Managment in Library Science - Assignment Example

 Executive Summary The present project deals with the project framework of a library where guest speakers will be invited on an event. This project presents a detailed report of the various activities involved in the project as well as the budget and resources associated with it. The plan presents a blueprint about the step by step phases involved in the project and their execution within the planned timeframe. Contents Introduction 4 Project Life Cycle 5 Body- Significance of Project Management in Library Science 5 Findings 12 Gantt chart 15 Recommendations 16 Conclusion 17 References 19 Introduction In almost every field of life we come across a lot of task that involves team work. Team work is essential when the work is time-consuming, complex & needs the involvement of various specialized activities. Starting from arranging a festival to constructing a bridge, every activity requires team work. In the corporate world, this group activity has got a definite term which is known as Project Management. A project is not a routine task, it is a certain set of functions designed to achieve a particular goal. Sometimes the project team involves people who usually do not work together; they are acquired from different departments, different organizations & different localities. In simple terms, Project Management involves a temporary group activity. Project Management is related to the application of knowledge, techniques & skills to complete a project efficiently & effectively. It is a strategic decision by the organization to enhance their competencies by tying the project outputs to the organization’s objectives. Previously project management referred to the collection of project data & metrics for evaluation & then accordingly making changes to increase efficiency & productivity (ds.psu.edu., 2008). For the past decades, this area of management have become quite popular within the corporate world because of the following reasons- The average salary of a project manager is quite high in comparison to the managers of other domain. Every year, a huge amount is spent for the purpose of accomplishing various projects. Lately, project management has been included as a subject of study in various educational institutes. It acts as a control mechanism for various projects. Project management helps in controlling the human capital, budget, quality, resources, time frames & communication. Project Life Cycle Projects always have a starting date & an ending date which means just like products, projects also have a definite life cycle that starts with the starting date & ends with the ending date(weill.cornell.edu,n.d.) . The diagram shows the different phases of a project life cycle- Body- Significance of Project Management in Library Science The various stages of a real library science project involves- 1. Study stage- It is the basic investigation stage where the developer is expected to make proper study regarding the budget, resources, location, surrounding and costs related to the project. 2. Feasibility stage- This involves a variety of feasibility analysis including the cost and time required for the completion of the project. 3. Preconstruction stage- At this stage, the decision for physical formation of the project is made. Obtaining approvals from the higher authorities and signing contracts are the main parts of this phase. 4. Construction stage- The actual preparation work is done in this phase and the expertise of library management is applied here. 5. Supervision stage- At every phase the work needs proper supervision and monitoring. This is done to avoid any wastage, misuse or delay. 6. Completion stage- This is the final stage where the work gets completed according to the requirements of the authority that delegated the work. The stages 2 to 4 are vital for the implementation of the project management techniques to avoid cost and time overruns. In the present project we will deal with the project framework of a library where guest speakers will be invited on an event. This project presents a detailed report of the various activities involved in the project as well as the budget and resources associated with it. This is a report that will be handed over to the manager with all the detailed step of the project. Librarians positioned in the middle management getfrequently concerned with project management than with all the majormanagerialscheduling. Projects small and large, like renovation or construction, deciding a new reserve management structure, running a resourcespromotion campaign, putting on a consultation, or creating a phone app (Carpenter, 2011), all have a life cycle. Efficient project managers should be capable of managing resources and people that are not unswervingly under their administrative control. In this way the challenges of runningmultifaceted projects will be addressed starting from the classification by the means of planning, implementation, and successful conclusion (on budget and on time). If the project is in the initial stages of a particular project, the project manager will have the chance of creating its Project Charter and get the feedback related to it (Project Management for Librarians, 2011). Frequently when libraries start working on a project, they usually carry out the project with the help of the existing employees, who already have numerous tasks. As a result, according to Allan’s belief it is necessary for those participating into a project to have the required tools to administer the task of the project effectively and efficiently. Accomplishment of the project relies on the capacity to extend a group of members who will be aggressively engaged in the procedure, will work in an integrated way to take possession of the task, and will see it to a flourishingresult. This constituent is referred to as the “soft” or humanepart of the project management and is basic for considering a project towards its completion stages. Allan considers the techniques and tools of project management and put them forward in such a manner that they can be tailored for any magnitude project in both a small and a large library. The researcher provides numerous case studies and examples exemplifying the miscellaneous applications of these techniques and tools. The genesis of the techniques and tools that Allan put forward are modified from the work and experiences of the defense and construction industries. Recognized to be very detailed and complex, the projects of both defense and constructionsectors have life cycles that consists of these phases namely commencing the project, setting up the project, executing the project, assessing and evaluating the project, and distributing information about the project and its results. Allan uses these cycles as the framework and core for her publication (Allan, 2004). A project manager is expected to manage- Performance and Quality Cost and cash flow Organizational Behavior Time This can be done with the help of various organizational resources and activities like planning, organizing, directing, staffing, controlling, monitoring and scheduling. These functions should be executed by keeping in mind the time constraints, quality constraints, environment constraints and cost constraints. Planning is essential for a project as it helps to determine how the objectives of the project will be achieved. Planning is a process that combines logical creative thinking with various techniques to develop a project outline. The plan mainly includes resource plan, time plan and a framework for controlling the project. The plan also comprises of timings for the preparation of the design, the various work quantities, the budget, the progress of the work and the estimates of cash flow (Vanhoucke, 2012). A plan, especially for a construction project, must be devised and implemented keeping at par the regular functions of management which will prevent the project from utter failure. The given chart shows a sample plan of a housing project- Scheduling is the next most important part of a project. It helps to simplify the project plan. When the work schedule is prepared on a bar chart, then it gives a clear idea to the people related to the project, about the requirements of the project and about the function of each personnel. A schedule depicts how much work has been done and how much more is required to complete the project (Lester, 2007, pp.2-3). An effective schedule also acts as a forecasting tool for allocation of resources and explains the financial condition of the project in terms of expenditure, income, investment and output. Control function helps the management to achieve the organization’s objective by supervision at various levels. The diagram illustrates the pyramidal management structure defining the type of control applied at each level- Starting from the bottom of the pyramid, we can find that operational control exists at the supervisory level that control- Wastage of resources Economical utilization of the plants and equipments Unproductive man hours In the present case this level would involve the supervisors to keep track of the work done. This is monitoring stage where the supervisors constantly goes through the process of work done and then presents their views for further improvement. The supervisor is answerable to the manager. The second level is the managerial level that executes administrative control. It includes- Analysis of the project time and its effects on the project objectives Updating the various work status and determining the remaining work Preparing the budget and forecasting the expenditures. Calculation of the revenues and estimating the cash inflows. Evaluation of the production cost and forecasting the future. The manager gets feedback from the supervisor about the various tasks done by the employees and he accordingly decides the resources and budget for the next task level. At this level the manager decides who should be responsible for which job and if he feels like, he can change a person’s job responsibility and delegate him with some other task. The third stage executes control at the general manager’s level which mainly influences the formulation of policies and implementing those in achieving the organizational goal. At this stage the general manager seeks information from the manager who has direct association with the employees. The manager informs the general manager about the positive and negative points of the organization as put forth by the employees. Basically a manager works as a link between the management and the employees. The final level is the strategic control stage which formulates strategies to fight competition at the corporate level. These strategies are prepared keeping in mind the available resources, the budget of the firm, the market, the target audience and the competitors(Chitkara, 1998, p.31). Handling projects is not a novel theme for libraries; though, since the varying nature of library task, along with reserve expectations and constraints for responsibility, the need for effectual project management has augmented. Numerous articles have been written regarding project management in libraries, however as a few of those articles have illustrated, the theme has not been dealt with to the equal extent in library prose as other domains. Most of the current literature has been regarding education, training and/or skills for project management (Kinkus, 2007); definite project management tools, methods, or techniques (Cervone, 2004, 2007;) and outline of project management practices, often with instances of how project management has been executed for a certain project at a specific library (Atkins, 2004; Burich, 2006; Greene, 2010). In addition to the articles about the project management expertiseand providing proper training to the librarians for theapplying the necessary expertise, some articles deal with particular techniques or tools. The University of Central Florida Library’s application of the Microsoft Project software program to provide assistance towards the implementation of the new e-reference softwarehas been detailed by Zhang and Bishop (2005) in their article. Findings The manager has come to me with the idea that she would like to organize a full day of guest speakers to talk about innovative practice in information. Thus the objective of the project is to arrange the event within the scheduled costs and time frame. Since the guest speakers will be engaged for one full day therefore it is required to make arrangements for their transportation, catering and lodging activities. First of all it is necessary to find out the cheapest mode of transport and the cheapest accommodations in the city. The three cheapest services will be selected for the task and accordingly the cheapest yet decent one will be selected.The entire break-up of the budget is shown in the given table- Per Speaker’s one day’s charge Lodging charges for one person for one day Catering charges for one full day Transportation for one full day Total $1200 $ 700 $1000 $1300 *3 *3 Total $3600 $2100 $1000 $1300 $8000 The feasible sources were evaluated two months prior to the scheduled day and the cheapest yet decent mode of transportation, lodging and catering had been reserved on an advanced basis. The deadline of all the arrangements has been set on 10th of February. Therefore the bookings were started during the 10th of December 2013. After arranging for the arrangements for the speakers, it’s for arranging for the marketing and promotional activities. For successful conduction of the event it is needed to assign tasks to the staff of the library. We assume that there are five people namely A, B, C, D and E for performing the tasks. Since E is efficient in the marketing domain therefore marketing activities will be assigned to him. The rest of the responsibilities assigned to each person is shown in the responsibility matrix. For conducting the event it is necessary to replace the three to four computer with new ones and also it is required to arrange for podium, chairs, microphone, projectors and loud speakers. The work breakdown structure is shown as follows (Haugan, 2002)- Responsibility Matrix on the basis of RACI method At its most basic part, RACI is an approach to look at a methodology step, undertaking, action, exertion, choice or investigation to figure out who is Accountable, Responsible, Informed or Consulted. RACI might be utilized to figure out basic issues with a methodology where the wrong individuals are included or nobody is responsible. RACI Matrix is the tool used to perform RACI Analysis (KENDRICK, 2010). Activity A B C D E Replacing computers R C C A I Arranging for other equipments C R I I A Recruiting sufficient number of staffs A I R C C Managing funds I C A R I Proper marketing of the event A I I C R R= Responsible, A= Accountable, C= Consulted, I= Informed The marketing person was given the responsibility of surveying the market and gathering information about the audience’s opinions about such an event. It was found that audiences aged 35 to 50 are mostly attracted to the theme “Innovative practice in information”. Also it was noticed that people attached to the Information industry are mostly drawn to the theme of the event. All the five staff members were given the responsibility of spreading the updates of the event among their friends and family members. Each staff member was given the task of raising $400 from the market as funds for the event. The ticket charges have been fixed at $4 per entry which means each staff member needs to sell 100 tickets. The ticket selling activity will start from the first week of February 2014. These are tickets for those who made last minute plans for attending the event. The people who booked ticket earlier are not included in this list. However any kind of cancellation of the previously booked tickets will not give rise to any kind of refund/reimbursement. Ticket selling activity Gantt chart Current Date 1/28/2014 Title Project1 Project Start 1/28/2014 8:00:00 AM Project Finish 2/7/2014 5:00:00 PM % Work Complete 100% Recommendations It is required to keep in consideration the organizational structure as well as the culture while conducting a project. An organization’s culture will influence the way in which projects are to be undertaken. Allan (2004, p.139) refers to Hofstede cultural dimensions that should be taken into account when working with different nationalities. Relative emphasis given may be a function of the industry in which the organization is located, the style of management of senior executive officers, whether the organization is public or private sector and so on. These dimensions may be interdependent. Also Risk analysis is a critical factor for any project. Before implementing the necessary steps in a project it is required to consider the factors that could prove to be risky for the performance of the project (Schwalbe, 2008). Potential Risk factors for the project at hand are as follows- 1. Fluctuation in market price of computers 2. Poor audience interest in the session 3. Inflation 4. Political disturbance 5. Employees leaving job 6. Unavailability of suitable human resource 7. Up gradation of Technology 8. Entry of new gadgets in the market 9. Unavailability of a particular speaker 10. Lack of funds 11. Natural calamities 12. Poor storage and maintenance of the computers that were newly bought 13. Health Hazards to the staffs 14. Change in Legal and Government policies 15. Other more attractive events on scheduled on the same day Some of the above mentioned risk factors are uncertain and beyond the control of the management. However factors like attracting audience, gathering funds, maintenance of the computers etc. can be done efficiently if the right measures are taken. For attracting the audience, it is recommended to add some brand value to the event which can be done by making partnership with one or two well known brands of the region. Also selecting a location that will be easy to commute is vital for making the audience’s journey to the place convenient. Conclusion Thus it can be concluded that the entire activity of project management involves various kind of decision which must be planned well in advance. The goals of the current project are to make the general people aware of the innovative practices used in the field of information and also to make the academic library noticeable for them. This will attract increased memberships for the library as well as it can be expected that a great number of sponsors would like to support events conducted in the future. In order to make the event a grand success, proper planning and budgeting is very much essential. The planning stages must also cover the budget and the resources available to the organization. Since project management is a new domain for the information industry, therefore the tools of the project management tasks should be chosen carefully. Projects always have a starting date & an ending date which means just like products, projects also have a definite life cycle that starts with the starting date & ends with the ending date. It is necessary to allocate several tasks to the most capable person according to its importance. For instance since marketing activities and the reservation activities need to be done at an advanced stageand the other activities like arranging for computers, equipments and conference hall can be started at a later stage. It is very much necessary for a project manager to keep track of the project and therefore aGantt chart helps them to find out which task require how many days and whether there are overlapping tasks or not. The work breakdown structure helps in breaking down bigger tasks into smaller packages that would help the person to whom the task has been assigned, to do it with ease. The responsibility matrix plays a vital role in successful execution of a project since this matrix allocates definite responsibility to definite person. Finally, it is necessary to analyze the risk associated with the tasks and proper provisions should be maintained. References Allan, B. (2004). Project management: Tools and techniques for today's ILS professional. London, Great Britain: Facet Publishing. Atkins, S. (2004). Projecting success: effective project management in academic libraries. Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1664&context=iatul Carpenter, J. (2011). Project management in libraries, archives and museums: Working with government and other external partners. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing. Chitkara, K.K. (1998). Construction Project Management. New Delhi : Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ds.psu.edu. (2008). Project Management Defined. College of Information Science & Technology. Feeney, M., &Sult, L. (2011). Project Management in Practice: Implementing a Process to Ensure Accountability and Success. Journal Of Library Administration, 51(7/8), 744-763. doi:10.1080/01930826.2011.601273 Haugan, Gregory T. (2002) Effective Work Breakdown Structures. Vienna: Management Concepts. Lester, A. (2007). Project Management, Planning And Control: Managing Engineering, Construction And Manufacturing Projects to PMI, APM And BSI Standards. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Lientz, B.P., & Rea, K.P. (2002) Project management for the 21st century (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Lock, D. (2007). Project management (9th ed.). Aldershot: Gower. Project Management for Librarians. (2011.) School of Library and Information studies. Retrieved from http://www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed-ProjMgmt.htm Project Management Institute. (2008). A guide to the project management body of knowledge. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc. Project Mangemnet Docs. (n.d.) Free Project Management templates. Retrieved from http://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/ Schwalbe, K. (2008). Introduction to Project Management. USA : Cengage Learning. Vanhoucke, M. (2012). Project Management with Dynamic Scheduling: Baseline Scheduling, Risk Analysis and Project Control. Belgium: Springer. KENDRICK, T. (2010). The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right. USA :AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn weill.cornell.edu. (n.d.). PMO Project Phases. Weill Cornell Medical College. Retrieved from weill.cornell.edu Kinkus, J. (2007). “Project Management Skills: A Literature Review and Content Analysis of Librarian Position Announcements." College & Research Libraries68.4: 352 -363. Cervone, F. (2004). “How Not to Run a Digital Library Project." OCLC Systems & Services 20.4: 162-166. Cervone, H. F. (2007). “Standard Methodology in Digital Library Project Management."OCLC Systems & Services 23.1: 30-34. Burich, N. J. et al. (2006) “Project Management and Institutional Collaboration in Libraries." Technical Services Quarterly 24.1: 17-36. Greene, J. (2010). “Project Management and Institutional Repositories: A Case Study at University College Dublin Library." New Review of Academic Librarianship 16: 98-115. Zhang, Y. and Bishop, C. (2005). “Project Management Tools for Libraries: A Planning and Implementation Model Using Microsoft Project 2000." Information Technology & Libraries 24.3: 147-152. Read More