49244132 project management sem2

8/3/2019 49244132 Project Management Sem2

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Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2

Project Management MB0049 - 4 Credits(Book ID: B1138)

Assignment Set- 1 (60 Marks)

Q.1 List and explain the traits of a professional manager.

Desire to manage:The successful manager has a strong desire to manage, to influence other, and to get results through

the team efforts of subordinates. To be sure, many people want the privileges that come withmanagerial position, which include high status and salary, but they lack the basic motivation to achieveresults by creating an environment in which people are able to work together toward common aims.The desire to manage requires effort, time, energy, and usually, long hours of work.

Communication skills and empathy : Another important characteristic of managers is the ability to communication through written repots,letters, speeches, and discussions. Communication demands clarity, but even more, it demandsempathy.

Integrity and honesty:Managers must morally sound and worthy of trust. Integrity in managers includes honesty in moneymatters and in dealing with others, effort to keep superiors informed, adherence to the full truth,strength of character, and behavior in accordance with ethical standards.

The other characteristic we find in a great manager is they live what they teach and they commandrespect by their example. You cant be one thing and say another because youll lose respect. Its notthat important that your salespeople just like and admire you. It is important that they respect youfirst the other things will follow.

Q2 .Describe in brief the various aspects of programme management?
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Governance : Defining roles and responsibilities, and providing oversight Management : Planning and administering both projects and the overall program Financial management : Implementation of specific fiscal practices and controls Infrastructure : The program office, technology, and other factors in the work environment

supporting the program effort Planning : Activities that take place at multiple levels, with different goals. The program plan

is not a traditional plan

Program governance is the aspect of the discipline that creates both the structure andpractices to guide the program and provide senior-level leadership, oversight, and control.Strategically, it encompasses the relationship between the oversight effort and the enterprise'soverall business direction. It also encompasses all the decision-making roles and responsibilitiesinvolved in executing the program effort.

Projects are typically governed by a simple management structure. The project manager isresponsible for day-to-day direction, a senior IT executive integrates technology with businessinterests, and a business sponsor is accountable for ensuring that the deliverables align withbusiness strategy.

Programs require a more complex governing structure because they involve fundamentalbusiness change and expenditures with significant bottom-line impact. In fact, in someinstances their outcomes determine whether the enterprise will survive as a viablecommercial/governmental entity.

Q.3 Compare the following:

a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization

b. Reengineering Vs. E-engineering


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Projectised organizations Traditional organisations

1. They have teams comprising memberswho are responsible for completingone entire deliverable product.

2. The teams will have all the resourcesrequired to finish the jobs.

3. They have a time schedule withinwhich all the elements of the projectsHave to be completed.

4. There is greater accountability amongteam members and everyone isResponsible for the delivery.

5. It is found that a sense of ownershipof the project motivates team membersto be creative, cooperative among themto achieve high productivity

1. They have the formal organizationstructure, with departments, functions,sections having a hierarchy of managersand their assistants.

2. All of the managers function on acontinuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planningDepartment.

3. They have teams comprising memberswho are responsible for completingOne entire deliverable product.An assembly of various units of theirproduction forms a products and avariety of such products make up theBusiness of the company.

4. No particular member or a departmentor a team is responsible for theCompletion of any particular product. Theircreativity and innovation is inParticular respect of their jobs.

Re-engineering:

1.Reengineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. Abusiness process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome.

2. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functionalteam , for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasksinto complete cross-functional processes.

3. It is an approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs . Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission,strategic goals, and customer needs

E-engineering
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1.e-Engineering is an answer for growing globalization of manufacturing, sourcing and engineering. Inthe world of ever increasing speed, competition, treats and opportunities, you need to conduct yourbusiness better, faster and more efficiently every day.

2. This is exactly the main goal of our e-Engineering : to help run your business according to thehighest global standards and best practices, by providing with up-to-date, leading-edge industrial Web

applications, customized to your needs.

3. Although the term e -engi neering has been around for a while, its definition has been broadened asof late to encompass entirely new job roles and ways of working. Initially, e -engineering simplyreferred to electronic engineers working collaboratively from different locations.

Q.4 List out the macro issues in project management and explain each.

Ans:- Macro issues

(a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfillment of

goals, one needs to constantly evaluate from time to time, the consideration of what will constitute

the success of completing a project and assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be

evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit

strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down

elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of KSF should

be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out during the planning

stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for chances of success on a scaleof ten. KSF should be available to the management duly approved by the project manager before

execution and control stages. KSF rides above normal consideration of time and cost at the levels

encompassing client expectation and management perception time and cost come into play as

subservient to these major goals.(b) Empowerment Title (ET) ET reflects the relative importance of members of theorganization at three levels:

(i) Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocatedresponsibilities the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from thesemembers to innovate and contribute to time and cost.

(ii) Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards clientexpectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers.

(iii) Managers are empowered further to act independently(iv) but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception,

apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management.

Partnering Decision Making (PDM) :


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PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control. A senior with a better decision making process

will work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what best can be done to

manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in

the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels the term

equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership isimportant. This step is most difficult since junior members have to respond and resist to being pushed

through sheer innovation and performance this is how future leaders would emerge.

Q.5 Describe the various steps in risk management listed below:

a. Risk Identificationb. Risk Analysisc. Risk Management Planning

d. Risk Review

Ans:Risk Analysis : Are those events or conditions that may occur and whose

occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify the risks

and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost.

Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the cost of risk management is

considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes.

There are different types of risk involved in a project. The main types are:-

(a) Project risksit is the risk arising out of a change in the scope of the project,changes in the work quantities, changes in the resource requirements, estimationerror or unexpected developments in a project.

(b) Market risks it is the risk arising out of a change in any of theFollowing marketing parameter price change, changes in market regulations,Economic changes, competition, competitors product changes, etc.

(c) Industry risk it is the risk arising out of a change in scientific instrumentsUsed in business activity, changes in companies policies because of changes in theIndustry.

(d) Social and political risk it arises out of changes in labor situation,labour laws, environment law, etc.

Risk Identification:

To identify risks, we must first define risk. Risks are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteedto occur. When people begin performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems.Known problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some known problems. If so,just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future potential problems.


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Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstormtypically takes 15 30 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of risks. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problem that they thinkcould hurt the project.New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstormlist. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of riskobtained from past.

The information obtained from such databases can help the projectmanager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project.Example of risks are: We may not have the requirements right. The technology is untested, Key people might leave, The server wont restart in situation X, and People might resist the change. Any potential problem, or critical project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list.

Risk Management Planning :

Risk is real for any company or organization. Don't kid yourself. Things happen when you least expectthem to happen. Are YOU ready for the unimaginable, the unexpected, the unwanted? As an executive,have you put your head in the sand around risk? Do you pretend that all is well, and nothing willchange? If so, it's time to face reality: data gets lost, buildings burn, people resign. When any of theseoccur, your organization is at risk for malfunction, inefficiency, chronic struggle, revenue loss, andeven total failure. Is this the path you want to go down?

Beginning now, you can initiate the process of developing your organization's risk management plan.Take charge. Form a committee representing Board members and staff, and ask them to partner withyou to create this critical document. Make sure everyone understands the importance of the work, andexplain to them how they can benefit from contributing to the finished product. Risk managementsplans are not optional; they are essential for every company, large or small. There are no valid

exceptions.

Implement the following seven steps, and give yourself and others a huge slice of peace of mind:

1. Define what risk looks like for your organization.What constitutes risk in your shop? Threats to normal operations? Threats or compromises to people'ssafety? Loss of physical and electronic property? Loss of revenue? Decreased public/communitysupport? Unethical behaviors? Create a comprehensive definition of risk that means something to YOUand YOUR organization.

2. Identify specific risks. Ask the committee to brainstorm as many different risks as they can possibly imagine. Record them ona white board or flip chart. Examples of various risks include: firing of the chief executive, dwindlinginterest in one of your major products, departmental silos, Board infighting, inability to fundraise,economic downturn, layoffs, building fire, computer crashes, philosophical differences between keyemployees, extended leaves for managers, interruption in receiving necessary supplies. All of these arepotential risks, and there are many others. Continue brainstorming until the group believes they havecome up with an exhaustive list.

3. Categorize each risk. Determine category names for the identified risks. Examples may be: Chief Executive, Board of Directors, Physical Property, Technology, Data, Employees, Products or Services, Customers/Clients,


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Stakeholders,. Place each risk under one of the selected categories. Create as many category names asyou need.

4. Rank each risk according to severity or significance. Choose headings such as "most severe", "moderately severe", "of minimal concern". You don't have touse these same words for your headings, but be sure that your phrases adequately differentiate

between the degrees of seriousness. Perhaps you would like to color code each risk according to itssignificance heading: red for "most severe"; black for "moderately severe", and green for "of minimalconcern". Set it up the way it best works for you and your organization.

5. Develop strategies for reducing or eliminating each risk. Begin with the risks under your "most severe" heading. It's critical that you don't delay in thinkingthrough possible solutions for those major issues. Ideally, determine multiple strategies for eachrisk. Be sure to consider who within the organization is going to be responsible for implementing thevarious strategies, and the resources needed to implement them. Omitting this information from theplan only causes big problems later.

6. Write your plan. Using all of the above input, shape a readable document. Practicality is paramount here. The plan is

worthless if nobody can follow it, interpret i t, or actually rely on it as a guide during crisis. After it iscompiled, seek feedback from the committee as well as other employees and Boardmembers. Incorporate changes where indicated. Check for evidence of common sense throughout thedocument. Hold yourself accountable to a high standard around common sense. A pie-in-the-sky riskmanagement plan doesn't serve anyone.

7. Test some of those strategies in your plan for viability. Do they work? Can they work? Why or why not? Where are the pitfalls? What steps are missing? Wouldyou benefit from having certain outside experts review your strategies? If so, which types of experts?

Risk Review:

1. Identify Threats:

The first stage of a risk analysis is to identify threats facing you. Threats may be:

Human from individuals or organizations, illness, death, etc. Operational from disruption to supplies and operations, loss of access to essential assets,

failures in distribution, etc. Reputational from loss of business partner or employee confidence, or damage to reputation in

the market. Procedural from failures of accountability, internal systems and controls, organization, fraud,

etc. Project risks of cost over-runs, jobs taking too long, of insufficient product or service quality,

etc. Financial from business failure, stock market, interest rates, unemployment, etc. Technical from advances in technology, technical failure, etc. Natural threats from weather, natural disaster, accident, disease, etc. Political from changes in tax regimes, public opinion, government policy, foreign influence, etc. Others


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This analysis of threat is important because it is so easy to overlook important threats. One way of trying to capture them all is to use a number of different approaches:

Firstly, run through a list such as the one above, to see if any apply. Secondly, think through the systems, organizations or structures you operate, and analyze risks to

any part of those. See if you can see any vulnerabilities within these systems or structures. Ask other people, who might have different perspectives.2. Estimate Risk:

Once you have identified the threats you face, the next step is to work out the likelihood of the threatbeing realized and to assess its impact.

One approach to this is to make your best estimate of the probability of the event occurring, and tomultiply this by the amount it will cost you to set things right if it happens. This gives you a value forthe risk.

3. Manage Risk:

Once you have worked out the value of risks you face, you can start to look at ways of managing them.When you are doing this, it is important to choose cost effective approaches in most cases, there is nopoint in spending more to eliminating a risk than the cost of the event if it occurs. Often, it may bebetter to accept the risk than to use excessive resources to eliminate it.

Risk may be managed in a number of ways:

By using existing assets: Here existing resources can be used to counter risk. This may involve improvements to existing

methods and systems, changes in responsibilities, improvements to accountability and internalcontrols, etc. By contingency planning:

You may decide to accept a risk, but choose to develop a plan to minimize its effects if ithappens. A good contingency plan will allow you to take action immediately, with the minimumof project control if you find yourself in a crisis management situation. Contingency plans alsoform a key part of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) or Business Continuity management (BCM).

By investing in new resources: Your risk analysis should give you the basis for deciding whether to bring in additional resourcesto counter the risk. This can also include insuring the risk: Here you pay someone else to carrypart of the risk this is particularly important where the risk is so great as to threaten your oryour organization's solvency.

4. Review:

Once you have carried out a risk analysis and management exercise, it may be worth carrying outregular reviews. These might involve formal reviews of the risk analysis, or may involve testing systemsand plans appropriately.
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Q.6 ABC Company implements got a very big project and they decided to allot the same to a newproject manager, who joined the company recently. In order to execute the project successfully, whatare the various phases in which the project lifecycle should be divided.

ANS:

The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the projects goals orobjectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during itslife.

1) Initiation :- In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to betaken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects theteam members based on their skills and experience.

2) Planning :- The second phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each taskuntil the end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of a criteria for thesuccessful completion of each deliverable. The governance process is defined, stake holders identifiedand reporting frequency and channels agreed.

3) Execution and controlling:- The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activitiesare properly executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution isimplemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In product and systemdevelopment, a design resulting in a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergenceis measured by prototypes, testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the

organization become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support.

4) Closure :- In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to itsproper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review reportcontaining the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client, WeightedCritical Measurements, rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and aformal project closure notification to higher management.


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49244132 project management sem2

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