Project management report: Basic principles & standards of project management

Executive summary:

The project has been undertaken to understand what the basic principles of project management are. The focus of the project is to create awareness about some of the standards and methodologies that are existent in the world of project management. The project initially explains the basic difference in the theories of project management and those of operation management. Two fields which are often considered as the same by laymen. The difference is on the basis of time, repetitiveness and the budget constraints that are existent among the two. The next step that the project entails is the ethical issues that a project manager faces in today’s time. The issues have both an ethical and a professional backlash that can harm the managerial thinking of even the best managers. The issues range from bribery, recession, general breakdown of the ethos in the business environment and the competition in the industry in which the organization is present.The next part of the project deals with the various standards and methodologies that are present in the current scenario. They include PRINCE2, PmBok, Agile and BS6079-1:2002. These are among the most important parts of the current project management theories. The next part of the project deals with the examples of the implementation of the theories in the practical world.

Thus the project tries to give out a complete picture of the project management methodologies and standards with both theoretical content as well as the practical application of the same.

Introduction:

The first question that we can ask ourselves to make sense of this report is that what is project management?

Project management has been given a lot of definitions by a lot of researchers. However the definition which many consider as correct is that project management can be defined as the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project. Therefore the study of project management becomes ever more important as a field of understanding.

Differences between project management and operations management:

As per Tandoc (2010) project management differs from Operations management in many ways but some of the major differences between the two are mentioned here under:

Temporariness Vs Permanence:

As per Tandoc (2010) these can also be referred to as the scope constraints when it comes to comparison between the project management and operations management. Basically the projects are considered as temporary in nature and the operations have more of permanence in the business. This is so because when we look out to a project they are for a particular cause but the operations in the business involve its day to day activities which are performed on a general basis. This can be better explained with the help of an example. For instance: Renovating a store is a project whereas obtaining goods and selling them so as to earn profits is operations. To throw sum more light on this point it could be better understood as, the store owner who wants to renovate his store hires a contractor for it thus renovation becomes a project for him. But if we look as per the contractor’s perspective the same store renovation becomes operations. This is so because contractor specializes in store renovation and provides the service for store renovation thus the contract for the store renovations becomes the part of his operations.

Definite Vs Repetitive:

As per Tandoc (2010) this difference of the project and operations management can be considered as the time constraints. The projects always have a beginning and end lines that is hey have definite time duration within which the deadlines are to be achieved but when it comes to operations they are considered to be formed of the repetitive cycles. This is so because operation involves day to day activities which are repeated over a fixed interval of time. To support this fact an example can be provided for the same: a Business owner wants a successful implementation of CRM in his business thus he hires a systems integrator who can install, customize and successfully implement it in all his offices. Thus from the point of view of business owner this is considered as a project because systems integrator will provide him specific dates by when the software can be rolled out. But for the systems integrator this is a part of his routine activities and thus considered as an operations.Budget Constraints Vs Supply Chain Constraints:

As per Tandoc (2010) these are also referred to as the budget constraints. When we talk about the projects it is always said that there is defined budget which is allocated for a project and thus a project has to stick on to it. But for the operations there is no such defined budget rather is said that the operations need to maintain a certain defined profit margin.

For example: There is an institutional client who hires a consulting firm for the implementation of a specific system. Thus there will be defined budget for the same as per the requests and proposals which have been sent but the consulting firm has to work by keeping apart 30%  as the profit margin and utilize the 70% on the cost of operations.

Ethical issues in project management:

As per Catchpole (2004), the project manager is one person who has the responsibility to make sure that the particular project does not has any hiccups and that things run smoothly. However there may come times when the manager shall have to look into such matters which are not completely black and white and they belong to the grey area of ethics in project management. Some of these areas that fall under that category include:Bribery:

As per Baker (2003), bribery is one issue which is rampant in developing nations and even in some developed nations. Project managers are among those people who are the first to be approached for a bribe as they are usually not employees of the company and people think that they are easy targets. Hence they shall have to be tough enough to face such situations day in and day out and still not fall to such prey. This may be possible in most cases but however if such a scenario arises where the person bribing is already sure of the job required then managers can have an ethical dilemma that even if they do except the bribe they are not changing the decision. It is here that the ethical toughness of a manager is tested and this is one such ethical dilemma that a project manager can face.Competition:

As per Baker (2004), the level of competition in the business environment is growing day by day and this is another dilemma that can form for the manager not just in terms of the business performance but also in the form of ethical problems. A manager can have a lot of ways with dealing with a competitor and this is the same scenario with project managers. For them as the term of this initiative Is limited that can have a negative effect on the ethics as they would like to achieve the best results for their projects and this kind of a non ethical war should be avoided in project management.

Breakdown in corporate ethos:

According to Foti (2004), another major ethical problem that has arrived on the scene in the recent few years is the fact that there has been a fall in the ethical alertness of various organizations and this is never good for any employee of the organization and the same can be said for a project manager. A manager is the first person that the subordinates look up to in case of any issue and the manager has to look into the matter that they do not fall prey to the general lack of ethics in the business environment.

Economic recession:

The last but certainly not the least of the recent ethical issues with project management in the economic recession that has taken the world by storm in the past five years. The recession has forced many organizations to close and this has made the rest sit up and indulge in a lot of cost saving activities. And the project manager should make sure that such activities are not falling short of the ethical standards and this should not be allowed. However the lure of cost saving makes this an ethical dilemma.

Different methodologies for Project management:

There are a few well known methodologies for project management. A few among them include:PmBok:

According to the Project management institute (1999) the PMBOK  Guide  divides  project  management  processes  into  initiating,  planning,  execution, controlling and closing processes. It focuses on these activities as the core of project management. The PmBok guide states that these activities form the whole life cycle of the project. It states that these activities are the basis on which the whole project functions, these activities are the main focus point of the project management sphere and should be focused upon with utmost dedication by the project managers.

Prince2:

As per the OGC (2009) PRINCE2 is a process-driven project management method which differs in theory with reactive and adaptive methods such as Scrum.

PRINCE2 is created upon a base of seven principles (continued business justification, learn from experience, defined roles and responsibilities, manage by stages, manage by exception, focus on products and tailored to suit the project environment), seven themes (business case, organization, quality, plans, risk, change and progress) and seven processes. The principles and themes come into play in the seven processes which include starting up a project, initiation, directing, controlling, managing stage boundaries, managing product delivery and closing up a project.

Agile:

The Agile method has been put forward by Winston Royce (1970), according to him the Agile methodology is a separate option from the traditional project management theories, and this is typically used in software development. It helps the teams involved in the project to respond to unpredictability through incremental, iterative work cadences, known as sprints. Agile methodologies are an alternative to waterfall, or traditional sequential development.

BS6079-1:2002:

According to the British Standard Institute (2002), this is a standard which is an improvement upon the original BS6079 standard, this new standard takes into account the various technological changes that have happened in the past few years and tries to create a base where the project managers can come and help themselves in any issue faced in project management.

This standard gives direction on the development and implementation of projects and the application of project management techniques. It has extensive application to projects in many industries and the public sector. This standard aims first and foremost to provide direction for comparative newcomers to project management and to act as a backup assistance plan for more experienced practitioners and those who work together with project management teams.

Differences between standards, methodologies and Bok:

As per Porter (1985) the amount of literature that is available for project management has also resulted in a lot different theories, principles and standards that have been put into place to make sure that there is scope for change in the management of the project if there is a different form of project that has to be handled. However such availability of options has forced a lot of difference as well and they are the following:

The main difference in the various standards is the basis on which they ascertain the importance of the various activities of the project management schedule. For some methodologies and standards the planning stage holds more importance while for some it is the implementation which holds more importance. Thus the level of importance of each stage holds different sets of values for various standards and methodologies.

The next major difference is on the base on which the activities have been classified among the various sets of standards and methodologies. Some of the standards may consider one part of the activity as planning while the other may consider it as a part of the implementation process. Thus this is another difference that exists here.

Lastly it can be said that another major difference between them is the technological advances that these standards and methodologies have taken into consideration. For some of them the basis is the old times where technological advances were not as fast and common as they are today. And hence this also forms a major difference for the standards, methodologies and BoK.

Success Factors in project management:

According to Blake and Mouton (1964) a project has to be managed and performed in a coherent manner to make sure that it is a success. And it is here that the required success factors have to be taken into consideration. The success factors that are a part of project management are:

Leadership:

As per Drucker (1998) the first and foremost successes factor that helps a project being successful is the leadership that takes care of the project. A good manager is a must requirement for a project to be successful. This is one of the most important factors and the organization should make sure that they do not employee such a manger who does not has the required experience for leading the project. A good manager shall always have a positive impact on the success of the project.

Resources:

As per Gido (1985) the second success factor is the availability of resources for the project. Sometimes it may happen that the organization does not have the required resources to take care of the job. If they take in another project which shall require more resources than it may happen that there shall be a crunch for the resources of the organization.

Management:

The general management of a project is also equally important if the project has to be considered as a successful one. The people of the organization along with the external forces of the project have to be managed in such a manner that they are able to create a successful environment for the implementation and working of the project. Thus these are the major success factors and these are the basic points that have to be considered by the management of an organization while taking up a project. These points have been put forward by management gurus like Peter Drucker, Henri Fayol and FW Taylor.

Practical examples of implementation:

UK Police Headquarter movement:

The PRINCE2 project management theory has been used to make a basis on which the police headquarters were moved in the UK. The project costing around 100 million pounds used the Prince2 methodology to make sure that the movement of the police headquarters goes about without any form of issues and that there is a set of rules  and standards that should be followed. Prince2 has also been the favorable project management implementation methodology in the UK since its formation.

The plan for the movement of the police headquarters has been made before hand and thus it forms under the Prince2 category, the reason why the use of Prince2 in this situation is necessary is the fact that this particular methodology gives the focus on the planning stage. And in this case when a thing such as a police headquarters which is such a major public amenity is being moved there cannot be chances of a failure. This kind of scenario can be avoided when the planning is done with full care and this is what the Prince2 methodology tries to ascertain and do.

Microsoft:

It recently came to light that even the big organizations can implement the agile technology framework on their software development projects even as agile is considered as an instrument for the small organizations and which cannot be used in the large organizations due to the size of the projects that they undertake. Microsoft implemented this particular methodology in a software development program that they undertook. The program development is still going on at the organization and hence the particulars about the same were not disclosed by the company. The project management model was considered for this particular project as it initiates an environment of team efforts and this is what Microsoft would want in the current state of high competition. The Agile methodology focuses on the step by step development of the project by the use of the team building environment and the utilization of the resources of the organization to make sure that the project is successful

Thus by looking at these two examples one can say that there is a lot of variance in the way the different methodologies that have been present in the project management field have been used by the various organizations be it small or large. It also shows that the principles remain the same no matter how large or small and organization is.

Conclusion:

As per Davenport, Delong and Beers (1998), the project management theories and principles have had a rather rich history till date. They have been a constant source of improvement and discussion for the manager that manage a project and the organizations that take up projects. The methodologies have evolved over the past few years when they were more focused on the current status of the project and not the future affect of the same on the organization. The methodologies and standards have now taken a new face due to the changes in the technology and the new business environment which is more focused on both the current and the future performance of the organization.

The new basis of these standards had also increased the importance of these methodologies and standards for the current project managers. The standards help them out in case they are stuck at some particular point in a project. They also act as guiding posts to create a more successful form of project management models that help the organization to grow.

Thus it can be said that for a successful project management schedule it becomes important for both the management and the people involved in the project to make sure that they are following these standards and methodologies.

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