Project management is a discipline which demands very high and precise skills of decision making. It also uses the help of digital tools and analogues to help the project managers in talking decisions which are in favour of successful accomplishment of projects. Any project has three major constraints – cost, time and scope, and any difference in the stipulated values of these constraints may impact the outcomes of the projects (Al Araki 2006). Project management thrives on the rationality of the process of decision making and therefore, it is very important for the project managers to develop a process of decision making which enables them to think rationally about different aspects of the project. Risk management is an important aspect of project management and the skill of decision making is required by the project managers to take the company out of the risks (O’Sullivan 2015). The decision theory has a significant role to play in project management. The essay explains the importance of decision making in project management with the help of certain theories and models. Decision making prevents the organization from project related risks and helps them to gain success in every company operation.
In project management, decisions are required to overcome the risks generated due to three constraints- Schedule (can the schedule of the project activities be changed, can the milestones be eliminated or can the activities be skipped), Quality (how much quality, functionality and number of users are required for the project) and Cost (can the cost be reduced for a particular segment of the project, can over cost be accepted and can the scope of project be changed within the expected cost range). These risks need to be evaluated by the project managers. There are a number of tools and techniques available today that may help the project managers to evaluate the risks (Atkinson 1999).
There are a number of theories of decision making which are used by project managers. The most common theories which are used are Townsend’s theory, Game theory, Utility theory, Resource based theory, and Contingency theory. The Townsend’s theory suggests that there is nothing like a good or bad decision but a decision is influenced by good or bad analysis before taking the decision (Verburg, Bosch-Sijtsema and Vartiainen 2013). The Game theory is highly used in the oil and gas industry due to its multi-criterion nature and is suitable for the highly complex process of decision making. The utility theory allows the decision maker to assess the risk attitude and it is compulsory to conduct the cost benefit analysis for using this theory of decision making. The decision is taken by the project manager after analysing the economic data, historical data and condition utility and probability functions. The Resource based theory focuses on decision making with regard to management and marketing, and production management and operation. This theory is highly utilized in project management to understand the ways in which resources can increase the competitive advantage and gain a higher value from investments (Suda, et al. 2015). Contingency theory is the most widely used theory in project management out of all. It helps the company to make decisions related to the environmental; fit of the organization and project with the environment. It is widely used by organizations in risk management and needs to be highly implemented to analyse project failures. It identifies the fit between the managerial organizations and the contingencies which may improve the efficiency of the organizations (Hanisch and Wald 2012).
There are a number of techniques used by project managers to identify and evaluate the risks in new projects and after evaluation they need to take effective measures to overcome those risks in an effective manner. This leads the project manager and his team to the complex path of decision making. The project manager needs to make decisions to reduce the level of risks or to eliminate the risks. The authors modelled a process of decision making to help the project managers take these decisions in accordance with the system decision making theories. The project managers can use the data processing and reasoning capabilities for making the decisions in favour of the project. A decision making framework based on risk identification and continuous project improvement has been created by the authors (Gidel, Gautier and Duchamp 2005).
The decision making has a huge significance in project management in terms of Multi-criteria performance analysis of the team and the steps of the project which have been performed. They studied the importance of decision making in the in the service and product development industry. The decision support needs the capability for characterizing the recent state of the performance evaluation of the project and the point of view of the decision maker while taking decisions till reaching the given state of the project. However, different projects have different needs of the performance evaluation based on the requirements of the stakeholders and thus, different processes of decision making are required by them. According to ten authors, in some cases, the method of controlling project performance can be using elementary components of an Iron triangle which include Time, Cost and Quality, are the three major constraints of project management, as discussed above, are not efficient enough. The authors proposed a multidimensional Project Performance Measurement System which would help the managers to deal with high volumes of data. The model proposed by them integrates the given character of each project including objectives, tasks, competencies and personality of decision makers. It also includes a few good practices with regard to the dimensions of universal project management as well as the performance analysis. They also showed an aggregation tool also known as MACBETH for analysing the performance measures as per the performance evaluation criteria of the project managers (Marques, Gourc and Lauras 2011).
The fuzzy decision making can be used for evaluating the internal efficiency of the project management. There have been very few specific applications of the fuzzy logic ion project management to evaluate the internal efficiency of the project. The internal measurers of the efficiency of the project management include project time, project cost and project quality. They discovered the efficiency of the fuzzy decision making process for combining these three measures together to form a single measure which can be used by the project managers. This measure is called Project Management Internal Efficiency (PMIE) and it provides an overall, estimate of how well the project was well executed and managed. This project can be used by the project managers in managing the projects related to construction and marketing. The fuzzy decision making system is designed in a way using MATLAB software for simulation purpose for evaluating the PMIE. The evaluation of PMIE can help the project managers to indicate the level of achievement of the internal objectives of project management. The fuzzy decision making can be used the project managers and the organizations to evaluate the performance of the project teams (Dweiri and Kablan 2006).
The fuzzy decision making process can also be used by the project managers for assessing the risks related to a construction project. The construction projects need an efficient way to use the fuzzy decision making process as they are highly complex. They are also very prone to losses and hazards and hence, they need to assess and manage the risks as early and efficiently as possible. The risks assessment by the project managers in the construction industries can be assessed using two parameters- risk severity and risk livelihood. However, apart from these two, there are a few other risk parameters which need to be incorporated in risk assessment and evaluation process. The authors introduced a factor index which can be used to evaluate and structure the risk factors and link them with the process of risk assessment. They also provide a risk assessment, methodology for the project managers for coping up with the risks in the complicated situations in construction. The fuzzy reasoning techniques can be used as effective tools for handling subjectivities and uncertainties that arise in the process of construction. They also provided an analytical hierarchical process for prioritizing and structuring the diverse risks and risk factors. They also explained the implementation of this decision making process in the designing of the superstructure in the shopping centres efficiently (Zeng, An and Smith 2007).
Conclusion
The essay provides an account of the decision making process that can be used by the project managers. The main aim of the decision making process is to allow the project managers to analyse and assess the risks and make decisions on its basis. Decision making is basically for solving the constraints of time, cost and quality. Most of the authors have suggested the method of using the fuzzy decision making process in project management. So, the project managers may use this method for solving the risks related to time, schedule, quality and cost.
References
Al Araki, Magid. “Decision Making Tools in Project Management”. Edu.Hioa.No, 2006. https://edu.hioa.no/arabase/emne/ODP_okto06.pdf.
Atkinson, Roger. “Project Management: Cost, Time and Quality, Two Best Guesses and a Phenomenon, Its Time to Accept Other Success Criteria”. International Journal of Project Management 17, no. 6 (1999): 337-342. doi:10.1016/s0263-7863(98)00069-6.
Dweiri, F. T., and M. M. Kablan. “Using Fuzzy Decision Making For The Evaluation Of The Project Management Internal Efficiency”. Decision Support Systems 42, no. 2 (2006): 712-726. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2005.04.001.
Gidel, T., R. Gautier, and R. Duchamp. “Decision-Making Framework Methodology: An Original Approach To Project Risk Management In New Product Design”. Journal Of Engineering Design 16, no. 1 (2005): 1-23. doi:10.1080/09544820512331325238.
Hanisch, Bastian, and Andreas Wald. “A Bibliometric View on the Use Of Contingency Theory In Project Management Research”. Project Management Journal 43, no. 3 (2012): 4-23. doi:10.1002/pmj.21267.
Marques, Guillaume, Didier Gourc, and Matthieu Lauras. “Multi-Criteria Performance Analysis For Decision Making In Project Management”. International Journal Of Project Management 29, no. 8 (2011): 1057-1069. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.10.002.
O’Sullivan, David. “Decision Making In Project Management”. Production Planning & Control26, no. 16 (2015): 1386-1387.
Suda, Khairul Azizan, Nazatul Shima Abdul Rani, Hamzah Abdul-Rahman, and Wang Chen. “A Review On Theories Used For Decision Making In Project Management Studies”. International Journal Of Scientific And Engineering Research 6, no. 10 (2015): 562-566.
Verburg, Robert M., Petra Bosch-Sijtsema, and Matti Vartiainen. “Getting It Done: Critical Success Factors For Project Managers In Virtual Work Settings”. International Journal Of Project Management 31, no. 1 (2013): 68-79. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2012.04.005.
Zeng, Jiahao, Min An, and Nigel John Smith. “Application Of A Fuzzy Based Decision Making Methodology To Construction Project Risk Assessment”. International Journal Of Project Management 25, no. 6 (2007): 589-600. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.02.006.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download