Project Management Review - Coursework Example

? Project Management Review The specified action in the question does not reflect the entire project communication but constitutes only one phase of project communication. Project communication is a broader term that refers to specific behavior and methodologies employed to lead, motivate, delegate, and report back to all stakeholders involved in the project. In other words, communication is the most significant element within any project. Project managers mainly use three communications channels namely upward channel, downward channel, and lateral channel in order to ensure effective communication at various levels. Since the project communication significantly affects employee performance, project mangers must ensure effective upward and downward communication in order to maintain a high-performance team working on the project. The process of project management mainly passes thorough eight distinct phases. The project management phases are team assembly, project initiation, project planning, project execution, project leadership, project monitoring and controlling, project presentation, and project conclusion. Communication is a vital component in all these eight project phases. However, the given scenario indicates only the project presentation phase. After the project submission, it is necessary for the project development team to get feedbacks from respective stakeholders so as to ensure that the developed project was a success. Hence, the project communication process has to be continued further. 2. Generally, both people and machine are the basic resource requirements in a project environment. It is necessary to schedule the required resources in order to carry out the project management process efficiently. The four major stages of resource scheduling process are resource definition, resource allocation, resource aggregation, and resource leveling. Project manager’s incompetence, lack of commitment from the part of project participants, and lack of access to new technology affect resource scheduling process. Project manager is responsible for controlling all the project activities. In certain situations, he needs to take some crucial decisions which may determine the future of the developing project. Therefore, resource scheduling may not be effective if the project manger is unskilled or inexperienced. In other words, a project manager’s competence would determine the flow of project development. Likewise, the resource scheduling program may not produce the intended results unless other project participants are really committed to the project. In the words of Kalton and Richards (2008), resource scheduling technology usually indicates procedures and software applications tools for planning and scheduling resources employed in a project. Therefore, improved technology’s deficiency may also reduce the scope of resource scheduling. In total, efficient and integrated operation of the project team is crucial for the successful completion of a project. 3. According to Gray and Larson (2005, p. 183), people, materials, equipment, and working capital are four types of resource constraints. It is obvious that people are an inevitable component in a project as this component determines the success or failure of a project to a large extent. For instance; programmers and mechanical engineers. Many project teams try to overcome labor constraints through internationalization as this process assists project teams to import foreign labor and to set up foreign subsidiaries that employ local staff from the host country. Similarly, material shortage has been attributed to the delay of many projects. It is also identified that equipment sometimes becomes a constraint to the project development. For instance, earth moving tractors. Lack of availability of equipments may result in project delay. Finally, lack of access to finance also adversely affects resource scheduling. If the availability of resources is extremely limited, the project management team would be forced to pay higher amount. It would be very difficult for the project team to raise additional funds if it lacks access to potential financial sources. 4. Resource scheduling before the commencement of project is an important project task. If the project delay seems to be unacceptable, the process of resource scheduling allows sufficient time for taking decisions regarding potential alternatives like cost time trade offs and changing of priorities. This process provides information to design time oriented work package budgets with dates, and which in turn necessitates the completion of the project work within the stipulated period. It is evident that the resource scheduling process may assist the project manager to assess quality, quantity, and availability of various resources. This resource knowledge would enable the project manager to determine the degree of flexibility he has over different resources. Resource scheduling is the best method to stop hiring of unnecessary resources. In the absence of this program, project managers would not be aware of what skills their employees have and what their experience is. Since, resource scheduling process assists the project manager to easily access more staff, he can undoubtedly say yes to more diverse ranges of projects. 5. When a project manager schedules available resources, he normally faces different problems. Generally, scheduling problems are presented under two classifications namely, production scheduling problems and employee scheduling problems. Various types of constraints such as resource constraints, technical constraints, and organizational constraints constitute production scheduling problems. Setting of release dates and due dates are another issues that represent production scheduling problems. Even though the project team is highly efficient, sometimes it would be a difficult task for the project manager to correctly fix release and due dates. Difficulty in machine availability is another issue that may minimize the scope of resource scheduling. At the same time, under employee scheduling process, project managers may struggle to fix maximum and minimum number of working days for employees. Often this difficult situation would negatively affect project completion time or total project expenses. It is also observed that issues related to number of weekends and preferred working shifts may also affect the efficacy of project management. However, despite all challenges, effective project management practices can overcome scheduling problems. 6. Project communication plan simply refers to a written strategy for providing right information to the right project stakeholders at the right time. Certain elements are vital for a successful project communication plan. An effective project communication plan addresses the steps and processes that are going to be implemented to facilitate communication during a specific project. Organized communication is crucial to several processes such as planning and execution. Important elements of a project communication plan are briefly described below. A. Set goals Goal setting represents an essential part of the process in project communication plan. The goal setting is a highly complex process that consumes time and includes discussion and critical thinking phases. The project manager leads the goal setting process and the proposed goals are then deeply discussed with all other parties or individuals involved. Before the commencement of the project, sanctions must be obtained from all concerned parties on the goals set and time frame expected. In addition, the goals have to be written down and signed by all concerned parties; this practice assists the team members to get clear expectations on the project to be carried on. B. Coordinate people Once the goals are set in the proper way, the project manager must coordinate various people needed to complete the project. The project manager must estimate how many employees need, how much it would cost in labor, and how long it is necessary to employ people for each stage of the project. C. Policies Each person involved in the project must be given written expectations regarding the policies to be followed in different areas and other specific details of the project. D. Resources Resources educate the project recipients and also assist project team partners to clear doubts on the areas of their expertise. References Gray, C & Larson, E. (2005). Project Management: The Complete Guide for Every Manager. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Companies. Kalton, A & Richards, R.A. (May 2008). Advanced scheduling technology for more efficient (shorter) resource constrained schedules. IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Retrieved from Read More