Principal Areas to be Considered by a Project Manager when Implementing a Project in the Digital Age - Admission/Application Essay Example

Principal Areas to be Considered by a Project Manager when Implementing a Project in the Digital Age Introduction Project management in the digitalage is a much more dynamic process than in the old age. Currently, technological developments have changed a lot of processes in project management. The modern project manager has access not only to improved new processes of working but also to human resource that are more educated and skilled in the application of new technologies and processes. Developments in information technology have played a major role in greatly improving many aspects of modern projects including planning, communication, risk management, coordination, and others (Cleland and Ireland, 2007). There are numerous principal areas throughout a project cycle that a project manager is expected not only to consider but also to be proficient in if such a manager aims to reach desirable project outcomes. This paper will examine three of the key areas of project management that play a central role in project success; these include team formation and management, project planning, and communication and coordination. A project manager is expected to be able to form and manage a team that can deliver project outcomes effectively; this is because the success of a project largely depends on its human resource. Similarly the project manager should be able to create proper plans for the various project aspects so that their implementation can be successful. Finally, it is the duty of the project manager to ensure that communication within the project team and with its external environment is effective. This also includes the coordination between the various internal and external players implementing the project. After the introduction, the paper presents the three principal areas of modern project management starting with team management, project planning, and then communications and coordination. The paper then concludes with a brief summary of the key points of importance in the discussion. Team Management According to Lientz and Rea (2002), team management is one of the vital aspects that determine the success or failure of a project. It is the role of a project manager not only to transform the group of individuals charged with implementation of a project into a team but also to manage the team in a manner that should bring the best out of it in terms of quality outcomes for the project (Highsmith, 2004). Team formation and management can be one of the most challenging aspects of project management but the project manager is expected to have sufficient leadership skills to accomplish it if a project is expected to reach its targets. Every project has a team; this team generally conforms to what is known as the team life cycle which entails five major stages. The first stage in the team life cycle is known as forming, this is followed by storming, norming, performing, and then adjourning when the life of the project is finally over (Gardiner, 2005). It is the duty of the project manager to come up with the right project team and ensure that it goes through all these stages so as to mature into an effective and efficient project team. Each of the team building stages is very critical and has an implication towards the survival and performance of the team. The steps are discussed briefly below; Team Forming Here the project manager identifies the right personnel for the project team. It is important for the manger to get the right individuals for the group in terms of personality, experience, work ethic and skills that are specific to the project being undertaken. This process will normally involve interviews to identify the right candidates. Some of the candidates may have the right qualification but lack some specific skills or aspects that are critical for the project, this would mean that they can be hired and trained in the skills they require. For digital age projects, it is essential that project team members hired have skills and experience of applying technology, particularly information technology, in their work. The implication is that the members should be able to effectively operate in virtual team environment when required to do so and should be able to effectively utilize modern project management technology for aspects such as planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. For example it is essential for them to have project management software skills (Highsmith, 2004). Team Storming Storming is the stage during which the group of individuals selected to work in the project go through a lot of tension and conflicts as they get to know and understand each other (Highsmith, 2004). This stage is characterized by conflicts and formation of alliances within the group as members make friends and differ with each other over various issues. The project manger is expected to use leadership skills to guide the group though this stage without necessarily trying to suppress it. This is because this is a very important stage that will help come out with a cohesive team where members understand and respect each other. A new age project team is expected to have people of all ideology and nature; this should be encouraged along with issues of gender equity, racial tolerance, and sexual orientation tolerance. At this stage the project manager is expected to lay out the team mission, ethics, and rules of engagement which will outline what is expected of members in terms of all the important aspects of interpersonal relation. This is also the stage when the project manager is supposed to let members air their views, grievances, and expectations (Gardiner, 2005) Team Norming Norming is a much simple stage than forming which is characterized by calm and understanding within the group. At this stage the ‘group’ of project members has matured into a team that can work together effectively. The project manager is then expected to channel the focus of the team into project objectives, targets, and expectations (Cadle and Yeates, 2007). Performing This is the third stage of team management. Here, an effective team is expected to perform and meet project objectives with minimum supervision and with the efficiency of a team. Conflicts should be minimal and when they arise their resolution is supposed to be swift and conclusive. In a digital age project, the manager should be able to engage with his team in digital communications so as to monitor and evaluate their performance more effectively. For example, a team site and social network can be established through internal computer networks where members can update progress, share ideas and communicate swiftly with each other (Cadele and Yeates, 2007). Adjourning Adjourning of the team is the very last step after project completion and handover to the client. This should be the simplest of the stages because it involves closing down of all project processes, handing in project documents and departing. Usually, a successful project would adjourn with happy moments for the project team including a small ceremony, motivation of members through bonuses or presents and so on. However, a project that fails to meet its targets may necessitate a session of stock-taking, reflection and identifying mistakes. During the performance stage of a project team, which is the most important stage in relation to delivery of project targets and outcomes, the project manager is charged with a number of functions which must be executed correctly for the team to perform. First, the project manager is expected to set objectives for or with the team, set timescales and standards for the project outcomes, set up mechanisms for measuring the outcomes, agree with the members on performance measurement scales and timelines, and develop team feedback mechanisms. In a digital age project, all these are supposed to be done with consideration of the modern facilities and technology available for the project (Maylor, 2010). For example meetings, briefings, information, communication, and team notice boards can all either be physical or virtual. If virtual the manager is expected to avail the necessary facilities, the experts to run the facilities and any other necessary training to make members proficient in their use of the technology (Cascio, 2000). Finally, the project manager is expected to set up the project monitoring and reporting mechanisms for his or her team. A team feedback mechanism will also be very critical to evaluate the team performance and keep the standards at the expected level. Project Planning Project planning is one of the principal areas of project management that are critical for project success. Project planning is as critical in the digital age project as it was in the old age projects. According to the Project Management Institute, project planning is the key element in project integration management; it includes processes that are performed to ensure that various elements of the projects are properly coordinated (Meredith and Mantel, 2009). Project planning involves three major elements, the inputs, the planning activities, and the outputs. The inputs in project plan development include the pieces of information required to carry out the new project (Maylor, 2010). These inputs can include materials from another planning output, for example information from a similar completed project or from a previous phase of the same project. Other inputs include historical information, constraints of the project, organizational policies, and assumptions to be made while planning for the present project. Unlike in the old age projects, the planning processes of the digital age project present many advantages to a project manager. First, most of the critical information that is needed for a project is readily available through technologies such as computer databases and internet. These should be applied in research so as to gather historical information from case studies, learn about various aspects of similar types of project and so on. It is also much easier for the modern project manager to got though the planning process as availability of modern project planning software and modeling technology assists the manager and his team in planning and scheduling (Hertel et al., 2005). The second element of project planning is the activity itself. This mainly concerns how the planning activity is carried out. It is critical that the project manager explore the various planning methodologies available before selecting the most appropriate method to be applied for that particular project, this can be done through consultation and brainstorming with the project team. This stage also requires stakeholder skills to contribute into the planning process, the manager is supposed to identify the key stakeholders and involve them in the process at one stage or another. While doing this, the manager will have the benefits of communication technology that makes the contribution of stakeholders very efficient. Project Management Systems are available to the digital age project manager to help in the planning process and this can be applied in coming up with good project plans (Stoker, 2007). Finally the project planning process leads to outputs, these mainly consist of the project plan and the supporting details. With all the resources available to a digital age project manager, the project plan and supporting details are expected to be clear, effective, concise and well communicated. In project planning, communication or the plan is key towards ensuring its effectiveness; various communication and presentation techniques can be applied in communicating the plan to stakeholders as well as the project team so ensure that it is well understood by the target audience (Chudoba, 2005). In general, the project planning process involves planning for the main project by using available information through research to decide the main project activities, time scales, dependencies, costs and other aspects. There are various appropriate tools available to a project manager today for planning which were not there in the past, for example we have project planning and scheduling software like PRINCE and Microsoft Project Professional, these make project planning less complicated and more accurate particularly in terms of scheduling and resource allocation (Highsmith, 2004). Planning mainly involves serious consideration of long-term strategic plans as well as short-term operational plans. It is important for the project manager to ensure that the plan is well communicated and that feedback is obtained from all the key project members and client for review before a plan is implemented. The review of project plans can continue as the project proceeds to accommodate changes and adjustments that come up. Communications and Coordination Communication and coordination is one of the most important elements that affect a project. A project manager is charged with ensuring that the project is well coordinated and the communication within the internal environment and with the external environment of the project is effective (Highsmith, 2004). Project communication management includes processes that are required for timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage and discarding of project information (Lientz and Rea, 2002). A project manager deals with a large range of people during communication both within the project and outside of the project; these include parties such as the project clients, the project team, external stakeholders, project consultants, project suppliers and many others. A good communication plan is required to be able to deal with all these parties effectively and coordinate all the activities of the project. A good modern project manager is supposed to develop business relationships with various parties through different communication means including telephone, e-mail, social network, professional networks and other appropriate means (Shachaf, 2005). The manager is also expected to understand different working methods, both cultural and organizational. Project communication management involves aspects such as communication planning, information distribution, and performance reporting. Communication planning has a number of inputs and outputs, the main inputs include communication technology, communication requirements, constraints, and assumptions. It is necessary for a project manager to understand the main communication requirements, constraints and assumptions in the project and utilize the available communication technology to come up with a workable communication plan for the project. One of the techniques that can be applied in communication planning is stakeholder analysis; this basically involves analysis of the various project stakeholders to determine the right communication plan for each of them. The output of this process is a workable communication management plan (Zhang et al., 2004). This plan is supposed to ensure that communication within the project is effective as well as efficient and contributes towards the achievement of project goals. Information distribution in the project requires both a good project plan and an effective communication management plan. The project manager in digital age projects is expected to have good communication skills to be able to distribute information in the project effectively. The project manager is also equipped with computer-based information retrieval systems and information distribution mechanisms that make the process easier than in the past (Gardiner, 2005). A good information distribution system leads to good project records, project reports and project presentations. Performance reporting is one of the most important parts of project communication as it enables monitoring and evaluation to be carried out effectively. Performance reporting requires an effective project plan that anticipates performance reports, work results and project records. The reports involve important project aspects such as trend analyses, variance analyses, and earned value analyses. Information distribution tools and techniques are important in ensuring that the reports reach all the stakeholders that it targets (Munkvold and Zigurs, 2007). With regard to coordination, one of the most important aspects of coordination is that a project manager is supposed to accommodate a lot of differences in contemporary project management. Depending on the scale of the project, such differences may include cultural, time, language and priorities. Some modern projects may be regional or global in nature; this may require the project manager to coordinate project members that are spread over different geographical, cultural and temporal zones (Cadle and Yeates, 2007). Good communication and coordination skills with the help of modern technology are essential for successful coordination of such a project. The ability to coordinate inputs at different stages of a project of employ different methods to come up with the right outcomes is required. However, even with the aid of all the technology available to the digital age project manager, personal skills in aspects such as time management, interpersonal relationship, negotiation and motivation are required for effective communication and coordination of projects (Rabelo, 2005). Conclusion The digital age project manager has considerable advantages compared to the project managers of earlier years. This is because the practice of project management has evolved considerably and new developments have been enabled by technology and accumulation of skills. However, it is also evident that the nature of contemporary projects can be quite different from those in the past and complex in some cases. For example some projects currently cover wide geographical areas and involve many stakeholders communicating through virtual techniques. The management of such projects requires a project manager who is more knowledgeable about technology, flexible, and innovative. There are various key areas that a project manager has to consider carefully now when implementing a project so as to take advantage of current developments to deliver project outcomes. This paper has identified three principal areas including team management, project planning, and communication and coordination. In all these principal areas, it has been established that opportunities abound for application of useful technologies in reaching the best results. Some of these technologies available to the digital age project manager include a large variety of more effective communication technologies, project management software, computer-based databases, and computer-aided decision making systems. References Cadle, J. and Yeates, D., 2007. Project Management for Information Systems. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Cascio, W.F., 2000. Managing a virtual workplace. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), pp. 81-90. Chudoba, K.M., 2005. How virtual are we? 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