Project management essay writing help analysis online:: Essay on project management for systems approach & phases

Questions Asked??

All projects need simple processes in place to monitor and control cost, progress and quality. It is argued however, that projects involving innovation and complexity, almost regardless of size, need a “systems approach” to project management. Discuss.

                

 

Solution the essay writes is::

 Introduction

 

Projects are it small or large ones should operate  in broad organizational environment and the project managers should always try to take  holistic view or systems view of the project and should be able to analyse and understand how it is situated within a large organization.

 

The ‘Systems approach’ is a more analytical approach for describing management and which also helps in problem solving and it emerged in the 19560’s. It has mainly three parts:

 

·          Systems Philosophy: Where things are viewed as systems, interacting components within a working environment  in order to accomplish some  purpose.

 

·          Systems Analysis:  Problem-Solving Approach

 

·          Systems Management: Addressing the business,  addressing the technological and  organizational issues  prior to making any changes in the business.

 

The figure below shows the three –sphere model  for Systems management:

 

Figure 1: Three Sphere Model for Systems Management (Chapter 2: The Project Mangement Context and Processes, 2001).

 

It is not necessary that all the  industries follow the same definition for short-term projects for example in engineering a project can be ranging from  six months to two years while in construction  the project might be from three to five years whereas in nuclear components it might be  of ten years while in insurance it might be of just two weeks long. Long term projects are the one which consumer  resources all through the project and are mostly set up as separate division or simply as line organisations. In the projects which are innovative and complex especially the IT projects , construction projects or engineering projects  systems approach is necessary not just for the success of the project but also for  creating operational islands by  taking care of management gaps and  functional gaps due to departmentalisation.

 

This is the reason why even the  marketing function in the Project-driven organisations requires following systems approach because new projects which are bagged through marketing efforts are the soul or life and blood for running any organisation. A systematic Approach helps in  developing a new  program lead into an actual  contract. The project acquisition efforts are then integrated with the ongoing programs  which also involves the  key personnel from  both the performing organizations as well as the  potential customer.

                

 

 Since project management is considered to be an extension of systems  management it follows the principles of  general systems theory.  The general systems theory is a management approach which unifies and integrates scientific information across  many fields of knowledge. Thus Systems Approach looks at the whole picture in totality to resolve the problem rather than doing individual analysis of single component at each time. Therefore Project management in today’s time is seen as  applied systems management. Where system is being defined as  a group of elements which can be human or non-human that has been organised and  arranged in such a manner  that all the elements act as a whole towards achieving a common goal or objective.

 

 The systems approach can be defined as  completely disciplined as well as logical  process used for problem solving and it involves:

 

·         Forces review of  relationship between various subsystems

 

·          Systematic  matching and assembly of parts of system to form a whole system

 

·          Dynamic process which integrates  all the activities into meaningful total system

 

·          Seeks optimal solution or strategy of problem solving

 

The phases which are involved in Systems approach are:

 

·         Transition:  Terminology, Project Objective,  Criteria and constraints are being defined and accepted by all the participants.

 

·         Analysis:  All the possible approaches or solutions  for the problem are being stated.

 

·          Trade-Off:  Constraints and selection criterion are applied  to the  alternatives to fulfil the objectives.

 

·         Synthesis:  The best solution is found out to accomplish objectives of the system through  trade-off processes and  combination of analysis.

 

Monitoring any project involves the process of observation and then checking the real-time progress of the project in order to ensure the compliance of the project with the project scope, deliverables, schedules and timelines. On the other hand project controlling involves the measurement of such progress by comparison and the process of contrasting the actual progress with the actual project plans and schedules and if need be taking corrective actions. The whole basis for monitoring and controlling the project is incorporated during the project planning stage where it is decided that which tool and technique would be used, while the actual monitoring and controlling of the project takes place during the project execution stage (Cosmato, 2011). This way through the monitoring and controlling the cost, quality as well as progress of the project can be easily monitored as well as controlled (Drucker, 1995). Therefore a very good understanding of the whole process of project monitoring and controlling is needed along with knowing each and every step involved, how to do go about monitoring and controlling is very vital for the person associated with the project to understand and this is indispensable for the project to be successful.

 

Nevertheless the case is totally different in the case of procurement of construction projects which are very vast, innovative and complex at the same time in their scope (Rashid, Taib and Ahmad, 2006). Construction projects involve first collecting and then organising myriads of varied kinds of separate individuals, firms or companies responsible for designing, managing and building construction products like houses, shopping complex or roads etc. for the specific clients or the “customers”. The Systems Approach is all about an approach which is organised method, technique, procedure, approach or process (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). This is what Project Procurement does and has been defined as the organizational structure which is required for the big-time and innovative designing as well as building of construction projects taken up for specific clients (Mastermann, 1996). There has been a classification given for the various kinds of project procurement systems by Matsermann (1996) which is based upon the critical interaction between construction and design responsibilities and relationship. The categorisation is depicted below:

 

·         Cooperative and Separate System

 

·          Management Oriented System

 

·          Integrated System

 

The different kind of classification and sub-classification of construction project procurement systems are shown below in diagram:

 

Figure1: Category of Building Procurement Systems

 

 

According to this system the main responsibilities of designing as well as the construction of project are being separated from each other and being carried out by separate or different organizations like the designers or contractors. It is also known as Sequential or Liner Contracting System or the Multiple Responsibilities Contraction Approach. In this system all the project development activities are carried out in a sequential manner starting from feasibility study, preliminary design, documentation regarding construction and hand over. The complete designs and the drawings need to be prepared by the designers in traditional manner before the construction and the tender related activities can kick off. This is again sub-divided into two sub-categories Traditional system and the Variant of Traditional Systems. Further the Variant System is being divided into Accelerated Method and Sequential Method.

 

In case of Sequential Method also known as single stage tendering approach a team of consultants is being appointed by the builder on his part which produces the construction drawings, specifications and the tender document, and the tendering process administration in order to choose a contractor. Once the contractor is selected and given or awarded the contract, the project of construction will be carried based upon the drawings and specifications given by the consultant of the client.

 

 The Accelerated Method or Innovative Approach helps in fastening the process of contractor selection and the commencement of construction too.

 

Integrated Procurement Systems works on integration and combines the designs responsibilities of the design as well as construction of the construction project (AShworth, 2001). In this case both the responsibilities are being contracted to the single contracting organization

 

 The Management Oriented Procurement Systems lays greater emphasis on the management as well integration of the design and the constructions projects. The Management  contracting and construction  management contracting  is a type of “fast tracking” procurement approach in which a contractor is being contracted and he is being paid a fee for  managing, procuring  and supervising the construction of the project and not for building the project. This project procurement system the  contractor possesses more knowledge, competency as well as experience about the  design and  construction of the project , so can very well manage the project and this makes very well managed and coordinated of the materials ,  plants,  works and manpower which reduces the time of construction taken. Moreover the cost is also lowered for the project which is being procured through this system as compared to other procurement approaches since the management contractor is itself the consultant so no extra cost adds up in the main contractor’s profit margin.

                

 

 The management contractor’s effective experience as construction manager or contractor makes it more effective which ensures high quality work at the same time. The knowledge as well as the experience possessed by them makes them more apt for choosing and selection of the right material and components which are of bets quality and type. All these factors together contribute towards better quality as well as standard of the completed construction products. Thus the best and well managed construction projects which are very complex and involve innovation at the same time are although very huge need to implement the Management Oriented Procurement Systems Approach to achieve bests quality, reduced cost and less time to get completed in efficient manner.

 

The systems approach helps in building the  process improvement projects from bottom-up as it depends on varies kinds of quality management tools which help the personnel involved in operational process to first identify and the resolve the problems on their own. Many businesses use these quality management tools along with the related methodologies like Six Sigma, operational excellence and lean production  all through their operations. Since the systems  Approach relies on  the tools which are already used in the companies, the practitioners of this approach also find it easier to integrate pollution prevention and other EHS efforts along with quality improvement initiatives (Pojasek, 2005). Some of systems approach management tools are discussed in Appendix A attached with this report.

 

 Even in the, much acclaimed study on understanding the organizations, there have been some brilliant insights into the business organizations which have very wide-ranging look. There are few key concepts which   should be considered by the managers for understanding the organizations and they are:

 

·         Culture

 

·          Motivation

 

·          Leadership

 

·          Role-Playing

 

·          Working in groups or teams and

 

·          Power

 

These six powerful and vital concepts of management can be converted in to effective tools for carrying our effective management in the organization (Handy, 1993). For the organizations to be understood very well  all the organizations , big or small, need to  select, develop and reward their employees in order to provide a successful structure as well as design their work,. This will in turn help in resolving the political conflicts existing within the organizations. This way the basic guidelines could also be laid for the managers and which will in turn help in future planning for the organization. There are several approaches and techniques which can be used for doing so like inventive metaphors for example the Tolstoy’s idea on the concept of self and he also attached various meaning to the wishing of “ good morning”. Charles Handy also realised and has explained that there is very good meaning attached to the conversation which occurs in stopped elevators. He has also shown that the optical illusion experiment throws light on the interdepartmental relations. In the same manner the corporate hierarchies can be exemplified by the way school children get type casted by their schoolmates or peers.

 

Supply Chain Management in Construction Projects

 

In construction industry the clients, contractors, suppliers and the consultants are being positioned as the nodes which are being connected by the linkages in a very broad sense and the linkages comprise of informational exchange, financial and contractual relationships, directions and knowledge transfers (Pryke, 2003). These networks are supposed to be transitory (Pryke and Smyth, 2006), while the flows in this network are found to be iterative (Pryke 2001).

 

Over the time with major changes going around within the construction industry a bit uneasy kind of relationship developed between the construction project management and Supply Chain Management (SCM). Indeed the senior staff at the British Airport Authority (BAA)  were completely persistent project management was simple ‘dead’ as a discipline and all the future references should be made to it as SCM. Many observers have been dismissing SCM as just a recent fad or fashions (Green, 2006). But a merely casual inquiry done into many construction firms has confirmed that they are strongly committed towards the SCM. But recent studies done on construction companies in UK have shown that SCM is being broken down into small projects which also get governed by management but SCM in construction is something more than management fad and it helps in providing opportunities for substantial amount of improvements in not just the client but also the stakeholders value and the reduction of the overall costs and improving the quality too.

 

 It has been noticed that project management has been evolving and that too through various stages of development, wherein each and every stage keeps on adding complementary understanding to the existing bodies of knowledge (Pryke and Smyth, 2006). This can be seen from:

 

·         Traditional Project management Approach:  In this approach the  techniques and the tools for application tend to have more orientation for reassembly or production  were more focussed towards improving and enhancing the efficiency of the project (Turner and Muller, 2003).

 

·         Functional Management Approach: “Front-end” Management or  Strategic  management of projects (Morris and Pinto, 2004) for example  the programming and the project strategies , partnering (Egan REport, 1998) and Supply chain management (Green and MAy, 2003) and many more agendas which are totally task-driven which get along with or are the extension of the traditional management approach like  the lean production’s waste elimination application (Koskela, 2000).

 

·          Information Processing Approach:  It follows the technocratic input-output model which is used for the project management (Winch, 2002).

 

·         Relationship Approach: In this approach the performance of the project as well as client satisfaction is desired through the proper understanding of the method in which the various kinds of relationships between people, between projects, between people and firms as project actors operate and can be well managed.

                

 

The heart of the professional system of construction industry is being ruled the process of selecting a contractor on the basis of the lowest competitive tender (Winch, 2000). The activities which face the highest uncertainty are being insulated from the market by employing the designation of contractor, who is reimbursed on fee-basis. The construction industry has seen a great evolution in case of its control actors, whose main role was to basically; regulate all the activities which were being subjected to the market forces (Winch, 2000). Therefore SCM evolved which is more recent and innovative approach as compared to partnering. Therefore the construction organizations where SCM is the firm agenda depict limited amount of integration of disparate internal functions. One of the major challenges which the construction industry would have to deal with while evolving into a CSM organization is to recognise the best and most appropriate location of the specialist knowledge in numerous fields.

 

According to Winch (2002) following features are present in construction project management:

 

·         Temporary organisations which has coalition of various firms

 

·         Projects pass through distinct life cycles due to determinate character

 

·         Project managers are supposed to be rational decision-makers.

 

·         Managerial activity’s vital elements are routines.

 

·         Projects are being embedded in  the contexts which are both  institutional as well as structural.

 

 A ‘systems approach has been adopted in Construction Project Management for organisational analysis and organisational design when the initial concept of project is being analysed (Walker, 2007). In project management of construction projects the main focus is on integration of the contributors to the whole construction process along with the manner in which decisions are being made. According to Walker (2007) structured organisations are very much vital in order to deliver effectual projects. The organisational design’s in-depth knowledge is important for structured organisation and we must know the organisational theory which is applicable to the design, definition as well as construction of the projects (Walker, 2007).

                

 

Conclusion

 

Thus from the above discussions it is clear that systems approach is very vital for the success of any project. The reason being the systems approach has the capability to view the whole  project as single unit and analyse it rather than the individual parts of project.  Systems approach is necessary for good management because problem-solving appears to be fragmented  as well as diffused in the project environment. It is the project manager who acts as unifying agent for controlling the resources and technology of project. This he can do by maintaining open channels of communication so that sub optimization of the projects can be prevented. IN many conditions the functional managers do have the power to  the project manager appear as good by  motivating them to think the best way out  for the project , but it is rarely seen happening in project management (Mantell, 1972).However for successful systems approach sufficiently information and  alternatives are required  so that an effective trade-off can be established .

 

For effective implementation of systems approach the innovative and complex projects can use  Management by Objectives  which is an effective systems approach for aligning the project goals with the organizational goals, project goals are also aligned with the  subunits of the organisation and the project goals are finally aligned with the individual goals. This helps in ensuring the success of the project because Management by Objectives  is an effectual  systems approach which is being used for  planning and obtaining project results for any organisation. This makes the project successful because the  project needs are met and along with the individual needs are also fulfilled. Therefore it can be said that although all the projects whether they are small or huge projects require monitor, cost control,  progress and quality, but the projects which are complex and highly innovative  require systems approach for project management to be successful.

                

 

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