Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation - Literature review Example

Title: Project Plans Student’s Name: Name of Course: Institutional Affiliation: Date Submitted: Project Plans Introduction For a business to succeed there is need for its managers to have project plans put in place. Today, organizations are going through many changes in order to remain competitive in the ever-changing business environments. In this information age, change is best undertaken through project plans. Organizations that are project-oriented are now common. Turner (2009, p.1) indicates that 30% of the global economy today is project-based. This is an indication of how useful project plans are for today’s organization. Therefore, the ability to plan and manage project is a necessary skill for all managers. In order to understand the value of project plans, it is imperative for a structured approach to be adopted in describing the processes through which projects are managed as well as all the levels over which the management tasks are carried out (Schwartz 2004, p. 273). Projects come in very many guises. Some of them take the traditional form characterized by massiveness of scope that requires a large dedicated team and sponsorships from various organizations. Others are smaller, and require the output of majority of employees within an organization. This paper explores the usefulness of project plans, whether big or small. The contribution of project plans to the success of an organization is analyzed, with close reference to the literature review and examples of projects. Literature review Jones (2005, p. 12) indicates that through project plans, people in an organization are able to keep vital information and to get all things done. In other words, they are able to do things such as re-modeling a product, creating a technological innovation, designing a new advertisement or discovering a new way of maintaining customer satisfaction. The process of planning projects also entails solving problems. The way in which an individual conceptualizes a project is always characterized by a hierarchy of tasks or subprojects. Project plans, if well structured and made explicit, can aid in the organization of all related information. Project plans, by virtue of their structure make it easy for people to identify the behaviors that need to be adopted in order for them to be completed. They also facilitate the process of integrating information regardless of the form in which this information is presented, for example, a paper, a web page or an e-document. Project plans facilitate the visualization of the future of the organization as the designers of the project would want it to be. The plans also make it easy for implementers to determine the resources that are needed for certain crucial tasks to be completed. This makes the organization attractive to the external providers of resources. The success of any modern organization is highly dependent on its ability to attract resources. Projects plans constitute an organizational tool that effectively attracts resources since they are an excellent way of change management. Through projects plans, it is possible to deliver change in a precise, fast and flexible manner. Every effective project plan possesses the ability to maintain a transient existence while facilitating the move from one way of doing things in an organization to another. In most cases, a project plan needs to be unique, transient and novel in order to function as a vehicle of sustainable organizational change. The constraints of time, cost, and quality pose a major challenge for project planners. However, once this challenge has been overcome, managers need not worry about the implementation process since an effective guideline will have been put in place. Project plans are effective tools for creating various pressures in the organization for efficiency to be maintained. Transience, for instance, creates urgency, that is, the need for the work to be completed and the benefits obtained in order to repay all the money spent within the shortest time possible. The novelty aspect brings about new ways of thinking, working and integrating the tasks performed by different people across organizational structures (Turner 2009, p. 5). The plan acts as a framework for coordinating people’s activities as well as the use of money and materials. When planning is done in minute details, one is able to tell the point at which no further planning is required and all that is needed is risk management as well as an initiative to embark on all the tasks in their practical aspects. Kerzner (2006, p. 72) indicates that project management has evolved from a mere management philosophy that is restricted to only a few functional areas to an enterprise system for managing projects that affect each functional unit of a company. On a related rejoinder, Turner (2009, p. 12) views the management process as a necessity in every stage of executing project plans. When a management approach is adopted, it becomes easy for the implementers to ensure that the desired work is delivered at every stage. In other words, project plans make it necessary for team leaders to manage and lead others in the process of initiating organizational change. It is also in the project plan that all intermediate goals and milestones that are needed are defined (Jones 2005, p. 184). This task is often undertaken at either the strategic or administrative level. In this regard, work packages are easily scheduled within the project and entire budgets are developed. At this level, the manager is able to come up with a stable plan that cannot be change throughout the project. This plan becomes an excellent source of a framework for the ideal management strategy. It also allows responsibilities to be assigned to various organizational units. Project plans are a relatively recent addition in the organizational management literature (Kerzner 2006, p. 2). They are characterized by various methods of adapting special management techniques as well as restructuring management. Kerzner notes that, forty years ago, project management was the reserve of contractors in the U.S Department of Defense and construction companies. Today, the project management concept is being used in diverse organizations and industries, including construction, pharmaceuticals, defense, banking, accounting, advertising, state and local governments, accounting, and hospitals. The rapid changes in both the marketplace and technology have led to the development of enormous strains on the existing organizational structures and forms (De Meyer 2002, p. 16). The recent increase in the use of design plans has made it possible for the traditional bureaucratic structures with the modern forms that respond positively and rapidly to the changing situations both within and outside the company (Cleland 2006, p. 309). Project management comes with many benefits, one of them being the identification of various functional responsibilities that ensure that every activity is accounted for, regardless of its turnover (Leus 2003, p. 251). It also minimizes the need for continuous reporting while facilitating the identification of time limits for purposes of scheduling and methodology for trade-off analysis. Moreover, it makes it easy for accomplishments to be measured against plans. Through project plans, problems can be identified early on and corrective action undertaken (Milosevic 2005, p. 182). Higher rate of accuracy with regard to the ability to stay on the right course facilitates improvements in the estimation of capability for future planning. Therefore, it becomes easy to determine when it is impossible to meet objectives, or when they will be exceeded. In the course of pursuing these benefits, project planners have to confront several challenges, such as project risks, project complexity, organizational restructuring difficulties, customers’ special requirements, forward planning and frequent changes in technology. Project plans, by their very nature, are result-oriented tools. The motivation behind their creation is always to put the existing resources in an organization into better use. This approach does not quite destroy the existing vertical bureaucratic flow of tasks. The roles of line managers, who oversee the vertical flow of responsibilities, are left intact. It only enhances the way horizontal structures are streamlined within the organization. This sheds light on the unique responsibility that project managers have over the activities that take place horizontally within the organization. Rehesaar (2000, p. 120) indicates that the general perception that has permeated project management practice and education is that planning and control measures are key prerequisites for success to be realized in information systems project management. In other words, it is generally recognized that the between the project plan, the better the final result. However, Rehesaar (2000, p. 121) begs to differ, pointing out that although this assumption is an intuitively plausible one, there is lack of empirical evidence of the key relationships between project planning and the success of project management initiatives. This observation prompted Rehesaar to carry out a survey on information systems managers who were undertaking a software project plan. The survey suggested that there is direct relationship between the utilization of the software project plan mainly as a tool for control and management and completion of all projects within the set time budgets. This relationship did not appear to be affected by the comprehensiveness of the reference point, that is, the project plan. In a research study that appears to support Rehesaar’s observation, Dvir (2004, p. 2) found out that the positive impact of quality of planning appears to be almost completely overridden by many negative effects of changes in goals. In other words, if the total effects of all goal changes and plan changes on the success of projects were to be determined, tier combined effects would be considerably stronger compared to that imposed by the quality of planning. Moreover, the Dvir’s study highlighted the various contextual values that influence the planning process. Dvir’s study was based on a sample of 448 projects, whereby an analysis was carried out on the interactions between three different planning variables, goal changes, plan changes, quality of planning, and project success were analyzed. Platje (2004, p. 100) purports that in a multi-project organization, the management of many throughput times, cost of projects, and resource allocations simultaneously is a complex process that involves balancing of many, conflicting interests of many participants. For this reason, there is need to put the most effective portfolio management concepts into perspective by applying the application of planning and control cycle in individual projects in order to trade off all the interests of every department head and project leader. Through coupling various planning and control cycles for various individual projects, an overall framework can be built in order to meet various multi-project challenges, particularly those that have a direct bearing on the inherent nature of project plans. Van Donk (2008, p. 128) reports that nowadays, issues relating to projects plans as well as project management are found in virtually every organization. For this reason, it has become increasingly imperative for project failure to be prevented from occurring. In light of this observation, van Donk identifies some of the attempts that have been made to facilitate the task of redefining the conceptual basis that underlie project management as well as to define different new research, field development, and practical application avenues. So far, theory on organization design remains underexplored with regard to the way project organizations and their corresponding structures are understood (van Donk 2008, p. 128; Koskela & Howell 2002, p. 3). Using a typology of project structures, van Donk discussed two illustrative cases, where the typology indicated that contingency factors of various projects should be reflected in the appropriate project structures. According to Dvir (2003, p. 94), the success of a project plan is always insensitive to level to which various management processes and procedures are implemented. Most of these procedures and processes are increasingly being supported by modern computerized project management tools. On the other hand, there is a positive correlation of project success with investment in the development of technical specifications and requirements’ definition (Dvir 2003, p. 94). Dvir also recognizes the three most significant perspectives on project success as the project manager, the end-user, and the contracting office. Discussion and analysis Project managers need to understand the various benefits of project plans as well as the pitfalls that they should avoid in order to succeed in their project management initiatives. One of the most useful attributes of project plans is that they have strict deadlines and limits of resource utilization. On this basis, they act as guidelines on how particular initiatives are going to be undertaken within an organization. An emerging trend is one whereby projects represent an entire organizational framework. When a project is regarded as an organization, this means that the tasks that need to be undertaken have strictly set deadlines, modalities, and budgets. Such organizations are likely to record the highest levels of success in their goals. Although the project plans that are undertaken in multi-project organizations are difficult to implement, they have the potential to propel such organizations into new heights of success. In order for this to happen, there is need for creations of effective teams to oversee all the projects being undertaken simultaneously. Project plans also present an ideal way of infusing rapid changes in terms of both technology and the marketplace dynamics in order to keep the organization in tune with the emerging trends in globalization. The recent increase in the use of design plans is an indication of their usefulness in replacing the traditional bureaucratic organizational structures with modern forms that are more flexible to both internal and external changes in an organization. An example of a project design Turner (2009, p. 16) describes the example of a project aimed at developing a palm nut plantation. In this project, the work areas that may be listed in the plan include clearing the jungle and embarking on the work of planting trees, developing an operation team to maintain the plantation, and developing an elaborate system to facilitate the work of gathering, storing and delivering nuts into the market. A standard breakdown of product and work structures is needed in order to act as core element of the design plan, which should best be presented in a table. The columns may contain categories, depending on the areas that are most critical to the developer of the palm nut plantation. The duration of different activities that are planned may vary depending on the judgment of the project manager. For instance, in this example, the timelines for different objectives vary between one day (digging holes), to five years (bringing about economic growth). An upward analysis of the project plan table would easily recognize the project as an integral part of the development of the Malaysian palm nut oil industry. This indicates the ease with which both the internal and external dynamics of project plans can be figured out both by trained project managers as well as lay persons. This design plan is useful in establishing a relationship between the objectives to be achieved, the work ahead, the timelines to be pursued, and the resources needed in order for the project to be completed. This makes the work of monitoring the organizational project easy, interesting, and rewarding. Conclusion In summary, a project plan is a useful tool for the modern organization to figure out the best way to go about initiatives aimed at streamlining horizontal structures. For projects to be effective tools, they need to be monitored effectively through proper planning. The projects plans should be integrated into the mainstream organizational management tasks in order to be executed effectively. Unlike the traditional bureaucratic structures, the typical modern organization is best placed to utilize project plans maximally only when there is as much direct participation from the top managers as from various project team players. Although project managers may find it difficult to predict the future, they can determine the degree of uncertainty that is inherent in their projects accurately, thereby enabling them adapt quickly to it. References Cleland, D 2006, ‘Project management: strategic design and implementation’, McGraw-Hill, New York. De Meyer, A 2002, Managing Project Uncertainty: From Variation to Chaos, MIT Sloan management Review. Dvir, D 2003, ‘An empirical analysis of the relationship between project planning and project success’ International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 89-95. Dvir, D 2004, ‘Plans are nothing, changing plans is everything: the impact of changes on project success’, Research Policy,Vol. 33, No. 1,pp. 1-15. Jones ,W 2005, ‘The universal labeler: Plan the project and let your information follow’, Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 1-18. Jones, W 2005, The Universal Labeler: Plan the Project and Let Your Information Follow, University of Washington Press, Washington, DC. Kerzner, H 2006, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, Routledge, London. Koskela, L, & Howell, G 2002, The underlying theory of project management is obsolete, The PMI Research Conference, June 2002, Seattle, Washington. Leus, R 2003, The generation of stable project plans, A Quarterly Journal of Operations Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 251-254. Milosevic, D 2005, ‘Standardized project management may increase development projects success’ International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 181-192. Platje, A 2004, ‘Project and portfolio planning cycle: Project-based management for the multi-project challenge’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 100-106. Rehesaar, H 2000, ‘Project plans and time budgets in information systems projects’, Software Engineering: Education & Practice Proceedings, 2000 International Conference, pp. 120 – 124. Schwartz, E 2004, Real options and investment under uncertainty: classical readings and recent contributions, Routledge, London. Turner, R 2009, The Handbook of Project-based Management: Leading Strategic Change in Organizations, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. van Donk, D 2008, From organizing as projects to projects as organizations, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 129-137. Read More