Week 1 Discussion and Project

Page 1 of 1 MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management

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Strategy “A strategy is how an organization plans to accomplish its mission and realize its vision.” What does this definition imply? First, it implies that strategic management is ultimately the responsibility of senior management. This is not to say that executives should lock themselves in an ivory tower, making pronouncements, as they remain aloof from day-to-day operations. Indeed, there are models of strategy that insist on participation from lower-level managers and operational employees. In fact, such models generally suggest that strategy should evolve in grassroots fashion. Project management has a role to play in such models because some projects are conceived as experiments in the future direction of an organization. In the more top-down models of strategic planning, projects are the logical tactics by which overall objectives are accomplished. Either way, executives are the managers who will be held accountable for accomplishing the strategic interests of the organization. Second, the definition implies that a strategy should guide everyone in the organization towards a common mission, with common objectives. Therefore, an organization has one strategy or none at all. One can hope this will be accomplished seamlessly, and that the strategy helps to reconcile differences within the organization and among project imperatives. Project managers often vie for the same resources; therefore, conflict resolution is a key management skill.