Active Being Project - Essay Example

Project Management Management is an important facet of the human environment. It involves harnessing resources intended to achieve particular predetermined objectives and aims. Management facilitates the coordination of efforts in a diverse human population with different resources. It is conceivable that some managers have achieved managerial successes without the grip of management theory. It is implicit for contemporary managers to appreciate the significant role that management theory plays in the success of organizations (Barnes, 2001, p. 56). In the context of business, management is the art or science of achieving objectives through people. Essentially, management infers to the act of making people commit to required objectives within the right time and without any compromises. On a broader spectrum, management creates bureaucracy that obtains its importance from the essentiality of strategic planning, coordination, directing and controlling complex decision-making matrices. This paper relates management practice and theory from a practical standpoint. Evidently, management theory asserts the need for formulation of aims and objectives in any project. In essence, management takes five functions including planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. These five dimensions of management mutually interact and complement to ensure the achievement of objectives (Ernest, 2011, p. 105). Planning involves the identification of goals and the relevant pathways to achieving them. The planning process is a foresight of the project path, possible limitations and available counteractive options. Plans vary from the most general purposes and objectives of the most precise and detailed actions. Planning takes place after substantial human, and material resources are committed to the project. From the Active Being project 2014-15, we collectively formulated the development of a new leisure complex with the ground floor housing a gymnasium, washrooms, and reception area. Through the management planning models, forecast was evidently more appealing. In the planning facets, various rooms were designated for relevant activities that would ultimately determine their sizes and the facilities used in them. Planning, as provided in the management theory, involves a clear designation of roles to ensure that productivity is enhanced to the fullest (Mahadevan, 2010, p. 58). This provision motivated us to recruit and train a group of 22 members of staff to hold the various positions that would emerge from the initiative. At the planning stage, we determined the primary labor force that could competently fill in the different available positions. Indeed, this process of recruitment embraced the ideal requirements of staffing including taking inventory, recruiting, choosing, placing, endorsing, appraising, compensating, and training. In-job training adequately developed both fresh employees and experienced jobholders to accomplish their tasks efficiently. According to management theory, controlling measures and corrects activities that support staff in order to redirect their efforts to conform to the plans. Controlling evaluates performance against goals and plans. Furthermore, the measurement of performance against objectives and plans helps to establish where negative deviations exist thus enhancing motion actions to correct deviations. These responsive measures in management contribute to ensuring the accomplishment of plans. Although planning must precede controlling, plans are not self-achieving. In the Active Being project 2014-15, we objectively designed for the various rooms, their designs, and locations within the building. The conceived building plan provided a visual impression that fostered reality of the project among the workers and the various stakeholders. Management utilizes the human cognition to trigger action. Management theory asserts the need for proper overhead budgeting. This implies that every vote head within the project should have a fair allocation of finances commensurate with their levels of contribution to the general project objectives. In appreciation of this aspect of management theory, Active Being project 2014-15, segregated the overhead costs into grand opening funds requirement, purchases, recruitment and refurbishment (Mahadevan, 2010, p. 58).In the wider list of issues for budgeting, it was evident that refurbishment was highly prioritized since it assured the prolonged operational existence of the constructed building. In the transformation view of management, projects for management are conceptualized as transformation of inputs to outputs. The project management is guided by several principles involving the fragmentation of the overall transformative aspect of a project to smaller units of conversion, tasks and limiting the cost imperatives of each task to be undertaken independently. This management strategy was manifest in our project at the budget assortment plan where each of the several vote heads received a fair share of financial allocation basing on their strategic importance in the achievement of the project objectives (Ernest, 2005, p. 61). Theoretically, management comprises of three attributes. These characteristics include; management as planning, dispatching model, and thermostat model. Management as planning coincides with the management at the operations level to be consist of creation, review of and implementation of plans (Ernest, 2011, p.125). Essentially, the application of this paradigm was evidenced by the grassroots establishment of the necessary resources, perception of the desired progress path, and delegation of duties and responsibilities among employees and stakeholders in the project (Barnes, 2001, p.116). On the other hand, the dispatching model of management assumes that planned tasks can be executed by a notification of the start of the task to the executor. The thermostat model is the cybernetic model of management control that consists of a standard of performance, which is measured at the output (Ernest, 2011, p.75). The possible variance between the specifications and the measured value is used for correcting the process so that the standard can be reached. Through planning for risks and evaluation, it was possible for the project implementation to benchmark the progress against the plans. Assessment in the course of project implementation facilitates the recasting of constraints to confer positive contributions to the project. In the evaluation process of the project, various indicators of success were used to determine the progress path. Issues such as flow of finances, turnover of labor, and risks of operation were used as effective indicators in the project. Borrowing from the theory of control, various parameters are used in measuring of the realization of assignments, investigation, and elimination of adverse relationship between project variables (David, 2003, p.188). Management theory emphasizes the significance of motivation in the management of human resource. In the risk assessment and evaluation, MG2130 provided for adequate reward for labor and the provision of incentives for dedicated employees. Motivation increases organizational performance (David, 2003, p.197). The realization of absolute motivation borrows from the delivery of incentives and rewards. Certainly, this was achieved the reward of high turnover of labor and the deduction of salaries for excess leaves. These strategies primarily served to foster dedication among the worker to ensure the achievement of the project objectives. Subsequently, in management, theory provides a framework for the classification of significant and pertinent management knowledge. For instance, in the case of Active Being project 2014-15, the area of designing an effective project structure, implied several other principles that are interrelated (Cole & Kelly, 2011, p. 157). Contemporary theories of management are self-enforcing, tend to account for, and help interpret the quickly changing nature of the current organizational environments. Some theoretical propositions of management are subject to trial in the actual field. However, since the theories of management are self-enhancing and complementary, it is impossible to ignore the application of the theories in management (Cole & Kelly, 2011, p.57). Management serves the purpose of ensuring the achievement of organizational targets at minimum costs and with minimum waste, checking the welfare and health of the staff, and protecting the resources of the organization. Management requires technical, human, conceptual skills that are critical for project success. Technical skills denote the knowledge of and proficiency in activities involving methods, processes, and procedures (Cole, 2004, p.154). Therefore, it involves working with tools and concrete techniques that ensure the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Human skill in management is the ability to work willingly with people, harnessing their efforts for a common goal. In corporative management, stakeholders and other participants obtain the security and assurance to freely express their opinions. In the risk assessment strategy, Active being project provided the opportunity to openly engage with employees in the case strikes. This engagement was intended to understand the human resource dynamics that motivate labor standoff. In the process of employee interaction, measures to accept the diverse views of the employees and to take long-term proactive control measures were designed. Principles of management are fundamental facts that explain relationships between independent and dependent variables. The principles of management may be either descriptive or predictive, but not prescriptive (Barnes, 2001, p.76). This means that the principles describe how one variable relates to another and the anticipated outcomes of the scenarios involving such interactions. For instance, in the implementation of the Active Being group project, the specifications of the building and its inner rooms were designed accurately to accommodate the intended activities (Christensen &. Raynor, 2003, p. 68). Each room was pre-established to be used for specified activities and equipment required was determined in advance. Managers who apply theory in management must usually blend principles with realities. Once managers know about theory, they obtain the capacity to forestall future problems that may occur in the enterprise. (1511 words, in text citations included) Bibliography Barnes S.2001.Knowledge mangement systems: Theory and Practice. London,Thomson Learning. Oxford Univ Press. Christensen, C. M. &. M. E., 2003. Why Hard Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory. Harvad Business Review, 81(9), pp. 66-74. Cole G.A, 2004.Management Theory and practice. London: Thomson Learning. Oxford Unv. Press. Cole G.A & Kelly, P 2011.Management theory and Practice, Australia,South-Western Cengage Learning. Ernest., D., 2011. Management:Theory and practice. 18 ed. New York,NY: McGraw-Hill. Christensen, C. M. &. Raynor M. E., 2003. Why Hard Nosed Executives Should Care About management Theory. Harvad Business Review, Vol. 81, no. 9, pp. 66-74. David, C., 2003. The branding of managment Knowledge. Rethinking managment "Fads" Journal of organizational change management, Vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 186-204. Ernest., D., 2012. Management:Theory and practice. 19 ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Ernest, D., 2005. Managment:Theory and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill Mahadevan. B, 2010. Operatins management:Theory and practice,Upper Saddle Rive:Pearson. Read More