Project Management Life-Cycle and Its Benefits to an Organization - Term Paper Example

?Project Management and Number: Introduction Project management (PM) has become a buzzword in the field of organizational management. The importance of strategic project management is fast gaining popularity in the contemporary corporate world. Many organizations have realized the significance of aligning project management (PM) with overall organizational strategies. Many managers have acknowledged that the alignment of project management strategies with overall business strategies boosts organizational performance and also facilitates the attainment of overall organizational objectives. Project management is a crucial part of organizational management that ensures the accomplishment of a series of organizational objectives within stipulated timeframes and budgets. Project management enables organizations to successfully pursue competitive strategies in their bid to achieve the desired organizational performance. Unlike conventional approaches, current literature acknowledges project management as a vital business process (Jamieson & Morris, 2004). This paper explores the significant principles of project management and how to use project management as a discipline to successfully achieve organizational objectives. Project Life-Cycle Management and the Benefits of Project Management to an Organization Project Life-Cycle Management Successful projects and campaigns usually rely on quality research, proper and careful planning, insights and regular adjustments on the basis of feedback. Project management life cycle basically has four interrelated phases (Gido & Clements, 2012). For instance, in a packaged water project that I was involved in some time back, the project was divided into four phases: initiation, planning, execution and conclusion or closure. The figure below represents phases of project management life-cycle. Fig 1: Phases of project management life-cycle Initiation In this phase, the organization has to develop a business case that describes the underlying problem or opportunity that the business seeks to undertake. It also explores cost-benefit analysis of each alternative solutions and the recommended approach. A business case will enable the organization to justify the commencement of the project to the project sponsor (Gido & Clements, 2012). It is essential top conduct a review in order to establish the viability of the project during the initiation phase. This will help in determining the likelihood of achieving the desired deliverables of the project. Also, a proper project team must be created that will ensure the accomplishment of every project task within the right timeframe. The creation of project office will set clear all the tasks that are supposed to be executed for successful completion of the project. The project charter is crucial for identification of the vision and objectives of the project, scope, project deliverables and overall implementation strategy among others. Finally, there is need to review the overall performance of the initiation phase so that any deviation can be rectified before it is late (Gido & Clements, 2012). Planning Phase This entails the development of schedules, strategies and necessary tools for implementation. This is where project plan is created. The organization develops plans for resource acquisition and use, financial, risk, quality, acceptance and communication. The organization uses project team to accomplish the tasks involved in this project management phase. Execution Phase This phase focuses on building project deliverables. It entails transforming organizational needs into actionable objects. The project team designs and develops the planned solution and authenticates the solution in accordance with organizational requirements. This phase also involves monitoring and control, which entails time management, cost management, quality control, risk management and procurement among others. Closure Phase This is the final phase of project life-cycle. It involves the establishment of project closure report and post implementation review. The project closure report ensures that essential steps are followed when winding up the project. It ensures that all the project tasks are executed and the project deliverables transferred to their target destinations (customers). Post implementation project review is also crucial enables the assessment of project successes, deliverables and lessons learnt in the course of project execution. It facilitates project validation by independent personnel and also boosts stakeholder confidence if all objectives have been met. Benefits of Project Management to an Organization Project management is central to the success of every organization. It helps in strategic accomplishment of particular organizational undertakings. Despite the fact that project management is usually costly, it offers numerous benefits to an organization. These include: Reduction of Delivery Costs Project management can considerably reduce the cost of delivering goods and services because of the existence of a prearranged and formalized project tactic. Project management usually focuses on achieving the best at the least cost possible. The consistent project management methodology that aims at reducing project costs benefits an organization through reduction of overall cost of production and distribution of deliverables (Melton, Iles-Smith & Yates, 2008). Risk Management Project managers are best placed to steer organizational projects to success while avoid possible material risks that could lead to project failure. Project management only ensures that the organization takes on risks that are worthwhile (Barkley, 2006). Talented project managers can ensure that project teams work towards the success of the project while remaining flexible to probable risk factors (Melton, Iles-Smith & Yates, 2008). Faster Delivery of Products to the Customers Project management allows an organization to transport products more efficiently to the market and sufficiently respond to market demand. The use of project management best practices can enable an organization to attain competitive edge over its rivals in the market (Harrison & Lock, 2004). Focus Benefit Projects usually focus on the needs of customers and work on the best ways of delivering products that will satisfy the needs of the customers of an organization. Efficient project management enables an organization to server its customers effectively and efficiently (Harrison & Lock, 2004). Quality Products Project management also enables an organization to produce quality products. Project management ensures that all deliverable are achieved according to the specifications and at the right time. Project management includes testing and quality control phases, which ensures that the organization supply its customers with high quality products (Harrison & Lock, 2004). Project Organizations and the Significance of Leadership and Sponsorship Project organizations are basically determined by the nature of arrangement of project team. There are usually three types of project organizations. These include functional, project-based and matrix project organizations. In functional organization, the project team comprises of members of the same department and all resources are supplied from the functional organization. It is characterized by clear authority. Project-based organization is usually applied in giant projects where functional units are created within project team. Lastly, matrix organizations ensure that functional units focus on their competencies and ensure that the project is staffed with experts. The packaged water project utilized a matrix organization. Leadership in a project provides influence and integrity that is essential for the success of a project. Project leaders help project teams to work within the project scope and ensure that there is adequate supply of resources need to accomplish the project. Without sponsorship, no project can thrive. Project sponsor provides all the essential resources that are crucial for the success of the project. Project sponsorship allows several projects to benefit from the expertise of senior project members. Project Team Building and Techniques of Successful Team Building Team building is essentially getting a group of individuals to work together efficiently and effectively to achieve some goal (Heldman, 2009). Project management team is crucial for achieving deliverables of any organizational project. The team is expected to work closely together in executing the tasks of the project. As such, team cohesion is a crucial element of team effectiveness in every project. Effective teams are significant for the success of any project. The creation of a high-level resource plan is the initial step towards creating an effective project team. Developing a resource plan demands project manager to establish the project tasks and human resource requirement to accomplish the tasks. This initial stage may necessitate estimation of the approximate number of individuals required to see the project through. The next step is to find the right mix for the project team. In order to create an effective project team, the project manager must be able to identify the right people for various project tasks. Only individuals with desirable qualities should be recruited into the project team. It is usually a challenging task for project manager to pull together a team of individuals who are result-oriented as a driving force for the project. It is crucial to develop strong relationship with project team members before the team begins to work on the project. Lack of strong bond between the project manager and project team often leads to lack of commitment to the project. There should be effective communication in order to reinforce team commitment to the project (Heldman, 2009). Developing clear roles and responsibility of team members is also crucial in building strong project teams. The project manager should discuss role specifications with functional managers as well as project team members. A project manager can establish a strong foundation for project success by actively engaging in the project activities with team members in the initial stages. As the project work progresses, it becomes easier to steer the project to success based on the strong foundation as well as close relationships with team members established at the start. The project manager should also work on the assumptions and expectations when establishing team operation consensus with team members. Techniques for team building The first technique that can be used to develop a project team is through team building activities. Team building activities include the management and actions aimed at improving the overall performance of the project team. It may also include the establishment of principles of handling conflicts within the project team (Gido & Clements, 2012). Another technique of developing effective project teams is through reward and recognition. Reward and recognition mechanisms usually aim at promoting desirable behavior among project team members. Reward and recognition systems must connect behavior with project performance and reward clear project achievements (Lee, 2004). For instance, a project manager who qualifies for a reward because of attaining cost objective of a project should possess adequate influence over decisions on staffing and project procurement. Further, effective and efficient project team can be built through collocation. This approach entails putting all active project members in the same location so that they can work as a team. It is most common with large projects, but can also work well for smaller projects (Lee, 2004). Finally, an organization can use training to develop an effective project team. The training program is established in such a manner that it encompasses all dimensions of improving the competencies of the entire project team. Training enhances technical as well as managerial skills of project team members (Lee, 2004). Techniques for Project Scope Definition and the Importance of Managing Scope throughout a Project There are four fundamental techniques used to define project scope. First is product analysis, which is usually performed to establish detailed understanding. The second technique is expert judgment. The use of experts helps to develop a comprehensive project scope statement. The third technique is alternative identification. This technique is applied to come up with various approaches to execute project tasks. Finally, stakeholder analysis is used to identify the influence of stakeholders, their needs and expectations (Schwalbe, 2006). The importance of scope management throughout a project is that it ensures that all essential project tasks and only the crucial tasks necessary to accomplish the entire project is completed. All tasks that do not contribute towards the achievement of the overall project objectives are perceived to be outside the project scope and should not be executed (Schwalbe, 2006). Creation of A Work Breakdown Structure, and How and Project Manager Breaks Down the Overall Project into Packages A work breakdown structure (WBS) refers to an arrangement of all project activities in terms of project deliverables. During the creation of work breakdown structures, project managers usually begin with the uppermost deliverable of the project. Work breakdown structure enables project managers to divide project deliverables into smaller portions that can easily be managed. Project managers can construct work breakdown structure as follows: Step 1: divide the project into smaller pieces of work. This is done by first determining large chunks of activities that must be accomplished for the overall project to be complete. The breakdown of a project depends on the nature of a particular project. Step 2: assess if the effort needed to complete the task is below the estimated threshold and also to determine if there is clear understanding the entire procedure to accomplish the task. If the detailed task is well understood by the project manager or project team members, then there is no need to break the work further. Step 3: progress with the break down each task as may be necessary. Project tasks that need much effort than the approximated threshold should be broken down further until they can be fully understood. The breakdown of work should continue as long as the effort needed to complete a task is still more than the established threshold (Newell, 2005). The Need for Contingency Planning and Why It Can Help Keep a Project on Schedule Every project is surrounded with risks and uncertainties. Contingency planning enables the project manager to effectively deal with project risks (Barkley, 2006). It eliminates the possibility of panic in the event of manifestation of any risk because it integrates possible project risks into the project schedule. Contingency plans are only put to use in the event of occurrence of pre-identified risks (Chin, 2004). By creating the capacity to deal with probable project risks, contingency panning help project managers to ensure that project tasks are executed as planned. Therefore, it can help keep on a project schedule because the schedule does not have to be reformulated when risks occur because contingency planning entails incorporation of such possible risks before they happen. According to Schwalbe (2006), “contingency plans are predefined actions that the project team will take if an identified risk event occurs.” Concept of a Phase Review and Why It Is Important To Sponsors The concept of a phase review refers to a checkpoint at the end of every project phase in order to ensure that the project is on the right track. A phase review is essential in establishing whether the project is ready to advance into the next phase. It entails the documentation of the present status of the project and forwarding a request to the project sponsors to progress into the next phase of the project. Phase review is performed at the close of every project phase. However, it is not necessary to perform phase review at closure phase because the phase is covered in the overall project closure report. Phase reviews include review of project schedule, expenses, deliverables, risks and emerging issues. A phase review form is then completed. The form outlines the outcome of a phase review (Haugan, 2006). Phase reviews are crucial for the success of any project because they facilitate detailed and frequent evaluation of the project to its present date. Phase reviews enable project sponsors to develop deep understanding on the status of the project at every milestone and act accordingly (Conchuir, 2012). The Need for Pm Software in Large Integrated Programs and the Benefits to the Overall Project Management Organization Projects and large integrated programs are usually sophisticated and rely on multiple factors for success. Because of this, organizations tend to use project management software to manage these complexities. Project management software helps in determining events that are linked with each other and the nature of their interdependence and establishes the consequences of altering situations or what happens if anything goes amiss (Gido & Clements, 2012). Project management software can also assist to schedule tasks for project team members and help to determine the amount of resources required to complete the project. Further, project management software can help organizations to manage uncertainties, which is a major characteristic of all projects. Project management software manages uncertainties by giving approximation of the time required to complete each project activity, ensure tasks are completed within deadline and also manage several projects concurrently. As such, project management reduces the level of uncertainty that surrounds a project and increases the chances of achieving project milestones (Ahmed, 2012). Conclusion Efficient Project management has become an integral part of organizational management process. Project management plays a crucial role in aiding organizations to achieve their overall objectives. Many contemporary organizations now understand the significance of project management in organizational success. Project management lowers the uncertainties that surround the operations of an organization. Effective and efficient project management can provide a sustainable competitive advantage to an organization over its rivals in the market. It can lower the overall expenditure, improve product quality and also reduce the period taken before products are delivered to the market. As such, project management enable organizations to serve their customers better and respond appropriately to market demand. References Ahmed, A. (2012). Software Project Management: A Process-Driven Approach. Sound Parkway, NW: CRC Press. Barkley (2006). Mechanical Engineering: Integrated Project Management 1st Ed. USA, McGraw-Hill Primis. Chin, G. (2004). Agile project management: how to succeed in the face of changing project requirements. New York: AMACOM. Conchuir, D.O. (2012). Overview of the PMBOK® guide: paving the way for PMP certification. New York: Springer. Gido, J. & Clements, J.P. (2012). Successful project management 5th Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western. Harrison, F.L. & Lock, D. (2004). Advanced project management: a structured approach 4th Ed. Aldershot, England: Gower. Haugan, G.T. (2006). 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