Reflection on The Project

Question: Analyse the project management process. Answer: Abstract This is a reflective article in which attempt has been made to evaluate a project management process and the methods by which it could have been improved. This article deals with various aspects of the project management process and critically analyses them. The article focuses on the theoretical models which could have been implemented to improve the project management process. Moreover, it tries to draw relation with several other lecture based topics which could have been resulted in a smooth and seamless project management. All these factors have been explained in a reflective manner so that there is a clear learning outcome by undertaking the project. The work reflects upon the various stages of project management like allocation of resources, communication management, activity resource planning, risk management, etc. which forms the core tenet of the project.The work analytically evaluates every aspect of project management in the construction domain and tries to come out with the best possible structure by intertwining the application of present process with the theoretical. At last, it is justified to mention that the article is an attempt to incorporate reflective practices in the project management domain so that there is a smooth execution of the plan coupled with a framework which can be employed in future such projects. Introduction: The project that is being discussed in this article isthe execution of a large scale project which involves the building of a house by Foster Co Construction Company.This work Lecture topic applied in the project: The project management principles that has been used in a construction project has been documented in the given article wherein the author is the project manager himself. There are various ways one can address the process of learning, and this project has addressed one of the learning theory. The learning theory which can be associated with this project seems to be the action based learning wherein the project has himself been involved in the project with considerable effort in helping and developing his subordinates or the other stakeholders as a whole in the entire construction process. The article reveals various stages of planning that the manager has gone through starting from identifying the requirements to risk management plans. At each phase, this has led to new understanding and learning from the amount of work and effort invested by eachscope for collaboration and teamwork which has helped all the people involved in the project grow along with the work or project completion . The project has been divided into several sections like project scope management, Action learning based project management: The entire learning has been applied to the development of a large-scale construction. Since the project was on a large scale, it had to be divided into several smaller teams dealing with different aspects of project management. Project scope management - The scope management plan of a project is paramount for efficiently accomplishing the project. The both in scope and out of the framework of the project should be adequately considered so that the team members of a project can identify the various tasks and deliverables of the project (Lester Lester, 2007). The Foster and Co-construction based in the UK also should assess the scope of the building project for construction of a building. The different steps for planning of the project scope for this particular construction project are summarized below: Collection of the requirements: (Levy, 2010). The stakeholders register: Name of the stakeholder Role Involvement Priority Impact John Customer High Main Positive Foster and Co Contractor High Main Positive Supplier Supplier Medium Main Positive Alex Project manager Very high Main Very positive Various tools and technique will be used for managing the project scope for this particular project. The many faces to face interview processes has been employed for analyzing the expectations and needs of the stakeholders so that it could help in meeting the requirements of the project. Requirements analysis of the stakeholders: Stakeholders Requirements Criteria John The entire project should be accomplished within the estimated time. The project should be executed with proper quality and within estimated time. Customer satisfaction is another important criterion. Foster and Co The customers should be satisfied with the quality of goods. The project should be executed within estimated budget. Vendors The supplied products should be delivered on time. The quality of raw materials and products. Alex The project manager should manage the overall task and activities of the project with the stipulated timeframe. The successful completion of the project for ensuring an end to end support to the customers. The inputs of the time management plan consist of different aspects of the project such as a description of the project, deliverables of the project and acceptance criteria (Levy, 2010). The description of the project shows the activities of the project with the help of estimated timeframe. The first floor and entrance level of the project are expected to complete within one year. The overall cost of the project also is analyzed in this particular stage of the project management. With the help of agreement in the description of the project, the both parties can understand the various deliverables of the project. There are different kinds of environmental factors that may influence the project are as summarized below; Working hour Organizational culture Holidays Internal issues such as shortage of the raw materials, labor strike and unavailability of the manpower. External issues such as political factors, inflation, load shedding and public strike. The organizational process assets help to ensure a proper guideline for maintaining various activities of the project. The OPA helps in analyzing the history of the project so that it could (Lester Lester, 2007). Th Some of the other managerial aspects have been listed below: (Catelli Palma, 2009). Through the help of proper stakeholder management strategy, the different kinds of information of the project can be managed properly. Quality Management - As opined by Maylor (2010), the quality management plan is essential for successful completion of construction projects. The quality of the materials used for the purpose of construction requires being of superior quality so as to satisfy the customers who are going to buy the building. The quality management plan explains the way in which the management team will implement the quality policy of the company (Foster co-construction). Human Resource Management - This method includes the procedures that are meant to manage, organize and lead a project team. According to Kerzner (2010), networking is an important process that is followed to accomplish the objectives of the project. In this project informal as well as formal interactions were carried out on a weekly basis with the CEO of the company, project managers, and the employees. The organizational theory helped in determining the behavior of the employees, team members and other organizational units that had influenced the project outcomes in both positive and adverse manner. Improvements were made accordingly for the enhancement of the project. Improvements made were also documented for future references. The project manager had the responsibility to monitor, guide and direct the team in an efficient manner to overcome the obstacles and perform the tasks within a specified time and budget. The team leader showed all the results to project manager and also responsible for resolving conflicts among the team members. The evolution of the conflicts led to the delay of the project and hence elimination of such detrimental factors was of utmost importance(Patel, 2008). The human resource manager was supposed to provide reports, performance results of the employees to the project manager. According to the performances and quality progress of the project, measures were taken to make improvements. The human resource department was responsible for selecting and hiring individuals with high skills and those who have knowledge about construction that was required to complete the project successfully. Risk Management According to Collins (2011), the risk management involves the management of risks about several aspects of cost, communication or scheduling, etc. the technique used to reduce such risks were conduction of discussions and meetings. Risks can be of any form like conflicts among the employees, risks about the financial condition to complete the project, risk associated with a deadline for the project completion, safety, and security of the employees, etc. (Ubolgomoot, 2007). These risks were identified, and countermeasures were taken by the discussions and meetings held between the team members and the project manager. The action method of learning helped in optimizing the costs and resources for the project while maintaining the quality aspects. they understood the different aspects of the job so that they can evolve as better executioners of project management in the future projects. Improvements possible: As already mentioned that there are numerous methods which can be employed for the learning process the social learning method could have been used for the training of the participants in the construction project. The basic tenets of the social learning theory are as follows: Attention Retention Reproduction Motivation learning would have been better poised to communicate with the various stakeholders of the project. These are some of the advantages or improvements that could have been obtained if the social learning theory was applied to the project. These benefits should be kept in mind and has to be employed in future projects. Conclusion: This article talks in detail about the learningproject. The article also proposes an alternative theory which could have significantly improved the entire project management process. The improvements could have been identified in the field of resource. References Cartelli, A. Palma, M. (2009).Encyclopaedia of information communication technology. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Lester, A. Lester, A. (2007).Project management, planning, and control. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann. Levy, S. (2010).Construction process planning and management. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Owens, T. (2006).Building with Awareness. Corrales, NM: Synchronous Design. Taylor, G. (2006).Construction codes and inspection handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill. Collins, R. (2011).Project management. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Kerzner, H. (2010).Project management. New York: John Wiley. Maylor, H. (2010).Project management. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Patel, V. (2008).Project management. Jaipur, India: Oxford Book Co.