The Thames Valley University Prize Giving - Essay Example

The Advantages of adopting a project management approach for planning and organising of the TVU Prize giving A project is often the term used for a single endeavour taken up to achieve a specific result. This could be a research document, a charitable venture, an infrastructural facility or an event or any other undertaking that sets about achieving a definite goal in a particular period of time. Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, time, and cost constraints (Wikipedia). The Thames Valley University’s Prize Giving, being a yearly event, can be considered a project, which works towards organising the programme in a specific time frame and date of the actual event. Adopting the project management approach to this event can ensure that no ad hoc planning prevails and the resources are well managed within the constraints. The organising can be divided into specific activities like the drawing up the objectives and tasks, risk management, estimating and accordingly allocating resources, designating specific tasks to people, executing the event and assuring the quality. This kind of systematic approach can also include a post-event analysis to understand the flaws of management and identify gaps that could be filled the next time. The Thames Valley University (TVU), a leading university in London, especially famed for its London School of Tourism Hospitality and Leisure, organizes an annual prize giving ceremony for its graduating students. This is a major event, which includes hundreds of guests, mostly parents and friends, but also prominent personalities in the society. The function includes honouring the toppers of different streams in the university and also an annual Prize Giving Concert for some departments. The London School of Tourism and Hospitality and Leisure had its Prize Giving for the 2006 batch on the tenth of April. Fifty students were awarded prizes for their various academic achievements and managerial milestones, in the presence of the Mayor and Mayoress of Ealing and special guest Garry Lord Thurso, MP( Member of Parliament). The magnitude and importance of the event is evident from the number of participants and the luminary guests attending the function. The organising is a Herculean task, which requires months of careful planning and detailing. The event management team has to take into consideration the catering services for the function, the guest list, the different awards and sponsors, their recipients, the actual minute-by-minute planning of the ceremony and a host of other activities. Using a project management approach to planning and organising the TVU prize giving function will help the team concentrate on details as well as the broader picture, allocate work effectively, avoid risks and ensure the whole evening goes by without a hitch. The approach offers a clear cut pathway to planning events, chalking out action plans, initiating systems, allocating work and basically monitoring the entire process from the initial stages to till the conclusion of the event. Such a definite plan will take into consideration, the limitations of a project or event, namely cost, time and scope. This means the event managers for the TVU Prize Giving can use the approach to chart out activities that are well within the budget, but at the same time, will also add value to the ceremony and the function. The university is a large community and the Prize Giving is the most glorious day in a student’s life at the university. It sums up his\her achievements during the course of their study at the university and announces those to the world at large. And the Thames Valley University gives much importance to the graduation day organized by various schools functioning in its three campuses. Through this paper, I would like to discuss the advantages of a project management approach, and the benefits of adopting it into the planning and organising of the TVU Prize giving function in 2007. THE APPROACH Since the project management approach has distinct stages or phases of execution, its adoption can take a big load off the shoulders of the organizers of the TVU Prize Giving ceremony. The same team may not be in charge every year, which means that though the rough framework is available for the new entrants, they have to chalk out plans in detail right from the scratch. Every year, the team will have the advantage of appointing a project manager; he\she can obviously be somebody who has experience in event management, preferably the Prize Giving event management. Such a person will know what needs to be done and what is affordable within the time and budget constraints. The planning can be done with specific distribution of time needed for each activity like finalizing the guest list, managing the catering services, handling the participants list, hiring necessary services, coordinating with the sponsors and managing the stage. Teams can be formed to look into each area, with team leaders and specific responsibilities, so as to ensure accountability on all sides. Each school will be managing its Prize Giving, but a common map of execution, if charted out using the project management approach, will ensure the smooth running of the whole process for all the schools organizing the function. A traditional project management approach is set in five different phases - the initiation, planning and design, execution, monitoring and completion. In TVU, since the prize giving is a yearly activity, the organizers have little to do in the initiation stage, as they have all the data about how the program was conducted in the previous years. For example, if one school had 1500 students passing out last year, and a crowd of 3500 attended the function, they can assume that at least one parent or friend per student participated. Based on such an assumption, a rough estimate can be made for this year, and the hall arrangements can be planned. The team can directly start planning and designing for the event at hand, i.e, the prize giving. This stage can take into account the three constraints that every project faces, namely time, cost and scope. Not surprisingly, finance plays a central role in the achievement of project management goals. These initiatives involve not only the obvious direct costs, but also an array of indirect financial issues, such as decisions about how money flows through the organization and whether the company should change scheduling, payment processes or other activities to improve cash flow (Samuel Greengard, November 2002, Business Finance). Though Greengard is talking about corporate organizations in his article, the budget plays an important role in the Prize Giving function also. The project manager and his team can afford transparency and accountability to the university authorities and the students in terms of finance, by chalking out cost-wise plans for each supporting activity for the event and the event itself. The advantage of adopting this method in Thames Valley University is that once a definite chart is mapped out, the same structure can be followed by organizers in the coming years also. Every year, the new teams need not start from ground zero and start working their way up to the Prize Giving ceremony. Project management is a discipline and way of functioning tried and tested out by experts in fields of engineering, construction, event management, and even the military. Since this is a framework for functioning with accountability, it ensures not just smooth functioning, but also the skill development of event managers. The organising and planning of Thames Valley University’s Prize giving is taken seriously by the University management and all those connected with the ceremony. Hence, a less than perfect approach will increase risks and give scope for frequent problems. For example, if the duties are not clearly assigned to members of the purchase committee, it could lead to assumptions that important materials have already been purchased by somebody else. Ultimately, if something goes wrong, it will just lead to confusion and chaos. But if somebody is responsible for the purchase committee, he\she will see to it the responsibilities of the committee are fulfilled on time. The organizers will have to face many instances of ad-hoc functioning, when they do not plan out the Prize giving function for the Thames Valley University. Another example would be the stage management, where a million things can go wrong if it’s not planned properly; the University will be facing stiff embarrassment from such fiascos. THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Today, as in every other field, software is available and widely used to keep track of the details involved in an event management or project management. The software takes up all paperwork and planning, and the organizers can feed in the data to the system and monitor the activities and timelines using it. Project charters, risk assessments, resources, costs, time, status reports and execution modules can all be fed into the computer, rendering easy and clear management. Also, this record can be accessed by others who come after, helping them with their organizing of Prize Giving in Thames Valley University and also makes the data available for analysis and reduction of risks and mistakes. The software is very important in managing costs and estimating financial risks. For example, if a concert is being organized this year, unlike the year before, and there is no change in the budget, then the software can be used to analyze the expenditure and allocate resources accordingly. The accurate data analysis can give the organizers a clear idea as to which areas they can cut costs. To accommodate the concert, for example, the catering services can cut down their budget and go for a change of menu. Some of the software available in the market today includes those provided by companies like Autotask, Ace Project and Replicon. For event management software in the project management approach, the prominent names are Event Pro, CONCLUSION The organising and planning of the Thames Valley University Prize giving ceremony will be a smooth and hassle-free process if the project management approach is adopted. The students, professors and the management of the University will have a transparent method of organising the function. Each phase can be planned out in detail by the persons in charge of various departments of the Prize giving ceremony, and with the project coordinator can ensure accountability from his team. After the cuts and trims, the whole programme can be designed well within the budget limits, as there will be a clear understanding of the overall as well as section wise requirements for the TVU Prize giving. References Bruke,R., (2003) Project Management,Planning & Control Techniques 4th Ed,Wiley,Chichester Lock,D.(2000),Project management(7th Ed),Aldershot: Gower,   Young T.L.,(2003), The Handbook of Project Management, (2nd Ed), London,Kogan Project Management Institute (2003). A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge, 3rd ed., Project Management Institute Berkun, Scott (2005). Art of Project Management. Cambridge, MA: O'Reilly Media. Meredith, Jack R. and Mantel, Samuel J. (2002). Project Management : A Managerial Approach, 5th ed., Wiley. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management http://www.businessfinancemag.com/magazine/archives/article.html?articleID=13916 Read More