Project Management - Organizing a Talent Show - Literature review Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT A TALENT SHOW Executive Summary This project report briefly describes the tools and techniques used during management and execution of a talent show program, a group tasked project conducted as part of learning phase during MS Project Management program. This report not only critically evaluates weak and strong points of different techniques but also comments on various skills acquired during the project management. The report consists of three main sections. First section carries out critical analysis if techniques used like SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis and Gantt chart and effects of their applications on the project. Second section presents critical reflection of team work, key skills of project managers and skills and competencies gained during the project. Last section critically discusses the four articles on Project management from academic journals that are related to the study area focused during the project management task. Critical Evaluation 1.1 Introduction This section is an endeavor to critically evaluate the significance and implications of four out of the ten techniques namely SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Gantt chart and CVP analysis in managing the project. The analyses of these tools and techniques would then be made part of the subsequent presentation to discuss their validity. From an objective point of learning, the study and utilization of these techniques is not only critical to educational domain but also crucial to existing practices in the industry. 1.2 SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis is an instrumental subjective tool to identify the internal organizational factors, Strength and Weakness, and external factors, threat and opportunities to best align the organization with its strategic objectives and identify the best possible scenario for operation by augmenting the decision making process as guide reference and not with precision. Although it is a much acknowledged and widely used tool in industry, but Fine (2009) has questioned the limitations of SWOT analysis to effectively determine the strategic objectives and course of actions to be adopted by any organization. Wikipedia (2011) pointed that it is quite possible for an organization to overlook certain key facts and view the overall scenario as quite simple since the tool lacks precision in its application. Because of its simplicity to become a mere list of facts, Cartwright (2002) suggested carrying out further analysis and research for determining the relation between negative and positive factors and how they affect each other, their magnitude and their significance in comparison to that of competitors. Piercy and Giles (1989), is of the view that categorizing facts in internal and external factors is a subjective exercise and may not deal with inherent uncertainty prevailing in the market. According to Pickton and Wright (1992), since the tool is subjective in its application, there is strong probability that accomplishments may be categorized as strength, threats as opportunities and weaknesses as decisions. As a counter argument, Coman and Ronen (2009) stressed that SWOT analysis is an effective tool to build a company’s strength, maximize opportunities, reverse its weaknesses and overcome threats. He further adds merits to the capability of this tool for effectively identifying the core competencies of the company. Felton (2004) goes on adding that it is not the failure of the effectiveness of a tool to present good analysis rather failure of applying it effectively. Besides the inherent limitations associated with SWOT analysis and criticism by many authors questioning its precision, the group decided to conduct a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the task and create a business model to identify and categorize the different facts as weaknesses and threats to identify the limitations and negative factors, and as strength and opportunities to exploit potential strategic contacts to embark upon. From SWOT analysis, group identified that the strength of the project lies in its experienced event organizers, strong brand name of well-known television show and its good market share. However, one major weakness was absence of project manager or consultant to efficiently and effectively handle the project. From the analysis, group viewed shift in consumer’s taste, emergence of new products and new regulations as a potential threat to the talent show. 1.3 PESTLE Analysis PESTLE analysis is a very useful and effective model to study an organization’s macro environment by classifying relevant factors into political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and environmental categories that may affect entire spectrum of operations and profitability. Bensoussan and Fleisher (2008) emphasized that these categories are not independent and mutually exclusive since a particular issue can be deliberated under more than one category. According to Smith and Raspin (2008), PESTLE is an invaluable tool to predict significant changes in external macro environment of a company in rapid and unsettled changes with limited available information to identify significant opportunities and threats that may put an organization’s existence on stake. However, this technique provides a panoramic view of the macro environment; therefore, it demands a swift response or any delay may turn valid facts into assumptions under rapid changes and developments and thus requires regular review of technique under updated business information. William and Curtis (2006) is of the view that PESTLE analysis is not about predicting future rather it presents distinct and plausible group of possible futures with context and focus for analysis to craft a strategy for dealing with these different scenarios. PESTLE analysis equip managers to seek dimensions other than conventional world views, comprehend sources of disagreement and recognize a scenario to build ability for development of strategic thinking and course of action to effectively control these factors in organization’s favor (Best, Dalton and Allan 2005). In group’s point of view, the PESTLE model was a powerful tool and can effectively be utilized to give a panoramic view of the project. The tool helped to identify and update information on environmental factors relevant to tax policies, tariffs and council laws and noise pollution to anticipate the possible issues that may arise during the execution of the project. Using this tool, group was able to analyze the life style and taste for type of entertainment of the targeted audiences to forecast the possible success of the talent show. The analysis also helped to decide the pricing strategy for the talent show considering the economic downturn affecting the expenditures and buying power of the customers over their preferences. Intellectual rights and copyrights for sale of materials were also analyzed as part of the PESTLE analysis to deal with legal issues. 1.4 Gantt Chart Analysis Gantt chart is used to graphically represent tasks to effectively plan and schedule a project. This tool also illustrates milestones thus enabling the entire team to be on the same page and comprehending the distribution and allocation of resources. According to Clark, Trabold, and Polakov (1922), Gantt charts have the ability to decipher each individual activity on a single paper as to how these together complete a project. Communication may that be in form of a status report or an informal one, Gantt chart is one tool that has the ability to sequence all activities and enhance coordination among all stakeholders. Clark, Trabold, and Polakov (1922) is of the view that Gantt chart presents opportunities for partnership and collaboration resulting in creative solutions that might not evolve under conventional methods of assigning tasks. In doing so, this tool ensures efficient management of time and avoidance of any delays that may impact a project negatively. Clark, Trabold, and Polakov (1922) goes on adding the benefits of Gantt chart by stating its ability to place all pieces of project puzzles with a more focused approach and effective decision making allowing to visualize resource allocation and team accountability in a glance. On major limitation of Gantt chart is that it entirely depends upon work breakdown structure to be constructed so that each activity must first be defined to accomplish the project. Frank (2003) contradicts the effectiveness of Gantt chart by emphasizing that it fits to smaller projects only with less than 30 activities as larger projects go unwieldy and are not suitable for smaller displays as information per unit area is quite less. Gantt charts have poor inability to show interdependencies and are immutable to changes that may come overtime to the project requirements. Oke and Charles-Owaba (2006) is of the view point that Gantt charts represent little information about triple constraints of time, cost and scope and their effects on each other since this tool largely focuses on time management. Whilst there are many limitations of the Gantt chart, project team decided to construct one to effectively represent the project scheduled activities and make a formal project plan. This tool helped team to identify major dependencies between activities so a critical path can be defined. In addition, by constructing the Gantt chart, team was able to identify communication requirements among all levels of the project for effective coordination by breaking down project into small more manageable activities in sequential order to complete the project. 1.5 Cost Volume Profit Analysis Cost Volume Profit analysis is a simple analytical tool that provides a panoramic overview of the project planning process to evaluate strategic decisions including critical aspects like valuating price, product development, market share growth, contracting and discretionary budget planning (Horngren et al. 2009). According to Horngren et al. (2009), basic simplicity of this model lies in three inputs; sales price, variable cost and fixed price which remove any complication to ensure preservation of focus on critical issues. This focus is a direct derivative of assumptions on nature of model and limitations imposed on model scope infringing upon relevance of model with real case scenario. Machlup (1952) criticize that major deficiency in the CVP model are the underlying assumptions. (Brigham 1995) recognizes inability of the model to appreciate significance of capital cost and risk factors in budget decisions rather only focusing on expenses and revenues. Another drawback with this model is that it ignores the non-linear behavior of revenue and cost schedules, insofar as, it assumes no demand or production changes with volume change. Therefore, Brightman and Schneider (1992) suggested to broaden the scope of CVP analysis as Magee (1975) advocated to incorporate asset changes and risks effects in the model. Besides simplicity of the CVP model due to assumptions and limitations associated with it, group decided to carry out CVP analysis since a parsimonious analysis is indeed essential for incorporating strategic thinking within the project scope. Although this model is generic in its nature but would be further refined as the project scope and other relevant information is progressively elaborated. The CVP model was used to analyze expected profit based on assumed cost and volume. In this way, major elements of cost including but not limited to time, material, overhead and contingency were taken into account and assumptions about expected volume were made to forecast revenues. 1.6 Summary In this section, team comprehensively studied different tool and techniques including SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Gantt chart and CVP analysis and their underlying assumptions and limitations. This study helped team to identify which tools can or cannot be used in the project and if yes then what is their likely benefit and degree of effectiveness. Based on key benefits and implications of apply a tool, team selected all of the four tools to obtain required information that would guide them through the process of project planning and then during project execution by developing strategic thinking. Critical Reflection 2.1 Introduction Wertenbroch and Nabeth (2000) stressed that human learning is a process accomplished through reading, hearing, feeling, performing and socializing where Dewey (1933) advocated another dimension of learning i.e., by reflecting on our experiences. This section critically discusses group’s experience in terms of team work and leadership gained during the project. A reflection of key competencies and skills gained while working on the project is also presented as part of this section. 2.2 Team Work Teamwork is a result of joint effort by a group of people in a manner that each individual go beyond personal interests to achieve efficiency and effectiveness of the group towards a common goal. Difference such as cultural, social, personal, political, professional, religious and educational may hinder building an effective team. Dyer (1995) viewed lack of communication and poor commitments as major source to dampen teamwork. Cultural differences result from diversity in beliefs of individuals and may impact effectiveness of a team (Dyer 1995). In this module, five individuals comprised a group to work on a particular scenario using project management tools and techniques learned during course study. All five members are from difference cultural identities as Alhassan and Saeed from Saudi Arabia, Henry from Ghana, Peter from Nigeria, and Abdusalam, from Libya. This effort proved fruitful not only working towards a common goal but also allowing each individual member to understand cultural values of others which helped in building an effective team. It is important to acknowledge that teams just do not form at their own and immediately start working rather to be more effective and cohesive teams work through four different stages (Maddux and Wingfield 2003). In the first stage, forming, team member look for the acceptable behaviors within the group and are more cautious. Maddux, R. and Wingfield (2003) viewed second stage, storming, as most difficult in team development processes as each individual is more focus on others than on work. Individuals are faced with situations and idea they have never experienced before. In third stage, team members try to accommodate each other and settle down the differences to exhibit more cooperation towards common goal. Performing is the stage where members explore and accept strength and weaknesses of each other and have defined their roles and are more trusting and open to each other. Undoubtedly, the group also walked through these stages of development before an effective and efficient team with focus oriented towards common goal evolved. There may be digression and other tangents that intend to divert the attention of team from the common goal involving them in non-productive topics and this happened many times so deciding an agenda for all the discussions helped maintaining focus on ultimate goal. According to Maddux, R. and Wingfield (2003), reaching a consensus and make decisions accepted by all team members is critical to the success of team. In our case, team leader divided the entire task into smaller portions and distributed among team members considering their abilities and preferences. Thus each member performed his part of project and efforts for correlation, coordination and communication were made to develop a common understanding and unanimous agreement on decisions made during project meetings. 2.3 Leadership PMBOK Guide (2008) defined leadership as "establishing direction, aligning people, motivating and inspiring people to overcome political, bureaucratic, and resource barriers." The most popular model for leadership styles, as indicated by Northhouse (2009), is based on amount of freedom he gives to his subordinates. This model includes three main styles autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. Autocratic style is mainly task oriented and the leader is more focused on completing the job where subordinates have less to say. Democratic style allows group member participation in decision making and everybody is important to be listened. Laissez-faire is a style that is more people oriented and less task-centered. Here, group is almost left at its own without any guide or moderator to direct them in right direction and it is expected that group would realize and learn from its own mistakes. According to Northhouse (2009), the basic skills required for good leader are varying and diverse in nature covering the entire spectrum of human personality. A quality of good leader is to get people motivated and sustained towards the final goal. Giuliani and Kurson (2005) goes far saying that a leader must adopt a “contagious” approach as he should know how to work hard and when to have fun. He adds by narrating that a good leader must be honest, direct, straight forward and knowledgeable and must maintain a positive attitude since all the people are watching his actions closely that would define the course for achievement of final goal. From point of view management skill, a good leader should be good negotiator, communicator and coordinator. A good project manager is equipped with necessary skills to manage risks, performance, and unexpected problems faced during the course of activities (Giuliani and Kurson 2005). In absence of formal authority, group decided with mutual consensus to nominate a project manager who would also be acting as the team leader, and to follow the democratic leadership style after weighing merits and demerits of all leadership styles. From the group’s point of view, it was absolute to have a project manager who can initiate, plan, execute and monitor and control all project activities for successful completion of the project. Since the style of leadership adopted by the project manager and the group mainly relied on group participation; therefore, every member had the opportunity to improve his learning and skills and share his experiences in his allotted assignment with other members. This activity helped team members to work in cohesion and collaboration since output from one member’s task may be input to one or many other tasks performed by other team members. Also team members were motivated to take part is decision making process to guide activities that should follow to successful project completion. 2.4 Skills and Learning The exercise in which entire team was involved is based on project based learning concept. According to Capraro and Slough (2009), project based learning allows students to develop problem solving, decision making, investigative, managing and reflection skills through class room projects in real practical scenario. During this project activity, entire team was able to equip itself with new skills learned through experiences during the successful completion of the project. Team learnt to identify and analyze constraints and assumptions and conduct strategic decisions to define the project scope. In doing so, a comprehensive study into SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis was conducted. Work breakdown structure was created to identify what needs to be done and then decomposed work packages into smaller activities for scheduling. For schedule management, team learnt how to identify mandatory, discretionary and external dependencies among project activities, create a network diagram using Precedence Diagramming Method and Arrow Diagramming Method to perform critical path analysis and to determine leads and lags. This formed the basis to estimate resources and duration for each activity using three point estimation and reserve analysis techniques. Finally team learnt to develop a comprehensive and realistic schedule and defined a baseline against which project performance can be measured. Based on the information from the project scope, work breakdown structure, planned schedule and allocated resources, team estimated cost for the entire project taking into account, variable, fixed, direct and indirect costs. In this relation, team used application of CVP model for defining requirements and forecasting estimations on cost and profitability. This enabled the team to complete the cost budgeting and define a base line to monitor and control cost as the project moves to completion. Earned value technique is a good tool to effectively monitor and control the project cost. Before project execution, project manager and leader was nominated and the role of each team member was defined and they were assigned tasks necessary for the completion of the project. For effective human resource planning, team identified all the stakeholders that may affect or get affected by the project. All members of the staff were identified and their role and duties were clearly defined to avoid any confusion. Undoubtedly, effective communication plays a vital role during all phases of a project. For this purpose, team went to plan what all information is required, what is to be disseminated, what all would be media for dissemination, who would be sender or recipient of the information. In doing so, use of modern communication technology was encouraged in addition to conventional room meeting. However, all meetings were scheduled and an agenda was defined to keep team focused on project activities. Any changes to project plan was effectively monitored, approved and communicated to all concerned so that no disconnect occurs as far as project scope was concerned. Based on information from SWOT analysis, threats and opportunities were defined which helped the team to identify both positive and negative risks. Team held many risk management session to effectively plan risks. A list of risks was created and categorized as internal, external, technical and unforeseen. Team conducted qualitative risk analysis using Probability and Impact Matrix to sort and rate risks in order of preference as to which ones need immediate response. Team also learned such techniques as decision tree for quantitative risk assessment. Based on these analyses, risk responses were determined to mitigate the threats and enhance probability of opportunities to achieve successful completion of the project. 2.5 Summary This section gave a critical reflection of group’s skills and learning acquired during the project completion. Team members learnt not only from academic point of view but had acquired practical skills fundamental to industry. Team members only learnt through their personal experiences but sharing of knowledge and experiences among members play a vital role in accelerated learning. Risk management and communication planning were main learning areas of this module. Team was able to equip itself with techniques to effectively balance aspects of triple constraints i.e. time, cost and scope. Critical Discussion 3. Evaluation of Journal Articles This section is an endeavor to provide a brief critique of at least four academic journals relevant to project management module on which group is working. The titles of the papers with details available in reference are as follows: “Project Scope Management” “Crafting the Art of Stakeholder Management” “Essentials of Design Phase Cost Management and Budget Control” “Application of Standard Project Management Tools to Research – A Case Study from a Multinational Clinical Trial” All of the four academic journals corroborate factors for a successful project management. Although these journal pivot on same central theme of effective project management, these accentuate on different knowledge areas and aspects of management that concern a project’s successful completion. Khan (2006) emphasizes that managing the project scope is crucial to the project completion and a critical function of project manager since it ensures effective management of other knowledge areas including time, cost, quality, procurement, risk and human resource management. In Khan’s (2006) point of view, a detailed feasibility study report during initiation phase of the project helps to gain management’s approval for go ahead is essential part of scope management. Khan (2006) concentrates on deliverable oriented form by creating summary and intermediate level work breakdown structure using rolling wave planning or progressive elaboration, design basis memorandum, invitation to bid and basic engineering package contract. Khan (2006) is of the view that progressive elaboration is best achieved when all stakeholders work together in cohesion and collaboration with each other in way that primary responsibility of concluding details of work breakdown structure are assumed by the project manager or sponsor. Khan (2006) stresses that methods to monitor and control scope changes must be employed in early stages of the project scope management and changes should be defined as discretionary or non-discretionary. Preventing unnecessary changes to scope and evaluating its impact on other areas of cost, schedule, quality and risk and disseminating the change information to all concerned stakeholders is critical to the project completion. Antonioni (2009) sees these changes as “source of major concern” during execution phase of the project and is of the view that project manager and sponsor are mainly responsible for managing these changes. Khan (2006) reiterated that verification of all design and engineering deliverables is needed as part of scope planning and work accomplished in accordance with requirements. Antonioni (2009) underpin stakeholder management as the key role to be played by project manager since he views project as a complex “interplay” of power, influence, resources, politics and stakeholder expectations. Antonioni (2009) views dynamics of stakeholder being affected by a range of trust, power and status that if not managed effectively may cause complexities leading to conflict. Antonioni (2009) defines stakeholders as allies who show high level of agreement with the project and those adversaries with disagreement or low agreement as challengers. Therefore, it is crucial to define all the possible stakeholders, their role and influence on the project to analyze business expectations and operational requirements as a comprehensive work breakdown structure is crafted. Responsiveness is critical for developing relationships and managing stakeholders; therefore, Antonioni (2009) stresses to identify the type and form of communication requirement by all stakeholders in initial planning phase that would be used during execution phase of the project. During status review meetings, stakeholders need to be updated on project progress for which they should be made familiar with Earned Value Techniques, this is way stakeholder management is a challenging learning journey. Sundaram (2008) makes argument that cost overrun is of critical concern to stakeholders since budget compliance is necessary. Prevention against cost overrun is easier in initial phases of the project than during later phases and can be achieved by maintaining an organized methodology and design to cost approach. Sundaram (2009) recommends setting up committed pro design to cost teams who understand their role and responsibilities and skilled in good estimation techniques to estimate real and accurate budget and minimize risks associated with cost overruns. Sundaram (2009) stresses exploring of alternative concept and design for developing lower cost approaches and use of value engineering and value analysis to improve product value at minimum cost. To effectively control and monitor the cost, Sundaram (2009) suggests keeping bid packages simple without confusion, alternates and unnecessary documentation and verifying the adequacy of contingency and risk associated with bidding processes. According to Sundaram (2009), cost model is an effective and organized tool to breakdown project budget into more identifiable, logical and smaller parts for easy management. These models make it easier for the project manager to identify the problematic areas in case any cost overruns are seen in the project. Sundaram (2009) recommends adding contingency to cater for degree of risk and uncertainty with the cost estimate. In a similar way, allowances can be allocated for events that are not clearly defined or more dominant in the earlier design phases of the project. There are a number of software tools that can be used to effectively manage a project, including but not limited to Primavera, PRINCE2 and Microsoft Project. Gist and Langley (2007) review that project management tools add value to the project and rather than viewing these as an administrative liability. The use of project management tools for high level summary reports for diverse site locations should be appreciated (Gist and Langley 2007). Key features like comprehensive business case, products and activities to achieve them, resource allocation an organizational structure make these project management tools suggest these as a doable approach. Gist and Langley (2009) argument that even if these project management tools do not cover all aspects of the project still these exhibit a logical set of project management concepts and processes to provide minimum requirements for completing a project. Since project are unique and different from each other in many aspects; therefore, tools itself and the approach to apply a particular tool can be customized and tailored accordingly for accommodating project requirements. References Khan, A. (2006) Project Scope Management, Cost Engineering, 48(6). Gist, P. and Langley, D. (2007) Application of Standard Project Management Tools to Research – A Case Study from a Multinational Clinical Trial, The Journal of Research Administration, XXXVIII. Antonioni, D. (2009) Crafting The Art of Stakeholder Management, Industrial Management, 51(1). Sundaram, V. (2008) Essentials of Design Phase Cost Management and Budget Control, Cost Engineering, 50(2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2011) SWOT Analysis, [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis [Accessed: 5th May 2011]. Fine, L. (2009) The SWOT Analysis: Using Your Strength to Overcome Weaknesses, Using Opportunities to Overcome Threats, New York: Kick It. Cartwright, R. (2002) Mastering Marketing Management, New York: Palgave. Piercy, N. and Giles, W. (1989) Making SWOT Analysis Work, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 7(5/6). Pickton, D. and Wright, S. (1992) What's SWOT in Strategic Analysis?, Strategic Change, 7(2), p.101-109. Coman, A. and Ronen, B. (2009) Focused SWOT: Diagnosing Critical Strengths And Weaknesses, International Journal of Production Research, 47(20), p.5677-5689. Felton, R. (2004) A Question of SWOT, Metal Powder Report, 57(9), p.3-6. 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(2009) Project-Based Learning, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Read More