Project Management, Practice through the 4-D Model - Research Paper Example

Lecturer: Introduction Project management as a discipline evolved through application in various professions such as construction, manufacturing as well as in military operations. Henry Gantt is recognized for his contribution to the development of project management tools especially the Gantt chart. Other modern project management tools emerged from Gantt’s work such as the Resource Allocation and WBS. It is not until mid-20th century that project managers in the US began the application of modern project management tools that are human oriented such as the Scandinavian school that takes in to account the influence of the environment on the project. They replaced the informal traditional structural that failed to state the role of humans in the project process (Rothaermel, 2012). Scientific project scheduling techniques such as PERT and CPM were also developed in the mid-20th century and adopted by many organizations. The Project Management Institute (PMI) was established in 1969 to promote the productiveness of project management, which resulted in the fabrication of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide that encompasses the guiding principles of the project management profession (Thompson and Martin, 2010). Project Background Germs are generally found on virtually any surface, including the human body. They are picked when hands come in to contact with contaminated surfaces and can easily get in to the digestive tract together with food eaten by bare hands. Fraise and Bradley (2009) emphasize the need for effective hand washing to prevent transfer of germs through hand contact. According to Crews et al. (2013), 70% of hygiene related diseases are transferred through hand contact. Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are typically associated with improper hand washing. Proper hand washing among patients and healthcare personnel is important in the prevention of HAIs. Adults also need to be aware of the need to wash hands thoroughly after changing children’s napkins. Most of all are the germs collected from toilet surfaces and hence the importance of washing hands with clean water after visiting the toilet. According to Weston (2013), ignorance of the presence of germs leads to the reluctance in hand washing among adults due to their invisible nature. It is highly important to sensitize adults on the need to wash hands to control infections. Project Aim and Objective Aim: To raise awareness of hand hygiene and infection control for ages 18+ by setting up a stall in Student Central at the University of Bradford on the 17th March 2014 between 11pm-3pm. Objective: To invite people to our stall with the aid of posters, samples and equipment such as UV light to draw in their undivided attention .The participants will be able to give feedback on the quantity and quality of information provided to them. Project Management Models Basic Project Life Cycle This project will be based on five project management stages that are necessary for effective accomplishment of the objectives. According to Rothaermel (2012) the project initiation stage involves due diligence to determine the feasibility of the project. It is an important stage as it forms the foundation of the project as it is the phase in which it officially begins. The second stage is project planning whereby the procedures for individual components are developed, such as financial plan, scope, time frame, quality control strategies, reporting and risk management plans. Project execution is the third stage in which the project activities are accomplished in line with the project action plan. The fourth stage comprises project monitoring and control aimed at evaluating the progress and performance of the project based on the management plan. Project closure is the fifth and last stage that involves official closure of the project (Barker & Cole, 2009). Classic-Six-Stage Model This is a model comprising six stages that are undertaken concurrently. These include defining whereby the project objectives are identified through consultations between the project stakeholders. The planning stage involves development of the initial design as well as continuous planning for reviews and improvements as the project advances (Rothaermel, 2012). Team development is an important stage that continues to ensure that members are motivated to participate in the accomplishment of project the goal. Communication is also a continuous process within the team as well as among the stakeholders. Control is an important aspect that ensures the project activities are accomplished according to the plan. The last stage is review and exit whereby an evaluation is conducted to ascertain if the project objectives have been accomplished (Gardiner, 2005). PRINCE2 PRINCE2, which is an acronym of PRojects IN Controlled Environments version 2009 is a preemptive technique applied in project management to augment effectiveness in the accomplishment of project objectives. It comprises 7 stages that include, “starting up, initiating, directing, controlling, managing delivery of products, managing stage boundary and closing the project” (Portman, 2009). It has an advantage of ensuring structured project implementation in a reliable and controlled manner, through a succession of definite easily manageable stages. It is product oriented and promotes communication among the project team participants as well as enhancing relationship with stakeholders. The method promotes ownership of project goals among project team members. It allows enhancements in the areas where weaknesses have been identified through constant monitoring and control. There is significant organization and control in the utilization of project resources and hence wastage is avoided. However, the step-by-step process in PRINCE2 hinders flexibility and may not be appropriate for a highly fluctuating project environment (Seegers and Hedeman, 2009). The 4-D Model The 4-D model offers a clear and simple process that can easily be followed in the project implementation process. The 4 Ds represent Define, Design, Do and Deliver. The first step is to define and analyse the background of the project. This provided essential information that guided the project team to understand the problem and other projects in which a similar strategy was successfully used. It involved setting the aim of the project as well as developing clear objectives that helped in achieving the aims. A clear timescale was developed clearly indicating the important stages and indicators of the project intervention. Designing is the second stage of the 4-D model. It involved development of a strategic plan to accomplish the objectives. The team estimated the time needed for the project. Time management in the model is accomplished through development of an intervention schedule as well as sequence of events, which was done in this project (Dwyer, Stanton and Thiessen, 2004). Constraints and activity dependencies were identified to enhance risk management. Suitable activities were identified that enhanced team work. Strategies were formulated to enhance tracking and recording data with regards to project activities. ‘Doing’, which is the third stage in the model, means the actual implementation of the plan including the activities prior to the event. Data capturing and recording was accomplished and timely feedback undertaken. The project progress was reviewed against the plan to establish the effectiveness in the accomplishment of project objectives. Delivery is the last stage whereby the product is tested and feedback acquired from the users. The results from the project were measured against the project objectives after which the aims were improved and developed in to the subsequent cycle of activities (Maylor, 2010). Unlike the 4-D model that begins with the background of the project, the first stage of PRINCE2 is starting up the project, which lowers the possibility of learning from previous projects of similar nature. Communication and project activities are managed by a project board in PRINCE2 unlike in the 4-D model whereby communication is a core component of project activities rather than being a preserve of the management (Hinde, 2012). In this project, effective communication through the 4-D model allowed ownership of project objectives among team members. The 4-D model will therefore be preferred in this project. The Scandinavian school of project management was also applied to ensure the project takes in to consideration of environmental factors that that may generate new eventualities. Projects may be faced with the problem of effectively adapting to environments that had not been anticipated. However, the approach does not integrate the consequences of actions in its ultimate conclusions (Parker, Charlton and Pathak, 2013). Project Management Tools Gantt chart Gantt charts are applied in project management to enhance clarity of issues among the project team members. Tasks are grouped in a pictorial representation that makes it easy for people to refer to on regular basis for better understanding of project activities (see appendix 2). One advantage of Gantt chart is that many ideas are represented in a picture that makes them interesting to read. Thoughts are organized in to constituent parts, each with its own meaning. The chart also enhances resource allocation to well organized tasks and also demonstrates that the project manager understands what is needed (Portman, 2009). Gantt charts are important in helping project managers to set accurate time frames. The charts are easy to display for all the people involved to see. However, the charts have a disadvantage of application in large projects whereby they can become complex (Hodgson and Cicmil, 2006). Stakeholder Mapping This is a strategy applied in the collection of particulars of the participants identified. It is important in developing approaches to re-align stakeholders on the control/interest matrix to ensure that they are manageable. The stakeholder map captures information such as name, role in the project, prevailing interest and level of control, attitudes, communication channels, personal motivation and any other comments. The main advantage of stakeholder mapping is that substantial information regarding stakeholders is captured in a compressed way. However, there is a disadvantage of information redundancy as the power matrix may change from time to time (Cobb, 2012). Project evaluation Application of the 4-D model in the project was a perfect approach as it helped the team to approach their respective tasks from an informed point of view. The Scandinavian approach positioned the project in a manner that generated contextual dependence and social sensitivity of findings. It is focused on the manner in which the activities were accomplished over time with specific emphasis on how the project evolved. The project objectives were achieved and resources were effectively utilized according to the project action plan (Appendix 3). The posters, samples and UV light were successful in drawing people’s attention to the stall. Questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus groups were applied to get feedback from the people who visited the stall. Critical reflection is also an important aspect of evaluation (appendix 3). These revealed that awareness of hand hygiene and infection control for ages 18+ was successful, which was the aim of the project. Dissemination This is the process of making the project outcomes available to stakeholders. It is important in promoting sustainability of the project outcome. It can be accomplished through publications that will be available for the public to read. The language is supposed to be appropriate for the target audience. Results can also be presented in workshops and symposiums to allow the public to add their viewpoint regarding effective utilization of project outputs. This is a cost effective way of disseminating project results through groups of similar projects. Collaborative events attract a greater audience and hence greater effectiveness in dissemination (Martin, 2002). Recommendation Future projects need effective allocation of responsibilities to people with special capabilities for every issue identified. It is necessary to analyze and rank issues in order of priority while monitoring the overall effectiveness of project implementation. Broader evaluation of project background is important. Conclusion The project team needs to gain knowledge from the project and integrate the information in to practice through the 4-D model. Project management requires constant identification and resolving issues that emerge in the project implementation process. They may not be anticipated and can adversely affect the project outcome. Effective communication in the project team is necessary to ensure that the management is kept in perspective with regards to all project components. The project issue log plays an important role of ensuring that all issues are recorded and dealt with as they emerge throughout the project. Prompt identification, investigation and resolution of issues in a safe and consistent way are important for project success. References Barker, S. and Cole, R. 2009. Brilliant Project Management: What the best project managers know, do, and say. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall. Cobb, A. 2012. Leading Project Teams, The Basics of Project Management and Team Leadership, 2nd ed. London: Sage. Crews, J., Whaley, E., Syblik, D. and Starke, J. 2013. Sustained Improvement in Hand Hygiene at a Children’s Hospital, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 34(7), pp. 751-753. Dwyer, J., Stanton, P., Thiessen, V. 2004. Project Management in Health and Community Services, London, Routledge. Fraise, A. and Bradley, C. 2009. Ayliffes Control of Healthcare-Associated Infection Fifth Edition: A Practical Handbook , Florida: CRC Press. Gardiner, P. 2005. Project Management: A Strategic Approach, Palgrave Macmillan. Hinde, D. 2012. PRINCE2 Study Guide, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Hodgson, D and Cicmil, S. 2006. Making Projects Critical, Palgrave Macmillan. Martin,V. 2002. Managing Projects in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge. Maylor, H. 2010. Project Management. London: Prentice Hall. Parker, D., Charlton, J. and Pathak, R. 2013. Integration of project-based management and change management: Intervention methodology, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 62, 5, pp.534 - 544 Portman, H. 2009. PRINCE2 in Practice: A Practical Approach to Create Project Management Documents, Hogeweg: Van Haren Publishing Rothaermel, F. T. 2012. Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Seegers, B. and Hedeman, R. 2009. PRINCE2 Edition 2009: A Pocket Guide, New York: John Wiley & Sons Thompson, J. and Martin, F. 2010. Strategic Management: Awareness & Change. 6th ed, Belmont: Cengage Learning. Weston, D. 2013. Fundamentals of Infection Prevention and Control: Theory and Practice, Wiley- New York: Blackwell. Appendix 3: Critical Reflections Team members in the project were motivated to enhance ownership of project goals. They were encouraged to participate in project activities through involvement in all aspects of decision making and hence they felt part and parcel of the process. Team building is important to enhance accomplishment of tasks collectively. Project leadership is a significant determinant of the success of project implementation. Teamwork was encouraged through inter-relatedness of activities and hence members found the need to collaborate and assist each other in accomplishment of tasks. The leader communicated effectively to the project team members thereby ensuring that all participants understood the objectives. The action plan was an important guide in the effective accomplishment of project activities (see appendix 2). The project revealed some important project management models and tools that need to be applied for effective accomplishment of project objectives. In future projects, it is important to clearly state and evaluate the practicality of project management models and the possibility of integrating two or more models in a project to enhance effectiveness in the accomplishment of objectives. From the project, it emerged that monitoring and evaluation needs to be a continuous process throughout the project period to enable the necessary adjustments suitable in every stage to match the changes in the project environment. The feedback from the people visiting the stall indicated that the project was an eye opener to the public with regards to infection control and hand hygiene. It is necessary to conduct similar projects to promote public health. Read More