Selecting The Suitable Project Management Methodology

Main Discussion

The project management methodologies are a pre-defined set of activities which can provide confidence to the organization in achieving the project objectives and at the same time prevent from getting scope and cost overrun as well as maintain the best quality of the product. The set of activities can differ from one organization to other. There are various types of project management methodologies, which are developed to suit some particular approach of doing the project, like in case of traditional approach ‘Waterfall’ each successor stage cannot start until the predecessor completes has now been changed and the modern technique like ‘Agile’ where many parallel activities of different stages runs together. Both the methodologies have its advantages and disadvantages based on the different scenarios.

But the common among all the methodologies are the same objective that is to complete the project at minimum time, cost and resources while maintaining the optimum quality requirement. The use of methodologies reduces the risk level of the project by using the proven techniques to get success. It provides the clarity in setting the objectives of doing the project and direct all right thinking of the team towards achieving the right objective using right methods and helps the organization to achieve its goal and achieve continuous improvement by remaining within the budget and time (Itegi, 2015). As per the above discussion, there are many methodologies, but the main task of project manager or the members of board is to select that which type of methodology can be suitable for the given environment, as it can change within the organization between two different projects due to difference in their characteristics, product requirement, quality standards, number of employees, complexity in the system, area of operations and many more. In upcoming reading we shall discuss the same and select the most suitable one for the given organization set up.

The usefulness of implementing a project management methodology is known, but then ‘who’ need to initiate and ‘who’ are the parties need to be involved for the implementation is the question. The author (Zwikael, 2008) stated, in the published journal that it is the top management people who sets the vision and target of the organization and are the most suitable person who can understand the project’s need in better way and so implement the right methodology too. The author (Munns & Bjeirmi, 1996) also mentioned that the project management methodologies can bring success to the organization if the team involved from the top management to the project manager level and even below all believes that the project management techniques can bring the success to the project, and then only the methodologies can be implemented properly in the positive atmosphere.

Then comes the stage of implementing the chosen project management methodology (refer Appendix 1). The author (Plewinski, 2014) has defined three stages, which are mainly involved in the implementation of project management methodologies are ‘maturity assessment’ in this stage an audit is conducted to assess the strength and weaknesses of the organization to choose the fittest type of methodology, then is the ‘Methodology development’ step where the most suitable type of the methodology is developed and finally is the ‘Methodology implementation’ in which the selected methodology is being implemented by following the well-defined steps.

Irrespective of whichever methodology is being considered for the implementation, the methodology must be implemented as a whole. A methodology is consist of sequential steps or stages of activities and by following these steps the actual benefits of implementing the selected methodology can be obtained to its maximum level. So if we implement and use the methodology partially or halfheartedly, then there may not be any benefits which could be obtained or expected from the approach. Now to understand it better, let us design a implementation plan and follow it up to half of it and check whether the desired result is obtained or not. Let us refer the diagram in Appendix 2, where the implementation method of PMBoK is explained. According to the author (Hewagamage & Hewagamage, 2011), the PMBoK has mainly five stages of implementation, are ‘Initiation’, ‘Planning’, ‘Execute’, ‘Monitor & Control’ and ‘Closing’ under which 42 sub processes are divided. The author described that the whole project is divided in many knowledge areas and are sometimes overlaps with many of the stages discussed above between initiations to closing. So the activity of the project by following the PMBoK methodologies starts from developing the business case and charter, and then the identification of stakeholders are the processes which falls under the first stage that is ‘Initiation’ (Project Management Institute, 2013). Then the next stage that is ‘Planning’ needs to be started with the development of various plans starting from ‘Project management plan’, ‘Scope planning’, ‘Time planning’, ‘Cost planning’, ‘Quality planning’, ‘ Human resource planning’, ‘Communication planning’, ‘Risk planning’, ‘Procurement planning’ to ‘Stakeholder management planning’ are required to be developed. Then the next stage involved in the process of setting the methodology is ‘Execution’ under this stage the actual work takes place and all the planning done in previous stage is implemented, the sub processes are ‘Direct and manage project activity’, ‘Perform quality check’, ‘ Acquire the Human resources’ required for the job, ‘Manage communications’, ‘Conduct procurement’ and ‘Manage Stakeholders’. Then the next stage involves the monitoring of the execution activities and control it wherever it is going beyond the limits by following few steps like ‘Monitor & control project’, ‘Verify & control scope’, ‘Control schedule’, ‘control cost and quality’, ‘Control communication’, ‘Control risks’, ‘Control procurement’ and ‘control the stakeholders’. Then the last but the important stage is ‘Closing’, under which the ‘Close project’ and ‘close procurement’ are the processes which need to be performed for the proper closing of the project. now, in this whole stages and process, if a single portion is not performed due to whatever reasons, then the result can be somewhat different or even the extra effort may be required to again get back the project on track. For example, if the stage ‘Planning’ is neglected by the team or the organization or the project may be due to very tight schedule, the organization has decided to bypass the planning activities and its sub processes, then its implication is well known to all. The result could be something different then it was thought during ‘Initiation’ stage and altogether after investing money and executing the job the product developed will not be of the desired standard and the whole effort will go to waste. Hence, every stage and its sub stages, processes and each step are important and none of them could be neglected to obtain the desired result and the use of project management methodologies should be adopted entirely, partial adoption shall not give the result.

While implementing the selected methodology in an organization or project of the organization, we may need to face many issues like the barrier of the mentality of employees and we need to do a very hard work to make them understand the importance of the methodology and its benefits. In such cases strong communication management plan need to be developed to first note down the expectation of the stakeholders, and then we need to develop the communication plan and circulate among the team members and then act accordingly for the implementation process to implement it smoothly and at the same time managing the stakeholders too.

Now let us understand the scenarios provided along with the assignment, the case study and look for the best suited methodology for the organizations to perform better in projects and reduce the time consumption to implement a business.

Now we shall select the appropriate type of project management methodology and check how we can implement it, then the problem can be faced for implementation, then how can those be addressed an finally the benefits of using project management methodologies for the organization A, B & C:

	Organization A	Organization B	Organization C
Selection of the type of PM Methodology	Since the organization type is the ‘Financial Services’ provider, which means the software system is required to manage the business with less number of employee of around 80 numbers I think ‘Agile Methodology’ should fit the best for project management methodology (Rajagopalan & Mathew, 2016). Moreover, since the location is not so spread out all over the world and it has offices at Australia and New Zealand the Agile methodology could be beneficial to implement in smaller size of organization (Singh & Tamanna, 2014). In current case study the project manager of organization A, can influence its higher ups, which is again a characteristics of Agile methodology	In case of the ‘Building Society’, it means that the sector falls under the construction sector of organization with such a large number of employee of around 600 numbers and the project is being organized at same location so I feel ‘PMBoK Methodology’ must be the best fit for the organization. Moreover, since the organization works very haphazardly, and varies from one project manager to other project manager, so the PMBoK methodology can be used to standardize the project management methods across the organization and different projects too (Karaman & Kurt, 2015).	The sector ‘Technology Services’ sector where the number of employees are very large of around 1200 and the operation is spread over the worldwide a central control figure is very much required to streamline the objective and aim at every country’s operation as well as the local laws and policies are also required to be managed within the project environment, so I feel PRINCE2 methodology of project management shall fit well in the requirement. As in case of PRINCE2 methodology, it always directs the member of board to take the front seat rather than project manager and control the risk, cost, time and resources of the project, whereas the project manager shall take care of the daily activities including the cost, time and risk management and coordination (Saad et al., 2013). So in this particular case of the organization different project managers shall be located at different countries and shall take care of the local issues and policies and act towards achieving the high level goal being set by the Board of Members.

	Organization A	Organization B	Organization C
Implementing the selected Methodologies	Refer; appendix 5, the Agile methodology is the process of implementation where the system gets implemented in incremental method rather than developing the product at once. The implementation process (refer appendix 4) depends on the change management by incorporating the comments and accordingly the changes are made to implement the system (Rasnacis & Berzisa, 2017).	For the proper implementation of the PMBoK methodology the proper steps and the stages need to be adhered (refer appendix 2). Many stages need to be overlapped with each other to have cross checking facility and squeeze the time requirement for completing the processes. The PMBoK also has a good feature of documenting the lessons learnt or the mistakes that occurred during the course of the project (Chaves et al., 2016).	The PRINCE2 methodology can be implemented (refer appendix 6) by implementing the seven principles, seven themes and seven processes (Priyanka, 2016). Moreover as in this method the top management is itself need to take the driver seat and implement the methodology. When some top management level person assigns the responsibility among the team members, it put extra pressure and the motivational point too for the members.

Issues encountered when implementing the chosen project management methodology:

	Organization A	Organization B	Organization C
Issues encountered when implementing the chosen project management methodology	Agile also has some issues or the constraints, the company if adopts the methodology half-heatedly then the desired result could not be obtained (Shankarmani & Pawar, 2012). For proper implementation of this methodology in the business system management support is also required and moreover, the cost overrun can also happen, as the methodology has the tendency to increase the scope of work while incorporating the various comments which are being received from different stakeholders	PMBoK methodology has also some issues and constraints are the triple constraints or the project, that if any of the constraints that is time, cost, scope any one of the constraint of the project increases then the other any one or both must also increase. So it becomes difficult for the project manager to get back the project on track once the overrun has occurred (Bredillet, 2006).	Since the methodology involves the board members and being such a senior level executives, they don’t get much time and the planning activity requires large time.

What can be done to address the issues faced to implement the PM Methodology:

	Organization A	Organization B	Organization C
What can be done to address the issues faced to implement the PM Methodology	The awareness about the Agile methodology can be improved by conducting awareness program even among the top management people to grow interest in the system for its effective utilization and proper implementation. To avoid cost overrun by using Agile methodology, several audit or inspection meetings are required to be conducted at the start and end of each small stages to track its implementation effectiveness and control the direction of progress	To address the issues present in the PMBoK methodology the proper planning of all 42 knowledge areas and 5 processes need to be done from the beginning itself. It helps in binding the project from the beginning itself. All the steps and the stages set must be met to avoid the slippage of any of the three constraints and the project can be completed within the budgeted time, cost and resources and even maintain proper quality too.	To address the above issue the board member need to nominate a consultant on behalf of them or the project manager for the time being to develop the planning documentation and once the documentation part is completed the board members can sit together to finalize the method of executing the project and document it for further action.

Benefits for the use of the chosen project management methodology:

	Organization A	Organization B	Organization C
Benefits for the use of the chosen project management methodology	Since the project or the organization is a people centric, many iterative systems can be used, the management system is decentralized and it can produce early ROI (return on investment) throughout the total project life cycle (Kisielnicki & Misiak, 2016). The agile methodology can be more beneficial where time, cost and quality requirements can be made fixed, but the features are not that means the scope is variable like in case of ‘financial services’ this methodology can be the best suited.	This methodology helps the project by setting the stakeholder’s expectations from the beginning of the project itself. So the stakeholders remain very happy with this kind of methodology and the expectations are being reviewed at every stage. Another benefit is the proper and detailed risk management process which is followed by the system to find and document the response planning from the planning stage itself (Keleckaite & Meiliene, 2015).	As the current organization is operating in such an environment that every business and offices are scattered, so a central position (Board Members) need to take the charge to have strong hold on the system which can be obtained by using the PRINCE2 project management methodology only (Karamitsos et al., 2010).

Conclusion

After discussing all the features and the methodologies which are appropriate for the proper running of the projects with different organizations, different set of organization size, different complexity level, different nature of business, with all such diversity the project management methodology can be selected for each type to plan, organize, manage and control work leads to the better performance of the work and so the increased productivity. The three different types of organizations A, B & C has different types of business and size and operation locations, so for the organization A, being the financial services where the IT system shall be involved and many people comments shall be required to design the system, so Agile is the best suited. In case of the organization B, te size is medium and location is constant but the service is construction or building services, here the Agile cannot work due to its iterative nature, so PMBoK shall be good enough to bind the whole organization with its practice of setting and meeting the stakeholder’s expectations. Then the third one is organization C, where the size is so big that it may go uncontrollable if not controlled very closely, so PRINCE2 is the best suited because it allows the board members to take the charge and set the risk level, cost and time schedule, whereas the project manager posted at different locations shall just coordinate the daily issues (Pawar & Mahajan, 2017).

References

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