Integrity in Project Management - Essay Example

? Integrity in project management Introduction Integrity is an important virtue and also puzzling oft-cited virtue that refers to a quality of a person’s character. Integrity can also be applied to objects to mean wholeness, intactness or purity of a thing – the meanings are sometimes carried over when it is applied to people. Persons of integrity sometimes may act immorally without knowing that they acted immorally. Thus people acknowledge persons of integrity even though that person may hold what people thinks are importantly mistaken moral view (Graham & Jody, 2001). As a project manager one is required to have integrity in order to sell to the project team for the need to succeed and deliver a quality project at the required time, on budget and within the scope of the project. Acting with integrity as the project manager will not only make the team members to buy into the plan but also become a solid extension of you and remain committed to your methodology and produce a better work. To act with integrity as a project manager requires some kind of tips such as; being impartial – this is being fair and objective oriented. Being fair in judgement and making objective decisions that fleshes out the problems and allow the team to get to the bottom of the project without patching them. Being thorough - finishing project tasks completely and in a comprehensive manner. Being thorough project planner means evaluating project requirements and any gaps in details (Heagney, 2012). To be project manager one needed to be focused on the end business result; team members should verify – within the scope of their project role – initial project requirements and the result that is being expected from no matter when they are introduced. As a project manager who acts with integrity you will probably know that you are allowing them to provide their own input based on their subject matter expertise and strengthens the chances of project success. Discussion Experience as an intern in HIV/AIDS research firm I served as a project manager intern in a firm that deal with research on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS firm. It was an awesome experience worth talking about. The research firm is situated in city of San Diego. As a project manager the biggest virtue I required was integrity. This is because I handled people who are older than me and some were my age mates. To identify self-integration and views of integrity is more of a personal matter; meaning that integrity is a social virtue, one that is defined by a person’s relationship to others, and it’s also a matter of person’s proper regard to their own judgement. As the project manager, it didn’t matter whether I was an intern or not the fact was that I was handling the position I had to make important and Taff decisions regarding the project and the team. As a manger and supervisor at the same time I had to credibly demonstrate commitment and personal accountability for the projects and activities integrity, promote an open and trusting environment and understand how my behaviour as the manager affected the team in the field. I had to gain a lot of skills so as for the team to produce a quality output. As the manager I had to develop leadership skills and behaviours that would be required for integrity management. At times I had to go the field with the team and talk with the clients. This was to make me understand the position of the team in the field and to acknowledge their effort. Challenges and experiences The organization is a big one and the position I was holding is a challenging one. The fact that I had a team to handle was more than a responsibility but also an experience to be gained. Management is a position that establishes the scope, priority and pace for system implementation and improvement, considering the complexity and risks involved with the project being handled (Heagney, 2012). It is said that whether you are a new project manager or experienced leader, project management will still reveal itself as part art, part science and part major headache. Working in this large firm I had to face and overcome certain challenges. I faced challenges like; unrealistic deadline – every project as it course and deadline the only problem I had to deal with is the late submission of the team sometimes. As the project manager I was answerable to such mistakes. I had go find an alternative approaches to the tasks and schedules in order to complete the project on time, or to get approval for slipping dates out. Most of my project timelines slipped due to faulty initial deadlines and the assumptions that created them. i had to deal with the changing of the scope of work. This was an evil that controlled most of the projects carried out. The changing of the scope had to alter the entire teams plan and cause delays for submissions. I had to face uncertain dependencies from the team sometimes. Being the project manager and the team determine project dependencies, I had to assess the risk or the reliability and it involved trusting the team’s assessment on the project. Even though I had to deal with such challenges I also had to learn and gain experience. I possessed quick sifting abilities, knowing what to and not to ignore, not to use information as a tool to command, have command and how to handle you team staffs. I handled my challenges by managing the stress with creative planning, alternative analysis, and communication of reality. I also had document what was happening or anticipated to happen, communicate the challenges and project plans to the participants, stakeholders, team and management. Integrity becomes the biggest virtue to be upheld when becoming a good project manager and also to develop a good command and project management. You can also think of integrity as something that places moral constraint upon the kind of commitment to which I person with integrity must remain true. References Heagney, J. (2012). Fundamentals of project management (4th ed.). New York: American Management Association. Read More