project management essay

project management essay

The Importance of Effective Project Management in Today’s Business Environment

1. Introduction to Project Management

Project management is a set of principles, practices, tools, and techniques that can be used to complete various types of projects, especially complex ones. It is also a method and approach to management in which the project manager plans, organizes, coordinates, and controls an operational assignment. Project management is that activity that uses common sense and proven techniques to plan and control the schedule and cost of those efforts involved in performing a project. Successful project management is a disciplined approach to achieving the strategic business or product vision through appropriate methodologies, tools, and team leadership. It is a systematic way to plan and guide project processes; it is a methodology which is laid down sequentially. It is applied at multi-levels of the organization for project success.

The business environment is growing rapidly with technological advancements in all spheres of nature. In the wake of stiff competition and globalization, companies now believe in more effective management of their projects so that the maximum benefits could be achieved with minimum effort. For this, management has now adopted a system known as project management to keep pace with the ever-changing technological world. As a few traditional management techniques have deviated the business cycle while reaching the goal, a new system is essential if business has to meet the stiff competition. It is very clear that organization should equip its project manager to the best of its ability.

2. Key Principles and Processes in Project Management

While both project and general management involve comprehensive management of complex tasks and problems, there are key differences due to the unique nature of projects. Some of the unique characteristics of projects are: a) Objective – the objective of a project is to create deliverables within a specified time, cost, and quality; b) Team – all project managers manage teams, all members of which will usually have the same focused goal; c) One-off projects are ‘one of’ in history. Once the project is completed, there is no need to replicate it in the same way ever again as the lessons from that project concerning the solution can be applied to other problems; and, d) Complexity – because of their uniqueness, projects are non-routine and necessitate a multi-route approach where management does not guide, signpost, or activate the team members at every transport in a new route.

Project management, in its modern form, has been practiced for the past fifty years. This essay will identify key principles and processes in project management, suggest criteria for selecting project managers, and indicate the actions that firms should take to transform their substantive and detailed project management experience and data into project management knowledge. The best practice project managers share all of the qualities that are usually associated with effective general management, especially good leadership and communication skills, optimism that is simultaneously realistic and achievable, and the ability to bring a project’s focus back to the needs and requirements of the client. They also possess an uncanny ability to recognize project deviations that can lead to project failure and a sense of stewardship for the resources of the organization.

3. Challenges and Solutions in Project Management

A systemic approach is required in developing a strategy for an organization’s project management. First, the organization’s needs and strengths must be evaluated. Then, the benefit, in the form of increased competitiveness and performance from improving and directing project management, must be estimated. The improvement techniques and tools must be selected, and the strategy, a phased master-plan, must be devised. Finally, the strategy must be implemented and monitored, beginning the process all over again by evaluating the effects. With success, the systemic approach to develop the strategy and carry forward the related project activities identified and described in the following, finally get turned into a self-enforced process.

Being crisis managers when things go wrong more or less dominates many project managers’ work. Moreover, in many organizations, visibility and scope of a project intensify once it starts to go wrong. This underlines the need for getting it right up front and getting smart. Organizations must refocus from being fire-fighting to fire-prevention. They need to create their future, set long-term goals, and implement mid- to long-range strategies to achieve these goals – project management is the key. Organizations must manage by planning, by capitalizing on their culture, by leading, by carefully selecting their members, and by effectively evaluating and rewarding them. Project management gives the knowledge, techniques, and tools that enable an organization to improve, control, and guide every facet of its operation over the long term, so that the organization achieves its objectives and goals.

4. The Role of Technology in Enhancing Project Management

Advancements in technology are fast and communications, including the ‘landline’ telephones, are becoming the ‘must-have’ facilities for any management team. It is advantageous for the project manager to understand the capabilities of different media, including the advantages and disadvantages of voice, email, facsimile, video and terrestrial satellite, electronic media, discussion groups, and internet technology to help keep the level of experts to complete the project. It is also important for the effective project manager to analyze the various communication tools available and determine what is available before entering into the contract, how these tools will be used in order to reach their goals, and how the cost of using these tools could affect the budget.

Technology is a broad term. It does not only mean communication via email or fax, but also includes the technologically advanced software increasingly used to assist project management personnel on a day-to-day basis. An effective project manager should take advantage of technological tools to assist with the management of the project. These tools include software applications for accounting, word processing, design, and construction software including spreadsheet analysis, scheduling, and special software such as risk management software and electronic partnering software. These software applications can not only improve the speed and accuracy of management processes, but also improve productivity and overall project and communication quality.