Projects are critical to the success of any organization as they involve the activities that result in new or changed products, services, environments, processes and organizations. Organizations have increasingly embraced project management as a key strategy for staying ahead in today’s highly competitive business environment.
Successful implementation of project management creates an organization that can readily meet the demands of each project and yet adapt quickly to a constantly changing dynamic environment, perhaps at the same time (Kerzner, 2010).
Management considers the organization’s resources, its competitive positioning and its critical areas of strategic uncertainty. Gaddis (1997) says that the idea that an organisation can plan its way to a known future is implausible and the ability of people within a system to see failures is equally problematic.
Good project management strategies allow work to be accomplished in less time, at lower cost, with fewer resources and without any sacrifice in quality (Kerzner, 2001).
The idea of strategy has received increasing attention in the management literature. The literature on strategy in the present volume and strategic management texts have become more and more to include all relevant materials.
This paper discusses how project management affects strategy and governance. It begins with a highlight of the theoretical background, which is followed by a brief description of a relevant case study from the construction field. Next is an analysis and discussion of related literature. It then concludes with a detailed discussion.
Literature review
In providing projects, organizations must have dynamic capabilities and a high level of knowledge and competence to be able ...
... middle of paper ...
...iew, 75, 66.
GADDIS, P. (1997) Strategy under attack. Long Range Planning, 30, 38-45.
HAROLD KERZNER, P. D. (2010) Project Management: Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence, Wiley.
KERZNER, H. (2001) Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for project management, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
PMI (2010) PMI ® Case study: SAUDI ARAMCO HARADH GAS PROJECT viewed on 13th March 2010 << http://www.pmi.org/PDF/Case_Saudi_Aramco.pdf >>.
SNOWDEN, D. & BOONE, M. (2007) A leader's framework for decision making. Harvard Business Review, 85, 68.
TEECE, D., PISANO, G. & SHUEN, A. (1997) Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 509-533.
WALKER, D. H. T., ARLT, M. & NORRIE, J. (2008) The role of business strategy in PM procurement. Procurement systems: a cross-industry project management perspective, 140- 176
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Dess, G. G., Lumpkin, G. T., Eisner, A. B., & McNamara, G. (2012). Strategic Management: Text & Cases (6th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Frame, J.D., Managing Projects in Organizations: How to Make the Best use of Time, Techniques and People, third ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,112-117, 2003.
Carpenter, MA & Sanders, WG 2007, Strategic management: concepts: a dynamic perspective, Prentice Hall, New Jersy.
Kezner, H. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. 6th. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 1998. Print.
Thompson, A. A., Strickland, A. J., & Gamble, J. E. (2008). Crafting & executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Mason Carpenter, G. S. (2013). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases Second Edition. Harlow: South-Western Pub.
Thompson, A.A., Strickland, A.J., & Gamble, J. E. (2010). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases: 2009 custom edition (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill-Irwin
Gray, Larson. (2005). Project management: The managerial process. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved February 5, 2007, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, MGT 573Project Management in the Business Environment Web site.
In the globalized economy, Successful project managers are in much demand across many industries. Organizations strongly need experienced project managers to lead their staff to accomplish their business goals and deliver successful projects. In an increasingly complex environment, project managers need to turn into many roles and have all kinds of responsibilities at each level of management within an organization. Good project managers are not born. They need to be trained. They develop their skills through study, practise and experience. They become better project managers after they finish a successful project each time. They learn new techniques and apply them on their projects. They learn their lessons from failed projects and then improve to be better project managers in the future.
Over the course of my professional life, I have become increasingly involved in project management roles. Doing so has made me aware of the many varied challenges that can face projects and the project managers who are charged with bringing them through to completion. The success or failure of projects, in whatever economic, political or social field, rests not just on the quality of the project’s goals, but also on the abilities of those involved in the project – and above all those who are managing it – to bring it to successful completion. To do this, project managers need to be equipped with a very wide range of skills, many of which are unrelated to the type of project itself. So, for example, a project manager of an engineering project must not only have engineering
...c management or planning presents a structure or agenda for dealing with issues and solving problems, therefore, understanding potential risks or pitfalls of strategic management and being prepared to deal with them is critical and vital to success. Strategic management not only permits top leaders and managers to be more proactive than reactive in building or developing their own potential or outlook in an organization, and it also lets them to make the first move and influence activities, consequently, executives and management can control or in charge of the company’s own future, and achieve its main goals and objectives. Overall, increasing cost-effectiveness and efficiency, improving the value for its stakeholders, and advancing customer services and management excellence are the key objectives of strategic management and decision making in an organization.
As a Business Improvement Manager the aim is to drive implementations strategically, with top management visibility and the use of consistent and standardised project management practices and to deploy these competencies with the goal of maximising organisational value. There is an opportunity in the delivery of projects for organisations to add value to better serve their clients and compete in the marketplace. To use the influence of relationships to have active and engaged sponsors who serve as advocates for project initiatives that lead the organisational change towards business excellence.
Project management creates a situation where the workers perform their duties and responsibilities in a structural and devoted manner. With much dedication and focus it is possible to use fewer workers to accomplish and execute a project. Allowing fewer workers to perform a project allows frees up possible persons to work other tasks. The increased efficiency of teams in their tasks is of a consequent meaning that the effectiveness of the organization as whole is increased as well (Larson, 2014). Doing this allows project management the ability to hold people accountable and this makes the workers much more efficient in their tasks than a slew of
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