When discussing project management you must understand the concept of what a project is. A project is something that is not currently in the organization, whether it is something new or something that will improve an existing thing. An example would be a new software package that will eliminate the hand inventory process or a software that will help improve the already existing software package of keeping inventory. Now, project management is the person who has the necessary skills to complete that project. Projects can be determined a success or failure on how well the project manager did their job. Let’s discuss a few projects and what was done successful and what could have been done a little better.
A well known project failure, although old, is a good teaching point on a highly visible project that was not managed well from the top down. The Mars Climate Orbiter mission was conducted under NASA’s “Faster, Better, Cheaper” philosophy. Although this was thought to enhance innovation, productivity and cost-effectiveness of the program, the program manager should have advised caution when discussing the scope, time, and cost goals with the stakeholders. The 2000 report by the board stated “The success of “Faster, Better, Cheaper” is tempered by the fact that some projects and programs have put too much emphasis on cost and schedule reduction. At the same time, they have failed to instill sufficient rigor in risk management throughout the mission lifecycle. These actions have increased risk to an unacceptable level on these projects.” (Mishap Investigation Board, 2000).
The mission for the Mars Climate Orbiter was to develop and launch two spacecrafts to Mars during the 1998 Mars transfer opportunity. Also, it ...
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...ded new senior management being assigned, work plans being reviewed and augmented, detailed analysis for pending mission events, daily teleconferences evaluating progress and work still yet to be done, communication and independent peer review of all operational and contingency procedures was introduced. It should be noted that despite the deficiencies, the spacecraft operated as commanded and the mission was categorized as extremely successful.
All projects are different from the scope, time, cost, the client, all the way down to the team and the person who manages it. The success is determined on how well that project was managed to meet the success. The project manager must have the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to employ the tools and techniques to manage a project successfully and ultimately meet the projects goals and requirements to the end.
On an unusually cool Florida morning in January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 50,000 feet above ground just moments after liftoff killing seven crew members onboard (Palmer, Dunford, and Akin, 2009). A presidential commission, dubbed “the Rogers Commission” (hereafter, the Commission) after former Secretary of State William Rogers, was appointed to investigate the cause of the disaster. Although mechanical failure of an O-ring seal in one of the rocket boosters was identified as the physical cause, the investigation revealed something much more disheartening; organizational deficiencies at NASA had allowed potential safety hazards to be disregarded. The disastrous consequences of NASA’s organizational failure prompted calls for the organization to restructure its management to provide for better control and appoint a team dedicated to identifying and tracking potential shuttle safety hazards as well as redesigning the faulty booster joint for NASA approval. Shortly before the two year anniversary of the disaster, NASA officials declared that the Commission’s recommendations for organizational change had been successfully implemented. Unfortunately, the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia nearly three decades later and a subsequent investigation revealed that the changes made in the wake of the Challenger disaster had not endured. Factors such leaders’ perception of the change process, the type of change being implemented, organizational vision, resistance to change and other challenges all play a role in how change initiatives unfold (Palmer, Dunford, and Akin, 2009). NASA’s narrative is a testament to the complexities and challenges of not only implementing, but also sustaining organizational change.
NASA has faced many tragedies during their time; but one can question if two of the tragedies were preventable by changing some critical decisions made by the organization. The investigation board looking at the decisions made for the space shuttle tragedies of the Columbia and Challenger noted that the “loss resulted as much from organizational as from technical failures” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 191). The two space shuttle tragedies were about twenty years apart, they both had technical failures but politics also played a factor in to these two tragedies.
Lack of proper risk management process: NASA was using a simple risk classification system and the methods used were only qualitative. There was a lack of proper technical and quantitative risk management methods that could have helped them identify the risks and eliminate them.
Budget cuts in the 1970’s affected the way NASA thought and since the Apollo mi...
Each of NASA’s space exploration projects had many specific goals. The Mercury Project, for example, was designed by scientist to determine human endurance and survival in outer space climate. The
Since the day of NASA’s greatest triumph on July 20, 1969, there has been a sense among many American people and politicians that the once-unimaginable goal of conquering space has been accomplished, and that much of what NASA has done since are simply unnecessary frills of the federal budget. In order to attempt to justify its own existence, NASA has felt the need to engage in projects that can thrill the public and thus keep people interested in space exploration. In doing so, a significant portion of their budget, which has been cut over the years, is spent on public relations, decreasing the budget for actual space-related activities. By using its resources to “bring public and political support to the program”1, NASA has been looking at the problem backwards. By operating more efficiently and spending less on making their projects “sexy” they could actually accomplish their goals, which would implicitly grab the public’s attention. It is time for NASA to move into a new era, where the goal is to pick those projects that will actually succeed instead of those that sensationalize space, those that appeal to the scientist instead of the average American.
Before we look at the images of managing change that were present in the NASA case study let us review a few of the key events in this case study. The case study for this assignment looks at Challenger and Columbia NASA space shuttle disasters and the commission findings on the disasters/recommendations. Now with a short review of the case study what image(s) of change are present in the case study? From the case study the changes introduced are images of managing. These changes are both management of control and shaping. As NASA recovered from the 1986 Challenger disaster, it used the classic Fayol characterization of management such as planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling to correct from the top-down the issues that had caused the Challenger disaster (Palmer Dunford, Akin, pg.24, 2009). NASA approached the changes that need to be enacted as a result of the Challenger and also the Columbia disasters from the change image of a director. NASA ...
As possible causes of this shuttle disaster are identified, NASA also needs to come up solutions to solve these issues such as improvement on communication between different management levels.
Though it had flight schedules planned, but never thought about the quality and its practicality in achieving its mission. It was clearly stated by the commission, that the changes needed to be carried out after the first disaster happened. However, the changes were ill perceived and were not implemented in an efficient and operational way, as the un-realistic schedules were kept and thorough quality checks were not being performed (Palmer et al., 2009). The change occurred in performance and targets only. Individuals were pushed hard to work under pressure in order to complete tasks in a rush without considering the quality, which ultimately led to these two disasters (Palmer et al., 2009). Furthermore, NASA did not comprehend how to implement change, as they did not analyze the as-is process, and identify a suitable solution. The assessment and brainstorming stage is a crucial part of successful change management. A key factor for NASA would have been throughout the implementation, have communication channel open in order to listen to feedback in order to make changes along the way. Whether a change is simple or complex, following a change management model will help you and your change management team to prepare for and implement
“Compared to the Apollo days” the space program is getting money and resources much slower today (“The Future of Space Exploration”). This is important because, the space program needs money to fund the very expensive space shuttles. In 1965, the height of the Space Race, NASA’s budget was about four and a half percent of the federal budget (“The Future of Space Exploration”). Today, the budget for NASA is about half a percent of the federal budget (“The Future of Space Exploration”). The money received from the government plays a crucial role in funding these space explorations. Knowing this, to put a man on mars, NASA would pay many times “the budget of the National Science Foundation” (Mindell 6). Because of the cost, sending a man to mars is not NASAs top priority. Funding can make or brake a
For a shuttle mission to succeed it depends on a team of planners, engineers and support staff. Planning and rehearsing every detail of the schedule is a must. Risk is assessed for every possible problem and backup plans created. NASA's space centers organize, monitor and control each mission with military precision. But reduction of personnel and internal pressure to launch on time caused safety issues to be neglected.
According to a survey done by Phillips & Company in 2013, 71 percent of Americans believe the prospect of putting humans on Mars will happen by the year 2033. What some are unaware of is the disappointing fact that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration does not have close to the funding required to help reach that goal. The question is whether or not Americans want money to be put into space exploration or if they do not believe it is worth it. Space exploration has brought many great discoveries and new technologies, helped us understand the universe and get closer to answering life’s biggest questions, and in the end the survival of humanity depends on it.
“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).
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.
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