Project Management - Reviewing Latest Literature - Research Project Assessment Answer

December 19, 2017
Author : Ashley Simons

Solution Code: 1ADAF

Question:Project Management

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Project Management Assignment

Assignment Task

To research and report on the effectiveness of group and individual decision making in project management.

This is to be done by:

1.Reading and reviewing the latest literature but not limiting yourself to a single source of information (i.e. only books, journals or www)

2.Identify cases which illustrate the success and failures of different decision making strategies.

3.Discuss why these succeeded and/or failed.

4.Present this as a formal business report on “How to Improve the People Contribution to Project Management.

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Solution:

Introduction

The report consists of an analysis of the various decision making strategy that is employed in project management in order to achieve the outlined objective. Some strategies fail while the other are successful the report use various case studies to understand the reason behind them. The decision making strategy of a project is the crux on which the project is based and it is essential that the different people contribute to the project in synchronized manner which keeps everyone motivated.

The essence of management is to take decision and the managers are in constant requirement for the constant evaluation of alternatives and make decisions regarding a wide range of matters. Just as the number of managerial styles is different so are the ways of taking a decision. These decisions have a different degree of uncertainty and risk, and decision makers too have varied level of s of risk aversion. Decision making also involves qualitative and quantitative analyses and some decision makers prefer one form of analysis over the other. Decision making can be affected not only by rational judgment, but also by non-rational factors such as the personality of the decision maker, the type of pressure the project faces and the situation of the project at the decision making time among others as outlined by Al-Harbi (2001)

Project Management

Project management is the achievement of objective through a number of processes, skills, knowledge and experience. It is essential that a project is completed with the given time, quality and budget for it to be deemed as s successful one and there are a number of factors which contribute. One such factor is the decision making process and it is essential that the project team takes the decision in a though full manner since it will affect the way the project is completed (White and Fortune, 2002).

The primary challenge often decision regarding project management is he achievement of the project goals s within the given constraints. The decision has to take in manner which addresses different issue that may arise during the execution phase of a project. It’s also important that the problem is formulated in a correct manner otherwise the intended objective may be misunderstood by the team.By not formulating the problem correctly, decision makers risk missing a whole range of other alternatives. Decision makers can improve the chances of asking the right question by searching objectives, goals, interests, fears, and aspirations of the people who are involved in it. They also need to consider in a very careful manner about the results of the various alternatives of a given situation. They can devise new alternates through devising and incoming up with as many options as possible, bearing in mind objectives which may not necessarily be practical at first. In practice it’s the decision makers who are action oriented who tend to pay attention to solutions without the consideration whether they are working on the right outcome. Instead of making decisions that are selected by external agent’s decision makers need to review what decisions they should address (Greenberg & Baron, 2003).

Decision making strategy

The effectiveness of projects is partly concerned with how people fit in and contribute to the success of the project. This means there may be synergies in the way the different decision are taken and they should be integrated to give rise to a successful project management. A project is mainly driven by the decision that needs to be made in order to achieve success and timely completion. There are many decisions which need to be made that involve the choice of resources, design approach, and various other issues. One can say that a critical factor of success in project management is decision making

There are three ways in which decision can be made in a group. This includes through majority, consensus or by authority which is mainly decision made by an individual. Consensus is the decision when everyone in a group agrees to a single outcome while majority is the decisions making where more than half of the participants are in favour of a an outcomes. The individualistic decision making is when the leader of the group makes the decision on behalf of the entire team where the authority character can make the decision because he or she is the authority in concern (Caniëls & Bakens, 2012).

Consensus Decision MakingConsensus decision making is one of the most commonly found decision making process in project management since it requires the consent of all the people on the team for the project to execute the outcome. It’s usually seen in small teams and in the higher level like the senior management.

This method is considered the most effective, but it is also the most difficult strategy because every member of the group must agree to the decision before it can be adopted.In a consensus decision, the level of agreement reached is often related not so much to the fact that everyone absolutely agrees, but that each member has decided he or she can live with the decision.

Heathrow Project Management Case Study

An example which can be discussed with respect to the success of decision making in consensus strategy is the London Heathrow Airport which is one of the busiest airports in the world. The Heathrow Terminal underwent a revamp such that it could improve the efficient of the airport and the comfort of the passengers.Heathrow airport had a construction project to build another terminal upon the existing four terminals, which was the terminal five.

A number of decisions had to be taken during the project since it was a large scale project and would have a great deal of impact on the existing operation of the Heathrow Airport. The project consisted of 16 major projects and had more than 60 contractors with over 147 subprojects. The terminal was built to remove the irritation that passengers went due to the congestion of the airport.

The project can be deemed a success since it was finished within the budget and the schedule that was prescribing the British Airport Authorities. For example one of the most important aspects of the project was the identification of the risks that were involved in doing the project.

The sequence of the decision making process of the approach especially to risk management and innovation consisted mainly four deistic phases which overlapped each other. These consisted of planning, design, construction and integration of the terminal into the operations of the airport.

During the planning phase the project team, the project director of T5 was incorporated as a member of the board for the time period such that his decision making skills would be reflected onto the board. There were a number of decisions that needed to be made which included the planning of the design and construction phase and included the ways of procuring resources and other type of supports needed for the project.Initial when the talks of the projects started it was seen that the?UK?construction?industry?had?a?poor?track?record?in?when it come stop the delivery of major projects. In order to change the mind-set the initial of an integrated project team was done where the project management ass complete responsible for bearing the risk associated with the project as well s rewarding high performance teams. Initially the cost of risk was passed on to the customer but Heathrow terminal 5 did not do that and pass risks and timely delivery of the project(Krajewski & Ritzman, 2001).

The decision making strategy which allowed the company to manage its operations was mainly due to the recruitment of talented individual.The core team of the project was selected in an internal manner on the basis of their experience?on?other?large?UK?and?international projects.?For?example, ?senior?BAA?staff?that includes three T5?project?directors?who were Norman?Haste, Tony?Douglas?and?Andrew?Wolstenholme?were?headhunted?by?BAA?because?“they?had?a?track?record?for?completing?projects?and?thrive?on?the?cross?sharing?of?capability?from?best?practices?found?in?other?industries (Snowden, & Boone,2012).

The main success of the project can be contributes to the consensus method of decision making in the above case. Any decision that had to be taken worth respect to the project where there it was the type of supplier that has to be sued or the resources that are required by the company or the talent acquisition it was done with a consensus with the project directors (Homegren et al., 2013).

The reason of success behind the consensus decision making strategy for the Heathrow terminal 5 project management was mainly due to the small decision making team that would take all the decision with consensus. In such a way all the onus of the decision lay in the same manner for all the decision making team members

Majority Decision Making

The majority decision making is a method in which the vote is taken and the majority of the people decide the outcome of the problem at hand. The level of majority by which the outcomes is determined should be decided before. For example in some cases for a decision to pass, it may be important for 50% of the people to agree while in some cases it may constitute of 50%. Hence the percentage at which the majority lies should be decided beforehand. The majority decision making strategy is used in project management but it’s less likely to take place in teams which have small number of members in the decision making team (Williams, Samset & Sunnevåg, 2009).

Remploy Modernisation Programme Case Study

The case study which is taken for the purpose of understanding the majority decision makings strategy was the Remploy Modernisation Programme. Reemploy is an organization which provides employment to people with physical disabilities and health conditions. In the initial year of 2001 the e company realized that the organizational structure of the company was out-dated and it did not fit the needs of the changing demands of the industry. The company required a significant modernization plan in which the company needed to address thee issue that was arising in the spheres of culture, structure and the broad spread with respect to geography (Kerzner, 2013).

Based on a report by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2006 the Minister for Disabled People, the company mainly faced two challenges. One was to increase the number of the people that the company had placed from the 5000 a year to 2000o a year by the end of the five plan which ended in 2016.teh other was to ensure that the budget for revamping the over variables was £555m over the five year plan.

The complexity of the problem meant that the project was not a straightforward one and required differ perspectives for the project management team to complete the restructuring in the given time and budget. The detailed project plan was subject to a number of employees since it consisted that they may be displaced from their current job or temporary displaced with respect to the given circumstances. A number of employees were affected by this restructuring. Also the company was in the phase to reduce the number of sites and integrate various sites to a few by expanding the current capacity of those offices. This required a number of decisions to be made keeping in mind the needs of the stakeholders which included the government, shareholders, unions etc. Hence when it comes to decision making, initially the project manager focus on closing the sites and transferring the people and equipment to the outlined sites. This phase 1 or the planning phase was done with the consent of the majority of the employees when they were a part of the decision making process and agreed to be shifted to a new site. Since there were so many people who had to be moved it made sense to ask the majority of the employees if they would be able to make the shift (Heisler et al., 2002).

Once the individual project and the changes was clear, there were twelve individual business in the company which were working in a n autonomous manner and the company had more than 80 sites all over UK. In order to ensure that all these business units were on the same page, two managers from each business unit were appointed on the project management team. Any major decision which had to be taken with respect to any of the areas was tank only if 60% of the people on the board agreed to the outcome so the decision. This allowed various perspectives during the project execution phase to be synced and also the integration of various autonomous divisions (Pich, Loch & Meyer, 2002).

The project managers were given specific training bout the various units and recruited especially or the task to be completed in timely manner. At the same time a steering committee was set up, meeting at regular intervals to resolve escalated issues and provide oversight of the programme on behalf of the board

Also the decision of employing Remploy’s own staff instead of taking external staff was good idea since there would be higher clarity of concept when the people associated with the company would work on the project. The restructuring of the company as a project agreement case was extremely successful mainly because of the decision making process which was taken by using the majority decision making started during the tenure of the project. Remploy was able to meet both its challenge in a timely manner and within budget (Koppenjan & Klijn, 2004).

The main reason for success of the Remploy project management on the basis of the decision making strategy was its majority outlook. When majority consent is taken in the decision among process, the chances of uncertainty of a project becomes less cine there are various perspectives which have given their consent for the outcome. Also there is collaboration of synergies since different people look at a particular situation in a different manner. Most government bills and plans are based on majority decision making strategy which gives it credence to be applied to a project management area too. Also there are times when a quick decision needs to be made hence by taking majority into consideration these type of decision get smoothened by the people who have taken a decision under pressure and by the ones who have taken it in a calm manner keeping the important facts in mind. A majority also diffused the politics which may be present at the strategic decision making level since no individual decision was considered which lead to the success of the project (Kiker et al., 2005).

Autocratic or Individual decision making strategy

The autocratic decision makings strategy suggests that the decision is made by one individual opposed to a consensus o majority. The decision with respect to a project is made by one person who is autocratic in nature hence the entire onus of the decisions is one. In such a case usually the project managers is responsible for the decision making process. The major flaw in this type of decision a making strategy is that other members have little influence in the decision making process. The individual decision making process in project management is usually successful when it comes to a quick decision since a majority type may be time consuming (Cicmil et al., 2006).

Volkswagen Case Study

The individual decision making strategy was use d in the project management is used in Volkswagen when they tested the carbon emissions rom the new model of their car. During the car launch the company claims that its emissions are lower than the usual emission rates hence reducing the carbon footprint of the company. However when the car was taken for testing by the neutral government hence to check the safety standard it was seen that the car was emitting gas that was actually higher than accepted level

The company has tweaked they rating scale buy sing a software due to which the emission we recorded lower than the actual ones. The decision making authority of the particular project was the then CEO Martin Winterkorn who oversaw the process of getting the car to the market. Reports from the media showed that when the car was driven by the customers some of the Volkswagen diesel cars emitted up to 40 times the national standard and acceptable levels for nitrogen oxide (NO).

In many cases the failure of the project is the mistakes made by poor management during the designing phase. In this case however not only was the problem man made it also intention. The CEO of the company wanted to inflate the profits by selling a car that was not up to the expectation of eth customers. Under his decision, the engineer of the company intentionally designed and installed a so called “defeat device” that had an impact on the engines control computer (Weihrich & Koontz, 2005).

When the final decision in a project is made up only one person they have the liberty to push their personal interest compared to the overall betterment of the entire board. In the case of Volkswagen particular project, the other members of the board were apparently unaware about the emission scandal and it is said that it was as all in the hand of the CEO.

From the above case it is apparent than in the autocratic type of decision making it leads to a situation here everything is dependent on the leader and one wrong decision can spoil the entire project. In Volkswagen, a company which was known for its technological and innovative culture had to make a public apology to the failure of one project. Not only did it have a negative impact on the reputation of the company but it also had to recall the cars which affected the revenue streams of the company (Anderson et al., 2015)

Hence it can be said that a group decision is usually better than an individual one since it allows the perspective of various stakeholders instead of pushing the personal agenda of one. The reason no or failure for Volkswagen is that it did not consider the interests and the opinion of other people who were a part of the project which resulted in a complete failure of the project (Highsmith, 2009).

Improvements

The way people contribute to a project can have tremendous positive impact on it and contribute to its success. One of the most important aspects is open communication between the group members. The way a project should be handled is that there should be smooth line of communication between the various people involved in the project and they should be able to discuss a matter freely with each other and especially with the project manager. When a group works in harmony with one another it is simple to understand each other’s strengths and weakness and proved the required synergy in the group (Ward and Chapman, 2003).

Also it is essential that all the members of the project are team players and further the objectives of the outlined project instead of looking it as a source of personal gain. Also if a project manager is not able to get the project members on his side and make them work in an efficient manner there is no point of having the best design or methodology in place. In many cases the Project managers have to work together with and influence a diversity of stakeholders which includes the project teams and sponsors. In this aspect it is important that he or she acts like a members of the group in order to be able to inspire the confidence not only within the members of the team but also the sponsors with respect to budget or timeline needs and the resources to complete the project (Atkinson, Crawford & Ward, 2006).

When a group is involved in the decision making process everyone feels like a part of it and they feel that their opinions are being respected motivating them to work harder and come up with more innovative solution for the respected outcomes. This enhance the overall efficiency of the project ensuring that the various elements work in a more synchronized manner in order to find the project in the given time schedule (Anderson et al., 2015).

Conclusion

The above report has used a series of case studies to illustrate the various types of decision making strategy that are used in project management in order to achieve success. A good contribution by the group members with efficient communication is the key to success and minimizes the risk associated with the project. When projects started to fail, it is a useful to revaluate the decision making strategy that is employed in the project and make changes to its which may change the outcome. Hence it may be efficient to use various strategic told to enhance the decision making strategy of the project. It is seen that the consensus method can be used when the team is smaller for thee decision making while majority acne be sued when it’s bigger. Also the individual decision can be employed by the project manager or the senior management in project when the decision at hand to be made has to be quick one since seeking consensus and majority may delay the decision and impact the project schedule. It’s essential that people contribute to a project in a positive manner, constant motivation and efficient communication with each other.

The report consists of an analysis of the various decision making strategy that is employed in project management in order to achieve the outlined objective. Some strategies fail while the other are successful the report use various case studies to understand the reason behind them. The decision making strategy of a project is the crux on which the project is based and it is essential that the different people contribute to the project in synchronized manner which keeps everyone motivated.

The essence of management is to take decision and the managers are in constant requirement for the constant evaluation of alternatives and make decisions regarding a wide range of matters. Just as the number of managerial styles is different so are the ways of taking a decision. These decisions have a different degree of uncertainty and risk, and decision makers too have varied level of s of risk aversion. Decision making also involves qualitative and quantitative analyses and some decision makers prefer one form of analysis over the other. Decision making can be affected not only by rational judgment, but also by non-rational factors such as the personality of the decision maker, the type of pressure the project faces and the situation of the project at the decision making time among others as outlined by Al-Harbi (2001)

 

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