Project Recruitment Processes - Assignment Example

Project Management By Name Date Task 1 Project recruitment processes A project is a team based activity in which human resources from different domains work together to achieve a common goal. The success and failure of a project completely depends on the capabilities of project team members. In fact, a good team can turn a failure into successes in the same way a bad project team can turn the successful project into a failure. Additionally, the role of a project manager is critical in identifying and selecting well-qualified team members. In fact, it is direct responsibilities of a project manager to select team members, conduct meetings with them, establish a team identity, create a common sense of purpose or a shared vision, and manage a reward system that encourages teamwork. The process of selection and recruitment of staff members heavily depends on the nature of an organization and project. In addition, the recruitment and selection processes can also be affected by two important factors such as the significance of a project and the organizational structure adopted to complete the project. However, projects that are critical to the future of the organization, the project manager will be given virtual carte blanche to select whomever he or she deems necessary. While selecting and recruiting team members for a critical project a project manager must search for the human resources who have required experience and qualification, which is critical to the success of the project. In addition, there are also various other factors that affect the selection and recruitment of staff members[Har06]. In addition, recruitment is a system that necessitates business viewpoint, capability, and skill to discover and analyze the most excellent possible candidates for the association, management, promotion skills and understanding to line up the employment procedures for the advantage of the business[Kar051]. Given below are some of the important factors that project managers need to consider while selecting and requiting team members: Problem solving ability: Keeping in mind the nature and complexity of a project, the project manager should select the resources that have the potential to work under uncertain conditions and posses high level problem identification and problem solving capabilities[Cli06]. Availability: Sometimes project teams are made up of the people who are not required for that project or the people who are required for the team are not available at certain time. If team member selected are already overcommitted, they would not be able to offer much [Cli06]. Credibility: The credibility of project increases when high quality team members are assigned to the project. Selecting high quality resources for a project team increases the chances of success. Political Connections: Project managers should hire those people who already have a good working relationship with project stakeholders [Cli06]. Ambition, Initiative, and Energy These qualities can play a significant role in the success of the project so these qualities should not be underestimated [Cli06]. [Mar109] discuss an example of Nestle’s project, which was a high priority project for the firm. They followed the same principles which are presented by [Cli06] In view of the fact that this project was related to inventory and supply chain management hence Chris Johnson who was the project manager selected and recruited those resources that had operational knowledge of the organization. In this scenario, Johnson was able to build team as a result of the priority the firm placed on the project. In this way, this high performance team showed excellent work allowed Nestle Corporation to homogenize operations across all businesses, establish a worldwide procurement group in charge sourcing all products, and make more efficient reporting which presents an absolute financial demonstration of the firm. In addition, the efficiency of this best team led the success of the Globe implementation project[Mar109]. In light of this example we can conclude that a project manager should be free in choosing the best team at the same time as keeping in mind the aspects of project. Task 2 The essence of project management is risk management Risk Management Process In project management, the concept of risk management refers to a practice that is aimed at identifying and managing activities that could unconstructively have an effect on projects, or organization or programs. In simple words, risk is the chance or likelihood a bad event takes place. While talking about risk in the context of project management is a measure of a project’s incapability to accomplish its goals within particular restrictions and limitations. Risk is an important part of project management. Without proper risk management the concept of project management is incomplete. IF we don’t follow the process of risk management and don’t form risk management strategies to deal with risks then a project cannot be successful, even project manager and team is competitive. For instance, one of the biggest healthcare IT project NPFIT failed due to underestimation of the risk factors. There were certain risks associated with this project such as time, budget, technology and risk of changing schedule[Ali13]. The project also involved changes in requirements and scope which caused serious flaws. There should have been proper risk and change management processes. The project manager failed to apply effective risk management process and the project became one of the biggest blunders in history of IT projects. Risk management allows us to build and implement a variety of strategies depending on the nature of the project. Each strategy follows six standard rules, which are outlined below: Identify Risks: One of the most important steps of the risk management process is the risk identification in which we identify the series of activities that could have a negative effect on the project’s schedule, cost, or technical performance requirements. The basic purpose of this step is to itemize identified project risks and, by this means, recognize risks not straight away obvious to the project team (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006). Analyze Risks: At this step we will determine the likelihood of the event whether it will take place or not. We assign high, low and medium probabilities to demonstrate the occurrence of risks (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006). Prioritize Risks: At this step we determine the priority and the relative rank-order of the identified risks (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006). Develop Management Plans: Once the project risks have been identified and determined, a management plan is implemented for each risk. In this plan we decided for necessary actions to be taken in order to deal with identified risks. Normally, a contingency plan is developed at this step (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006). Evaluate Progress: At this step, we determine the progress of the risk-handling activities presented in a risk’s management plan (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006). Reevaluate Risk Exposure: At this step we determine the continuing efforts to recognize and determine new risks and effects and to reassess already identified risks (Garvey, 2001; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005; Kerzner, 2006) Once the risks are identified and classified using a risk management strategy then we need to develop a contingency plan that will address the project risks and potential weak areas. In this way we will be able to handle and manage the risk regarding the overall development in an effective way. Task 3 Project closure A project should have a closure for the reason that a project definition comes with a starting date and ending date and without a formal closure process, projects can drag on as stakeholders endeavor to incorporate ‘just a few more requirements’. Hence these unexpected and unbudgeted add-on scan form serious consequences such as significant impacts to schedules and budgets; sponsor interest wanes and the team loses motivation and focus. In addition, any major changes at this phase of a project should be considered as a next edition of the product and a new project. Moreover, it is the responsibility of a project manager to tightly manage these changes[USS12]. Some of the important activities of a project closure are outlined below: Transfer Deliverable Goods Delivering the product to the end user is one of the important activities of closing process however this process depends on the nature of a project. For instance, if we have developed a new software program for a specific client, in this scenario, delivering that software to our client is necessary in order to close the project. In addition, these kinds of project require training on the use of the deliverable goods[She13]. Analyze Project There is another most important activity of the project closure and that is analysis which involves the project stakeholders looking back over the project failures and successes. At this point, it is essential to conduct a group meeting or individual interviews of the people who took part in the project. In addition, make use of the meeting to review the projects results as well as finding out how the team members and stakeholders felt were roadblocks in the process[She13]. Finalize Documentation Project documentation is an essential element of every project. These documentations include the initial project requirements, the testing records, documentation of the development phase, and documentation of the development phases. In addition, the organization should keep documentation related to the project for future reference if necessary. Additionally, a cover sheet should be created for all of the documentation that provides a short indication and outline of the project and a list of stakeholders participated[She13]. Reassign Resources This is the end of the project where we have team members with free time. When closing the project, we need to transport those team members to other projects or duties in the place of work[She13]. Why might project evaluation be an integral component of this process? Project Evaluation is frequently performed by a self-governing person to offer a balanced view of the project results. The initial step is to evaluate the project outcomes to decide whether the project accomplished the outcomes, attained the results, functioned inside the scope, as well as achieved the outcomes on time, within budget and due resources. The evaluation as well requires deciding whether the project matches to the administration procedures stated in terms of reference. It as well recognizes the major project accomplishments, breakdowns and some lessons learned intended for future reference. Project evaluation should comprise the list of the main accomplishments for a project and explain the positive influences that every success has had on the customer's industry. It also includes list of some project stoppages as well as explain the results they have had on the clients industry. It also states the lessons learned from responsibility of this project as well as list some proposals intended for similar projects in the future[SQA13]. Bibliography Har06: , (Kerzner, 2006; Gray et al., 2010), Kar051: , (Legge, 2005), Cli06: , (Gray et al., 2010; Kerzner, 2006), Mar109: , (Palmer & Anderson, 2010), Cli06: , (Gray et al., 2010), Mar109: , (Palmer & Anderson, 2010), Ali13: , (Maughan, 2013; Shuhab-u-Tariq, 2010), USS12: , (USState, 2012; Frost, 2013), She13: , (Frost, 2013), SQA13: , (SQA, 2013), Read More