Continental Computer Corporation (CCC) is a $9 billion a year organization that for years has allow their three division to implement different sets policies. According to Ed White, vice president for engineering, “This poses a problem for us at corporate headquarters because career opportunities and administrative policies are different in each division” (Harold Kerzner, 2004, p. 655). Each division has implemented different organizational structures, administrative policies and their own career opportunities. The three divisions are the Eton Division, the Lampco Division and the Ridge Division. Continental is now trying to implementation of a project management as a profession in hope that it would help them to work together and to use the Continental Computer Corporation experienced challenges while attempting to consolidate projects under a single project manager if the fundamental practices of project management are not in place. “One of the biggest mistake made is developing a different methodology for each type of project” (Harold Kerzner, 2004, p. 95). Proven project management ethics should be used in order to achieve a successful project outcome, therefore the use of different project procedure will just complication and errors. “Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the 47 logically grouped project management processes, which are categorized into five Process Groups. These five Process Groups are:” (PMI, 2013, p. Decentralizing R&D will only take way the companies competitive advantage allowing productivity, sale and moral to go down. “The risk is too great that the stream of new innovations within the company becomes too narrow and that the business units use the inadequate supply of innovations from the central innovation department as the perfect excuse for an unsatisfactory business performance” (Wentz, 2012). It is a good idea to continue R&D, however limiting the dispersing of seed money, which is initially used to cover expenses for research or product development. It is also important for the company to stay competitive, they should continue to motivate grass roots projects because of the continuance change in technology. 2.4 Accounting Books The Lampco division of CCC keeps two set of books for cost accounting and reporting. This is not common practice for a company to maintain more than one set of accounting books. According to Connolly, “One set of books is for the financial statements that they present to shareholders when they file their quarterly reports with the U.S. SEC, and that set is prepared according to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles). The other set is the books they keep to pay their taxes to the IRS” (Timothy P. Connolly, 2012). This is consider to be acceptable as long as it is well documented for company
Gray, C., Larson, E. (2008). Project Management: The managerial Process. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
Action #1: Training in project management. As stated in the case, these organizations were at different levels of project management maturity, including two of them that were “clueless” about project management. As their goal was to implement an enterprise project management methodology, training in project management represent the first step in this endeavor. It will also help them to create a general and common understanding of what project management is and how it should be implemented, as the other tow companies that knew and implemented project management, exert their implementation in a different way.
Project management is "the art and science of converting vision into reality" (Atkinson, 1999). Project management delivers results. Project managers enjoy the challenge of juggling multiple responsibilities and optimizing workflow in a highly competitive environment. From managing the development of a website to launching new company wide integration system, project managers keep projects on time, on track and within budget. Strong business, management and organizational skills as well as experience with current technologies put qualified candidates in high demand in this extraordinary career field. The practice of project management focuses efforts on your mission by defining priorities, utilizing resources, and producing outstanding goods and services for businesses and customers alike. A successful project translates a broad public mission into concrete results and outcomes.
Joseph Phillips’ article “Project Management Definition and Solutions” published on cio.com explains the basic principles of IT project management and why IT projects fail. All temporary ventures taken to create unique services or products, also known as projects, travel in the five phases that make up the project management lifecycle. These phases are: (1) initiating, (2) planning, (3) executing. (4) monitoring and closing, and (5) closing (Phillips, 2014).
Successful organizations must manage resources and control the diverse range of projects operating within their systems at any one time. To be successful in the current business climate, organizations need to focus on how to manage the many competing requirements for resources. Conflicting resource requirements across multiple projects and corporate priorities not centrally managed usually are grounds for failure. I believe that a properly organized enterprise project office is the formula for successful project implementation. This paper briefly outlines what I feel is the main philosophy of the project office and two functions it can provide.
Patanakul, P., & Milosevic, D. Z. (2010). They are business leaders at Spotlight Corporation. In D. Z. Milosevic, P. Patanakul, & S. Srivannaboon, (Eds.), Case studies in project, program, and organizational project management (pp.409-416), Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Gray, Clifford F.; Larson, Erik W., Project Management – The Managerial Process, Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Large and small businesses, governments, and schools strive to build the next new gadget, manage resources more efficiently, and teach or train in more creative ways. If they set out blindly on a task without proper oversight and thought about the process, then surely the result would be a dismal failure. Project management enables these entities, and various others, to carefully consider the many variables before, during, and after the project actually takes place. Project management refers to the careful planning, organization, and management through a single one-time activity. Projects are non-routine tasks that are set out to be accomplished for a specific amount of time (Trelles-Duckett & Lonergan , n.d.). Projects have an absolute
IT is very useful for any company for satisfying their operational and functional needs. Due to the huge development in IT projects, companies need to keep themselves aware of changes in the global world. Companies must give more importance to ICT projects to become more popular in the competitive world. There are two different lifecycles that work together throughout the course of every project. One describes all the tasks that must be completed to produce a particular product and the second explains how to manage a product. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to achieve projects requirements, usually to time and budget.
As a conclusion for the role that project management plays in today’s business environment, one thing that every single project manager and every single company that uses project management as a supportive tool for projects should bear in mind that successful project management techniques will contribute to the achievement of desired project outcomes, but project management will not stop a project from failing to success it will only enhance the success of the project to a greater limit.
Using most project management principles, there are many differences ways in which are applied throughout the business world. Moreover, almost all businesses are constantly in search of best practices and ways in which they can improve their respective processes. Most organizations often tend to make huge investments in technology, in both hardware and software. These types of project initiatives require enormous amounts of funding and in most cases the amount of funding is just not available in most businesses. Therefore, decisions are usually made in regards to which projects should get funding, also which should get limited funding and which should get no funding as well (Wysocki, 2012). The dollars funding to fund these
“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).
The ultimate benefit of implementing project management techniques is having a satisfied customer—whether you are the customer of your own project, such as remodeling your basement, or a business (contractor) being paid by a customer to perform a project.( successful project management fifth edition)
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.