Relationship between Project Management and Business Strategy
Project management is the activity and process of motivating, planning, controlling and organizing resources in order to achieve a set of goals. A project is a provisional endeavor intended to produce an exceptional product, result or service (Anderson and Merna 387). A project is undertaken in order to meet a set of objectives and bring beneficial transformation or value addition. The main difficulty of project management is the ability to achieve all the goals for any project that has been assigned. The challenge is intensified when one is trying to achieve the goals while adhering to the constraints that had been preconceived (Anderson and Merna 389). The challenges range from time, scope, budget and quality to the secondary constraint of optimizing the allocation of required inputs, and their integration to the objectives that have been pre-defined.
On the other hand, a business strategy also known as strategic management is the science, craft and art of formulating, evaluating and implementing functional decisions tha...
Business strategy is a long-term plan of actions intended by the business to attain its set of goals or objectives. The business strategy states ways business conduct to achieve its desired goals at a certain period. It can also be defined as a roadmap that guides business to achieve and meet its set goals a certain period (Barney, 2006)
Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Co., Inc. Kim, B. &. (2011).
... process essentially entails functions such as planning, organising, leading or directing and controlling the resources of an organisation. Strategic management is the application of this management process at the top level of the organisation. At this level the focus is on the resources, capabilities and core competencies or the company as a whole and on the ways to achieve success over the long term within the context of changing and ever-competitive environments. According to Johnson et al, strategies do no happen by themselves. Strategies involve people, especially the managers who decide and implement. Strategic management consists of 3 elements, understanding the strategic position of an organisation, making strategic choices for the future and managing strategy in action. Strategic management thus entails two tasks, strategy making and making strategy work.
Business strategy is the means by which firm’s plans to achieve its goals and objectives. It can also be termed as organization long-term planning. The strategy covers periods between 3-5 years and sometimes longer. Businesses use two major types of strategy, general or generic and competitive strategies. The overall strategy involves strategies of growth, globalization and retrenchment. The competitive advantage includes low pricing, product and customer differentiation. We will look at the business strategy used by Marks and Spenser (Cole, 1997). The company is a British multinational located at Westminster London and specializes in clothes and luxurious food products.
A company’s strategy is actually the plan through which the company aims at its growth, at gaining market shares, customers and its position in the market. Furthermore, the specification of a company’s strategy leads the company through being successful and competitive to achieve its objectives. The business model of a company determines if the followed strategy makes sense and if it leads to profits, which is the main objective of business activities. The difference between a company’s business model and a company’s strategy is their scale of focus. From the one hand strategy relates to the general directions and approaches that a company follows
A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. They are goal oriented, have a definite start and finish time, must be done within cost, schedule and quality parameters. Projects involve the coordinated undertaking of interrelated activities (Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage). According to Tom Peters, “Projects, rather than repetitive tasks, are now the basis for most value-added in business”. Based on this, it is clear that projects are of utmost importance to businesses in both the service and the manufacturing industries.
Throughout the global economic environment the desire to out-perform the competition is always present. In every situation, the companies who do better are the ones with superior strategy (Rothaermel, 2013). Strategic management is therefore important in every company, no matter what industry or market they operate in; and as stated by M. Carpenter and G. Sanders, 2013, is described as "The process by which a firm manages the formulation and implementation of its strategy". Strategic management is a constant topic under discussion with different schools of theorists with different beliefs and attitudes which is described as "A tense array of disagreement" (Rees, 2012).
Project management is said to be completed within time when it completed within the “triple constraints”: cost, time and quality. And in a lot of causes, one them is sacrificed so as to meet the other two. Project managers prioritize which ones are the most important.
Generally, strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-term performance of a company, involving both internal and external environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. According to the study of strategic management, the corporation should concentrate on monitoring and appraising outside opportunities and threats based on an organization’s strengths and weaknesses (Thomas Wheelen and David Hunger, 2012).
Strategy is the ‘how’ of the operation. It does not establish who is fulfilling the work (leadership), or what needs to be accomplished (entrepreneurship). Strategy determines “how an organization will achieve its objectives (Principles of Management. (n.d.).
Strategy formulation is the process of establishing the firm's mission, goals, and choosing among alternative strategies or plans; it involves and implies that preparing the best approach to respond to the circumstances of a firm's environment, whether or not its conditions are known in advance; being strategic and tactical, then, means being clear about the management's aims; being aware of the company's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment (SM, 2010). As nearly all businesses have limited resources, top leaders and management must determine which alternative plans or strategies will do well to the organization most; strategic management requires attention to the big picture and the motivation to adapt to circumstances, and consists of the following aspects:
Project management involves all activities that encompass scheduling, planning, and controlling projects. A successful project manager ensure that an organization’s resources are being used both efficiently and effectively. Most projects need to be uniquely developed require a sense of customization and the ability to adapt to any posed challenges. The scope of effective project management includes defining what the project is and what is being expected to be accomplished. Projects are imposed to fulfill a certain need and project managers must have the ability to create the proper definition. Goals and the means used to attain those goals have to be clearly stated. Project Managers must also have the ability to plan
When planning a new project, how the project will be managed is one of the most important factors. The importance of a managers will determine the success of the project. The success of the project will be determined by how well it is managed. Project management is referred to as the discipline that entails the processes of carefully planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating the organization resources so as to foster and facilitate the achievement of specific established and desired goals and meet the specific criteria of success required in the organization (Larson, 2014). Over the course of this paper I will be discussing and analyzing the importance of project management.
“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to organisational and project activities to achieve the aims of an organisation through projects” (PMI, 2003).
Strategic management is a process to enhance the goals of your business. This gives managers a strategic awareness and value of the company when strategic management is implemented. Having a strategic plan in a company makes the business successful. When a manager takes lead in the change of the environment it allows the company to improve on their short and long term goals. Managers