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moduleslecture.pptxIntroduction
Gavin Betts
Management Systems Group at HUBS
Support you to learn about & understand how to apply two different methods for undertaking projects aimed at achieving some form of organisational change and improvement. Focussing mainly on the systemic approach.
Jeremy Wilcock
Marketing and Business Strategy Group at HUBS
Also here to support your learning during the module. Focussing mostly on the ‘traditional’ approach to project management.
Together, we have many decades of practical experience to draw upon from private and public sector organisations
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i) Module Contents and Overview
Module Content
Introduction to module & assignment question
Overview of both project management approaches
Detailed coverage of systems approach
Detailed coverage of traditional approach
Summary & final assignment guidance
Over the weeks of our lecture sessions, we will be covering all of these points.
Decisions, decisions…
Your Module Handbook talks about 2 different approaches to project management. We’ll consider each in detail. You need to make a judgement about which to use for your assignment. In the real world, business projects of various types are undertaken regularly. Different methodologies may be better suited to some tasks than others. Making an astute judgement about how to execute the task can make a significant difference. It may be the difference between success and failure for a project.
Purpose
This module introduces a number of concepts, techniques, and methods designed to aid undertaking projects successfully. It also addresses differences in management thinking in relation to project management and the different principles and assumptions that underpin various techniques and methods.
In particular, this module will introduce you to two contrasting approaches to thinking about, planning and executing a project as well as encouraging reflection on the appropriateness of each to different contexts and challenges. Making astute judgements about what a project should be and how to undertake is not always easy and can have significant implications.
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Thinking
Approaches to organising projects
Performance
(Derived from Seddon, 2005)
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Assessment challenge
Make an informed choice about which approach to use; the one you feel is most suited to one of the two scenarios which will be made available.
Use the chosen approach to work through and complete the assignment for this module (1 x 4500 word report worth 100%)
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(During the early part of the module, you will be introduced to each approach - this will help inform your thinking about which project management approach to apply in which scenario)
Assessment challenge (ii)
Module teaching takes place:
Assignment & 2 different approaches for undertaking a project covered
During this time, you decide on a scenario and apply one of the two approaches
You submit your assignment. It gets marks & you do well!
You write this up in the form of a 4500 word report
It is important to pick an approach which suits the situation
Present an effective justification for your choice of approach
… and offer insightful reflections on using your chosen approach
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Intro to module, overview of assignment & both PM approaches
Coverage of tools, techniques, stages etc associated with the systems project management approach
Coverage of tools, techniques, stages etc associated with the traditional project management approach
Summary of module material & final assignment guidance
Module Structure
There will also be some exercises published on Canvas for you to work through. These help to support and extend your learning about the approaches covered.
ii) Overview of Project Management Approaches
The Systems Approach: Outline of the 3-stage systems methodology
You go & study how it* works now
You plan & experiment with changes to improve how it works
You roll out the changes
*The ‘it’ referred to needs to be an operational work system… next slide considers the definition of a system
Check
Plan
Do
1
2
3
John Seddon (2005). Referred to as ‘Vanguard Method’ and the ‘Lean Systems Methodology’
1. It is important that analysis is undertaken to find out how it (the system in question) works now from a customer’s perspective .
2. Some experimentation and limited trials of different ways of working may also feature within this planning stage.
3. Implementation or roll-out of changes across a whole system ... after which it is important to return to number 1 to find out what the effects have been of the changes made.
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A definition: What is a system?
“Simply defined, a system is a complex whole the functioning of which depends upon its parts and the interactions between those parts”
Jackson (2003)
Q. If we accept this, can you give examples of any systems?
Here’s one to start with
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Question
Why are change and improvement
important to organisations?
Some organisational approaches to change
A proverb attributed to the Dakota Indians says that
‘when you discover you are riding a dead horse,
the thing to do is dismount’.
However, this is not necessarily always the approach taken in organisational settings ...
Organisational approaches to change & improvement?
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Sadly, some of the examples opposite might be accurate in describing the way organisations ‘deal’ with the recognition that they might be “riding a dead horse”.
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Assumptions
Any instances when something listed on the previous slide seemed to come about in organisational life are examples of the different ways that changes have been attempted or tackled. Underlying each one are thoughts and assumptions about work and how it should be organised.
Put another way, any instances of something listed on the previous slide coming to pass is not just unfortunate – it also offers insight into the managerial assumptions which resulted in one (or more) of the ‘dead horse’ examples emerging.
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Assumptions
Action strategies & ways of organising
Outcomes
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Thinking
System
Performance
(Seddon, 2005)
These early slides have all been designed to start you thinking about the relationship between thinking and assumptions, (particularly at managerial level), the design of the work system – whether the ongoing, operational kind, or shorter, project-based ones - and the performance that is achieved by that system.
Chris Argyris talks about what he calls single and double loop learning. He states that organisations “fail to get people to reflect on their work and behaviour.” “... they do not surface the kinds of deep and potentially threatening or embarrassing information that can motivate learning and produce real change.” (Argyris, 1994: 77 – 78).
These initial exercises have all been designed to start you thinking about the relationship between thinking and assumptions, (particularly at managerial level), the design of the work system and the performance that is achieved by that system.
Chris Argyris talks about what he calls single and double loop learning. He states that organisations “fail to get people to reflect on their work and behaviour.” “... they do not surface the kinds of deep and potentially threatening or embarrassing information that can motivate learning and produce real change.” (Argyris, 1994: 77 – 78).
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Organisations as ‘open social systems’
“Organizations are open social systems... The change and complexity in environmental domains have major implications for organization design and action. ...Organizational environments differ in terms of uncertainty and can be conceptualized in terms stable – unstable and simple – complex dimensions.”
Daft et al (2010, 167)
Organisational Change
“A complex [social] system is not like a machine that, once a new set of directions has been implemented, then runs like clockwork and is amenable to top-down control. Any innovation [such as a new way of organising work] interacts with numerous systemic factors so that you do not find a uniform effect across the organisation or between similar organisations. Moreover, over time, the interactions will produce new effects.”
Munro, E., and Hubbard, A. (2011) A Systems Approach to Evaluating Organisational Change in Children's Social Care. British Journal of Social Work, 41, 726-743.
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More on seeking to intervene & bring about change
“When we take conscious action in the world, [e.g. intervening to improve an organisation, or part of one], we do so on the basis of how we see and understand the world. Different viewpoints, therefore, give rise to very different actions ”
Jackson (2003)
“For whatever reason, very few managers find it easy to think in different ways about the operations and organisations they are responsible for and, as a result, they manage in predictable and restricted ways.”
Jackson (2003)
Dominance of the mechanistic view perhaps? (See Morgan, 1997 – ‘Images of Organization’)
What is (traditional) project management ?
Project management involves using a range of management skills and techniques to successfully carry out a project -
Thinking ahead
Carry out research
Planning what happens where and when
Managing the people and resources
Monitoring the project
Changing the plan
Communicating with people
Evaluating the project
(Allan, 2004: 9)
Does the shape made by this chart remind you of anything?
What is (traditional) project management 2?
The most efficient way of introducing change.
... achieved by:
Defining what has to be accomplished, generally in terms of time, cost and various technical and quality performance parameters;
Developing a plan to achieve these and then working this plan, ensuring that progress is maintained in line with these objectives;
Using appropriate project management techniques and tools to plan, monitor and maintain progress;
Employing persons skilled in project management – including normally a project manager – who are given [single] responsibility for introducing the change and are accountable for its successful accomplishment.
(Burke 2007 ,18)
[Before next slide]
Q. When did aspects of what we can recognise today as project management first start to develop?
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From the systems perspective covered in this module, change starts with ‘getting knowledge’
“Command-and-control thinkers expect change to be preceded by cost/benefit analyses, projects, deliverables, timescales and milestones. Change always starts with a plan. And there is an awful lot of planning: projects are broken down into constituent parts, interdependencies identified, time-lines agreed and so on.
Systems thinking [the systems thinking methodology introduced in this module at any rate] dispenses with all of this. Starting ... [by] getting knowledge of the ‘what and why’ of current performance as a system; nothing is assumed other than we almost certainly don’t know what that performance is. Command-and-control thinkers have a problem with that…
Change starts with ‘getting knowledge’ 2
… They think that the idea of embarking on change without predetermining outcomes is bizarre. Yet question them and they will tell you how their plans are rarely, if ever, returned to; they will tell you how disasters are buried, how milestones are extended and extenuating circumstances created. While managers will confess that their plans, by implication, are based on opinion rather than knowledge, even so, they would prefer to have a plan. I tell them the only plan is to get knowledge.”
Seddon (2008, 78-79)
Complex social systems and predictability
“... self-organizing, nonlinear, feedback systems are inherently unpredictable. They are not controllable. They are understandable only in the most general way. The goal of foreseeing the future exactly and preparing for it perfectly is unrealizable. The idea of making a complex system do just what you want it to do can be achieved only temporarily, at best. We can never fully understand our world, not in the way our reductionist science has led us to expect.”
Meadows, D. H. (2001) Dancing with Systems, Whole Earth, Issue 106.
Simple model of a system
Throughput
Input
Output
Very
The lean systems methodology is designed to be applied to work systems rather like this.
An example of an operational ‘system’
Principle
Understand demand and design your system to deal with it effectively
Systems need to be capable of responding to the variety of demands that are placed upon them
What is offered by the system needs to be well-matched against demand in the environment
Open boundary between system & environment
(things pass through)
Environment
System
Legal & regulatory requirements
Demand for product type A
Demand for product type B
Other demands / possibilities in the environment which an organisation decides not to respond to… perhaps for strategic or tactical reasons
The system responding to demands / other possibilities in the environment
So, what did the fella in the middle have to say about work by these other two & how important it might be for managers?
W R Ashby: Active in the field of cybernetics – published various works including “An Introduction to Cybernetics”
The Law of Requisite Variety (1956)
According to Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety, systems can only be controlled if the would-be controller can command the same degree of variety as the system.
Stafford Beer built on the work of Ross Ashby.
According to Jackson (2000) "Beer was the first to apply cybernetics to management”
Beer (1974) believed that Ashby’s law of requisite variety was as important to managers as Einstein’s law of relativity was to physicists.
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From Jackson (2003)
Ashby’s law of requisite variety is as important to managers as the work of Einstein is to physicists
Xxxxx’s law of rxxxxxxxe vxxxxxy is as important to managers as the work of Einstein is to physicists
Lean Systems Methodology (Sometimes also known as ‘Vanguard Method’)
operations regarded as ‘wholes’ serving the purposes of the customer
fit the tasks together to achieve the customer’s purposes as efficiently as possible
the design of support systems, e.g. HR, must follow the design of the primary customer serving system
evaluate in terms of overall system performance in pursuit of customer purposes
ensure the system has sufficient ‘variety’ to deal with its environment
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An example of what has been unearthed using this approach -
Inspect
Sort
Scan
Index
Decide
Allocate
Notify
Hand out forms
Take in documents
Pay
22%V 78%F
44%V 56%F
34%V 66%F
99% claims ‘dirty’
No case ownership
CTax fragmentation
1-10 cycles to clean (ave.4)
95% cases over-specified
20% docs. duplicated
60% errors
Rework
Multiple Sorts & Checks
Cases fragmented
Scanning/Indexing errors
64% passed back
Manage queues
Letters unclear
87% call
0-152 days to pay
3% visit once
Handoff
HO
HO
HO
HO
HO
“I want to claim”
Workers’ activity ‘managed’
HOUSING BENEFITS
Command and control versus systems thinking
| Command & control thinking | Systems thinking | |
| Top-down, hierarchical | Perspective | Outside in, system |
| Functional | Design | Demand, value, flow |
| Separated from work | Decision-making | Integrated with work |
| Output, targets, standards: related to budget | Measurement | Capability, variation: related to purpose |
| Contractual | Attitude to customers | What matters? |
| Contractual | Attitude to suppliers | Co-operative |
| Manage people and budgets | Role of management | Act on the system |
| Control | Ethos | Learning |
| Reactive, projects | Change | Adaptive, integral |
| Extrinsic | Motivation | Intrinsic |
Derived from Seddon, 2003
“... Command and control thinking represents a logic governing how work is designed and managed. At the heart of this logic is the separation of decision-making from work ... The consequences are high cost and poor service; service costs more because it is badly designed. Top-down functional hierarchies damage the way customers are dealt with.”
“The better way leads to better profits. But it is even better than that. The better way leads to improved morale, less turnover of personnel. It leads to better service ... The problem is the better way is based on an entirely different way of thinking about the design and management of work. Any challenge to the prevailing norms is bound to be treated with scepticism at bets, and cynicism at worst.”
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Lean systems methodology
Check
Plan
Do
1
2
3
John Seddon
Check, plan, do cycle devised by Seddon.
Underpinned by a variety of other concepts that it seeks to draw together.
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Check asks -
What, in reality, is the purpose of this system? (as opposed to what the purpose should be from the customer’s point of view)
What is the nature of customer demand? (where do people first present, what different types of demand are present?)
What is the system achieving? (response times for frequently occurring demands, capability or process behaviour charts)
How does the work flow? (follow the flow of tasks, produce flow charts)
What system conditions influence the organisation and the performance of the system?
What thinking is shaping the system (& conditions)?
For your assignment, you will be writing about these kinds of things if you chose the systems approach.
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Check… a diagrammatic representation
Derived from Seddon, 2005: 112
1 Purpose? (In customer terms)
2
3
4
5
6
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So far, the overview has considered the lean systems methodology (and some wider concepts from the field of systems thinking)… one way of undertaking a business project
Next we consider an overview of the other method covered during this module, the more ‘traditional’ approach to undertaking and managing business projects
‘Traditional’ Project Management
Used to help humans create and achieve remarkable things…
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
The last picture on the previous slide shows a bridge… but that doesn’t really do justice to what this project, the most recent of the 3, achieved
The picture showed a part of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge… which is actually a bridge and tunnel system. It opened in 2018.
Have a look at it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guJY5z7BWAM
It is 55km long
(that is, over 34 miles)
Key questions to consider…
What is ‘a project’ ?
What is ‘project management’ ?
What is a project: definitions
“a specific activity that involves innovation and change ... and has a clear aim, set of outcomes and start and end date” (Allan, 2004: 5)
“A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a Unique product or service (outcome or result). Temporary means that every project has a definite end. Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all similar products or services” (Burke, 2007: 17)
“A management environment that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified business case.”
And
“A temporary organisation that is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome or result at a given time using predetermined resources.” (PRINCE 2 2009 in Maylor, 2010: 5)
What is a project (2)
Finally, the Project Management Association of Japan suggests: “A project refers to a value creation undertaking based on a specific mission, which is completed in a given or agreed timeframe and under constraints, including resources and external circumstances” (See Maylor, 2010, 5)
Maylor identifies 3 common themes as evident across a range of definitions –
Uniqueness: the exact project has not been performed before
Temporary: the project has a beginning & end
Focussed: the task of the project is to deliver a specific product, service or result
What is project management
Project management involves using a range of management skills and techniques to successfully carry out a project -
Thinking ahead
Carry out research
Planning what happens where and when
Managing the people and resources
Monitoring the project
Changing the plan
Communicating with people
Evaluating the project
(Allan, 2004: 9)
What is project management 2
The most efficient way of introducing change.
... achieved by:
Defining what has to be accomplished, generally in terms of time, cost and various technical and quality performance parameters;
Developing a plan to achieve these and then working this plan, ensuring that progress is maintained in line with these objectives;
Using appropriate project management techniques and tools to plan, monitor and maintain progress;
Employing persons skilled in project management – including normally a project manager – who are given responsibility for introducing the change and are accountable for its successful accomplishment.
(Burke 2007 ,18)
[Before next slide]
Q. When did aspects of what we can recognise today as project management first start to develop?
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What is Implied by the Preceding Definitions?
Morgan (1997, 26-27) states that ideas such as “specify every detail so that everyone will be sure of the jobs that they have to perform” and “plan, organise and control, control, control” are often ingrained in our way of thinking about organisations and in the way we evaluate organisational practice.
Early theorists believed they had discovered the principles of organisation which, if followed, would more or less solve managerial problems for ever... they were completely wrong on this score. Indeed, if we look closely, we find that their management principles often lie at the basis of many modern organisational problems.
(This links back to themes from earlier slides)
Book: Images of Organization
Some history
Pre 1950’s there was no generally accepted or defined method of (what we are calling ‘traditional’) project management
Tools and techniques were developed during the 1950s and 1960s as a way of formalising the approaches being taken to manage large, complex projects
This development was particularly found within the US defence & aerospace sectors. The construction sector also contributed
Used in NASA space programme & development of Polaris missile system
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Some more history
The Project Management Institute is one of the major project management organizations
It was founded in 1969
It grew from 7,500 members in 1990 to over 260,000* in 2007
* Which is about the population of Hull
We can see here some data that points to the way in which the profession of project management has flourished over the years, especially through the 1990’s and on into the new millennium.
Both the PMI, mentioned on the slide, and the Association of Project Management (APM) are concerned with the development of the project management profession.
In particular, they both have a body of knowledge about project management which they promote and develop.
www.pmi.org
www.apm.org.uk
[Q. Can anyone tell me what the main dimensions of a project are?]
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Trends in project management
Changes and developments in the field have been significantly shaped by the changes in the context that projects operate within.
Alignment with strategic goals
Reaching operational goals
Changes in the way organisations are managed
Industry and sector developments
Refining project management itself
These build on the earlier points about the history and development of project management.
They are indicative of the kind of trends in project management that are highlighted in the literature.
Project approaches are increasingly being used as a way of helping to ensure that new ideas and big developments within organisations are aligned with the strategy and objectives of the organisation. Project approaches are also said to help to ensure that this alignment is maintained and that projects and project proposals without clear ties can be filtered out.
As knowledge and understanding of project management approaches has become more widespread, project management tools and techniques have become increasingly used at more mid-management operational levels to help ensure that targets and budgets are met.
A trend away from the more traditional, hierarchical organisational structure is suggested to have supported project management which typically operates in a cross functional manner.
We have a huge global IT sector that has seen much of it’s development take place in the last 2 or 3 decades. Much of the work of this sector is project work – the development and launch of new hardware and software, the planning, installation and role-out of new IT systems for clients. The service sector more generally makes far more use of project management than it did in the earlier days of the discipline when it was it largely found in defence, aerospace and construction.
Techniques and approaches develop over time. The creation of a formal Project Management Office (PMO) is one good example of this. Also, increases in computing power, the development of the internet and the widespread availability of project management software have enabled so-called ‘virtual’ project management to develop. (People working remotely from one another on project work with co-ordinated supported by the use of proj mgmnt software).
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Current issues in project management
Ready, fire, aim
It’s all in my head
We work in a nanosecond environment, we don’t have time to do that stuff
Project management – we have a procedure for that
It’s all just common sense, isn’t it?
We’ve done this lots of times before. It never worked then, why should it this time?
It won’t work here!
See Maylor, (2010, 14 - 16) for explanations of other points above
Project begins with no clear objectives. The motto is ‘shoot first… whatever you hit, call it the target’ (Maylor, 2010, 14)
Ready, fire, aim – the project is started with no clear objectives in place ... this is the fate of too many projects
It’s all in my head – may work well for the very small project but for anything larger, or if the scale of the project escalates, the application of appropriate structures and systems will greatly help.
We work in a nanosecond environment, we don’t have time to do that stuff – adaptation of project management approaches for best fit with the environment in which it is deployed is always a useful consideration; failure to consider and use project management is not.
Project management – we have a procedure for that – This is the other end of the formalisation spectrum from the previous example. It can result in a heavily bureaucratic environment in which decision making can be very slow and associated overhead costs very high.
It’s all just common sense, isn’t it? – Possibly true if you mean ‘the obvious after it has been explained’.
We’ve done this lots of times before. It never worked then, why should it this time? – not at all uncommon. The key is for organisations to learn from past project experience including failings, which can be very costly.
It won’t work here! – The challenge is to take methods developed and seen to be effective in other fields of business and to find ways in which they can add value in different settings
(Maylor, 2005: 8-10)
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Basic dimensions of a project
Time
Cost
Quality
(Meredith & Mantel, 2010:4)
These can be thought of as constraints
These are the three generic dimensions or factors that are central to all projects. These are sometimes also referred to as constraints as a project manager is likely to find that there are limits on each of them.
This diagram seeks to represent the interrelated nature of each of these factors ... a change in one will have an impact on the others.
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Some other constraints
Legal
Ethical
Environmental
Logic
Activation
Indirect effects
Maylor (2005) identifies further constraints beyond the main three of time, cost & quality that can also impact upon a project –
There may be legal constraints that prevent certain projects or project options from being undertaken. For instance, trying to introduce different ways of working that require changes to the terms and conditions in existing employee’s contracts may not be feasible. Or, opening a business in existing commercial premises may require a change in planning consent and this may or may not be achievable.
Ethical considerations may prove important and may restrict certain project options. Outsourcing projects may be influenced by concerns about the likely make-up of the workforce and the conditions they are likely to operate in.
Environmental concerns are increasingly influencing management thinking and therefore management thinking about projects. There are now companies with stated aims to be carbon neutral by a certain date and such strategies will influence the nature of projects that do and do not get the go-ahead in ways that were much less apparent previously.
Logic – this is described as the need for certain types of activity to have been completed before a project can start.
Activation – activating a project may, for instance, require some form of board approval. Without such approval the project is constrained from going live.
Indirect effects refers to the fact that it is highly unlikely for any change to ever take place in isolation. Connections and interrelatedness within an organisation and between an organisation and it’s operating environment mean that attempts to implement a change project of some sort may become constrained by indirect effects. How many business projects of various types may have been shelved over the last few years as a result of banks restricting their lending to small and medium enterprises.
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Project management and general management
General Management
Project Management
Maylor (2010, 11) contrasts these two.
He suggests PM is typically responsible for overseeing change whereas GM is more typically concerned with maintaining the status quo.
PM is mainly concerned with innovation, unlike GM
General management is also said to deal with a limited set of variables.
Project management on the other hand is said to contain intrinsic uncertainties.
[next, exercise thinking up reasons why projects go wrong]
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Why do projects go wrong?
Spend a few minutes individually listing all the reasons why you think projects go wrong (these can be as general or specific as you like)
Project model
(Derived from Maylor, 2010, 30)
Project
Output:
satisfied need
Constraints:
Financial
Legal
Ethical
Environmental
Logic
Time
Quality
Indirect effects
Mechanisms:
People
Knowledge & expertise
Capital
Tools & techniques
technology
Input:
want / need
Maylor suggests (2005: 24) that it is useful to have a model of project management in mind to help understand the processes and accompanying management activities that are or should be occuring.
This is referred to as the IOCM model (from Inputs, Outputs, Constraints, Mechanisms).
Mechanisms are the way by which outputs are achieved.
He highlights an important aspect of the role of project manager – that of integrator.
They integrate the elements of the project – the need or want with the available mechanisms or resources under the conditions imposed by the constraints to achieve the outputs required.
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What you need to do: Decide on what you are going to do, (scenario A or B), and your choice of approach; one you can justify (fit between method & task) -
Throughput
Inputs
(Customer Demands)
Outputs
or
“a specific activity that involves innovation and change ... and has a clear aim, set of outcomes and start and end date”
(Allan, 2004: 5)
Traditional… or systems?
Remember
Methods, tools and techniques were created for a reason; to help solve some particular problem or deal with a particular situation
Know this lineage
Know the problem / situation currently facing you (your choice of scenario)
Make an informed choice about what approach is suited
Which one?
SYSTEMS
TRADITIONAL
Thank you
See you next time
