Project Management: Today’s Realities

Complete plans are but a ‘best effort’ of planning team based on information and guidance received. The larger the project, the greater the chance that the plan will change through either new guidance or up-dated information being received. Plans are ‘living documents’ that change as competitive and environmental systems change, Continual up-date of information and additional planning are typically required throughout the life of the project.
Implementation of plans requires that communications and coordination take on added emphasis. Teams, rather than fixed organizational structures, are the order of the day. Integration becomes supreme as organizational processes are crossed as needed, and when needed, pulls together synchronized and quality efforts to produce customer value.
For many managers, who grew up in a ‘command and control’ culture, the new paradigm of ‘consensus and consent’ management is disquieting. They will need to adapt to the new way of getting things done – that is, by sharing the decision making and power in the project. Managers have become the servants of those they choose to rule. This new world is concerned with flexibility in strategies, markets, projects, resources, and people.
In the past, we managed as if the optimization of the parts of the organization – research, manufacturing, engineering, marketing, product development, and so forth – would lead to the optimization of the whole of the organization. Today, we optimize the integration of the organizational processes by using project teams as focal points to pull together the human and nonhuman resources needed to do the job. The major breakthroughs in improving organizational efficiency and effectiveness have come about because of the management of the organizational processes rather than the functional entities of the organization. The management of the organizational processes through a self-directed team has finally captured the essence of the interdependencies of the organizational functions.
All planning efforts need to consider the new world and dynamic changes that occur, some on a daily basis. Planning does provide the framework and the thought process to visualize the work required to build a product or service that brings benefits to the customers. Planning also gives a foundation from which to initiate change, when required to meet new situations. No plan is perfect to carry one through an entire project, but a good plan does provide a path from which one can adjust to meet the changes.

Adapt from: PROJECT MANAGEMENT; STRATEGIC DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION:- DAVID I. CLELAND and LEWIS R. IRELAND.

The new era Challenges in Strategic Management.

There are three challenges facing all strategists nowadays;

1) Deciding whether the process be more art or scientific.

This perspective contends that firms need to systematically assess their external and internal environments, conduct research, making evaluation, perform analyses and decide the action. Art process more likely crafting the artistic model, which suggests that strategic decision, could be based primarily on holistic thinking, intuition, creativity and imagination. Whereas scientific process rejected all strategies that emerge from emotion, hunch, creativity and politics. It insists on more formality and should be more deliberate process. These two approaches are not mutually exclusive, because of the livelihood of countless employees and shareholder may hinge on the effectiveness of strategic decision. It’s not wise for strategist to rely too much on ‘gut feeling’ and opinion instead of data, competitive intelligence and analysis in formulating the strategies.

2) Deciding whether strategies should be visible or hidden

Good reasons to keep the strategy process visible and open;
a) All stakeholders and employees can readily contribute to the process with excellent ideas.
b) Investor, creditors and stakeholder have greater basis for supporting a firm when they know what the firm is doing and where the firm is going.
c) Visibility promotes democracy.
d) Participation and openness enhance understanding, commitment and communication within the firm.

Good reasons to keep strategies hidden from all but top-level executives;
a) Free dissemination of a firm’s strategies may easily translate into competitive intelligence for rival firms who could exploit the firm given that information.
b) Secrecy limits critics, second guessing and hindsight.
c) Participant in a visible strategy process become more attractive to rival firms who may lure them away.
d) Secrecy limits rival firms from imitating or duplicating the firm’s strategies and undermining them.

3) Deciding whether to used top-down or bottom-up approach.

i) Top-down contend that top executive are taking responsibility to make key strategy decisions.
ii) Bottom-up advocates argue that lower and middle level managers and employees who will be implementing the strategies need to be actively involved in the process of formulating the strategies to ensure their support and commitment.
What ever decision is made, the real key to effective strategic management is to accept the premise that the planning process is important than the written plan, because strategy is a continuous process involving-planning, measuring and revising. In today rapid changes environment; business become more uncertainty and strategist should be more alert with the changes and act accordingly to them.

Job Analysis: Reasons to Conduct, View from HRM Functions

Job analysis is define as the systematic process of determining skill, duties, and knowledge require for performing specific jobs in organization. It’s done through two important factors; Job Descriptions to state tasks, responsibilities and duties of employees and Job Specification to outline minimum knowledge, skills and abilities require, performing the task. Each job as most of people believe requires difference knowledge, skill and ability levels and obviously effective human resource planning must take this requirement into consideration.
Each of human resources management function has their specific view regarding this. This article shall review part of the HRM function related to this matter. All areas of staffing would be haphazard if the recruiters are not qualified to the need of jobs stated. Job analysis through its two factors (description and specification) will help an organization to recruit and select its most valuable asset with clear guidelines. These two factors also will provide human resource executive with an information to identified training and development require by an employee to perform better. With regard to performance appraisal, employees should be evaluated in terms of how well they accomplish the duties specified in their job descriptions and any specific goals that may have been establish.
From an organization internal perspective, the more significant its duties and responsibilities, the more the job is worth. Jobs that require greater knowledge, skills, and abilities should be worth more to the organization. In the area of compensation and benefits, it is helpful to know the relative value of a particular job to the company before a monetary value is placed on it and Job Analysis shall provide this function to the human resource executive. Information derived from Job Analysis is also valuable in identifying safety and health considerations. Employers normally are requiring by law to state whether a job is hazardous or other wise and this requirement shall be reflected by the Job Analysis.
Job Analysis information is also important in employee and labor relations. When a promotion, transfer and demotion being consider, the job description shall provides a standard for evaluation and comparison of talent. Regardless of whether the firm is unionized, information obtained through Job Analysis can often lead to more objective human resource decisions.
Part of all, a proper prepared Job Analysis is particularly important for supporting the legality of employment practices. Job Analysis data are needed to defend decisions involving promotion, transfer and demotion. In others word, Job Analysis will provides the basis for tying the functional areas together and the foundation for developing a sound human resource program. Job Analysis also may determine how important it is for employees to be team players and work well in group situations. Other traits that might be discovered through Job Analysis include the ability to work more than one system.