project management managing complex projects unit VIII Final Project

MBA 6951, Managing Complex Projects 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Examine the roles and responsibilities of a project manager. 1.1 Examine the requirements for obtaining the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification.

5. Evaluate sources of project risk strategies.

5.1 Describe how project risk presents opportunities for project managers.

8. Outline tasks associated with closing a project. 8.1 Explain the tasks associated with the project manager role through the entire project.

Course/Unit Learning Outcomes

Learning Activity

1.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 20: Quality Management, pp. 697–721 Chapter 21: Modern Developments in Project Management, pp. 733–746 Unit VIII Final Project

5.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 20: Quality Management, pp. 697–721 Chapter 21: Modern Developments in Project Management, pp. 733–746 Unit VIII Final Project

8.1

Unit Lesson Chapter 20: Quality Management, pp. 697–721 Chapter 21: Modern Developments in Project Management, pp. 733–746 Unit VIII Final Project

Reading Assignment Chapter 20: Quality Management, pp. 697–721 Chapter 21: Modern Developments in Project Management, pp. 733–746

Unit Lesson Throughout this course, we have been discussing project management and the steps associated with the efficient completion of the project through the various complicated challenges of the project itself. Customers are continuously demanding higher and higher levels of quality, which is the focus of this unit. These elevated quality levels include higher performance, faster product development, better technology levels, and implementing materials/processes with fewer defects. They are demanding this while also expecting lower contractor profit margins. While this all seems quite impossible, project management teams need to embrace these expectations in order to meet the demands of their customers. Quality is difficult to define universally because the customer and the overall industry as a whole ultimately determine it. Additionally, trends in industries have an impact on the perception of quality. General factors associated that will have an impact on these trends include the following:

 Salability: This represents the balance between higher quality and lower cost.

 Producibility: This represents the ability to produce the product with available resources at a cost acceptable to the customer.

 Social acceptability: This deals with the amount of social acceptability of the product and/or process.

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE

Quality Management

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 Operability: This reviews how safe the process actually is when implemented.

 Availability: This analyzes whether the product will perform up to expectations.

 Reliability: This quantitatively analyzes the probability of the product performing without failure.

 Maintainability: This reviews whether the product can be regularly maintained in order to keep a designated performance level (Kerzner, 2017).

While the quality assurance department does maintain a level of responsibility for quality during the project, the project manager actually maintains the overall responsibility for quality. There is always discussion around the cost of quality with the general supposition that as quality increases costs will also increase. There is a delicate balance between incurring higher costs while maintaining a higher level of quality. Conformance costs such as training, verification, validation, testing, maintenance, calibration, and audits make up the majority of the costs. Closely related are the prevention, appraisal, internal failure, and external failure costs that represent additional costs that could be incurred during the project. Project communication and documentation are also an important segment of the project management cycle. In many cases, poor communication is the root cause of the failure of a project to meet its intended scope, schedule, budget or even underlying customer satisfaction. Personal communication allows for body language, tone of voice and articulation to help with the communication. The obvious disadvantage is that once something is said, it cannot be taken back. While written communication offers the ability to revise before sending, it removes the ability to revise the communication based on the feedback of the receiver. Through all forms of communication, effective listening is an important component to effective communication. Listening and understanding reduces misunderstandings and ultimately miscommunications. Project meetings encompass an important element of the communication process within the project management field. These meetings should serve not only as a source of information and updates, but also as a way to foster team building, and confirm members’ expectations/roles and commitment to the successful completion of the project. Meetings should be efficient and worthwhile to all participants. Within the scope of project management, a series of meeting types presents itself. Click the link below to view an interactive slide that explains the types of meetings. Click here to access the interactive slide. Click here to access the transcript for the interactive slide. It is useful to review the code of conduct for meetings, whether within the context of project management or other leadership roles. It is safe to assume that since you are working on your master’s degree, you either currently are involved with or will be involved with a significant amount of business meetings. While hosting, presenting or participating, here are some useful tips:

1. Be timely. If you are hosting, start on time and end on time. Be cognizant of other people’s time. If you are participating, be on time.

2. Topic coverage. Ensure that you are sticking to the agenda topics and not deviating to other topics. 3. Preparation. Be prepared and efficient in your presentation. 4. Presentation style. Be honest and sincere but avoid personal attacks. Sarcastic comments and

negativity should be checked at the door. Assume the position of constructive criticism backed by substantiation.

5. Team player. Assume the position of unification of the group. While there might be disagreement on certain points during the meeting, make sure to leave as a united group in thought and practice.

Another useful reminder is the code of conduct for making presentations at meetings. Take a look at the useful reminders of effective presentation skills outlined in the interactive slide below. Click here to access the interactive slide. Click here to access the transcript for the interactive slide. Project communication is necessary in the project management process. Personal communication, meetings, presentations, and reports all provide methods in which this communication could take place. Communication venues extend from face-to-face meetings to telephone to electronic conferencing. Electronic conferencing provides a method of holding meetings with colleagues, clients, or customers that are in different parts of the country or even different parts of the world. Electronic conferencing can provide significant efficiencies, eliminating the need to travel to different geographic locations saving both time and money. Additionally, this creates efficiencies because it provides the ability to reach appropriate decision-makers and make faster

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decisions on issues. Collaboration on projects is virtually a couple of clicks away. This allows projects to stay on track throughout the process. Top audio and web conferencing software products include Highfive, ConnectWise Control, Blackboard Collaborate, Webinato, TurboMeeting, Drum, Zoho Meeting, Onstream Meetings, FluentStream, RingCentral Meetings, PeekTime, Samepage, WebEx Meeting Center, TeamViewer, Join.Me, ReadyTalk, Adobe Connect, GoToWebinar, Zoom Video Conferencing, CranWheel, and Grueveo to name a few. Most of these allow screen sharing and multiple users through a user-friendly platform. Earlier in the course (Unit IV), we discussed the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Certification exam. As a reminder, the Project Management Professional (PMP) is an internationally recognized professional designation offered by the PMI. Passing this exam awards the PMP certification that is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers in the world. The purpose of the exam is to improve the success rate of projects standardizing processes and the base of knowledge in the industry. Additionally, it tends to provide higher salary levels and career growth for project managers. The exam is based upon the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). As noted earlier, completion of this certification is beneficial for both the project manager and the company utilizing the project management services. From an industry standpoint, the more project managers that take this exam and have the PMI certification, the more consistent and performance-driven the industry as a whole becomes. The topics learned in this course prepare individuals for this certification exam. The textbook for this course is one of the most highly regarded preparation instruments for successfully passing this exam. In preparing for the PMP, think about beginning with the end in mind. What this means is that you should think about this holistically, developing an outline to the plan with the end goal in your line of vision. You might treat your study plan like a project in which you would like to maximize your time resources in order to pass the exam. The Internet provides a host of resources that will provide great benefit as well. In summary, the take away might include the realization that project management is so much more than delegating tasks to individuals within an organization. It involves establishing a collaborative team within the organization and particularly within the project management team. It involves a holistic process of planning, performing and controlling projects through the development of schedules, efficient resource utilization and the management of risk. Finally, effective communication and documentation before, during and after the project cement it all together. Through all this, the project manager must maintain his or her leadership position always looking to create and maintain a team atmosphere. This will ensure a team culture where all team members have skin in the game and feel as if they are contributing members of the team. The project manager is continuously problem solving, and negotiating and needs to role model time management skills for his or her team. Knowing when to delegate and when to do is another premium skillset of not only the project manager, but also any leadership position. You have probably already realized that many of the skills applied in the project management field are cross-disciplinary allowing you to be able to apply these skills in most all management and leadership roles.