Project Management Methodology Role in Implementing Organizational Change - Essay Example

? Project Management Methodology Role in Implementing Organizational Change Insert Insert s Insert Introduction The dynamics in the current business environment have continued to complicate the manner in which business operations are conducted throughout the world. Project managerial strategies have increasingly varied from one industry to the other. Thompson (2002) argues that management entails a number of interrelated activities and knowledge areas which if well coordinated leads to attainment of company goals. Sims (2002) asserts that, on the whole, a winning project management must entail good planning, efficient resourcing, realistic expected outcomes and strong managerial prerogative. This is captured significantly in Project Methodology Framework. For this reason, process groups and knowledge areas are essential. This paper seeks to address why project management methodology is a practical way of implementing organizational change. It exposes the reason why organizational change in itself is a project. A part from dealing with the nine project knowledge areas it illuminates the role of process groups in project implementation processes. It also seeks to relate the Project Implementation Methodology to Kotter’s eight-steps in leading change. Project Management Methodology Framework in Implementing Organizational Change Why Organizational Change is viewed as a project Evidently, Project Management Methodology is relevant in implementing organizational change. Organizational change should be viewed as a project and therefore applying project management methodology would be appropriate. The reasons why organizational change qualifies as a project are many. On the whole, often times, the design of the organization doubles up as one of a project’s particular goal. For instance, there may be a need for reducing the number of employees needed, or introduction of new technology or part of a business change procedure. Specifically, numerous issues that relate to the organizational change management are supposed to be dealt with when a project is starting (Richman 2006). This ensures that needed activities become part of plan to pave way for assigning roles and responsibilities. Further, this may mean that issues such as sponsors change and their effectiveness, participatory methods, and change of communication in view of the targets are examined. When changing work culture, project management framework helps to break down the project into logical and more manageable steps. Organizational culture consists of the beliefs, values, and norms that are shared by people within an organization. The process of changing culture can be a costly and time consuming project that involves implementing many of the processes, groups and bodies of knowledge that project management methodology consist of. Richman (2006) reckons this when he asserts that organizational policies may require change in its formal and informal culture that affects a project. According to him, this could be in quality management which would involve continued project improvement and auditing, or changing employee’s performance evaluation frameworks and dismissal guides. It could also involve streamlining of work reporting time and contract provisions (Richman, 2006) Process Groups and Knowledge Areas in Relation To Kotter’s Leading Change Model Because of the reasons aforementioned, project management methodology is a good tool for implementing an organizational change because it is proven to be a structured and a logical methodology for managing projects. In a way it maps well with John Kotter’s model of Leading Change. Kotter’s model of eight-stage process, offers a more practical strategy to leading the implementation process of, and not merely managing change. Richman (2006) notes that, essentially, a successful project originates from an effectively planned and executed project management methodology which is ‘‘a system of interrelated phases, procedures, activities and tasks that define the project process from the start through to completion’’ (Richman 2006, p.4). It entails group processes namely ‘‘initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control as well as closing’’ (Richman, 2006. p.24). In particular, project management groups are about the systematic approach to grouping or the designing of the various project management procedures and guidelines. The significance of utilizing processes for the project in proper pre-planned order provides fundamental benefits to organizational change. For instance it helps the team leader in comprehending and effectively managing the project. This relates very closely to Kotter’s second step, creating the guiding coalition. In this, Kotter emphasizes the need to assembling a team/group and empowering it to lead the change process in a united manner (Kotter, 1995). All these require a focus on project knowledge areas. Scope management which is one of them focuses on project planning, definition, creation of breakdown structure, verifying (monitoring) and control (Richman, 2006). Initiation simple entails project authorization. Definition refers to the development of a formal scope of stamen as the foundation of decisions to be made in future. For example in organizational change, an Information Technology project which requiring organizational change may require defining the scope to entail educating the Information Technology staff members with a biased focused on technicality rather than functional application of IT ideas. Inherently, however, while doing this in form of strategy, the scope will generally be fashioned to program completion. It is about making things to work. This in Kotter’s perspective is in Step 3—which is developing a change vision. Kotter believes that a project must create a vision to aid in directing change efforts, but also develop strategies for the achievement of such a vision (Kotter, 1995). Project Time Management is another knowledge area. This is about the procedures needed to facilitate completion of the project in a timely manner. It requires among others scheduling and definition of activities. Definition is all about identification of activities which should be implemented to provide the aspired deliverables. For example in an organizational change, conducting evaluative research on staff performance may result into research reports as deliverables (Maloney, 2006). In Kotter’s model, this may be equated to Step 5 which is on Generating Shirt-term Wins, which among others he describes as the process of planning for tangible-visible performance (Kotter, 1995). The other area is project integration management. It refers to all the elements and processes needed to ensure proper coordination of projects. According to Sims (2002) this would call for a review of project plan development, execution, and changing control. Significantly, for example, these processes must entail attempts from an organizations individuals or group of individuals in responding to the needs of a project. Worthy mentioning is that, often times, the organizational techniques and tools that are employed in the project management integration process, sometimes overlap. For instance, there must be integration whenever cost estimates are required for an emergency plan and this applies to organizational management as well (Sims, 2002). Kotter’s Leadership Change model describes these as Empowering Broad-based Action. This, according to him, entails the systematic process of eliminating the barriers to change, change systems and encouraging thinking outside the box. For instance, it may require the Project Manager doubling up as the accountant to ensure proper accountability of project money (Kotter, 1995). Cost management is another project knowledge area applicable in organizational change. Largely, proper cost management requires the team or group of individuals to analyze project historical information. This would be important in estimating costs and financial expenditure of project performances in the past and crafting a budget. It will also entail scrutinizing the accounting codes with a view to controlling costs (Maloney, 2006). Here, the constraints which may affect project team options and organizational endeavors in implementing the project must be examined. For instance, often times, a pre-formulated budget may affect group alternatives in terms of project scope, duty allocation and time deliveries. In this, organizational change process would be cognizant of areas which will affect organizational change (Sims, 2002). Project Communication is also significant. Richman 92006) asserts that it involves all those processes needed to that ‘’collection, dissemination, storage and ultimate disposition of project formulation’ are appropriately and timely generated. The importance of communication cannot be under-estimated because it is a continuous process which takes up a big percentage of project implementation. It is important for performance reporting. For instance it is a conveyor belt in project progress reporting and speculation. When changing culture, communication, risk, and quality management will need to be implemented effectively and consistently during the entire duration of the project. It will be necessary to communicate with the stakeholders in a timely matter and provide any necessary documentation or progress reports throughout the project (Maloney, 2006). Communication is key and will be needed to first gain buy-in from management and leaders and then to employees. A coalition needs to be created that consists of management and leaders that are on board with the change and are willing to determine a clear vision and an execution strategy (Sims, 2002) . Communicating the vision of the change with employees would occur next, including what changes will be made and why. There are going to be many employees with concerns that will need to be addressed and creating an open and honest dialogue will help create buy-in. Before initiating the change, all questions or concerns should be answered. In a way, this ushers in another important agenda or knowledge area in project methodology: Human Resource Management. The skills of management including leadership and negotiations must be well focused and planned as they are essential in organizational change that ensures that projects are duly implemented (Richman, 2003) Undeniably, leaders in organizations are faced with the challenge of diversity and relatedness of jobs, with this being viewed as potential cause of conflict. The role of the manager is therefore to influence policy decisions and behavioral patterns in trying to resolve the conflict. To be able to sort these out, a project manager requires a sense of power to facilitate strategic decisions to deal with it (Maloney, 2006). Besides, he/she ought to ensure that the organizational team accesses suitable skills and knowledge essential for a project. This would also mean that in the staff recruitment process is well taken care of in resource planning processes. This essentially ensures quality and quality assurance in the expected deliverables (Thompson, 2002). Another area would is quality control, which entails monitoring process of specific issues and outcomes areas to ensure that they are of quality standards. This way, the management is able to eliminate areas which need to be addressed and which ones need to be replicated (Richman, 2006). It is important to anticipate the employee reactions because most of the reactions will be considered risks to the project and need to have risk responses in line. A risk which is another knowledge area refers to the unforeseen happenings or activities which may affect the progress of a project, positively or negatively. On the whole, project risks should be evaluated in terms of its impact and probability. Many risks that are often associated with change include but aren’t limited to, fear of change, stress, denial, quality of work, and anxiety. These risks can directly affect the quality which is customer driven, so it needs to be carefully managed and have quality standards in effect that align with the needs of the customer. Indeed, the management of the relationship between the business organization and its customers is one of the very sensitive tasks in a business organizational change management. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to the methodologies, and processes, skills employed in order for an organization to manage its customers in an organized manner. In marketing project for example, CRM has a number of roles which ensures that overall organizational goals are achieved. It helps in the formation of very individualized relationship between the customers and the business enterprise (Maloney, 2006). Besides, procurement management is also a crucial area. This is a sub-set of project management which entails the guidelines needed for acquisition of ‘goods and services to attain the aims of the project independent of the implementing organization (Sims, 2002).. A change control system for instance will describe the procedure of by which procurement documents can be done. This will entail tracking and authorization systems. While control systems are always configured to handle pre-determined agreements, there must clear guidelines that handle group emergencies (Sims, 2002). This may be in solicitation such as getting quotations, bids and proposals. Comparison between Project Management Knowledge Areas and Kotter’s Eight-Process for Leading Change John Kotter’s eight steps model in executing organizational change (Kotter 1995) is both similar and fairly different to eight project change knowledge areas in the following ways. Similarities Differences 1. In both cases, needs are created and communicated to the relevant stakeholders; In Kotter’s model this happens in Step one-establishing a sense of urgency; while it is part of the project integration. Kotter’s model creates the need and communicates it to managers, while in the project knowledge areas, strategies are crafted to respond to an already established project. 2. Both outlines monitoring and performance control measures for projects Kotter’s model has eight elements (steps) while project knowledge areas are nine 3. In both cases, there are very clear guideline for project control, development and execution that is line with creation of a vision and strategy Kotter’s eight step is more practical while project knowledge is more theoretically compelling in scope 4. Communication is a key pillar in both Project areas analysis is wider and more elaborative than Kotter’s guidelines 5. In both cases, there is a clear guideline for empowering members of the organization to act on goals/targets as well as own it 6. Both have strategies for long terms and short-term as well quality control 7. Consolidating Improvements and producing still more change 8. In both cases, there is a calculated process of institutionalizing new approaches that forms part of the organizational culture 9. Both have strategies for pointing out an opportunity in crises 10. Both cases amplifiers risk as an imperative component in project management Conclusion A number of conclusions can be drawn from on this paper. Broadly, to successfully implement a project such as organizational change, the project requirements must be carefully and realistically identified and achievable objectives logically established. Beyond this, the project implementers must seek to balance various demands of scope, quality, available resources, risk, time-constraints, cost and the quality of deliverables. This may require that various specifications, plans and strategies in response to the stakeholders are adapted depending on context. While, there must be a selection of appropriate process groups, there is need to put in place a combination of knowledge areas to activities of the project to find to achieve objectives. References Kotter, J. (1995) Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press Moloney, X.C. (2006). Winning Loyalty and Trust: Business’ Best Tools, Practices and Business Techniques. The AMA Events and Workshop Richman, L. (2006). Improving Your Project Management Skills. American Management Association Sims, R. (2002).Changing the Way We Manage Change. Wesport, CT: Praeger Thompson, P. (2003). Crafting and the Execution of Business Strategy. A text book reading: Strickland, Twelfth Edition, 3-207 Read More