The Hexagon of Excellence - Assignment Example

Running Head: HEXAGON OF EXCELLENCE Review of Hexagon of Excellence Chapter 7 Characteristics of Excellence Cultural support allows implementation of a singular methodology through corporate culture that offers significant support to the project management strategy. Excellence is achieved when the whole organization backs-up the singular methodology while maintaining minimal organizational resistance. When problems arise in the process of project implementation all members of the organization come together to offer support (Kerzner, 2005).

Informal project management is focused on reducing expensive paperwork to the minimum while developing straightforward guidelines and specifications. When there is effective communication, teamwork and trust, the organization is headed for excellence. With increased trust, project funding can be brought down from the executive level to intermediate management (Schein, 2010). This characteristic reduces the cost and time of methodology execution.Training and education is a significant aspect that has both quantitative and qualitative results.

Quantitatively, the product development time is shortened while higher quality decisions are made faster. The cost of project is lowered through a reduction in paperwork and the number of people involved while higher profit margins are realized. Qualitatively, there is improved visibility and emphasis on results with enhanced coordination. The morale of workers increases resulting in improved customer relations (Kerzner, 2005). Training and Education in the marketplace Training and education are necessary to maintain a competitive workforce.

The strategy helped the previous employer to maintain innovativeness in project implementation, which continuously made work easier, less expensive and also boosted the morale of employees. There was a project management curriculum that was reviewed annually to incorporate new areas of competence. It contained a core competency prototype for the elementary and advanced abilities that a project manager was required to possess. All the training programs were focused on supporting the core competency skills.

Moreover, trainings were conducted regarding ethical behaviour within the company as well as when interacting with customers. Project managers were also taught on decent business practices. Project management executives were also involved in senior managers’ workshops and trainings designed to enhance maturity of project management (Rothaermel, 2012). Aligning Projects to Organizational Strategy Organizations lose huge sums of money through wasted project spending leading to low shareholder value.

A major factor contributing to such losses is failure to align projects with corporate strategy. For successful alignment, it is important to undertake an appraisal of all the ongoing projects in the organization and those completed in the previous year. This is accomplished through requesting all departments to list the goals of each project and the strategic alignment if known. An inventory of all projects in the organization is then generated, size or scope notwithstanding. All the projects are measured and their objectives measured by evaluating whether they are within the timeframe, budget and scope.

The success rate of previous projects is measured and lessons learned are noted (Kerzner, 2005). Secondly, a systematic strategy to prioritize all projects is developed. This is done through developing criteria for prioritization and listing the projects alongside their goals, purpose and premeditated impact that each project has on the organization. This allows ranking to determine the level of priority. The third step is to align the projects to the departmental and corporate strategic plans and then evaluate alignment to strategic goals.

The projects that are not aligned to corporate or departmental strategy are of low priority and should be terminated (Rothaermel, 2012). ReferencesKerzner, H. (2005), Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Rothaermel, F. T. (2012) Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Schein E. H. (2010), Organizational Culture and Leadership, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.