Final Paper
Final Paper
Project management has been practiced for thousands of years. From the creation of the
pyramids to remodeling a kitchen, it was not until the 1950s that project management became
formalized. There are a lot of practices and principles in being a project manager. The process in
handling a project can be different, depending on the type of project. But this paper will explain
the fundamental practices and principles of what project management possess. These
fundamentals can work for large and small projects. A project is temporary, the model for it runs
linear in direction, it has a beginning and an end. A model of a project can have multiple phases,
but a basic model has defining and organizing the project, planning the project, managing project
execution, and closing the project. The overall goal of organizing a project, is to improve the
success rate of the project. And the person that helps manages the project is called a project
manager.
Before going into a project, it is important to define and organize the project. Defining
the project can mean different things depending on the context. One of the defining factors, is
figuring out what is the organizational culture. “Organizational culture is shaped by the common
experiences of members of the organization.” (Slideshow Module 2, pg. 3) This is important for
a project, because knowing the culture helps the project management have knowledge about the
interactions between individuals. If any action that the manager makes affects the culture norms
of an organization, it can also affect the progress of the project. It is also important “to clearly
define the project objectives as thoroughly as possible.” (Managing Projects Large and Small,
pg. 3) This is important because this helps figure out the influences that happen within the
project and gives a direction to the project team. The influences can include the stakeholders and
the environmental factors. While the direction of the project team can help “organize the right
people and all necessary resources around those objectives.” (Managing Projects Large and
Small, pg. 3) Organizing the team involves knowledge about the structure of the organization
and the personnel that will be involved in the project. Also, the defining and organization phase,
helps create a scope, that gives an estimated budget and time of the project.
After the beginning phase of defining and organizing, next would-be the middle phase
that involves the planning and managing the execution of the project. The planning process and
the executing process can run in a cycle. The planning process of the project is an important part
of the project, it provides a framework from defining and organizing phase of the projects. It
helps to create a written charter that can mandate actions, clarifies objectives, make it time-
bound, specify project scope. The planning phase also helps with risk management that can
happen, by questioning assumptions and issues that can happen in the project. It also can be used
to revise the project daily, to help the project management prevent scope creep from happening
when executing the project. The planning phase can also develop a communication plan. A
communication plan will help the interaction between the project team and the stakeholders. It
also the groundwork for helping to set up meetings and attendance policies within the project
team. The planning phase can also set up policies or rules within the project to help prevent
issues that have predicted would happen in the project. “It guides the execution of a project by
translating objectives into actionable items; and it provides a baseline (of target) for the
After the planning process ends, then it goes to the execution phase of the project. During
the execution phase of the project, it is the project managers job to monitor and a lead people to
solve problem. He/she will help guide the team members to the end of the planned project. If it is
a new team then there will be a team development stages, forming, storming, norming,
performing, and adjourning. If there are any challenges within the project that was not discussed
in the planning phase, it would be the project manager to be a leader and provide a solution to the
problem. The style of leadership that the manager can use would be a situational approach or an
adaptive approach to handle challenges on the field. Most challenges can be technical and
improving morale by solving those problems. The project manager is also a manager, by
knowing the boundaries of power that he/she has within the project. For example, if a project
needs to be changed that could affect the deliverable, then it will need to get the approval from
the executives or the sponsor. The manager is there to manage time, scope, budget, quality, and
people. If any thing in the project changes the plan, then it would be discussed with the decision
makers.
The final phase of the project management would be the “close down.” The closing of the
project is an important part of an organization’s growth. It is used to hand over the project to the
authorities to take control and to provide information to the organization. There are different
ways that the project team can hand over the project. The team can just hand it over to
themselves and start the operations from the project. They could also terminate the project
because resource problems. The most common and the most difficult, would be the team
integrating the project. There are different ways to hand off the project, but the three above are
It does not matter if the project is a success or a failure, it would be the information that
came from the project that can help with future projects. It can also used as an asset for the
organization. It creates recorded data that can help train future project managers specifically for
their organization. Gathering information for the end phase of a failed project, helps with any
guarantee a successful project. There are always factors that can affect the project, those factors
can be external or internal. The model and all the planning are there to limit those factors as
much as possible. The implementation of those plans is the most important factor that creates the
Part Two
This class can be implemented into my daily life, working for the family business. The
small business installs artificial turf and irrigation systems. It has a crew of about 3-4 people that
execute the projects and most of the projects are residential. So, most of our sponsors or
customers are homeowners. An approval to start the project, usually is shown with a formal
signature of a contract. The maturity level of the project manager can be rated as an expert with
over 13 years of experience. The main concept for the end of each project is to get a satisfactory
response from the homeowner, which is shown with a 5-star review on the internet. But after
working with the company off and on, I was able to observe some phases of the project
The two phases that are missing is the planning and part of the closing phase of the
project. When starting the project, it would involve meeting the potential sponsor and defining
the objectives of the potential project. This would then be formally introduced to the customer in
a form of an estimate, that would give an estimate budget, time, and scope of the project. When
the customer accepts the estimate, then the only planning part of the project would be scheduling
the project. There is no work breakdown structure or written charter, before executing the
project. This led to delays and budget problems during the project. But even with delays and
budget problems that happens in the project, scope creep would rarely happen for the projects.
The reason for not having scope creep in the projects is because of two factors, the projects are
too small and any major changes that are to happen in the project must be signed on a formal
contract. So, once the sponsor signs the contract, the scope cannot be changed easily. This makes
the planning phase of the project only effecting the budget, time, and quality. But, with the
hundred yards, the planning phase may not be needed. The planning phase would help but with
the safety net of the contract that prevents scope creep from happening. But if the project is small
and easy enough, with an expert leading the team, then the planning phase can be overlooked.
Not having a planning phase also can limit the closing phase of the project. After
finishing the project, it would be handed over to the sponsor/homeowner. But the only recorded
evidence of the project would be the signed contract. This gives limited formal knowledge that
has been recorded. This can create a lot of short comings for the organization. One of the short
comings, is the process of training new team members. This would put more power and
responsibility on the team leader to provide on-site training for the new member. This can be
considered a good thing, but since the team leader is also the manager and boss. The person does
not have enough time to have a one-on-one training with new members. This creates a culture of
reliance on the leader to direct them to how to do their job. Which would limit more time from
the leader.
Another factor that can affect the organization, would be the operation of the company.
Shovel’s break, inventory has been used, and sometimes we get new inventory. All those things
can affect the operations of future projects. If none of those things are recorded, then the business
is only reacting to problems that cropped up instead of preventing any future problems.
The final factor, it can limit the growth of the company. Even though having the
customers basic information helps with our contact list. It does not help if the company ever
wants to expand, because for the company to ever get bigger jobs it would need to have a
planning phase and an affective training program. Having knowledge from previous jobs would
help solidify policies and rules that are affective for the project. So, after a period the company
For now, the small company is running well, even with those two phases are missing in
the managing of the project. The main reason for that is because of the boss of the company. He
can communicate with customers, and the team members about the project. He also has a mental
contact list of places that can provide resources for the project, this is also related to providing an
estimate on each job. And with his 13 years of experience doing installations, he has the
leadership qualifications to solve technical and interpersonal problems that might happen on the
job. The downside to this setup, is that it relies too heavily on an individual instead on a team.