Week 1 Flashcards
what has project management increased?
- Move from hierarchical management to participatory management, as with hierarchical management people’s efforts weren’t acknowledged
- The adoption of the “systems approach”, wherein systems can be broken down and so managed more effectively
- The role of projects when changing an organisation’s strategy
what are the limitations of project management?
- every project is unique, so requires thinking on your feet
- can cause firm complexity eg needed the right structure
- projects will always involve conflict between people over resources
- can be expensive
what is the project management institute (PMI)?
exists to improve project management standards, its american focused
- PRINCE is used in the UK gov and IT industry, prioritises processes, not quality of product
What is a project?
- according to meredith et al (2016) “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result”
- its a specific, finite set of tasks used to
accomplish a given objective / goal, routine tasks are not projects
what is program?
an exceptionally large, long- range objective that is broken down into a set of projects
what is a task?
set of activities comprising a project
what is a work package?
the division of tasks
what is the triple constraint?
there are 3 key objectives of every projects:
1. time - when it needs to be done
2. cost - its within budget
3. scope - what will and wont be done
= all three variables are interrelated as a change in 1 effects the other 2
what is the criteria for project success?
- project efficiency: has the project been well managed, within time, budget and scope?
- impact on the customer: is consumer happy with their output?
- business impact on firm: project impact has positive effect on entire firm
- opens new opportunities for the future - find new market for product
who is the project manager?
- has to deal with many differing stakeholders eg employees, boss, public all of whom have different goals that will come into conflict with each other
- PM has full responsibility for project success
- however, all PM’s have many rewards eg high visibility, job variety, prestige and salary
what is the project team?
- each project is unique so will need different skills and so different members
who is the project sponsor?
- According to Zwikael and Meredith (2018) “A senior manager who is supportive of the project and provides political and top management support for the project manager and their team”
- they can provide the project with guidance, senior management support, resources and financial support, leadership support
what are the ‘speeds’ of a project life cycle:
- slow start: where all planning begins, eg when amount of resources needed are calculated
- quick momentum: where majority of work is done
- slow finish: where most of the work is complete and you plan end of project
what is the first stage of the project life cycle?
Initiation: a business case is drawn up which explains why a project is needed and what is required to do it, at the end managers decide whether its needed
what is the second stage of the project life cycle?
Planning: here formal planning will start eg the budget, schedule and deliverables
what is the third stage of the project life cycle?
Execution: here is where the tasks outlined in the planning stage are carried out and where the project is monitored to see if any changes are needed (control)
what is the fourth stage of the project life cycle?
closure: most of the work is done here, and so the project team is reassigned and analysis of the project is done
what is uncertainty?
its the biggest at the start of the project as unsure of project success but reduces as projects starts and you begin to evaluate what is working and what needs changing
- as the output of one project can be the input of another.
