Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2

Project Management – MB0049Assignment Set- 1

Submitted by:

Priya G Krishnan

Q1. List and explain the traits if a professional manager.ANS: Traits of the professional manager:To put it in a nutshell, the management skills and the confidence about one's own abilities, make him/her a good manager. The managerial skills matter most. What are they? Actually it is a skill set that consists of leadership, decision-making abilities, an understanding nature and confidence to top them all. Thorough knowledge in one's domain, expertise in one's field, effective strategic planning skills and foresight make a good manager. The person within the manager is equally important. As a person, a good manager is understanding and considerate. A good manager is able to differentiate between the right and the wrong. He/ She know where to play the stickler for rules as also times when he/she needs to be considerate. The combination of an understanding person and an intelligent professional makes a good manager.

The following traits enable a manager to be effective in his functioning. Endowed with these, it will be easy to be effective. The top management will look for these in a person who they want to employ for project management.

Leadership: These managers lead by exhibiting the characteristics of leadership. They know what they should do, know why they are doing it, know how to do it and have the courage and will to do it. They have the power of taking along with them others.Leadership is one of the vital qualities of a good manager. A good manager is often seen exercising effective leadership in the organization. By effective and fair leadership we mean the skills to guide the team members, to encourage them towards attainment of the organization’s goals and take the right decisions at the right point of time. A good manager has confidence in his/her abilities, and is thus innovative enough to experiment while nevertheless being brave to admit mistakes. An effective leader, that a manager is, needs to think out of the box!

People Relationship: Any leader without followers cannot be successful. They have excellent human relationship skills. The manager builds up his team based on the core values of sincerity, objectivity and dedication. He ensures that his subordinates get opportunities for growth based on performance. He makes them a part of the decision making process, thus ensuring cooperation and commitment during implementation. He delegates freely and supports them.

Integrity: Highest levels of trust, fairness and honesty are expected while dealing with people both within an outside the organization. This includes the customers, shareholders, dealers, employees, the government and society at large. They ensure that functioning is clean. Their transactions will be transparent. Ethics is something they practice diligently.

Quality: The quality philosophy should not cover only the product quality, but every process that has gone into making it. Economy of words when instructions are given, acknowledging compliance, arriving on time, remembering the promises and above all a keen eye for details and patience to make others know what they want are components of quality.

Customer Orientation: It is now recognized that every organized two sets of customers. Internal customers are people in the organization – employees, directors, and team members – any person who needs your services, whose needs of demands you satisfy. External customers – clients and all members of society we come in contact in connection with our business. They need our solutions for their problems. So, the manager’s thinking about any problem is – what can I do for him and all actions will be in that direction.

Innovation and creativity: Professional managers think beyond the obvious. They exhibit a keenness to go behind a problem and attempt to find the root cause of the problem. They will draw from their experience from diverse fields, seek further information and consider all possible alternatives and come out with some new and unique solution. This happens when they have open minds. A saying goes the human mind is like a parachute, it is useful only when it is open. Such a work culture is very conducive for problem solving – which is the aim of all creativity. Their persistence will reward them. Such actions observed by their team members enthuse them and a spirit of adventure will bring about better solutions faster.

Performance Management: The professional manager not only ensures that his performance is at peak all times, but motivates his entire team to do it. This comes by appreciation and encouragement. If there any shortfalls he arranges for training them so that their performance improves. Thus the team members know that they are expected to perform, that they get help to do so and their effort is recognized. This is the simple path of performance management. The following seven step model will be useful:

1. Objectives/Performance standards are set.2. These are communicated to the employees.3. Review/monitor the above.4. Check actual performance Vs. Standards set.5. Identify gaps.6. Jointly decide on corrective action, if needed.7. Reset objectives for next period

1. Objectives /Performance standards are set:To mange any criterion, it is necessary to measure the factors that were responsible for. The quality of the input, their quantity and their intended usage. Then measures of the utilization the processes used, their suitability, and the difficulties faced in utilization and how they were resolved. Then the outcomes – are they as they were expected. Performance closer or beyond expectation is the degree of quality. For every employee the level of achievement is set in terms of quantities and extent to which the performance approached the standard. This is the basis for evaluating performance.

2. These are communicated to the employees:This procedure ensures that they know what is expected of them and help them to adjust their activities in such a way as to meet them. This enables them to seek help, consult their colleagues or bosses, and learn– so that they will meet the expectations. It is possible that some objectives cannot be met at all. The communication to his boss, may help in reallocating the job, so that there will be no hiccups at the end of the period

3. Review/monitor the above:Review helps in resetting the goals when they cannot be achieved for various reasons – shortage of resources, time etc. By monitoring, the shortfalls can be made up with the allocation of extra resources, or even diverting the operation.

4. Check actual performance Vs. Standards set:This is the evaluation phase. Comparison on every detail is made. Differences are recorded.Particular areas are chosen for improvement.

5. Identify gapsGaps mean the shortfall in performance standards. The immediate supervisor is also involved. The extents to which they affect the functions of the job itself are identified.

6. Jointly decide on corrective action, if needed:There is a possibility that the performance has exceeded the set standards. But if performance is not good the reasons and extent having been identified, the course of action for effecting corrections are decided. Giving extra responsibilities, training, relocation is considered.

7. Reset objectives for next periodThe targets are revised either upward or downward depending on the conclusion of the appraisal process.

Identification with the organization: sense of pride and belonging goes with the “Ownership” of the job, the project, team members and organization. This is brought about by the culture and communication system in the organization. Information sharing brings in trust and promotes belongingness. The tendency seen is that most managers strongly identify with their own departments, units or divisions and they lack a sense of organization. In the light of increased competition and ever changing strategies to develop business orientation, which in effect means every manager should be aware of the company’s plans, products and policies. An obvious corollary to this is that the organization’s communication policy too should be conducive to such information sharing. Today, many organizations are using interventions such as team building, survey feedback, and other activities, to ensure that employees build up a strong sense of identity and pride in the organization they work for.

Empowering employee: The professional manager should possess the ability to empower his employees down the line. Many managers are not even ready to delegate their authority to subordinates and end up only delegating responsibility. Empowerment is the process by which employees are encouraged to take decisions pertaining to their area of work. Empowerment ensures execution of his duties. This leads employees developing a sense of pride in their jobs. But managers often hesitate to empower their subordinates as they feel insecure and show a sense of uncertainty. The professional manager practices empowerment and encourages employees to grow and develop in their positions.

Coping with change: It is often said – ‘The only constant in this world is change’. A professional manager has the ability and capacity to cope with change. He accepts the fact that

change is inevitable and is ready to implement change at the workplace. To implement change successfully, it is essential that employees are involved in the implementation of change. Further the positive and negative consequences of change need to be discussed and understood before implementation. Thus a professional manager has the attitude to accept change as a way of life and takes it in his stride

Plan and DelegatePlanning well is a part of one’s managerial skills. A good manager has a foresight that helps him/her plan effectively. A good manager devises fail-proof plans, divides the task into subtasks and delegates them to his/her team members. Effective delegation involves an understanding of the skill sets of the employees, scheduling tasks and getting them done from the employees within deadlines. Delegation facilitates the division of responsibility; helps accomplish the plan faster while also giving the delegates an opportunity to excel. The effective execution of a plan requires a manager to dream, dedicate resources towards the fulfillment of the dream and head the team to turn the dream true!

IntelligentsiaA very uncommon common sense is something that is seen in a good manager. A good manager possesses complete knowledge of his field and is confident about that knowledge. A thorough knowledge of one's position and responsibilities is the trait of a good manager. Intelligence is characteristic to a good manager. A witty sense of humor is a trait that is often seen in good managers. Along with intellect and humor, creativity is a common trait of good managers. A manager needs to have a creative mind to welcome new ideas from the team members and subordinates, and execute the bright, the innovative and the feasible ones. A good manager always aims at bringing in reforms to work patterns, experiment and take his/her organization on the path of success. Emotional intelligence is another important trait of a good manager.

Listen with ConcernA good manager exhibits the trait of always taking everyone along. An excellent manager is the one who treads with a positive attitude, along with his/her team and leads them to success. A good manager shows traits such as an optimistic attitude, a motivating ability, listening skills and a concern for people. An effective manager must motivate his/her team members and be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. A good manager is a good listener to pay heed to the team members’ problems, be open to their views, accept a constructive criticism from them and understand their abilities. A good manager is always aware that ‘subordinates’ are after all ‘humans’ and treats them with concern and consideration. A good manager never forgets that he/she is leading people who are the most important assets of an organization.

Keep Your CoolBeing able to keep ones cool in all kinds of situations is a trait seen in a good manager. An enthusiastic and optimistic manager is capable of remaining calm in all types of scenarios. A good manager does not lose his/her cool even while facing a difficulty. He/she is able to correct the team members without going wild. A good manager is an effective communicator and a composed individual.

2. Describe in brief the various aspects of programme management?ANS: Programme management is a fairly new technique and as such is not always well understood. Following my survey it is clear that programme management is an area of growing interest for organizations.

To co-ordinate a portfolio of projects to harmonize communications in order to achieve a set of stated business objectives. Provision of strategy alignment with design objectives in order to maintain control over a multiple project environment. Ensuring quality end deliverables which meet business operational needs.

Objectives of Programme ManagementProgramme Management is a technique concerned with controlling a group of related projects carried out to achieve a defined business objective or benefit. If we take one of Robert Buttrick's definitions that some projects 'are simply too large to manage as a single entity,' then we necessarily need to split them up into smaller manageable projects. If the whole is too large for a single project manager to handle, then it follows that a number of projects managers are required to take care of the smaller projects.

So smaller projects with multiple project managers all designed to achieve a single long-term objective or benefit for the organization. In order to control this group and have an overall view we require a programme manager.

The programme manager is not concerned with the day to day running of individual projects in the programme, this is the project mangers responsibility but he/she needs to ensure that all projects are running on target and that each will achieve its overall contribution to the whole programme. The activities undertaken during programme management are

Setting the baseline Agreeing roles and responsibilities Programme planning Project prioritorization Stakeholder communication Progress reporting Managing benefits Quality management Risk management Issue management Programme closure

Programme Management FrameworkThis chapter looks at a framework in which programme management can operate. As identified in the introduction, programme management is a way to control project management. A group of related projects not managed as a programme are likely to run off course and fail to achieve the desire outcome.

There are eight key areas in the framework:

1. Vision is the high level strategy or idea to drive the organization towards a goal, benefit or other desired outcome. This vision will usually be a brief statement of intent communicated down from the management or leadership. It is important that the vision has high level sponsorship and commitment for it to be successful.

2. The aims and objectives is a more detailed statement that explains exactly what is required. This provides a point of reference to go back to when renewed focus is required.

3. The scope gives boundaries to the programme explaining what exactly it is that will be delivered. The scope should leave no room for doubt and everyone should be clear about what is and isn't being delivered.

4. Design is the way in which the projects that make up the programme are put together. In this process the programme manager considers which projects have dependencies on others and therefore which should come first, can run concurrently and those that come last.

5. The approach is the way the programme will be run. The approach is dependent on many factors and it is left to the skill of the programme manager to decide the most effective way. The communication plan is contained within the approach and at the very least should commit to regular progress reporting to stakeholders.

6. Resourcing looks at the scheduling and allocation of resources. Short term and longer-term views should be taken. For the projects that will start straightaway it is important to identify resources and obtain line manager commitment early. For later projects, required resource levels should be identified but line manager commitment is not needed at this stage.

7. Responsibility identifies and allocates responsibility for each area of the programme. Every member of the programme must clearly understand his or her roles and the roles of the other team members. It is the task of the programme manager to ensure that this is clearly communicated and understood.

8. Benefits realization is the process at the end of the programme by which the benefits identified at the beginning of the programme and measured. It is the responsibility of the programme manager to demonstrate to the steering committee that the desired benefits have been realized. Often this will mean that the programme manager will continue to monitor a programme long after the individual projects are complete in order to ensure that the benefits are realized at a business level.

Aspects of programme management:

Risk Management: Valuating and mitigating the risks associated with the programme is very important. This may have impact on the planned changes to the business operations.

Risks are those events or conditions that may occur and whose occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes.

- Important components in risk management are:

a) Risk Assessment: Identify the possible risks and assess the consequences by means of checklists of possible risks, surveys, meetings and brainstorming and reviews of plans, processes and products. The project manager can also use the process database to get information about risks and risk management on similar projects.

b) Risk Control – Identify the actions needed to minimize the risk consequences. This is also known as risk mitigation. Develop a risk management plan. Focus on the highest prioritized risks. Prioritization requires analyzing the possible effects of the risk event in case it actually occurs. This approach requires a quantitative assessment of the risk probability and the risk consequences. For each risk determine the rate of its occurrence and indicate whether the risk is low, medium or of high category. If necessary, assign probability values in the ranges as prescribed based upon experience. If necessary assign a weight on a scale of 1 to 10.

c) Risk Ranking Rank the risk based on the probability and effects on the project; For example, a high probability, high impact item will have higher rank than a risk item with a medium probability and high impact. In case of conflict use judgment.

d) Risk Mitigation Select the top few risk items for mitigation and tracking. Refer to a list of commonly used risk mitigation steps for various risks from the previous risk logs maintained by the project manager and select suitable risk mitigation step. The risk mitigation step must be properly executed by incorporating them into the project schedule. In addition to monitoring the progress of the planned risk mitigation steps periodically revisit the risk perception for the entire project. The results of this review are reported in each milestone analysis report. To prepare this report, make fresh risk analysis to determine whether the priorities have changed.

Risk management may be classified and categorized as: 1. Risk assessment and identification:

The assessment and identification focuses on enumerating possible risks to the project. Methods that can aid risk identification include checklists of possible risks, surveys, meetings and brainstorming and reviews of plans, process and work products. The project manager can also use the process database to get information about risks and risk management on similar projects.

2. Risk prioritization:Focus on the highest risk. Prioritization requires analyzing the possible effects of the risk event in case it actually occurs. This approach requires a quantitative assessment of the risk probability

and the risk consequences. For each risk rate the probability of its happening as low, medium or high. If necessary, assign probability values in the ranges given for each rating. For each risk, assess its impact on the project as low, medium, high or very high. Rank the risk based on the probability. Select the top few risk items for mitigation and tracking.

3. Risk Control: The main task is to identify the actions needed to minimize the risk consequences, generally called risk mitigation steps. Refer to a list of commonly used risk mitigation steps for various risks from the previous risk logs maintained by the PM and select a suitable risk mitigation step. The risk mitigation step must be properly executed by incorporating them into the project schedule. In addition to monitoring the progress of the planned risk mitigation steps periodically revisit the risk perception for the entire project. The results of this review are reported in each milestone analysis report. To prepare this report, make fresh risk analysis to determine whether the priorities have changed.

Process: Process governing the delivery of the project should be well defined. They should ensure that the quality and purposes are fully met.

Change Management: Change is a part of any project and hence a programme as well. This deals with keeping a track of the changes and developments external to the project environment and studying their impact on the programme.

Tools or components of change management include:

Change management process Readiness assessments Communication and communication planning Coaching and manager training for change management Training and employee training development Sponsor activities and sponsor roadmaps Resistance management Data collection, feedback analysis and corrective action Celebrating and recognizing success

Change management process: The change management process is the sequence of steps or activities that a change management team or project leader would follow to apply change management to a project or change. Based on Prosci's research of the most effective and commonly applied change, most change management processes contain the following three phases:

Phase 1 - Preparing for change (Preparation, assessment and strategy development)

Phase 2 - Managing change (Detailed planning and change management implementation)

Phase 3 - Reinforcing change (Data gathering, corrective action and recognition)

These phases result in the following approach as shown below in Figure 1.

Change Management Process (the Change Management Toolkit and Change Management Pilot show you how to apply the process)). It is important to note what change management is and what change management is not, as defined by the majority of research participants. Change management is not a stand-alone process for designing a business solution. Change management is the processes, tools and techniques for managing the people-side of change. Change management is not a process improvement method. Change management is a method for

reducing and managing resistance to change when implementing process, technology or organizational change.

Change management is not a stand-alone technique for improving organizational performance. Change management is a necessary component for any organizational performance improvement process to succeed, including programs like: Six Sigma, Business Process Reengineering, Total Quality Management, Organizational Development, Restructuring and continuous process improvement. Change management is about managing change to realize business results.

Readiness assessments: Assessments are tools used by a change management team or project leader to assess the organization's readiness to change. Readiness assessments can include organizational assessments, culture and history assessments, employee assessments, sponsor assessments and change assessments. Each tool provides the project team with insights into the challenges and opportunities they may face during the change process.

Assess the scope of the change, including: How big is this change? How many people are affected? Is it a gradual or radical change?

Assess the readiness of the organization impacted by the change, including: What is the value- system and background of the impacted groups? How much change is already going on? What type of resistance can be expected?

Assess the strengths of your change management team. Assess the change sponsors and take the first steps to enable them to effectively lead the

change process.

Communication and communication planning: Many managers assume that if they communicate clearly with their employees, their job is done. However, there are many reasons why employees may not hear or understand what their managers are saying the first time around. In fact, you may have heard that messages need to be repeated 6 to 7 times before they are cemented into the minds of employees. That is because each employee’s readiness to hear depends on many factors. Effective communicators carefully consider three components: the audience, what is said and when it is said.

For example, the first step in managing change is building awareness around the need for change and creating a desire among employees. Therefore, initial communications are typically designed to create awareness around the business reasons for change and the risk of not changing. Likewise, at each step in the process, communications should be designed to share the right messages at the right time.

Communication planning, therefore, begins with a careful analysis of the audiences, key messages and the timing for those messages. The change management team or project leaders must design a communication plan that addresses the needs of front-line employees, supervisors and executives. Each audience has particular needs for information based on their role in the implementation of the change.

Coaching and manager training for change management: Supervisors will play a key role in managing change. Ultimately, the direct supervisor has more influence over an employee’s

motivation to change than any other person at work. Unfortunately, supervisors as a group can be the most difficult to convince of the need for change and can be a source of resistance. It is vital for the change management team and executive sponsors to gain the support of supervisors and to build change leadership. Individual change management activities should be used to help these supervisors through the change process.

Once managers and supervisors are on board, the change management team must prepare a coaching strategy. They will need to provide training for supervisors including how to use individual change management tools with their employees.

Training and training development: Training is the cornerstone for building knowledge about the change and the required skills. Project team members will develop training requirements based on the skills, knowledge and behaviors necessary to implement the change. These training requirements will be the starting point for the training group or the project team to develop training programs.

Sponsor activities and sponsor roadmaps: Business leaders and executives play a critical sponsor role in change management. The change management team must develop a plan for sponsor activities and help key business leaders carry out these plans. Sponsorship should be viewed as the most important success factor. Avoid confusing the notion of sponsorship with support. The CEO of the company may support your project, but that is not the same as sponsoring your initiative.

Sponsorship involves active and visible participation by senior business leaders throughout the process. Unfortunately many executives do not know what this sponsorship looks like. A change agent's or project leader's role includes helping senior executives do the right things to sponsor the project.

Resistance management: Resistance from employees and managers is normal. Persistent resistance, however, can threaten a project. The change management team needs to identify, understand and manage resistance throughout the organization. Resistance management is the processes and tools used by managers and executives with the support of the project team to manage employee resistance.

Data collection, feedback analysis and corrective action: Employee involvement is a necessary and integral part of managing change. Managing change is not a one way street. Feedback from employees is a key element of the change management process. Analysis and corrective action based on this feedback provides a robust cycle for implementing change.

Celebrating and recognizing success: Early successes and long-term wins must be recognized and celebrated. Individual and group recognition is also a necessary component of change management in order to cement and reinforce the change in the organization.

The final step in the change management process is the after-action review. It is at this point that you can stand back from the entire program, evaluate successes and failures, and identify process changes for the next project. This is part of the ongoing, continuous improvement of change management for your organization and ultimately leads to change competency.

Personnel Management: Human resource is one of the most important resources in programme management. We need to ensure that people are adequately trained and placed at the right place. This is essential to ensure on schedule and smooth delivery of the projects.

Personnel management can be defined as obtaining, using and maintaining a satisfied workforce. It is a significant part of management concerned with employees at work and with their relationship within the organization.

According to Flippo, “Personnel management is the planning, organizing, compensation, integration and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organizational, individual and societal goals.”

According to Brech, “Personnel Management is that part which is primarily concerned with human resource of organization.”

Nature of Personnel Management:

1. Personnel management includes the function of employment, development and compensation- These functions are performed primarily by the personnel management in consultation with\ other departments.

2. Personnel management is an extension to general management. It is concerned with promoting and stimulating competent work force to make their fullest contribution to the concern.

3. Personnel management exists to advice and assists the line managers in personnel matters. Therefore, personnel department is a staff department of an organization.

4. Personnel management lays emphasize on action rather than making lengthy schedules, plans, and work methods. The problems and grievances of people at work can be solved more effectively through rationale personnel policies.

5. It is based on human orientation. It tries to help the workers to develop their potential fully to the concern.

6. It also motivates the employees through its effective incentive plans so that the employees provide fullest co-operation.

7. Personnel management deals with human resources of a concern. In context to human resources, it manages both individual as well as blue- collar workers.

Functions of Personnel Management:Following are the four functions of Personnel Management:

1. Manpower Planning 2. Recruitment 3. Selection 4. Training and Development

Following are the elements of Personnel Management:

1. Organization- Organization is said to be the framework of many activities taking place in view of goals available in a concern. An organization can be called as a physical framework of various interrelated activities. Right from manpower planning to employees’ maintenance, all activities take place within this framework. The nature of the organization is dependent upon its goal. The business concern goal being profit- making. Clubs, hospitals, schools, etc. their goal being service. The objective of consultancy being providing sound advice. Therefore, it is organizational structure on which the achievement of goals of an enterprise depends upon. In personnel management, a manager has therefore to understand the importance of organizational structure.

2. Job- The second element, i.e., jobs tells us the activities to be performed in the organization. It is said that the goals of an enterprise can be achieved only through the functional department in it. Therefore, seeing the size of organization today, the nature of activities is changing. In addition to the three primary departments, personnel and research department are new additions. Various types of jobs available are :

a. Physical jobs

b. Creative jobs

c. Proficiency jobs

d. Intellectual jobs

e. Consultancy jobs

f. Technical jobs

3. People- The last and foremost element in personnel management are people. In an organizational structure, where the main aim is to achieve the goals, the presence of manpower becomes vital. Therefore, in order to achieve departmental goals, different kinds of people with different skills are appointed. People form the most important element because :

a. The organizational structure is meaningless without it.

b. It helps to achieve the goals of the enterprise.

c. It helps in manning the functional areas.

d. It helps in achieving the functional departmental goals.

e. They make a concern operational.

f. They give life to a physical organization.

The different types of people which are generally required in a concern are:

g. Physically fit people

h. Creative people

i. Intellectuals

j. Technical people

k. Proficient and skilled people

In personnel management, a personnel manager has to understand the relationship of the three elements and their importance in organization. He has to understand basically three relationships:-

i. Relationship between organization and job

ii. Relationship between job and people

iii. Relationship between people and organization.

Relationship between organization and job helps making a job effective and significant. Relationship between job and people makes the job itself important. Relationship between people and organization gives due importance to organizational structure and the role of people in it.

Support Services: We need to ensure that the support services like human resources and IT are able to adapt to the changes that take place in the projects as well as business operations as a whole.

Q.3 Compare the following:a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organizationb. Reengineering vs. E-engineeringANS: a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization.Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization

Functional: This is the most common form of organization. The organization is grouped by areas of specialization within different functional areas (e.g., accounting, marketing and manufacturing). When you see the functional form of organization on the exam, think "silo." Projects generally occur within a single department. If information or project work is needed from another department, the request is transmitted up to the department head, who communicates the request to the other department head. Otherwise, communication stays within the project. Team members complete project work in addition to normal departmental work.

Projectized: In a projectized organization, the entire company is organized by projects.The project manager has control of projects. Personnel are assigned and report to a project manager. When you see projectized on the exam, remember "no home." Team members complete only project work and when the project is over they do not have a department to go back to. They need to be assigned to another project or get another job with another employer. Communication generally occurs only within the project.

Projectised organizations Traditional organizations

1. They have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing one entire deliverable product.

2. The teams will have all the resources required to finish the jobs.

3. They have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects Have to be completed.

4. There is greater accountability among team members and everyone is Responsible for the delivery.

5. It is found that a sense of ‘ownership’ of the project motivates team members to be creative, cooperative among them to achieve high productivity

1. They have the formal organization structure, with departments, functions, sections having a hierarchy of managers and their assistants.

2. All of the managers function on a continuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planning Department.

3. They have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing One entire deliverable product. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the Business of the company.

4. No particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the Completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is in Particular respect of their jobs.

Structure Explanation

Traditional Organization: These have the formal organisation structure, with departments, functions, sections having a hierarchy of managers and their assistant. All of them function on a continuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planning department. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the business of the company. No one particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is particular respect of jobs. Most of them do not get exposed to other areas of operations in the organisation. They will become specialists and be insular.

Projectised Organization: These have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing one completely deliverable product. They will have all the resources required to do all jobs or operations to complete it. Most importantly, they have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects have to be completed. It has been found that a sense of ‘ownership’ of the project motivates them for being creative; cooperate among themselves to achieve high productivity.

Traditional Organizations Projectised OrganizationsThey have the formal organization structure, with departments, functions, sections having a hierarchy of managers and their assistants. They have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing one entire deliverable product. All of the managers function on a continuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planning department. The teams will have all the resources required to finish the jobs. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the business of the company. They have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects have to be completed. No particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is in particular respect of their jobs.There is greater accountability among team members and everyone is responsible for the delivery. Most of the members do not get exposed to other areas of operations in the organisation. They become specialists and insular. It is found that a sense of ‘ownership’ of the project motivates team members to be creative, cooperative among them to achieve high productivity.

b. Reengineering vs. E-engineering

Re-engineering:1. Reengineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization.

A business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome.

2. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasks into complete cross-functional processes.

3. It is an approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs

E-engineering1. E-Engineering is an answer for growing globalization of manufacturing, sourcing and

engineering. In the world of ever increasing speed, competition, treats and opportunities, you need to conduct your business better, faster and more efficiently every day.

2. This is exactly the main goal of our e-Engineering: to help run your business according to the highest global standards and best practices, by providing with up-to-date, leading-edge industrial Web applications, customized to your needs.

3. Although the term “e-engineering” has been around for a while, its definition has been broadened as of late to encompass entirely new job roles and ways of working. Initially, “e-engineering” simply referred to electronic engineers working collaboratively from different locations.

To reverse engineer a product is to examine it and probe it in order to reconstruct a plan from which it could be built, and the way it works. For instance if I took my clock apart, measured all the gears, and developed a plan for a clock, understanding how the gears meshed together, this would be reverse engineering. Reverse engineering is often used by companies to copy and understand parts of a competitor’s product, which is illegal, to find out how their own products work in the event that the original plans were lost, in order to affect repair or alter them. Reverse engineering products is illegal under the laws of many countries, however it does happen. There have been celebrated cases of reverse engineering in the third world. Re-engineering is the adjustment, alteration, or partial replacement of a product in order to change its function, adapting it to meet a new need. For instance welding a dozer blade into the frame of my ford fiesta car is an example of reengineering, in order to clear snow, or drive through my neighbor’s kitchen.

Re-engineering is often used by companies to adapt generic products for a specific environment (e.g. add suspension for rally car, change shape of conveyor belt to fit a factory shape, alter frequencies of a radio transmitter to fit new countries laws)

Q4. List out the macro issues in project management and explain each h.ANS: Macro issue in project managementEvolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfillment of goals, one need to constantly evaluate from time to time, the consideration of what will constitute the success of completing a project and assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of KSF should be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out during the planning stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for chances of success on a scale of ten. KSF should be available to the management duly approved by the project manager before execution and control stages. KSF rides above normal consideration of time and cost – at the levels encompassing client expectation and management perception – time and cost come into play as subservient to these major goals.

Empowerment Title (ET): ET reflects the relative importance of members of the organization at three levels:

Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated responsibilities – the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from these members to innovate and contribute to time and cost.

Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers.

Managers are empowered further to act independently but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception, apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management.

Partnering Decision Making (PDM): PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control. A senior with a better decision making process will work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what best can be done to manage the future better from past experience.The key here is the active participation of members in the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels – the term equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership is important. This step is most difficult since junior members have to respond and resist to being pushed through sheer innovation and performance – this is how future leaders would emerge. The PDM process is made scientific through:i. Earned value management system (EVMS)ii. Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS)iii. Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP)iv. Actual cost of work performed (ACWP)

Management by Exception (MBE): If a member wants help he or she locates a source and proposed to the manager only if such help is not accessible for free. Similarly, a member should believe that a team leaders silence is a sign of approval and should not provoke comments through excessive seeking of opinions. In short leave people alone and let situation perform the demanding act. The bend limit of MBE can be evolved depending on the sensitivity of the nature and size of the project. MBE provides and facilitates better implementation of effectiveness of empowerment titles .MBE is more important since organizations are moving toward multi skilled functioning even at junior most levels.

Q.5 Describe the various steps in risk management listed below:a. Risk Identificationb. Risk Analysisc. Risk Management Planningd. Risk ReviewANS: a. Risk Identification:To identify risks, we must first define risk. Risks are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteed to occur. When people begin performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems. Known problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some known problems. If so, just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future potential problems.

Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm typically takes 15 30 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of risks. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problem that they think could hurt the project. New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstorm list. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of risk obtained from past.

The information obtained from such databases can help the project manager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project. Examples of risks are: “We may not have the requirements right. “The technology is untested,” “Key people might leave,” “The server won’t restart in situation X,” and “People might resist the change.” Any potential problem, or critical project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list.

Risk assessment and identification: The assessment and identification focuses on numerating possible risks to the project. Methods that can aid risk identification include checklists of possible risks, surveys, meetings and brainstorming and reviews of plans, process and work products. The project manager can also use the process database to get information about risks and risk management on similar projects.

b. Risk Analysis:Are those events or conditions that may occur and whose occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes. There are different types of risk involved in a project. The main types are:- (a) Project risk sit is the risk arising out of a change in the scope of the project, changes in the work quantities, and changes in the resource requirements, estimation error or unexpected developments in a project. (b) Market risks it is the risk arising out of a change in any of the following marketing parameter – price change, changes in market regulations, Economic changes, competition, competitor’s product changes, etc. (c) Industry risk it is the risk arising out of a change in scientific instruments Used in business activity, changes in companies policies because of changes in the Industry. (d) Social and political risk it arises out of changes in labor situation, labor laws, environment law, etc.

The first step in risk analysis is to make each risk item more specific. Risks such as, “Lack ofManagement buys in,” and “people might leave,” are a little ambiguous. In these cases the group might decide to split the risk into smaller specific risks, such as, “manager Jane decides that the project is not beneficial,” “Database expert might leave,” and “Webmaster might get pulled off the project.” The next step is to set priorities and determine where to focus risk mitigation efforts. Some of the identified risks are unlikely to occur, and others might not be serious enough to worry about. During the analysis, discuss with the team members, each risk item to understand how devastating it would be if it did occur, and how likely it is to occur. For example, if you had a risk of a key person leaving, you might decide that it would have a large impact on the project, but that it is not very likely. In the process below, we have the group agree on how likely it

thinks each risk item is to occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is very unlikely and 10 is very likely). The group then rates how serious the impact would be if the risk did occur, using a simple scale from 1 to 10 (where 1is little impact and 10 is very large). To use this numbering scheme, first pick out the items that rate 1 and 10, respectively. Then rate the other items relative to these boundaries.

To determine the priority of each risk item, calculate the product of the two values, likelihood and impact. This priority scheme helps push the big risks to the top of the list, and the small risks to the bottom. It is a usual practice to analyze risk either by sensitivity analysis or by probabilistic analysis. In sensitivity analysis a study is done to analyze the changes in the variable values because of a change in one or more of the decision criteria. In the probability analysis, the frequency of a particular event occurring is determined, based on which it average weighted average value is calculated.

Each outcome of an event resulting in a risk situation in a risk analysis process is expressed as a probability. Risk analysis can be performed by calculating the expected value of each alternative and selecting the best alternative.Ex: Now that the group has assigned a priority to each risk, it is ready to select the items to mange. Some projects select a subset to take action upon, while others choose to work on all of Project the items. To get started, you might select the top 3 risks, or the top 20%, based on the priority calculation.

c. Risk Management Planning:

Risk is real for any company or organization. Don't kid yourself. Things happen when you least expect them to happen. Are YOU ready for the unimaginable, the unexpected, and the unwanted? As an executive, have you put your head in the sand around risk? Do you pretend that all is well, and nothing will change? If so, it's time to face reality: data gets lost, buildings burn, people resign. When any of these occur, your organization is at risk for malfunction, inefficiency, chronic struggle, revenue loss, and even total failure. Is this the path you want to go down?

Beginning now, you can initiate the process of developing your organization's risk management plan. Take charge. Form a committee representing Board members and staff, and ask them to partner with you to create this critical document. Make sure everyone understands the importance of the work, and explain to them how they can benefit from contributing to the finished product. Risk managements plans are not optional; they are essential for every company, large or small. There are no valid exceptions.

Implement the following seven steps, and give yourself and others a huge slice of peace of mind:

Define what risk looks like for your organization. What constitutes risk in your shop? Threats to normal operations? Threats or compromises to people's safety? Loss of physical and electronic property? Loss of revenue? Decreased

public/community support? Unethical behaviors? Create a comprehensive definition of risk that means something to YOU and YOUR organization.

Identify specific risks. Ask the committee to brainstorm as many different risks as they can possibly imagine. Record them on a white board or flip chart. Examples of various risks include: firing of the chief executive, dwindling interest in one of your major products, departmental silos, Board infighting, inability to fundraise, economic downturn, layoffs, building fire, computer crashes, philosophical differences between key employees, extended leaves for managers, interruption in receiving necessary supplies. All of these are potential risks, and there are many others. Continue brainstorming until the group believes they have come up with an exhaustive list.

Categorize each risk. Determine category names for the identified risks. Examples may be: Chief Executive, Board of Directors, Physical Property, Technology, Data, Employees, Products or Services, Customers/Clients, Stakeholders, Place each risk under one of the selected categories. Create as many category names as you need.

Rank each risk according to severity or significance. Choose headings such as "most severe", "moderately severe", "of minimal concern". You don't have to use these same words for your headings, but be sure that your phrases adequately differentiate between the degrees of seriousness. Perhaps you would like to color code each risk according to its significance heading: red for "most severe"; black for "moderately severe", and green for "of minimal concern". Set it up the way it best works for you and your organization.

Develop strategies for reducing or eliminating each risk. Begin with the risks under your "most severe" heading. It's critical that you don't delay in thinking through possible solutions for those major issues. Ideally, determine multiple strategies for each risk. Be sure to consider who within the organization is going to be responsible for implementing the various strategies, and the resources needed to implement them. Omitting this information from the plan only causes big problems later.

Write your plan. Using all of the above input, shape a readable document. Practicality is paramount here. The plan is worthless if nobody can follow it, interpret it, or actually rely on it as a guide during crisis. After it is compiled, seek feedback from the committee as well as other employees and Board members. Incorporate changes where indicated. Check for evidence of common sense throughout the document. Hold yourself accountable to a high standard around common sense. A pie-in-the-sky risk management plan doesn't serve anyone.

Test some of those strategies in your plan for viability. Do they work? Can they work? Why or why not? Where are the pitfalls? What steps are missing? Would you benefit from having certain outside experts review your strategies? If so, which types of experts?

A Risk Management Plan is a document prepared by a project manager to foresee risks, to estimate the effectiveness, and to create response plans to mitigate them. It also consists of the risk assessment matrix.A risk is defined as "an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project's objectives."[1] Risk is inherent with any project, and project managers should assess risks continually and develop plans to address them. The risk management plan contains an analysis of likely risks with both high and low impact, as well as mitigation strategies to help the project avoid being derailed should common problems arise. Risk management plans should be periodically reviewed by the project team in order to avoid having the analysis become stale and not reflective of actual potential project risks.Most critically, risk management plans include a risk strategy. Broadly, there are four potential strategies, with numerous variations. Projects may choose to:

Accept risk; simply take the chance that the negative impact will be incurred Avoid risk; changing plans in order to prevent the problem from arising Mitigate risk; lessening its impact through intermediate steps Transfer risk; outsource risk to a capable third party that can manage the outcome

d. Risk Review1. Identify Threats:The first stage of a risk analysis is to identify threats facing you. Threats may be:

Human – from individuals or organizations, illness, death, etc. Operational – from disruption to supplies and operations, loss of access to essential

assets, failures in distribution, etc. Reputational – from loss of business partner or employee confidence, or damage to

reputation in the market. Procedural – from failures of accountability, internal systems and controls, organization,

fraud, etc. Project – risks of cost over-runs, jobs taking too long, of insufficient product or service

quality, etc. Financial – from business failure, stock market, interest rates, unemployment, etc. Technical – from advances in technology, technical failure, etc. Natural – threats from weather, natural disaster, accident, disease, etc. Political – from changes in tax regimes, public opinion, government policy, foreign

influence, etc. Others

This analysis of threat is important because it is so easy to overlook important threats. One way of trying to capture them all is to use a number of different approaches:

Firstly, run through a list such as the one above, to see if any apply. Secondly, think through the systems, organizations or structures you operate, and analyze

risks to any part of those. See if you can see any vulnerability within these systems or structures. Ask other people, who might have different perspectives.

2. Estimate Risk:Once you have identified the threats you face, the next step is to work out the likelihood of the threat being realized and to assess its impact.

One approach to this is to make your best estimate of the probability of the event occurring, and to multiply this by the amount it will cost you to set things right if it happens. This gives you a value for the risk.

3. Manage Risk:Once you have worked out the value of risks you face, you can start to look at ways of managing them. When you are doing this, it is important to choose cost effective approaches – in most cases, there is no point in spending more to eliminating a risk than the cost of the event if it occurs. Often, it may be better to accept the risk than to use excessive resources to eliminate it. Risk may be managed in a number of ways:

By using existing assets: Here existing resources can be used to counter risk. This may involve improvements to existing methods and systems, changes in responsibilities, improvements to accountability and internal controls, etc.

By contingency planning: You may decide to accept a risk, but choose to develop a plan to minimize its effects if it happens. A good contingency plan will allow you to take action immediately, with the minimum of project control if you find yourself in a crisis management situation. Contingency plans also form a key part of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) or Business Continuity management (BCM).

By investing in new resources: Your risk analysis should give you the basis for deciding whether to bring in additional resources to counter the risk. This can also include insuring the risk: Here you pay someone else to carry part of the risk – this is particularly important where the risk is so great as to threaten you or your organization's solvency.

4. Review:Once you have carried out a risk analysis and management exercise, it may be worth carrying out regular reviews. These might involve formal reviews of the risk analysis, or may involve testing systems and plans appropriately.

Risk review is a step in a risk management procedure. Risk assessment is the determination of quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a concrete situation and a recognized threat (also called hazard). Quantitative risk assessment requires calculations of two components of risk: R, the magnitude of the potential loss L, and the probability p, that the loss will occur.Methods may differ whether it is about general financial decisions or environmental or public health risk assessment.Risk assessment consists in an objective evaluation of risk in which assumptions and uncertainties are clearly considered and presented. Part of the difficulty of risk management is that measurement of both of the quantities in which risk assessment is concerned - potential loss and probability of occurrence - can be very difficult to measure. The chance of error in the measurement of these two concepts is large. A risk with a large potential loss and a low probability of occurring is often treated differently from one with a low potential loss and a high likelihood of occurring. In theory, both are of nearly equal priority in dealing with first, but in practice it can be very difficult to manage when faced with the scarcity of resources, especially time, in which to conduct the risk management process.

Q6. ABC Company implements a very big project and they decided to allot the same to a new project manager, who joined the company recently. In order to execute the project successfully, what are the various phases in which the project lifecycle should be divided.ANS: In order to execute the project successfully, project lifecycle should be divided into the following phases. The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life. There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in which the outputs and critical success factors are defined, followed by a Planning phase, characterized by breaking down the project into smaller parts/tasks, an Execution phase, in which the project plan is executed, and lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks the completion of the project.Project activities must be grouped into phases because by doing so, the project manager and the core team can efficiently plan and organize resources for each activity, and also objectively measure achievement of goals and justify their decisions to move ahead, correct, or terminate. It is of great importance to organize project phases into industry-specific project cycles. Why? Not only because each industry sector involves specific requirements, tasks, and procedures has when it comes to projected, but also because different industry sectors will have different needs for life cycle management methodology. And paying close attention to such details is the difference between doing things well and excelling as project managers.Diverse project management tools and methodologies prevail in the different project cycle phases. Let’s take a closer look at what’s important in each one of these stages:

1) Initiation:In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects the team members based on their skills and experience. The most common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are Project Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business Case Justification, and Milestones Reviews.

2) Planning:The second phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable. The governance process is defined, stake holders identified and reporting frequency and channels agreed. The most common tools or methodologies used in the planning stage are Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.

3) Execution and controlling:The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support. The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.

4) Closure:

In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client,Weighted Critical Measurements (matching the initial requirements specified by the client with the final delivered product), rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management. No special tool or methodology is needed during the closure phase.