The Benefits of Project Management - Term Paper Example

Project Management First Affiliation Project management is a sequential process, which involves setting of goals, plans on how to attain the goals and the actions put in place to ensure the achievement of the goals. Project management carries with it so many methodologies. Many organizations and firms depend on projects for the purposes of translating strategies into formidable actions and set targets into realities. Organizations have had a rough time in trying to achieve and realize their objectives, because of increase in facilities such as technology, cultural differences, outsourced workgroups, complexity of the world’s high stake, demands by customers and increments in the volumes of market among other factors. An ineffective project planning can lead to a lot of risk management since, the processes such as monitoring and coordination lacks much seriousness. Therefore, importance of project management in organizations is a vital factor in the realization of the firm’s objectives and targets. A good project management leads to the business services of an organization gaining a lot of advantage, which appears through good attainment of goals, utilization of optimal resources and the making of informed business decisions. Another importance is that, a competitive advantage takes toll through an energized workforce through the execution and collaboration of a business culture, which, ensures the customers are satisfied fully. A well planned and a systematic project management plan can create a source of the organization’s tangible profits. Another importance is that, top management is able to attain exact and accurate timely data for the purposes of making informed decisions in business related matters. The project management cycle undergoes a five-step approach; they are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring/control and closure. Initiation is a process involving the giving of an overview of how the project looks like, and the strategy implemented in the organizations plan. This is done to achieve the desired results and in addition, it is where a project manager is appointed to guide the rest of project members due to his or her experience and skills. Planning is the second step, which includes risk assessment alongside defining the system used in order complete the plan. Execution and control are the third and fourth step respectively, which involves planning a solution used for the implementation of solving problems noted in the requirements of a project. Closure, which is the fifth and last step, involves a manager ensuring the little things in a project receive a proper conclusion, when the formal project review is written. The benefits attained from a good project management includes, a delivery service that is better and efficient since, it provides a “roadmap” that can be easily followed for the purposes of project completion. The other benefit is, customer satisfaction is improved, increased and enhanced such that, when a project is completed in good time a customer can be happy and recommend you for more work. The third benefit is that, service delivery is made effective and enhanced. The improvement of growth and development of a team is another benefit since, when a project yields positive results, a team commands much respect and inspires the team to work harder. A greater competitive and standing edge is another benefit when a good project is implemented. The other benefits will include better flexibility, increase in quality and quantity and increased risk assessment. As mentioned earlier, planning is the second phase for any project management cycle to be successful. It includes a breakdown and assignment that should be detailed of the task in your project from the time it commences to the time it ends. It involves taking risks of the assessment and being able to define the steps needed for the successful of a task completion. Research is an important factor in planning because it gives a chance of choosing opportunities that will lead to the establishment of a successful plan. It gives an edge in ensuring a plan is effective and executable at this phase. Project organization is a way in which the delivery of projects is done and it must ensure it is successful on its part to deliver and ensure the budget specification is accurate. The importance of leadership comes in, when top management and senior leaders offer credible and authoritative guidelines in the project organization. The other importance of leadership includes identifying the biggest obstacles in the road of a successful project organization. The importance of a sponsor comes with them participating actively in the project since; their presence builds and maintains a change in the momentum of the project organization. In addition, by communication with the employees directly, they hear out their grievances and work on what to change. Project team building, is a process of job design in which members of a project are seen as people who dwell on interdependent teams rather than the work of individuals. A Project team building process pursues a variety of practices, which involves s bonding exercise that is simple to situations termed complex. Project Team building has played an important role in business related activities. The techniques of team are quite a number some include, good communication, which is a vital factor in team building. Communication is an integral basis in project team building, because without effective communication the process can hit a snag. Therefore, it is there important for the members of a project to communicate ideas that can help achieve a successful project. Motivation is another factor since; the boosting of employee’s morale at work place will ensure you get the best out of an employee. Team building is an appropriate platform to help boost and motivate the employees. Commitment is another factor, which ensures the goals and objectives of project offer a clear sense of direction. It is the foundation based in re-energizing the members of a team. When employees commit in a team building process it will turn out to be a successful venture. Cooperation is also a factor because the coming together of group members in a project ensures a smooth transition in undertaking the activities of teamwork. It will ensure that there is accuracy, creativity, timeliness, spirit and follow-through. Work Breakdown Structure is a toll in project management that breaks down the project in pieces considered smaller and easy to manage, which will further breakdown the output into smaller pieces referred to as work packages. The first step involves breaking the project to a lower level and according to the purpose. The purpose of breakdown is to accurately help in defining the scope of the entire project. The level of structures at this stage will break the project concepts to a more specific and sects that more measurable. This will allow for estimates of cost and time to be determined through smaller tasks. The other factor is through process, which ensures steps such as the project scope statement, project scope management plan, organizational process assets among other things should be followed in the due process. It is the stage where, the input tools and will be used in creating output goals such as Work Breakdown Structure, The WBS Dictionary, Scope Baseline and Requested changes among other things in this stage. It is the step that all stakeholders and team members should be involved together under one common room The last stage is the Pitfalls in creating the work packages. Some of the things to be included include the level of work package detail. This should be factors such as working on specific and packages with important details, but you must be careful not to get into too much detail since, a manager can mismanage the project leading to is failure. Other factors at this stage will include factors such as, the Updates Require Change Control, Plan and schedule and the Organizational Hierarchy. Project management software is an essential tool in bringing benefits to an organization. It performs functions such as, creating report logs, changing the order of management, purchasing of order management, field administration and punch list tracking among many other activities. However, the three main benefits delivered by project management softwares include, document control, process standardization and cost control. Document control is the use of spreadsheets and word processing programs to manage project documentation. A project management software does not only offer one source for the entire project documents, but it also offers a method that is systematic in documenting, tracking and keeping up with vital issues. Project standardization is done by project management software, which offers a method in the managing of jobs. It helps in streamlining each phase in the execution of a project by making it smooth for the new employees to adapt to the system. It also allows the staff to project a move from one job to another. The forms of standardization in project management also offer consistency in all documents that helps is in presenting a company’s professional behaviour. In cost control, project management software comes up with real-time cost data, which assists an organization in making profitable decisions on tasks undertaken. It makes available the budget status and change orders. It is responsible for alerting the organization on cost overruns through an early warning system, which will allow any alteration to be undertaken. References Larson, E. (2013). Project Management: The Managerial Process, 5th Edition (5th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill Primis Custom Publishing. Needle, S. (n.d.). Three Big Benefits of Construction Project Management Software. Project Smart: Project Management Templates Articles and Events. Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/three-big-benefits-of-construction-project- management-software.html Strategies, i. f., focus, y. w., goals, r. d., time, a. s., & perimeters c. (n.d.) The Top 10 Benefits of Project Management Project Management Strategies, How-To Articles, Reviews of Project Planning Tools & More at BrightHubPM.com . Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/2350-the-top-ten-benefits-of-project- management Read More