...Understanding the role of project management in today's business environment Project management is an essential part of businesses and industries in order to advance ahead and add value to products. Project management enables companies to innovate, plan strategically, and for the economy to progress. The important parts of projects are often values such as team working, planning, innovation, time and budget management, and leadership. In the modern society, some projects can be pharmaceuticals (inventing new drugs), IT solutions (new technologies), energy and environment (other sources of energy such as solar), and military (new weapons and machines). The similarities are such that these projects are undertaken to improve the lives of people. However, the main aim of projects is to find out about something by using resources and ideas and put together to achieve the end product. Project management is about being organized from the beginning of the job to the end. It is about having an effective and efficient team with a leader that can encourage cooperation and motivate to get results. (Six Sigma Online, 2012) PROJECT PROCESSES First to take on project, the team must be selected. Each member should be good at their own tasks and responsibilities while able to work together with other members as well. Then decide on a goal and deciding on the best way to achieve it. In a project, there is a four step process which is: identify issues, provide solutions, implement a plan,...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
... • Who would you recommend that Stacey Thomas select to serve as project manager? Why? • What are the characteristics of the candidates that you would attribute to a competent project manager? • What important skills do you think the candidates are lacking? Why are they important? Organizational Project Management or OPM is where an organization’s culture, style, and structure influence how its projects are performed & managed by accomplishing its purpose throughout its project lifecycle by how it is conducted and progress (Institute 20). The competencies of a manager are knowledge, performance, and personal. In (Institute 17) defines it as follows: •Knowledge - what the project manager or PM knows about the project. •Performance - what the PM is able to do while applying his or her knowledge. •Personal – the effectiveness of the PM core characteristics (leadership, communication, technical skills) & attitude which provides the ability to guide the project team. The characteristics of the candidates, Bill & Andy that contribute to a competent PM: They have organizational, technical, & management skills, communicates with senior management, a problem solver, service & goal oriented, and most importantly deliver project on time (Jr. 74). Bill: promoted to CIS department (functional) manager, friendly competition with staff while working long hours, maintain projects budget. \ Andy: completed Quantum management training in...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3
...SEVENTH EDITION PROJECT MANAGEMENT A Managerial Approach SEVENTH EDITION PROJECT MANAGEMENT A Managerial Approach Jack R. Meredith Broyhill Distinguished Scholar and Chair in Operations Wake Forest University Samuel J. Mantel, Jr. Joseph S. Stern Professor Emeritus of Operations Management University of Cincinnati John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DeDication To Avery and Mitchell, from “papajack.” J. R. M. To Maggie and Patty for their help, support, and affection. S. J. M. VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Don Fowley EXECUTIVE EDITOR Beth Golub ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jen Devine MARKETING MANAGER Carly DeCandia DESIGN DIRECTOR Harry Nolan SENIOR DESIGNER Kevin Murphy SENIOR PRODUCTION EDITOR Patricia McFadden SENIOR MEDIA EDITOR Lauren Sapira PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES Ingrao Associates This book was set in by GGS Book Services PMG and printed and bound by RRD/Willard. The cover was printed by RRD/Willard. This book is printed on acid free paper. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc...
Words: 178405 - Pages: 714
...Chapter 4 DEFINING THE PROJECT Chapter Outline 1. Step one: Defining the project scope A. Employing a project scope checklist 1. Project objective 2. Deliverables 3. Milestones 4. Technical requirements 5. Limits and exclusions 6. Review with customer 2. Step two: Establishing project priorities 3. Step three: Creating the work breakdown structure A. Major groupings found in a WBS B. WBS development 4. Step four: Integrating the WBS with the organization 5. Step five: Coding the WBS for the information system 6. Project rollup 7. Process breakdown structure 8. Responsibility matrices 9. Summary 10. Key terms 11. Review questions 12. Exercises 13. Case: Manchester United Soccer Club Chapter Objectives • To recognize the importance of a complete scope statement acceptable to your customer as a condition for project success • To layout guidelines for creating a WBS for a project • To demonstrate the importance of WBS to the management of projects and how it serves as a database for planning and control • To demonstrate how the OBS establishes accountability to organizational units • To apply a WBS to a case or suggested project Review Questions 1. What questions does a project objective answer? What would be an example of a good project objective? The project objectives answsers what, when, and how much. To replace the Williamette bridge by August 3rd at a cost not to...
Words: 1945 - Pages: 8
...ProHRIS Project -Critical Path flow Critical Path expense list: A+D+Z+ZA = 10+3+15+5 = 33 A+E+F+T+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+15+5 = 57 A+E+F+W+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+4+10+15+5 = 61 A+E+F+G+V+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+10+15+5 = 67 A+E+F+G+Y+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+7+15+5 = 64 A+E+F+G+L+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+10+10+15+5 = 77 A+E+F+G+N+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+15+10+15+5 = 82 A+E+F+G+P+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+10+10+15+5 = 77 A+E+F+G+H+I+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 89 A+E+F+G+M+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 79 A+E+F+G+O+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 79 A+E+F+G+J+K+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 89 A+E+F+G+X+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+10+5+10+15+5 = 72 A+E+F+S+Q+Z+ZA = 10+7+10+12+10+15+5 = 69 B+C+U+Z+ZA = 3+10+4+15+5 = 37 B+C+R+Z+ZA = 3+10+12+15+5 = 45 B+E+F+T+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+15+5 = 50 B+E+F+W+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+4+10+15+5 = 54 B+E+F+G+V+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+10+15+5 = 60 B+E+F+G+Y+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+7+15+5 = 57 B+E+F+G+L+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+10+10+15+5 = 70 B+E+F+G+N+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+15+10+15+5 = 75 B+E+F+G+P+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+10+10+15+5 = 70 B+E+F+G+H+I+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 82 B+E+F+G+M+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 72 B+E+F+G+O+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 72 B+E+F+G+J+K+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+10+12+10+15+5 = 82 B+E+F+G+X+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+10+5+10+15+5 = 65 B+E+F+S+Q+Z+ZA = 3+7+10+12+10+15+5 =...
Words: 466 - Pages: 2
...study Q1 Project Crashing Due to the internal demand and unexpected cope up situation for the external uncertainties there are possibilities of speed up the scheduling time for projects. For instance due to high prioritize resource commitment for the another simultaneously running critical project or situation where seasonal weather effect come to the play in time. Mostly this kind of expedition occurs from the non critical activities where the slack is available. Having done the crash, it would result better utilization of recourses but the rule of thumb is there should not be any major impact on the project scope. In simple terms, this refers to the compression of the original project schedule in order to minimize the total time of the project. This has to be done after very careful study since it might crack the whole project till up to the abandons. Moreover detail analysis and total acceptability of the stakeholders has to be met and this has to be done at the least additional cost. The regain value should be derived from the benefit gain over the additional cost; which has to be realized in positive node with respect to the aggregate impact on the organization. Q2 What are the steps involving in Project Crashing? First, the marginal cost has to be calculated in relation with the project crash for each activity. Crash Cost Per Time Period or Margin Cost= Marginal Cost = (change in cost)/(change in time) = (Crash cost - Normal cost)/(Normal time - Crash...
Words: 809 - Pages: 4
...Course project Research Paper MGMT 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior Introduction: This paper about determining why job satisfaction is low and what is needed to turn OfficeMax into an HPO in efforts to increase job satisfaction. With guided research I will define HPO and research how current company initiatives compare and contrast to HPO. With the research findings I will create preliminary steps and outline for OfficeMax to increase job satisfaction within its organization which should increase job performance. The organization that will be topic of discussion in my final project paper is OfficeMax. OfficeMax Incorporated (OfficeMax or ‘the company’), formerly Boise Cascade Corporation, is engaged in the distribution of office products. The company operates in the US, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois and employed 29,000 people, of whom 10,000 were part-time employees, as of December 31, 2011. (Officemax, Incorporated SWOT Analysis, 2012) OfficeMax was founded in Ohio on April 1, 1988 by Bob Hurwitz and Michael Fuer. Hurwitz served as executive chairman and chief executive officer, and Feuer was the president and chief operating officer. On July 5, 1988, OfficeMax opened its first retail store in the Golden Gate Shopping Center in Mayfield Heights, Ohio; this location still remains open. OfficeMax is a provider of integrating products, solutions, and services for the workplace...
Words: 3352 - Pages: 14
...Introduction Limited Brands is the organization that I have chosen to cover for my project. Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Limited Brands is a publicly traded company; with their New York Stock Exchange ticker being LTD. This company primarily sells women’s intimate apparel and beauty and personal care products. The stronger brands that this company is known for are Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works. Limited Brands mainly markets their products in the United States and Canada. I was a sales associate and assistant manager for Bath and Body works from August of 2010 till December of 2011. I came at a time when Limited Brands was looking to build more of a presence internationally since there was so much success in the U. S and Canada. Limited Brands made over 10 million dollars when their fiscal year ended, according to the MarketLine’s overview of the company (Limited Brands 2). Taking a historical view Leslie H. Wexner is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Limited Brands, Inc. Wexner founded Limited Brands with one store—The Limited—in Columbus, Ohio with sales of $160,000 in it’s first year(About Limited Brands). Today, Limited Brands has expanded from apparel based specialty retailer to an approximately $10 billion segment leader with more than 90,000 associates focused on lingerie, beauty and personal care product categories that make customers feel sexy, sophisticated and forever young, according to limited brands.com(About Limited...
Words: 1788 - Pages: 8
...A Communication Network and Information System (CNIS) Upgrade Plan System Build Project Student Name 6/15/2011 Dr. Beverlin Hammett Management 321 Baker College Online Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………….2 1.1 Background……………………………………………………..2 1.2 Discovery……………………………………………………….2 1.3 Product Overview……………………………………………….3 2.0 Product Review………………………………………………………...4 2.1 Process Flow…………………………………………………….5 3.0 System Integration……………………………………………………..6 3.1 Current System………………………..………………………...6 3.2 Compatibility Issues…………………………………………….7 3.3 Decision-Making Support Models………………………………7 3.4 Advantages and Disadvantages………………………………….7 3.5 Implementation Process…………………………………………8 4.0 Component Design……………………………………………………...8 4.1 Hardware Components…………………………………………..9 4.1.1 Databases…………………………………………….9 4.1.2 Communication Devices……………………………..9 4.1.3 Intranet and Wi-Fi……………………………………9 4.2 Software Components……………………………………………9 4.2.1 Vetport and MIS Software……………………………9 4.3 System Maintenance…………………………………………….10 4.4 Cost Analysis……………………………………………………10 4.4.1 New Hardware and Software Cost………………….10 4.4.2 Total Annual Budget Comparison…………………..11 4.5 Security………………………………………………………….11 4.6 Organizational Culture………………………………………….11 5.0 Measurement…………………………………………………………...12 5.1 Staffing and Record Keeping……………………………………12 5.2 Cost Benefit Comparison………………………………………..12 5.3 Return on Investment……………………………………………13 Table of...
Words: 4607 - Pages: 19
...“Developing Your Empowering People (Delegating) Skill” Elam A. Ramos MGT/521 January 15, 2014 Elsie Jimenez-Galarza Abstract Presents the analysis and give a team solution to the delegation scenario from Chapter 10 of the MGT/521 Management text book. Scenario Ricky Lee is the manager of the contracts group of a large regional office supply distributor. His boss, Anne Zumwalt, has asked him to prepare by the end of the month the department’s new procedures manual that will outline the steps followed in negotiating contracts with office products manufacturers who supply the organization’s products. Because Ricky has another major project he’s working on, he went to Anne and asked her if it would be possible to assign the rewriting of the procedures manual to Bill Harmon, one of his employees who’s worked in the contracts group for about three years. Anne said she had no problems with Ricky reassigning the project as long as Bill knew the parameters and the expectations for the completion of the project. Ricky is preparing for his meeting in the morning with Bill regarding this assignment. (Robbins, 2012) Assignment. Prepare a 350- to 1,050-word paper detailing how your team would handle the situation described in the scenario The Facts. Presented here are what I consider to be the facts on this scenario. * Rick Lee is the regional manager for the contract group of a large office supply * Rick Lee Reports to Anne Zumwalt * Anne requested Rick to prepare...
Words: 966 - Pages: 4
...The stakeholders or interested parties MGT-420 Prof. Jose Figueroa University of Phoenix 16/05/2013 2 The stakeholders or interested parties is the term that the company where I work we give to providers, policyholders, employees, shareholders, and social organizations among others because they are those who would see affect direct or indirectly by the decisions made in the company. This whole staff is very important generate them confidence for the successful development and operation of the company. If the company is successful bankruptcy or otherwise harms not only the owners, is also detrimental to providers, policyholders, employees and could affect up relatives. In our insurer the steakeholders are those stakeholders in our projects that somehow affect or have relation with our company. For us it is extremely important to the management of communication we have with our steakholders as we are always in constant search of that they expect from us as a company and everything we expect from them. Our steakholders are always involved and interested in new projects of the company. For we are all people who are impacted by or impact our business. For the company I work for right now is Triple S divide the stakeholders into two groups: the first political group...
Words: 345 - Pages: 2
...Team Creation Carla L. Bradshaw MGT/437 March 17, 2014 Pri Barman The creativity and outcome of any project weighs heavily on the team that is chosen to work on the project. That is why it is important to select team members who fit well with the goals of your project. Team members should have a range of knowledge regarding the project they are going to be working on. It is important to choose team members that have experience in various areas and beyond in the area in which your project falls. Since there can be many steps in getting a project completed, you will have to possibly choose one or more people for eeach step in order to ensure it is completed effectively and efficiently. Overall you want team member who are able to make a great contribution. Team members should be reliable, flexible, and trustworthy. They should also be able to adapt and get along with other members of the team as well as be able to follow the rules defined for the scope of the project. Once you have chosen an appropriate team, you will then need to develop team building strategies. Arnold Bateman offers the following definition for team building: Team building is an effort in which a team studies its own process of working together and acts to create a climate that encourages and values the contributions of team members. Their energies are directed toward problem solving, task effectiveness, and maximizing the use of all members' resources to achieve...
Words: 676 - Pages: 3
...Decisions in Paradise Part 3 Cindy Chastain MGT/350 February 5, 2011 George Beaini Decisions in Paradise Part 3 In my first analysis it was realized that Kava had been demolished by a series of different disasters. It was urgent to identify the specific needs of Kava’s residents. I had recently graduated college and as my first assignment I was given a life changing challenge. Kava was in need of survival education. The Educational Company was sent to Kava by the Red Cross Organization to help educate the civilians in disaster survival. Kava had been hit by tsunamis and earthquakes, which led to disease and death. My second analysis I performed a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. It was discovered in the SWOT analysis that communication would be a major weakness. This was a situation which could be resolved. The communication weakness was a non-critical, but urgent situation. Four years later, 2014, tourism has flourished and the residents of Kava have expanded their survival abilities. The following is a recap of my last four years on Kava. The Evaluation Plan The evaluation plan was to ensure The Educational Company can provide the residents of Kava the education services they needed to survive during and after a disaster. The objectives of the evaluation were to answer the following questions: - Are plan decisions being implemented? • Develop a project team - Is the plan being maintained so that it is a useful tool? •...
Words: 1083 - Pages: 5
...Few memories as a failure on a major project from half a decade ago still vividly remains in memories. As a Research Assistant to Tim, it was my first paid job. Tim, an Engineer, worked in silos and had driver social style to his heart beat. He only communicated the expectations without delving in the details that he had in his mind. Even though the Office space was a closed knit space for 16 students, Tim seldom hung out with people to build personal relationships. He only interacted with others when there was a need. His lack of explanation on why the project was needed had left me wondering regarding purpose and design aspects of the new programming project. I struggled on how to effectively design the project and often sought help from other people, who recommended me that the project needed investment in new programming platform as old platform was incapable of achieving the project objectives. After making almost no progress on the project and wasting time in attempts to make old platform workable, I received a vehement email from Tim, stating that XYZ Inc. was deciding to scale back on funding, as no progress reports were submitted. I was shocked to learn that I was even expected to submit progress reports at the end of quarter on the undertaken project in which I had neither any clue nor communication. As an amiable person, I was too quick to reach an agreement with Tim on project deliverables. I had thought that I would be receiving friendly advice and guidance from...
Words: 444 - Pages: 2
...and answer document, uploaded to D2L dropbox. You will have to find an IT professional to interview on your own. Description of this assignment 1. Each student needs to find a candidate for a Post-implementation Review (PIR) report describing an information systems development project. 2. Where can you find an information technology professional to interview? You will have to find an IT professional to interview on your own. 3. If you work for a business or government organization, you should consider interviewing the IT/MIS director for your organization. If you work P/T or F/T in any reasonably sized organization, it is likely that there are some IT workers around (like help desk staff, programmers, analysts, network technicians or even IT managers). It can even be a friend, relative or acquaintance you know who works in such a job. 4. The following is a list of themes that you could address in the interview: Please do not write this paper in question and answer format. Use the questions below to help guide the interview. ▪ What type of job does he/she do? For whom? ▪ What projects is he/she currently working on for the organization? ▪ What projects has he/she recently completed? ▪ What IT applications has the firm recently implemented? ▪ Were the most recently applications developed in-house, were they outsourced development or were they application software packages that were customized and purchased? ...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
