Project Management
A project is a temporary undertaking that is meant to create a unique product and service that can be used to satisfy the needs of the customers. Project management is the process of setting the objective of the project, preparing the project plan, mobilizing the required resources for the project, and executing the project plan to attain the intended outcome. Project management plays an important role in today’s business environment because it ensures that all the business processes and programs are well planned and managed to produce the best outcome for the organizations’ clients. Project management is considered as the foundation for the success of modern businesses because it contributes to the strategic direction of the organization; thus, facilitating strategic decision-making.
The project management process is undertaken by the project management team under the leadership of the project manager (Larson and Gray, 2011). The project managers use the project life cycle as the basis for managing the projects. The project life cycle has four main stages which include the defining stage where the goals and responsibilities are identified, and the planning stage where budgets are prepared, and necessary resources are acquired. In the executing stage, status reports are produced, and forecasts made while in the closing stage evaluation of the success of the project is made. Project life cycle plays a major role in shortening the product life cycle and increasing the speed of production; thus, enabling organizations to provide products and services to the market as quickly as possible.
The project management process is also responsible for knowledge explosion through devising new ways of dealing with the latest advancements in business operations, which are becoming more complex. The high product complexity experienced by modern businesses can only be resolved by embracing modern project management skills which incorporate modern technologies (Larson and Gray, 2011). The high levels of globalization have created a lot of competition in the business world forcing organizations to be proactive to survive in such business environment. Project management has facilitated corporate downsizing, which has led to a drastic restructuring of the organizational operations (Martinsuo, 2013). Besides, it has enabled organizations to place more focus on customer satisfaction through producing quality products and services which satisfy the unique needs and requests of clients.
The organizational strategies are developed through a strategic management process, which aids the project selection process for identifying the most suitable project for execution. The strategic management process involves numerous activities, such as reviewing and defining the organizational mission, setting the long-term goals and objectives, analyzing the suitable strategies for attaining the objectives, and implementing the strategies through projects. Therefore, the strategic management process paves the way for the project management since the main goal of the organizations is to aid strategic decision making (Kerzner, 2013). The activities involved in strategic management processes formulate the organizational strategy which the project management process seeks to accomplish. This is done through executing the project life cycle in a standard way thus aligning the outcome of the project with the strategic goals of the organization.
In conclusion, the project management process plays a major role in today’s business environments through the various advancements that make the business operations more effective and efficient. The concept of project life cycle has played a significant role in compression of the product life cycle, which has enabled businesses to increase the rate of production. Project management has also facilitated knowledge explosion enabling organizations to deal with the increasing complexity of many projects. It has also enabled them to restructure their strategic operations and create more focus on customer satisfaction. Besides, the development of organizational strategy has paved the way for project management processes. The development of the organizational strategy aids the project selection process and challenges the project manager to undertake projects that are consistent with the strategic objectives of the organization.
Reference List
Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F., 2011. Project management: The managerial process. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Martinsuo, M., 2013. Project portfolio management in practice and in context. International Journal of Project Management, 31(6), pp.794-803.
