Medical Biotechnology and Leadership - Coursework Example

Project Management Concepts in Medical Biotechnology and Leadership Introduction The project management concepts and skills will be applied to a Masters in Medical Biotechnology and Leadership dissertation known as the “Inhibition of DNA processing in heavy metal carcinogenesis.” The research project will entail managing a moderately challenging budget. It will also entail the delegation of tasks to technicians and scientists. Such investigations require the synthesis of information from different fields and using this capacity to establish a thorough literature review of the work. Project management skills will be critical in managing people, time and resources, all of which will be examined critically in subsequent sections of the paper. PESTEL Prior to the commencement of any project, one must consider the external environmental factors that may affect its outcomes. In this case, the paper will be looking at the carcinogenic effects of heavy metals. Certain political players may have liaised with industrial leaders in their election processes. They may frown upon researches that link these businesses to a health problem. Conversely, those who are interested in protecting their constituents’ rights may use results from this study to make laws that protect the citizenry (Morrison, forthcoming). Certain economic factors will also be relevant to this study. The project will rely on moderate external funding. This will come from the church around the study area. Such financial support will only be forthcoming if the economic environment in the country is favourable. Additionally, the sociological element in this study revolves around the problems faced by people who deal with heavy metal pollution. Persons in developing countries are exposed to heavy metals in fish, water, food and their occupations. Therefore, the ability to obtain such samples will be dependent on getting cooperation from locals (Grundy, 2006). The technological factors in the study project refer to the availability and ability to use scientific equipments needed. Knowledge of microscopy and immunofluorescence is critical in achieving this. Furthermore, the university already has these machines, so gaining access to them will be vital. There could be more advanced methods of studying DNA repair, so the researchers ought to familiarise themselves with these methods. Legal factors include the regulatory policies and laws that govern the disposal and exposure of the public to these heavy metals. If handlers of the materials are flouting laws, then this could be a legal problem (Turner, 2002). Finally, the study has an environmental element to it. In this regard, it will focus on natural resources and how pollution is ruining them. Non profit organisations as well as different industries have their own opinions on pollution control. The study may thus inform policy development. Laws could be passed to protect natural resources that are in danger of disappearance due to heavy metals (Bjarne, 2007). State of work A state of work is critical in any research project because it assists one to outline the primary activities involved in it. This way, researchers will determine whether they need to improve on their input or not. The purpose of the project is to decipher how heavy metals are carcinogenic in the human body. The stakeholders involved in the study include the dissertation tutor who will also be the project leader – Sarah Allison. A research Master’s student is also doing the same project and will work alongside the author of this paper. Cooperation with a taught Master’s student will also be necessary. The individual will also participate in doing the same project. These three people will be part of the team. A lab technician will prepare equipments needed to carry out experiments. The person will ensure that the machines are always available when needed and in good condition. Guidance on use of the same will also be necessary. The lab manager will be in chance of monitoring experiments as they take place. Furthermore, he will give instructions on how to utilise high-tech machines throughout the study. Parents will also be involved as they will support the financing of the project as well (Nokes, 2007). Since the list of stakeholders is relatively small, the chain of command will be relatively simple. Everyone must do what the project leader requires. Dr. Allison will be responsible for the examination and approval of each stage of the project. Other research students will report to her. The lab technician will answer to the lab manager who then answers to the research students. Sometimes, direct communication with the project leader will be necessary in order to iron out certain problems (Lock, 1996). Key deliverables include compilation of a literature review, obtaining samples from the study area, analysing the samples in the laboratory, documentation of the findings and analysis of the data. Finally the research will be completed when the thesis statement has been nullified or confirmed in the final document. The project leader will have approved this part in order to facilitate further transitioning. The schedule for the project is roughly two years. This date was established from the deadline for submission of dissertations in the course. All the deliverables will be given a period of 4 months for completion. This will allow enough time for editing and revision of the material. Leadership In project management, individuals are expected to exhibit a certain level of leadership with regard to members of their team. These concepts will assist in the people-related aspect of the project. More often than not, a project team will have individual, task and group needs as described by John Adair. Task needs are the most predominant and end up taking most of the project time (Adair, 1982). The project members will agree on the tasks involved in the project as well as the resources and work that they need to put into it. The project plan will be a team effort involving all the three students as well as the dissertation tutor. Group functions in this project team will involve having standards and maintaining discipline in the group. Every time a duty is delegated to a member, they will be expected to complete it on time. Individuals must also attend all group meetings in order to coordinate activities effectively. Motivating team members will be done by the sub leader who will also be in charge of communication in the group. Training needed to collect samples as well as to analyse them will be done by the laboratory manager (Hamilton, 2004). In leadership, individual functions form an important part of team outcomes. In this case, one of the students carrying out the research will handle these needs. Since this person will be a sub leader, the person will handle some of the personal problems that other students will be going through including financial support from parents as well as excessive work pressure. The leader will also recognise the abilities of others and employ them as the need arises (Pierce, 2001). The risk process A critical element of project management is the risk handling process. This will be one done by one of the research students who will identify risks, develop a response strategy and establish a contingency followed by continuous risk management (Baguley, 2003). In the risk identification process, certain problems may arise owing to the nature of project work done in groups, the stakeholders as well as the resources involved in this study. Data may be unavailable from the identified sources, such as the industries, due to economic concerns. The social environments involved in the study may also not be forthcoming in terms of information. Also, budgeting may become a problem during the project cycle as some new expenses such as training may be necessary. If one of the project members fails to carry out their end of the bargain then there could be problems in the future. Equipment malfunctioning or lack of availability of the same may also bring certain challenges. This could delay the project by a number of days or weeks. There could also be complications in the data analysis phase if all the team members do not agree on the right process (Verma, 1997). The next step in risk management is developing a response strategy. This implies assigning probability risks as well as defining the consequences of these problems when they arise. In the above mentioned list, the risk with the highest likelihood of occurrence is lack of data. This has immense consequences as it could stall the whole project. Falling behind the budget is also another challenge. If this takes place, team members will have no way of achieving the deliverables. The next shortcoming is failure of individuals to carry their weight in the project. This may place undue burden on others and cause the team to miss out on its deadline. Equipment malfunctioning, data analysis complications are the risks with the least challenges. A contingency plan is necessary to deal with risks after they have been quantified and identified (Verzuh, 2005). To mitigate the problem of unavailability of data, the team will identify five potential sources of data. It will then rank each of them in order of priority. Those that seem to be the least controversial will be on top of the list. This way, the group will have many alternatives for getting the data. The budgetary shortfalls may be dealt with by obtaining other sources of funding like research funding bodies. Furthermore, individuals will only spend money after approval by the rest of the team. There will also be a contingency amount left for emergencies. To deal with lack of equipment availability, the team will always book ahead before conducting experiments (Porter, 1995). They will check two weeks and one week before the actual date in order to ensure that everything is in order. Financially, a protect team ought to have a continuous risk management program. In this case, the members will have status meetings at set dates and monitor the identified risks. They will also give each other feedback on the things that ought to be changed. Some of the anticipated risks that did not occur will be eliminated from the list (Kerzner, 2003). Conclusion The Masters Research project under consideration is a project in its own right. It provides a unique opportunity of application of primary management concepts. The key idea behind all the above analyses is to control and complete the dissertation on time. Leadership, state of work, pestle model and risk management are some of the ideas that will make this project successful. References Adair, J., 1982. Action-centred Leadership. Farnborough, England: Gower Pub. Co. Baguley, P, 2003. Teach Yourself Project Management. London, UK: Hodder Education. Bjarne, K., 2007. Project Management –. Theory and practice. Forlag: Nyt Teknisk Grundy, T., 2006. Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porters five forces model. Strategic Change 15(5), pp. 213-229. Hamilton, A., 2004. Handbook of Project Management Procedures. TTL Publishing, Ltd. Kerzner, H., 2003. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (8th Ed. ed.). NY: Wiley. Lock, D., 1996. The Essentials of Project Management. Aldershot: Gower Publishing Limited. Morrison, M., forthcoming. SWOT and PESTLE and other diagnostic tools [provisional title]. Putney: Intelligent Press. Nokes, S., 2007. The Definitive Guide to Project Management. London: Prentice Hall: 2007. Pierce, C., 2001. The effective director: the essential guide to director and board development. London: Kogan Page. Porter, T., 1995. Trust in numbers. The pursuit of objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Turner, S., 2002. Tools for success: a manager’s guide. London: McGraw Hill. Verma, V. 1997. Managing the project team. The human aspects of project management, vol.three. Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute. Verzuh, E., 2005. The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, USA Read More