Project Management and Leadership Challenges, Volume I

M. Aslam Mirza

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781947441729
• eBook ISBN: 9781947441736
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

Project management has evolved to a profession, a methodology for reaching the desired outcomes, a management approach for moving toward strategic direction, and a mindset. It supports an organization to effectively withstand the market challenges and sustain growth with competitive edge. A paradigm shift in management of an organization is discussed for strategic advancement where operation and strategic implementation are managed separately with relevant management approaches. The endeavor is made essentially to capture strengths of project management for strategic advancement. Organizational transformation for high performance is pursued with application of project management and capturing the organizational culture to support high performance for implementation of projects. A unique PM-AURA model is introduced to help maximize the culture for continued high performance. Organizational readiness assessment is critical for commencement of transformation and change management for desired competence. A model is proposed to help application of project management for building competence. The challenges for the 21st century are also discussed for an understanding and preparation.

CHAPTER 1

What is Project Management?

Introduction

Project management has evolved into a profession, a methodology for achieving the desired end-result and advancing toward strategic implementation. More importantly, it is a mindset for doing business.

Any and every challenge can be met with the project management approach given clarity of objectives, and the desired outcomes are realizable akin to the dream of landing on the moon for the first time.

Works related to project management began back in the 1950s with the creation of tools for planning and scheduling of construction projects In the construction and aerospace industries those enjoy the motherhood of project management. The old perception of project management as a planning tool largely hinders its acceptance by C-Suite managers as an effective management approach.

The value propositions help to understand the strengths and potential with the application of the approach to initiatives and endeavors.

Objectives

Project management has evolved into a management approach and a profession for implementing strategic advancement in business and industry. Its objectives are as follows:

Create acceptability among the corporate level top managers for the values it offers and for building professional competence.

Provide clarity as to how the project management approach fits well with the changing business requirements and trends.

Highlight how project management deals with the changing requirements of the customer and manages self-improvement?

How are changing requirements of the market captured in project management and addressed effectively?

Provide an understanding of project management that helps move in a strategic direction and sustain a competitive edge.

Provide an understanding of the project management approach that supports a knowledge-based economy and high-performing organizational culture and does away with the diseases of management satisfactorily.

Why is adopting project management approach critically important? See the following;

What is project management?

Project management history

Strategic Advancement

Project Management for Business Advancement

Stay away from Deadly Diseases of Management

Project management is a business management approach that has evolved into a profession, systems- based advancement, a structure for governance, and a methodology for holistic management to govern and control resources. It helps an organization to translate goals into reality, to conduct change management through implementing projects, to maintain strategic direction, and to reach desired outcomes successfully the first time and every time—reliably, predictably, and consistently.

Practitioners of project management have earned credibility and proven abilities to deliver value for sustainability of growth and capabilities such as the following:

A)Organizational Competence and Dynamism for Change in Strategic Direction

B)Mechanism for Self-Improvement

C)Structure for Governance and Control

D)Structure for Talent Management and Communication Channels

Organizational Competence

The framework, structure, systems, and practices of project management help build competence and dynamism for change. At the core, the strength of project management is derived from the processes and activity of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals using a scientific approach. The management of projects stands in contrast to “business as usual” (i.e., operations), which are repetitive, permanent, or semipermanent functional activities to produce products or services.

In reality, operations management and project management systems are quite different, requiring the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies.

In practice, the management of project management systems is carried out often under the control of operations, and that creates problems and impacts negatively the efficiency in advancement of projects in the required time frame and budget needed for strategic advantage.

Project management systems and practices when applied within a framework and mind-set help develop a project management culture that captures real value for an organization—the independent management of two domains of management, the operation and the strategic implementation to help build a competitive edge and sustain growth on a stronger footing.

Mechanism for Self-Improvement

Structured results-based management helps in developing an organizational learning culture, reinforcing a sense of domain learning that leads to excellence in performance and building a competitive edge. Organizational project management helps build domain strengths, adding to competitive advantage. The Closing Processes Group, as described in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), sixth edition, captures lessons learned that lead to corrective actions and contribute to improvement when incorporated for future project advancements.

Governance and Control

The structure—at the project, program, and portfolio levels—of project management frameworks provides effective governance through defined chains of command, roles and responsibilities, communication channels, and transparency of who does what and when it should be done to achieve the outcomes. Portfolio domain of projects provides a clear vision for management, resource application, planning and scheduling, and prioritizing in terms of strategic advancement. The corrective action may be taken proactively in changing circumstances when the need arises.

Talent Management and Communication Channels

Project management at the portfolio, program, and project levels for achieving business or organizational goals supports the development of a plan for talent needs. Translations of goals through required projects in the order of priority provide the focus for assessing the need for talent and include matching the right skills with the right job. They also help highlight the missing skills/competencies for identified training.

The defined management structure in a portfolio provides communication channels that help assess information flow to and from the stakeholders concerned.

1.1 Project Management History

Ever since the beginning of civilization, project management has been in practice in one form or other. Its recognition as a formalized body of knowledge was established in the 1950s, when organizations started to systematically apply project management tools and techniques to complex engineering projects. However, until 1900, it was applied in some form in civil engineering projects, which were generally managed by creative architects, engineers, and master builders themselves, such as Virtuvius (first century BC), Christopher Wren (1632 to 1723), Thomas Telford (1757 to 1834), and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 to 1859).

Project management as a discipline was developed from several fields of application, including civil construction, engineering, and heavy defense activity.

The two forefathers of project management are Henry Gantt (1861 to 1919) and Henry Fayol (1841 to 1925). Gantt is the father of planning and control techniques, who is famous for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool, and Fayolis known for his creation of the five management functions that form the foundation of the body of knowledge for project and program management.

Both Gantt and Fayol were students of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theories of scientific management, which are the forerunner to modern project management tools, including work breakdown structure (WBS) and resource allocation.

The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era, in which the core engineering fields came together as one. Project management was then recognized as a distinct discipline arising from the management discipline with engineering models.

In the United States, projects were managed on an ad hoc basis, with mostly Gantt charts in use, prior to the 1950s, along with informal techniques and tools. At that time, two models were developed, which were based on mathematical project scheduling: the critical path method (CPM), in a joint venture between the DuPont Corporation and the Remington Rand Corporation for managing plant maintenance projects, and the program evaluation and review technique (PERT), by Booz Allen Hamilton, as part of the United States Navy’s (in conjunction with the Lockheed Corporation) Polaris missile submarine program.

Although similar in approach, PERT and CPM present certain differences: CPM is used for projects that assume deterministic activity times; the times at which each activity will be carried out are known, whereas PERT allows for stochastic activity times; the times at which each activity will be carried out are uncertain or varied. This core difference makes for the use of CPM and PERT in different contexts. Based on value addition, these mathematical techniques quickly gained acceptance in private enterprise.

Concurrently, while project-scheduling models were being developed, technology for project-cost estimation, cost management, and engineering economics was evolving, with pioneering work by Hans Lang and others.

In 1956, the American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE-International—the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) was formed. The practitioners of project management and the associated specialties of planning and scheduling, cost estimating, and cost/schedule control (i.e., project control) continued pioneering work, and in 2006, Project Management In...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 What is Project Management?
• Chapter 2 Value Proposition of Project Management
• Chapter 3 Advancement for Business—Strategic Implementation
• Chapter 4 Paradigm Shift in Business Management
• Bibliography
• Index