Project Management for Project Rony - Case Study Example

PROJECT MANAGEMENT Name: Number: Institution: Instructor: Date: Project management Summary Project management is the process of organizing, planning, securing and management of resources so that a project will be successfully completed based on its goals and objectives. A project can be defined as a discipline that has a defined end and beginning given by specifications of dates. However, it is reliant on funding. The goal of a project is thus to achieve the goals and objectives set at the beginning of the project while ensuring that there are no budgetary fallouts, risks are either avoided or mitigated so that the project runs within the dedicated scope of time and the allocated funds. This report is going to cover the project management at Rony’s and how it failed to be properly managed which resulted into more money being spent into the project. Mistakes made during Project Rony will also be identified and give recommendations as to what should have been done based on application of theories. Problems in Project Rony A project has several processes which must be fulfilled for it to be run smoothly with minimal, if any, problems. According to Keil & Mähring (2010) these processes include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closing of the project. Initiation involves determining the project scope involving understanding of the business environment and if not properly performed it could cause failure of the project. Initiation stage consists of analyzing the needs of the business while reviewing the current operations. Finances and stakeholders are analyzed in this process and project charter including costs and schedule delivered. Custom Ronworking Company forfeited doing this process because Spenser Moneysworth found it not necessary to undertake. However, Rony gave the project 17 million dollars for a period of eighteen months but Moneysworth, project manager did not lay down a budget for the resources required to run the project and neither did he lay the estimates. He had no idea how many people were going to be involved in the project in terms of the ones who would be contracted to implement it and had to pick people as the project was going on. After initiation is planning and development stage. This is where time, cost and resources are estimated adequately so that work needed to be done is laid down by process, time it would take to be completed and the money that would be needed to undertake that particular step (Keil & Mähring, 2010). Risks likely to be encountered during the project are also identified and ways to mitigate them is given. The scope statement is developed as well as identification of roles and responsibilities for each person identified to become involved in the project. As given in the case study, Moneysworth did not bother with planning and he instead hired the Expert Industrial Developers to quote on the planned expansion. The EID were not familiar with the company to know what was be needed and how much it would have cost the company to implement the project and so they gave an estimate of more money than had been put aside for Project Rony. The project was also delayed because along the way there were several adjustments that had not been foreseen due to inadequate planning. Executing is the combination of processes done to complete the project involving coordination of people, resources and the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan (Roberts, 2007). Project Rony had no plan and so it was difficult to execute the project effectively. Moneysworth had not given much thought to the persons who would be involved in the project because he involved Ian who knew nothing of project management. There were always alterations in execution of the project because there was no plan to be followed which resulted to wastage of time, money and resources. According to Roberts (2007) monitoring is observing the execution of the project to identify potential problems early and initiate corrective measures. This observation is done with regards to comparison between the actual executions with the project management plan. Project Rony was marred with delays in time taken to complete it in addition to excessive costs arising from these costs. These delays also saw most long term contracts at Rony’s being cancelled as the clients sought other furniture companies. The company no longer had control over the project since none of the problem had been identified due to failure to control the project effectively which saw the company use money to mitigate every problem encountered. Unfortunately, even inspection had not been included in the activities of the project. The last element of project management is closing where lessons learnt are documented as the project is closed and contracts ended. Recommendations Project Rony is an example of a project that was poorly executed from the beginning and that is why it failed. There are reasons as to why the project was not completed on time and within the budget allocation. Some of them might have been tied to the attitude of personnel involved in the project and the leadership of the project. It is recommended that the members of the project can be motivated using the guidelines proposed by Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg, 1968). This includes provision of requirements for job satisfaction like achievement, responsibility a chance of growth and recognition for the work the employee has put. This would ensure that when a project comes along, employees would volunteer to be included in it since they will get recognition just by participation. This would give them morale to work accordingly to properly execute a project so that they get rewarded for work well done as they will not neglect their responsibilities. The staff should participate in goal setting which should coincide with organizational goals. In reference to Yitzhak and Linda (2004), Locke’s Goal setting theory, setting of goals help to motivate employees so that they work towards fulfilling that goal. In project management, goal setting ensures that personnel contribute towards fulfilling their responsibilities in correspondence to project objectives. The manager is supposed to give a chance to the staff to be involved in decision making because the nature of human being is to be part of the solution and not the problem. This is in relation to Theory Y (Allen, 1974). This should also be the case in project management whereby the project manager should give personnel a chance to draw up the project plan and voice their ideas during the project. This way, if an employee identifies a problem before the project manager, they will feel free to communicate it and problems will be averted. References Yitzhak, F, & Linda, H S. (2004). Enriching goal-setting theory with time: An integrated approach. Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 404. Allen, L. A. (1974). Beyond Theory Y. Management Review, 63(4), 31. Keil, M & Mähring, M. (2010). Is Your Project Turning into a Black Hole? California Management Review, 53(1), 6-31. Roberts, P (2007). Guide to Project Management: Achieving Lasting Benefit through Effective Change, 248-277. Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: how do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, 46(1), 53–62. Read More