What is a program? It’s defined as a group of related projects (more than one) managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. The intent is to improve organizational performance. Program Management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to manage a group of related projects effectively and efficiently. It typically involves the need to identify and manage cross-project dependencies like risks, issues, requirements, design, integration, implementation, and/or customer support. "The Air Force constructs and maintains thousands of facilities around the world, and keeping these projects on time and under budget is not an easy task. It’s the responsibility of Operations …show more content…
Having skilled, competent, and professional program and project managers P/PMs is essential to the success of critical agency missions. P/PMs ensure that requirements are appropriately written, performance standards are established, and contractors deliver what they promise. P/PMs develop requirements, lead integrated project teams (IPTs), and oversee budgeting and governance processes, all of which are critical to ensuring that mission needs are filled and expected outcomes achieved. Officials have declared that all projects with budgets of $5 million or more will have a dedicated, certified project manager. So what exactly are the government leaders going to do? First is to train and certify employees as soon as possible. (acc.dau) On the commercial side, obtaining a Project Management Professional Certification (PMP) holds increasing power. Some companies will not hire someone without it, regardless of experience. To obtain the certification, there are several requirements that must be met. "In order to apply to take the PMP exam you are required to have attained a certain amount of experience leading and directing projects: 60 months (7,500 hours) of experience if you have an associate’s degree, and 36 months (4,500 hours) of experience if you have a bachelor’s degree. PMI (the Project Management Institute) has an audit process to help ensure that potential PMPs are being truthful about their project history (though admittedly it is not a watertight process (Crawford, 2011). This commercial PMI certification is not as relevant within the DoD as it is with commercial companies. In fact, many government project managers has never maintained the PMI
In order for any type of organization to function efficiently and effectively, individual departments and teams must be successful. Therefore, a project manager must be able to build a cohesive and functional team, then properly manage the team to reach specified goals. Likewise, the organization must be structured so as to provide the project manager with the correct span of control for the team to be effective. In relation to baseball, if the head coach was only in control of seven players, but not the pitcher and catcher, it would be difficult to effectively get a team to follow specific guidance and reach goals set by the head coach. Likewise, for Six Sigma to effectively operate, the project manager must be provided the ability to build his or her team and the appropriate span of control.
As the world is constantly changing in terms of program needs and the requirements to achieve them, there is a demand for innovative and tactical ways to increase success in achieving project objectives. The ever-changing technological climate, market dynamics, relatively short-lived solutions and the arduous integration of business and I.T., have proved stumbling blocks in managing complex programs and ultimately attaining desired results on time and on budget.
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Using this definition, it is made evident that the parties involved in the Denver International Airport (DIA) Baggage System project in the 1990’s failed at applying basic organizational practices towards managing the triple constraint of scope, time, and cost goals. The combination of inherent risks, uncertainties, and dysfunctional decision making geared the project towards disappointment while simultaneously designating it as a text book example of what not do when taking on a complex project. By looking at the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats we can pull together a basic plan of action that would have set the DIA’s baggage handling system as a marvel model of rapid automation.
Project managers are leaders of small and large groups destined to complete a strategic project plan. Leadership characteristics described above can make or break a team. In all successful project fulfillments, it is the leadership of the project manager that determines the type of success for the project’s members. The most...
Program management is the consistent management of a set of interrelated projects designed to accomplish a single outcome.
Project Management Institute (PMI) (2013). Project Management Professional (PMP) Handbook. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pmi.org/certification/~/media/pdf/certifications/pdc_pmphandbook.ashx. [Last Accessed 20 April 2014].
A project manager should be aware of the key challenges and threats an organization would face as well as he/she should have the skills to tackle the crises effectively and efficiently. In addition to that, a project manager should also be able to convey the thoughts and ideas in a convenient manner who is responsible to make a framework for an effective communication to ensure clear communication between the team members even though the style of communication would be different based on the situation.
Phoenix-based PMP Tools ( http://www.pmptools.com ) provides test materials for project managers studying for professional certification exams. Test takers can find prep courses, review books and study tools on the site, which employs 11 people. Brent Knapp, the site’s founder, started publicizing PMP Tools by posting information in Yahoo Groups chat forums and by buying lists from Hoovers and Forbes for marketing mailings. His results were decent, but not perfect. He got a 3 percent response from what was then a $3,000 monthly project that took three days to complete.
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.
Strategy implementation involves establishing programs and tactics to create a series of new organizational activities, budgets to allocate funds to the new activities, and procedures to handle the day-to-day details (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015). Essentially, after a company determines the direction of their program, it is the how that particular direction will be accomplished. It also answers the question of what resources must be moved or sold to meet the allocated budget. For example, Ford Motor Company set up a program with the sole purpose of discovering alternatives to the foam that was being used in the manufacturing of car seats (Ford Motor Company, n.d.). While this program has a great deal of potential, there are different aspects that would have to be measured and verified before it can be considered a successful course of action by the company.
Project managers have to improve their skills every day to deal with the organizational change and especially the world’s Megatrends. However, it can be a challenge for a project manager to comprehend what skills they should be improved, what sections of project management knowledge that should be tried to perceive, and how to measure and enhance their performance.
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
They need experienced project managers to lead them through the process of implementing project management as they are just starting the journey towards project management maturity. It is necessary for them to outsource for a longer period of time and not just for training in order to follow the right direction on their PM implementation.
Performance management is a continuous process that creates a working culture to encourage employees to improve their work performance and reach their full potential during their stay of employment. Performance Management also provides strategic direction, develop competency in employees and instill organization value. This paper will identify methods and affects that performance management plan has on the organization and their employees.
Public personnel administration consists of three general systems. The first one I’ll talk about is civil service. The civil service helps to protect employee rights and safeguard efficiency. Historically, personnel administration shifted from emphasizing the value of responsiveness to emphasizing political neutral competence among public employees. Before they would use the spoils system and the patronage system, which selected employees and awarded government contracts based on loyalty or party affiliation. In this present day, we are using more of the civil service system, which is a method of choosing employees based on certain formal qualifications such as competitive exams instead of political patronage. It all start...