Project Management



Project Management

Project management is the process of organizing and managing the various components of a project in order to ensure a successful project completion. Projects are usually temporary operations in a permanent business but the successful execution of these projects determines the overall progress of a business. This paper discusses the key concepts related to project management such as project life cycle and its management, benefits of project management to an organization or a business, project organizations, importance of leadership and sponsorship in projects, team building in projects along with the techniques of building effective teams that results in success, techniques of project scope, the importance of managing scope throughout a project, work break down structure, need for contingency planning, concept of a phase review, importance of phase review to sponsors and the need for Project management software in large integrated programs.

The project team and project manager tend to have a single objective which is to execute a proper and successful project. They work together for meeting the objectives of a project through various means and a number of phases are included during the process of project initiation and completion. A standard project has four stages or phases which make up the project Life Cycle. These phases are described below.

The initiation phase

Planning phase

Implementation or Execution phase

Closing phase

Figure 1 Project Life Cycle



Project management serves several benefits to an organization. The organization receives increased efficiency in the delivery of services through the deployment of project management. Project management enhances the chances of customer satisfaction which provides positive outcomes to the organization as a whole. It fosters development and growth within the organization because when the team members are provided with a specific direction and plan, they tend to achieve the objectives of the project. In this way, the competition within the teams is enhanced leading the organization towards growth and success. Project management also provides opportunities to the businesses to expand their services. Organizations focus more on the risk assessment and analyze their potential risks through project management (Kerzner, 2013).

Projects are organized in order to form an association or a group for a common and shared purpose. The project organizations enable the teams to arrange the project work systematically and achieve the targets within the time frame. Project organization depends upon the types or nature of the project and the requirements of each project. The project can be organized in a functional way, project line, production process, geographical location, type of customers, time based, subsidiary organizations and horizontal or vertical organization. Sometimes, the projects are independent and serve the needs of several companies within an industry. Whereas, most of the times the projects are associated to a parent firm. At time, a specific department of an organization is provided with a project and they organize it accordingly. Project organization involves leadership potential of the project leader or manager. The leader is provide with the details of the project, the plan, the time frame, location and any other ...