Managing Project - Research Paper Example

A project is defined as 'a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result' (PMI, 2000:4) there are two key aspects to the concept of projects. These are 'temporary endeavour', indicating that there is a beginning and an end to it, and 'unique product, service or result' implying that day-to-day operations are not (part of) projects. The implication here is that the IR project is comprised of two aspects, those being the actual execution of the project and the daily operations involved in the fulfilling of the aforementioned goal.

Project management is a broad area of study, involving multiple business aspects ranging from strategic decision making to human resource management and from stakeholder management to investment decisions. The first papers on project management techniques were not published until the 1950s (PMI, 2000). Most literature referred to large scale military, defence, IT, construction and R&D projects. Project management was defined as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

Further, it provides one with the tools and strategies which are prerequisite for the successful management of projects (Mumford, 2000; Charvat, 2003). It has been identified by several management and organizational development scholars as integral to the efficient and effective management of large-scale organizations (Elonen and Artto, 2003; Meredith and Mantel, 2003; Thiry, 2004). In direct correlation to the proposed IR project, the above stated definition outlines the extent to which project management is ideally suited for the former's purposes.

The IR project is both sizeable and complex, added to which, it is primarily driven by such developmental needs as which have identified the energisation of the country's tourism sector as integral to economic growth. Both the size of the project and the internationally competitive sector within which it is located highlight the necessities of utilising project management tools and strategies as a means of ensuring on-time and n-budget completion.2.3 Programme ManagementProgramme or project portfolio management may be defined as the coordinated management of grouped projects (Gray, 1997) for the purpose of maximising efficiency by prioritising projects, eliminating those that incur excessive risks and costs, and identifying those that best subscribe to organisational objectives (Meredith and Mante