You are going to be the project manager for the construction of a large warehouse for a major international company. Of course, there are many elements involved in constructing such a large facility, but this assignment will consider only one, the laying of the facility’s foundation (which is obviously preceded by site preparation and followed by the actual construction of the building).
In preparation for completing of this element of the project—laying the facility foundation—complete the following:
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
The EVM
The EVM is a sophisticated technique that attempts to measure all parameters, especially cost
and schedule of the triple constraint, in one set of metrics. Thus, the EVM tries to improve upon
the limitations inherent in measuring the scheduled progress or the budget in isolation.
For example, it is possible to be within the budget at a particular point in time but not on schedule
in making advancements in technology. In such a case, the project may greatly exceed the
overall budget at its completion, as by the time the project has caught up with making the
technological improvements, the expended funds could far exceed the overall budget. The EVM
links cost and time management in one set of numbers.
The EVM is generally not worth the effort (necessary for large data collection) for small, low-
visibility projects. However, it becomes popular when managing large, high-visibility projects with
powerful external stakeholders requiring accurate, periodic reporting.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
The Reason Why Managers Avoid Audits
There are some basic reasons why managers are reluctant to go through audits.
Open Criticism
People do not enjoy being criticized in an open forum, particularly if it relates to information that
may not reflect well on their performance.
Utilizing Scarce Resources
Performing a project audit consumes time and other resources just like any other management
process. When audits are performed at the end of a project life cycle, these resources may be
especially scarce.
Tied Down to Same Project
Project close-outs can be very hectic times. There is pressure to get deliverables finalized and
signed off, and people begin to look at life beyond the project, perhaps towards the next project or
even towards a new job.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Nature of Conflict
As the project life cycle evolves, the nature of conflict changes. During project formation, priorities
and procedures are the issues that tend to be the major areas of conflict. In subsequent phases,
scheduling and technical (scope and quality) issues become common.
At the planning stage, you will not be able to foresee everything; therefore, the chances of the
plan getting modified are always there. Cost is not always the foremost concern as, theoretically,
the budget still has enough in it to get by on a short-term basis.
As the project gets into full swing, delays and uncertainties cause possible schedule violations
and technical shortfalls.
Near the end of the project, just finishing on time can become such an obsession that all other
concerns may suffer.
So, over the life cycle of the project, individual problems change in their seriousness. Pressures
to prioritize problems result in making trade-offs, and the nature of the trade-offs can change too.
Monitoring and Control Techniques
Once plans are set into motion, managers have to monitor and control events to turn out the results as planned.
Processes need to be set up so the management is aware of how things are going against the baseline budget,
schedule, and scope. The term “scope creep” refers to the tendency of projects to be punctuated by many changes
that go beyond the original scope of the project. Quite a few of these changes are, in fact, good ideas. While many
changes compensate for early oversights or uncertainties needing to become clari�ed as the project goes along,
they do change the scope and affect the deliverables. These, in turn, affect schedules, costs, and resource
requirements of the entire project.
In order to manage hundreds of potential changes in any given project, a formal management function needs to be
established. The most common term, in this context, is con�guration management. Basically, the term
“con�guration” implies the overall scope, even though con�guration is almost always de�ned in exquisite detail.
In high-tech projects, if you have to make a change in the con�guration, a mechanism commonly called an
engineering change request is submitted. This is then considered by the con�guration control board for its
viability. At the other end of the spectrum, a change request may be made for reasons other than engineering;
possibly by an important external stakeholder.
In all cases, requests are evaluated and most are rejected. The ones accepted are carried out with little fanfare, as
they are already within the scope of the original project. If others go beyond the scope, especially those entailing
large changes, they need an amendment to the contract. The rework effort needed to amend a contract is reason
enough to reject most changes.
You need to measure where your project really stands with respect to where it should actually be, and metrics
help you to make that comparison. Differences between these two situations are known as variances.
Variances can be positive or negative. With regard to schedule, a positive variance means the project is ahead of
schedule. With regard to costs, a positive variance means the project is below budget. To analyze the trend, you
need to collect the metrics and/or variances over time. Identifying a negative trend early in the life of the project
provides an opportunity to respond quickly.
For reporting purposes, one method of applying metrics to projects is called the EVM. This method has become
particularly popular to use while making periodic reports to major external stakeholders in the case of large
projects.
Additional Materials
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Different Types of Project Documents
There are various types of project documents. Some of them have been given below.
Project Charter: A document used by the project initiator or sponsor that formally
authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority
to apply organizational resources to project activities.
Project Scope Statement: The narrative description of the project scope, including
major deliverables, project objectives, project assumptions, project constraints, and
statement of work. It provides a documented basis for making future project decisions
and for confirming or developing a common understanding of project scope among the
stakeholders.
Request for Proposal: A type of procurement document used to request proposals from
prospective vendors of products or services.
Statement of Work: A description of products, services, or results to be supplied.
Contract: A mutually binding agreement that obligates the vendor to provide a specified
product or service or result and obligates the buyer to pay for it.
Project Plan and Subsidiary Plan: A formal, approved document that defines how the
project is executed, monitored, and controlled. It may be a summary or composed of
constituent plans.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): A deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition
of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the projected objectives
and create the required deliverables.
Project Activity List: A summary of all the components of work performed during the
course of a project, derived from the WBS.
Project Networks: Any schematic display of the logical relationships among the
schedule activities.
Schedule: Planned dates for performing schedule activities and meeting schedule
milestones.
Gantt Charts: A graphic display of schedule-related information. Schedule activities or
the WBS components are listed down the left side of the chart, and dates are shown
across the top.
Budgets: The approved estimate for the project, the WBS component, or any schedule
activity.
Organization Chart: A method for depicting interrelationships among a group of persons
working together towards a common objective.
Responsibility Charts: A structure that relates the project organization structure to the
work structure. This helps ensure that each component of the scope of work is assigned
to a responsible person.
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Risk Register: The document containing the results of the qualitative risk analysis,
quantitative risk analysis, and risk response planning.
Risk Breakdown Structure: A hierarchically organized depiction of the project risks
arranged by risk category and subcategory that identifies the various areas and causes of
identified risks.
Probability Impact Matrix: A common way to determine whether a risk is considered
low, moderate, or high by combining the two dimensions of a risk; its probability of
occurrence, and its impact on objectives, if it occurs.
Audits and Lessons Learned Archives: A store of historical information and lessons
learned about the outcomes of previous project selection decisions and previous project
performance.
Change Requests: Requests to change or expand the project scope, modify policies,
plans or procedures, modify costs or budgets, or revise schedules.
Periodic Reports: Formal documents required by the communications plan at various
important points of scheduled project progress.
EVM: A management methodology for integrating scope, schedule, and resources, and
for objectively measuring project performance and progress.
Stakeholder Communications: The formal manner by which persons and organizations,
such as customers, sponsors, performing organizations, and the public that are actively
involved in a project or whose interest may be affected, are kept informed throughout the
project life cycle.
Forecasts Estimates: Predictions of conditions or events in the project future based on
information and knowledge available to the time of the forecast.
Quality Tools: Tools adopted from quality management, such as flowcharts,
benchmarking studies, fishbone diagrams, and control charts.
Status Review Meeting Minutes: Formal documentation of major topics covered and
decisions made during planned meetings throughout the project life cycle.
Corrective Actions: Documented direction for executing the project work to bring
expected future performance of the project work in line with the project management
plan.
Issue Log: Centralized documentation of matters in question or in dispute, points of
matter not yet settled, and over which there is still discussion.
Test Reports: Formal reports of the results of the technological or other tests of progress
along known dimensions of uncertainty.
Subcontract: A contract let by a main contractor to another, usually more competent
organization in a given area, normally in a specialized field needed for project completion.
Job Descriptions and Performance Evaluations: Documents used in project human
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
resource management to record the job requirements of someone who will be needed to
work on a project, and subsequently the record of how a person filling that job has met
the requirements of the description.
Resource Breakdown Structure: A hierarchical structure of resources by resource
category and resource type used in resource leveling schedules to develop resource
limited schedules, and which may be used to identify and analyze project human
resource assignments.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Conflicts
In a small group, constructive conflict can challenge accepted beliefs or paradigms that
sometimes need to change for the betterment of the company. It develops team dynamics,
encourages and motivates members to look for alternate solutions, and revitalizes the energy
level and enthusiasm in a team.
Personal conflicts are another matter; they are destructive. The project manager is then
responsible for addressing the conflicts within the team before they escalate to affect team
effectiveness and continuity. Project managers must show a balance of concern between
achieving project goals and team-maintenance goals.
It is not always clear whether a conflict is a professional one, that is, a professional difference of
opinion over a legitimate project concern, or a personal conflict, which, while it has little to do with
formal goals, threatens the health of the team. Naturally, some conflicts contain elements of both,
and these are especially tricky.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
The best time to start managing a conflict is before it starts. This is the time when debates are
likely to be least heated. As the project progresses, discipline and professional maturity will be
required to make sure the rules for resolving conflict are obeyed. This is the perfect time for the
manager to lead by example. This is done by showing more respect for procedure than the desire
to get your own way.
Sometimes, when you are part of a big project, you will find the most important conflicts are
happening between the manager, who is overseeing the entire project, and the other managers
who are responsible for smaller sections of the project. Conflicts also arise when the individual
project managers vie for resources simultaneously and the functional managers may be unwilling
to relinquish key resources.
Sometimes, a situation exists in which the best way to handle a conflict is to just ignore it.
Usually, however, this method of dealing with a conflict is the worst. Sometimes, the project
manager must resolve a conflict in an authoritarian way by making the decision almost alone.
Most conflicts can be managed through a better balance of authority and participation than these
extremes.
When team members participate in the resolution of a conflict, it results in commitment and a
more permanent resolution. However, all stakeholders should be aware of psychological
phenomena, such as groupthink and conflict avoidance. Sooner or later, an important conflict will
“out” itself, even if it is only important to very few people.
Project Audit
The subject of a project audit is not very popular, and some managers have a tendency to skip project audits
altogether. There are several reasons for this, and they are all very human.
However, audits become part of the permanent record of the project, which has important implications for
organizational growth, learning at the cultural level, and project management maturity efforts. An audit helps to
establish best practices for future projects.
Project audits can take many forms and formats, but there are some very important concerns a good audit should
address. The main concern of an audit is how well the objectives of the project were achieved. However, the
responses to the concern may vary quite a bit, depending on individual points of view. For example, the
contracting of�cer may have a different set of opinions than the project manager. Team members may also differ
in their opinion, as they often have informal goals set and expectations. More importantly, the project sponsor
and the customer also have a stake, which must be given due importance.
Con�icts in aggressive projects are virtually inevitable. In this context, aggressive means that during the planning
stage a project has set ambitious cost, schedule, and technical goals. The fact of each one being dif�cult to meet
presents a set of three individually tough problems, but, in turn, it becomes even more likely for trade-offs to
happen among the triple-threat parameters.
When properly managed, certain con�icts can be very useful in �nding unique solutions to problems. It also helps
in advancing project management competencies across the organization. Professional con�icts or disagreements
are sometimes a very healthy sign. They often indicate the company is a tough competitor; that it has set tougher
performance standards for itself than the market forces. Such companies often become global leaders in their
respective industries.
Destructive con�ict can destabilize personal and group morale, cause a sense of isolation in some members,
distort the effective communications vital for developing team effectiveness, and inhibit some individuals from
taking the initiative for handling problems they are best suited at solving. Members can become mildly paranoid
and risk averse in this type of con�ict. Whether con�ict becomes constructive or destructive, depends not only on
the inherent nature of the problem, but also on how well it is managed by the formal leader, the informal leaders,
and other individuals on the team.
Project managers use their experience, their people’s skill, and sometimes pure instinct to tackle project-related
problems. Let’s see what the right time is for con�ict resolution and negotiation:
Additional Materials
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
The Five-Level Structure of Maturation
In project management, the maturity of the organization’s project management capabilities is
related to its expertise at thorough documentation.
Level 1
At this level, the organization recognizes the importance of project management, emphasizing a
common language and terminology.
Level 2
At this level, the organization has clearly defined processes, such that success on one project
can easily be replicated in subsequent projects.
Level 3
At this level, all corporate methodologies are combined into one, that is, of project management.
Synergies across organizational units are stressed and sought through commonality of
processes.
Level 4
At this level, benchmarking is stressed towards the goal of maintaining a competitive advantage.
Level 5
At this level, the information gathered in the earlier levels is used on an ongoing basis to achieve
continuous improvement.
Project Documentation
Project management is different from other styles of management in its reliance on documentation. The
importance is veri�ed by the inclusion of project communications as one of the nine core areas in project
management knowledge in the PMBOK® Guide. Project communications is really about managing the timing and
�ow of information, in the various stages of documentation.
There are various project documents that you have already discussed such as project charter, project scope
statement, and work breakdown structure.
Depending on the organization, its level of project management maturity, the legal environment, and other
factors, there are many more types of project documents. This paperwork may make project management seem
like the antithesis of modern management, which emphasizes speed, short cycle times, and control not through
bureaucracy, but through charismatic transformational leadership, and a strong culture that communicates clear
behavioral expectations.
Without thorough project documentation, there would be haphazard terminology, chaotic processes and
methods, and lack of process standardization. Benchmarking and continuous improvement would be impossible.
Project management would be a tribal, word-of-mouth practice, handed from one generation of managers to the
next. With proper documentation, project management becomes a core competency of the organization and a
potential locus of sustainable competitive advantage.
One of the �rst things you learned about project management is that each project has a �nite life cycle. That
means every project eventually ends by design. It does not drag on forever. Some projects are so successful; they
morph their missions and continue operating with new objectives, taking on some of the characteristics of
permanent programs. There is no particular best way to close a project, especially considering how much they
vary in scope.
Additional Materials
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
The Correct Way of Closing Projects
As you are aware, a formal mechanism is essential for the acceptance of deliverables. When all
deliverables are accepted, contractually the project comes to an end. It signals the closing of
many monetary accounts and the transfer of funds, especially final payments.
Sometimes, some procedural documents are, themselves, deliverables. You have seen how the
EVM is a method that is commonly required of major contracts; so are formal meetings and
written reports that detail the EVM metrics.
Similarly, project closure requires an administrative and contractual report to be included in the
final delivery. Such a retrospective analysis generally termed as a “lessons learned” document,
may be a part of the project audit or submitted separately.
Finally, it is good human resources management to hold a special event to commemorate the
official closure of a project. Project teams often have a team lunch to mark the end of a project.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Impact of a Prolonged Project
There are numerous instances which depict how one can be committed to a project that should
not be completed. One such instance is the designing and building of Hercules, a large cargo
aircraft designed during World War II.
At the beginning of World War II, Howard Hughes’ company was assigned the task of designing a
very large cargo aircraft to transport wartime materials and troops across the Atlantic Ocean.
However, the project faced numerous delays related to technical, supply, and political issues.
These delays pushed the completion of the aircraft project beyond the end of the war, past the
time when it was really needed.
Ideally, the project should have been hauled after the war ended. However, Howard Hughes was
determined to complete this massive airplane, and Hercules took its first and only flight on
November 2, 1947, two years after the war. The airplane had no viable commercial application
and became a museum piece in Long Beach, California.
As you can see, some projects take on lives of their own. They continue to exist only because of
the momentum built up from their prior existence. Some projects that should be closed continue
to exist because of psychological reasons. There is a well-studied human behavior that does not
give up even when all available information points to an inevitable failure.
Obviously, managers don’t get rewarded for failed projects; they get rewarded for successful
ones. Though you may consider rational decisions as being driven by economic or similar logic,
organizational politics plays a crucial role driven by an equally powerful rationality. Thus, many
times projects continue to exist for career advancement reasons, as well as job retention reasons.
The reasons for the continued existence of projects, makes it clear why planned project closure is
an important and overlooked phase of the project life cycle.
Though it sounds odd, project closure should start in the planning stage. That is, planning efforts
should document how the project will be closed. Knowing closure requirements, right at the
beginning, precludes detrimental surprises and helps avoid scope creep.
You have learned about project audits. Project audits may be done at any time; this is especially
true for large projects with many external stakeholders. Audits at critical, periodic review points,
determine whether or not the project will continue. This certainly applies at project closure;
auditing a project at closure may even be a fiduciary responsibility, not just a good management
option.
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MGT3035 Fundamentals of Project Management
© 2013 South University
Nature of Conflict
As the project life cycle evolves, the nature of conflict changes. During project formation, priorities
and procedures are the issues that tend to be the major areas of conflict. In subsequent phases,
scheduling and technical (scope and quality) issues become common.
At the planning stage, you will not be able to foresee everything; therefore, the chances of the
plan getting modified are always there. Cost is not always the foremost concern as, theoretically,
the budget still has enough in it to get by on a short-term basis.
As the project gets into full swing, delays and uncertainties cause possible schedule violations
and technical shortfalls.
Near the end of the project, just finishing on time can become such an obsession that all other
concerns may suffer.
So, over the life cycle of the project, individual problems change in their seriousness. Pressures
to prioritize problems result in making trade-offs, and the nature of the trade-offs can change too.
