Week 5 Project

Project Audit

The subject of a project audit is not very popular, and some managers have a tendency to skip project audits

altogether. There are several reasons for this, and they are all very human.

However, audits become part of the permanent record of the project, which has important implications for

organizational growth, learning at the cultural level, and project management maturity efforts. An audit helps to establish best practices for future projects.

Project audits can take many forms and formats, but there are some very important concerns a good audit should

address. The main concern of an audit is how well the objectives of the project were achieved. However, the

responses to the concern may vary quite a bit, depending on individual points of view. For example, the

contracting of�cer may have a different set of opinions than the project manager. Team members may also differ

in their opinion, as they often have informal goals set and expectations. More importantly, the project sponsor and the customer also have a stake, which must be given due importance.

Con�icts in aggressive projects are virtually inevitable. In this context, aggressive means that during the planning

stage a project has set ambitious cost, schedule, and technical goals. The fact of each one being dif�cult to meet

presents a set of three individually tough problems, but, in turn, it becomes even more likely for trade-offs to

happen among the triple-threat parameters.

When properly managed, certain con�icts can be very useful in �nding unique solutions to problems. It also helps

in advancing project management competencies across the organization. Professional con�icts or disagreements are sometimes a very healthy sign. They often indicate the company is a tough competitor; that it has set tougher

performance standards for itself than the market forces. Such companies often become global leaders in their

respective industries.

Destructive con�ict can destabilize personal and group morale, cause a sense of isolation in some members,

distort the effective communications vital for developing team effectiveness, and inhibit some individuals from

taking the initiative for handling problems they are best suited at solving. Members can become mildly paranoid and risk averse in this type of con�ict. Whether con�ict becomes constructive or destructive, depends not only on

the inherent nature of the problem, but also on how well it is managed by the formal leader, the informal leaders,

and other individuals on the team.

Project managers use their experience, their people's skill, and sometimes pure instinct to tackle project-related

problems. Let's see what the right time is for con�ict resolution and negotiation:

Additional Materials

View a Pdf Transcript of The Reason why managers avoid audits (media/week5/SU_MGT3035_W5_L5_G1.pdf?

_&d2lSessionVal=ci8aH3u0fFqOZQwWEPolysax6&ou=85477)

View a Pdf Transcript of Con�icts (media/week5/SU_MGT3035_W5_L2_G1.pdf?

_&d2lSessionVal=ci8aH3u0fFqOZQwWEPolysax6&ou=85477)

View a Pdf Transcript of Nature of Con�ict (media/week5/SU_MGT3035_W5_L2_G2.pdf?

_&d2lSessionVal=ci8aH3u0fFqOZQwWEPolysax6&ou=85477)

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View a Pdf Transcript of Con�ict Resolution and Negotiation (media/week5/SU_MGT3035_W5_L2_G3.pdf?

_&d2lSessionVal=ci8aH3u0fFqOZQwWEPolysax6&ou=85477) 