Chap 2: Organization Strategy and Project Selection Flashcards
What does RACI mean?
Responsibility, accountability. Consult, and inform
Can you delegate responsibility to a certain task?
Yes
Can accountability be transferred?
No
How will the firm compete?
(1) What products to offer?
(2) which services to sell?
(3) In what geographic regions will the company market its product and services?
(4) Who is the customer that is served?
Why is strategy important to PMs?
Respond to change but should align with the mission of the company
What is the purpose of the RACI Chart?
Create a list of the major variables and who is responsible for those tasks
Responding to change requires a skill called?
Environmental scanning
It means understanding what’s going on in the marketplace around the company and what’s going on in the geographical region around it, and what are the external factors that can influence the success of a project?
Environmental scanning
We want to align with the mission we can?
Allocate the scarce resources
Every company has a limited number of people working for it and we only can do so many projects with so many dollars?
Allocate scarce resources
Purpose of the organization?
Mission
Targets within the mission?
Goals
Formulate strategy?
Objectives
What are the three missions aligned with projects?
Mission, goals, and objectives
What are the four activities in Managements?
(1) Define the organizational structure
(2) Analyze and formulate the strategy
(3) Set objectives to achieve strategy
(4) implement strategy through projects
In setting up a strategy, we must do it in a SMART way, what is a smart goal?
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound
Why use project prioritization?
Implementation gap, organizational politics, & multitasking (inefficient use of resources)
This is the lack of consensus between functional managers and senior executives?
The implementation Gap
It is not a rational selection methodology?
Organizational politics
It is the power and persuasiveness over what’s best for the business?
Organizational politics
One person -> one task, is it considered as a myth?
Multitasking (inefficient use of resources)
What are the Benefits of Portfolio Management?
- Builds discipline in the selection process
- Links projects to strategic merits
- Evaluate proposals using common criteria
- Allocate resources to strategically aligned projects
- Balance risk among all projects
- Justifies killing projects that do not support strategy
- Improves communication
- Supports agreement on project goals
What are the five steps in portfolio management?
(1) Classify the projects
(2) Determine selection criteria
(3) Identify sources for proposals
(4) Evaluate Project Proposals
(5) Manage the project portfolio
What are the three Types of Projects?
Compliance, Strategic, and Operational
This type of project under compliance is of a?
“Must do”, Regulatory (legislation), Emergency (disaster recovery)
This type of project under Strategic is a?
Increase revenue and market share, Research and Development (R&D), New products/new services
This type of project under Operational is a?
Support, cost reduction, TQM (Total Quality Management)
What do we use with a high level of confidence in expected sales volume and revenue?
Financial selection tools
What are the two most commonly used for project selection methods?
(a) payback period
(b) net present value
What are the three on financial selection tools that may neglect to consider important variables?
(1) brand/reputation (2) Sustainability (3) New Markets
What is the payback period?
(a) how long until we recover this investment?
(b) Shorter period time is better
(c) Disadvantage: Does not consider time value of money
What is the net present value?
(1) Compare projects with different life cycles
(2) Uses time value of money (discount factor)
(3) Disadvantage: easy to manipulate
What are the two Non-Financial Scoring Methods?
Checklist and Weighted Scoring Model
It uses a set of questions to determine strategic alignment of a given project?
Checklist
It does not take into consideration how one project measures up against another project?
Checklist
What is a Checklist?
- uses a set of questions to determine strategic alignment
- not take into consideration how one project measures up against another project
- Quick and easy to use across all organizational levels
It is quick and easy to use across all organizational levels?
checklist
It ensures strategic alignment of projects with selection criteria?
Weighted scoring model
It allows comparison of projects against one another?
Weighted scoring model
It needs to exhibit openness and clarity in project selection or rejection?
Weighted scoring model
What is the Weighted scoring model?
- ensures strategic alignment of projects with selection criteria
- allows comparison of projects against one another
- needs to exhibit openness and clarity in project
What does BCG stand for?
Boston Consulting Group
What does the BCG Matrix do?
It assesses how attractive if you look at the y-axis the growth rate of a particular industry, and the on the x-axis it shows the strength of a particular business in practicing in the market.
What is a high risk bet or wildcats?
one that there’s a high growth rate but very little business familiarity/strength
What is Conservative Bets or Cash Cow?
A product line or a project thaw would ensure significant revenue over a long period of time but the market is not growing at a very rapid rate so eventually the size of the market will shrink
Alternate names of each market portfolio assessment?
Oyster (wildcat), Pearl(star), Bread & Butter (Cash Cow) & White Elephant(Dog)
