Week-3 Team Blog

Some of the critical factors in project management include; first we have the project mission which is the initial clarity of goals and general directions. During this process, the project manager should endeavor to elicit commitment from the team members, clients, top management and all stakeholders. Executive sponsorship for a project is key because top level management are the ones deciding on organizational and project strategy as well as performing goal setting functions within the organization. Second is the top management support which is the willingness of top management to provide the necessary resources and authority or power for project success. The third factor are project schedules or plans, these are a detailed specification of the individual action steps required for project implementation. Another factor is client consultation; this aspect entails communication, consultation, and active listening to all impacted parties. A fifth factor is personnel; here we have recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for the project team (Alias & Aris, 2014).

According to Mir & Pinnington, (2014) technical tasks is another challenge, it is the availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the specific technical action steps. The seventh factor is client acceptance; this refers to the act of “selling” the final project to its ultimate intended users. Monitoring and feedback is also another important factor which is timely provision of comprehensive control information at each phase in the implementation process. Additionally, communication is also another important critical factor because it is the provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to all key factors in the project implementation. It also his plays an important role in every project and therefore an effective project manager must be an effective communicator. Communication is the only way via which tasks are assigned and monitored, project issues are escalated and the medium via which goals, performance, and feedback are passed across. Lastly, trouble shooting is another critical factor that is important in project management because it refers to the ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan (Mir & Pinnington, 2014).

Examples of how organizations overcome challenges associated with project Failure

According to Kerzner, (2013) unrealistic deadlines are managed with creative planning, alternatives analysis, and communication of reality to the project participants. Also determine what deadlines are tied to higher level objectives, or have critical links into schedules of other projects in the organization's portfolio. Another example is communication deficit, in order to overcome this, individuals ought to determine proper communication flows for project members and develop a checklist of what information needs to be conveyed to project participants. The communications checklist should also have an associated schedule of when information dissemination should occur (Kerzner, 2013).

A challenge of insufficient team skills for example is addressed by Starting with the project manager role, document the core set of skills needed to accomplish the expected workload, and honestly bounce each person's skills against the list or matrix. Using this assessment of the team, guide the team towards competency with training, cross-training, additional resources, external advisors, and other methods to close the skills gap, lastly an example of the challenge related to lack of accountability, one should Determine and use accountability as part of the project risk profile. These accountability risks will be then identified and managed in a more visible manner (Hwang, 2013).

References

Alias, Z., Zawawi, E. M. A., Yusof, K., & Aris, N. M. (2014). Determining critical success factors of project management practice: A conceptual framework. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 153, 61-69.

Hwang, B. G., & Ng, W. J. (2013). Project management knowledge and skills for green construction: Overcoming challenges. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), 272-284

Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), 202-217