Project Management Theory - Essay Example

The knowledge a person needs to become a project manager is summarized in the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK). The guidelines provided by the PMBOK are considered generally accepted practices which mean that the practices can applied uniformly in virtually any project (Project Management Institute, 2007). The five phases in the PMBOK lifecycle are initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing. The table below offers a description of the processes for each phase:Phase or process groupDescriptionInitiating Defines and authorization of the projectPlanningDefines the objectives and establishes a plan to achieve those objectivesExecutingIntegrates the human and other resources to carry out the plan layout by the project managerMonitoring and ControllingMeasuring and monitor the progress through the project to comply with the objectives.

Correction action is taken when project expectation are not being met.ClosingProject is formally delivered to the client and formally accepted. Any cleanup or close down of temporary facilities is performed. (PMBOK Guide, 2004) I had experience working projects in which I applied the PMBOK framework without realizing it. I worked in project to install 100 office cubicles for a call center during a summer. I worked as part of 12 person crew. A person created the layout while the rest of the crew worked on organizing the materials of used cubicles which came in a truck.

We had two week deadline and the team worked two eight our shifts. Once we had about 50% of the worked done we took photos and send them to the owner of the company for him to monitor our progress. He was happy with the progress made and we continued and were able to close the project within the established time constraint. LRH products is a marketing company that has a project underway which is mainly a trade show presentation. A member of the marketing team has been assigned the task of becoming project manager for the trade show for the first time.

The young project manager must use the PMBOK framework to accomplish the task. Before initiating the project he should interview the members of the team ask them about their experiences with the previous trade shows the company has performed. In the planning phase he has to create the work schedules for the team, the travel arrangements, inventory of materials to be utilized and plan the customer relationship strategy that will be utilized in the trade show by the company representatives. The execution of the plan starts by building the booth and placing all the marketing materials.

The training of the employees should be performed by Pat, one of the executives working on the project. The project manager has to closely monitor the performance of his employees. A feedback box is a good tool for clients to express their opinions about the trade booth. This information can be utilized by the project manager to evaluate performance. The project will end after two weeks. At that time the project manager is responsible for cleaning up the trade show area and creating a report for the management team of LHR specifying the operating results of the project.

ReferencesPMBOK Guide (2004). A Guide for the Project Management Body of Knowledge (3rd ed.), 42. Project Management Institute. Retrieved June 1, 2007 from http://www.pmi.orgProject Management Institute (2007). Retrieved June 1, 2007 from http://www.pmi.org