMI: Project Management Institute, Inc. Retrieved from http://blogs.pmi.org/blog/voices_on_project_management/2010/04/the-value-of-trust.html Fisher, R., Ury, W & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Principled negotiation. (n.d). The Negotiation Experts. Retrieved from http://www.negotiations.com/definition/principled-negotiation/ Read More