Commercial Project Management

Description of topics including reading samples

Learning outcomes of the unit

Learnings from your experience, this and prior unit reading, assignments

Supporting documentation including your prior learning

Week 9 Topic: Applying Project Management Standards and Frameworks.

Collaborative Project Procurement Arrangements (2015) by Derek H. T. Walker and Beverly M. Lloyd Walker;

6. Evaluate project management tools that help avoid or provide conflict resolution via negotiated solutions.

The objective of this week’s topic is to make sure you have an appreciation of the Role of the Project Manager in Commercial Negotiation.

Try to ask yourself the questions that were in the slides in this week’s lecture:

1. In what way would Project Management Standards and Frameworks impact on Commercial Negotiation?

Project management standards and framework are important in commercial negotiation. Standards define the quality of project work that will be done and expected outcomes. The standards are critical for project leaders to define the mechanisms for delivering key result areas. The agreed standards for measuring success would have a direct impact on the project costs and timelines (Walker & Walker, 2015). At the time of negotiations project leaders would also need to define frameworks that will guide project communication process and terms of engagement between parties so that every stakeholder understands their role in the project delivery process.

Walker & Walker (2015) discuss the general thrust of this investigations in Chapter 7 (p 137) what are your thoughts regarding:

2. Do the conclusions in Chapter 7 p 137 seem reasonable to you?

Conclusions by Walker & Walker (2015, pg. 137) suggest that it is essential for project managers to work with human resources managers in their respective firms to identify ways of developing the KSAE skills for project managers. I find this recommendation very essential since project success depends largely on the project leader’s skills in integrating company’s resources in an efficient and effective way (Walker & Walker, 2015). They also recommend shifting organizations from the traditional HRM and aligning them with practices that support the multi-faceted organizations composed of different teams that collaborate to realize overall organizational objectives. This reality is especially true in project management that have to combine human resources from various departments to collaborate toward accomplishing specific projects before reporting to their previous works (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2015). Continuous education and training should also be encouraged to equip project managers with the latest technological and operational skills. Overall Walker & Walker (2015) conclude that collaboration between various stakeholders in developing the necessary KSAE skills for project managers should be given the necessary priority.

Walker & Walker (2015) then in Chapter 7 talk about a “PraXitioner” what are your thoughts regarding:

3. Do you agree with the authors that a PraXitioner is the way forward?

A “PraXitioner is the best way forward for project management because of the need for managers to be both reflective and reflexive in the decision-making process. Emerging trends in project procurement suggest that future project managers will grapple with pragmatic decisions on routines and behaviour patterns for team members that would be most effective in delivery desirable project outcomes (Walker & Walker, 2015).

Continuing the theme of the PraXitioner Walker and Walker look at Implications for PM Education and Skills; what are your thoughts regarding:

4. Do you think that there will be a future shortage of good PraXitioner’s in Commercial Negotiation situations?

The availability of “PraXitioners” will depend largely on the immediate steps that industry players especially those responsible for development human skills take towards building project management skills. If appropriate training programmes are adopted then project management field would not lack “PraXitioners” in future commercial negotiation

In the last part of Chapter 7 is a Summary of the Walker and Walker book; what are your thoughts regarding

5. Do you agree with the authors?

I agree with the authors on the conclusions in chapter 7 particularly on the aspect of identifying the KSAE gap needed for project managers. The authors rightly point that it is high time stakeholders moved emphasis from technical and administrative issues toward understanding how to manage the increasing levels of ambiguity, uncertainty and chaos in project management. This uncertainty will demand reflective and reflexive elements on the part of the decision-makers

6. Do you think that RBP is a good framework for Commercial Project Negotiation?

RBP is a good framework for commercial negotiation because it recognizes the complex relationships in commercial negotiation and their likely impact on project goals. The model also offers the lens through which project leaders can guide project delivery process in an objective way and how to manage elements that directly impact effectiveness of the decision-making process (Walker & Walker, 2015). The flexible nature of the model and its adaptability to different business environment make the model appropriate for the uncertainty that is rife in business environment.

In conclusion to this week:

7. Do the ideas in Chapter 7 help in structuring your thoughts around Commercial Project Negotiation?

Ideas in chapter 7 have helped me to structure my thoughts on commercial negotiation especially on the issue of KSAE. A project leader must not only have relevant skills in technical and business aspects of the project but in governance and relational aspects (Peña-Mora & Tamaki, 2001). The integrated nature of these KSAE elements requires the project manager to be all-rounder when approaching commercial negotiations

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Have you any insights you can add from other units you have studies or readings you’ve made?