Project Management: A Critical Review

This assignment requires a critical review of various aspects of project management. It explores the evolution of project management practices, different project management methodologies like Agile and Waterfall, and the impact of technology on project execution. Students are expected to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and discuss their suitability for diverse project contexts. The assignment emphasizes understanding the core principles of project planning, scheduling, risk management, and communication.

Business Project Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT TASKS.......................................................................................................................3
1. Discussing the project in the case study......................................................................................3
2. Evaluation of the application of the concepts and principles of business project management. .4
3. Preparing project plan documents for the case study by assumptions.........................................4
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Project Management is an exceptional business idea for logical thinkers, organized planning
and detail oriented professionals. Every business organization is having its own set objectives and
goals. To achieve it or successful completion of those targets, it becomes important to make a
careful planning, management of the resources and its organization. This all can be attained with the
application of project management (Hwang and Tan, 2012). It is a very useful method that focuses
over completion of the work with effective and optimal utilization of resources such as time,
finance, technology etc. The present research is based on business project management where a case
study of University of Exeter Business School, Turner and Townsend is taking into the
consideration. As per the given case study, it has been clear that Turner and Townsend was
appointed project manager for the construction of the University of Exeter Business School in
December 2007. In January 2011, the university building was opened on time and under the budget.
The purpose of this project was to providing the university will additional world class research,
social, learning and teaching facilities. The key objective of this plan was to deliver a building that
can able to enhance the position of the institute as an international business school (Kerzner, 2013).
ASSESSMENT TASKS
1. Discussing the project in the case study
The given case study is based on University of Exeter Business School in which institute
was appointed Turner and Townsend person as a project manager. In December 2007, the building
of university was reconstructed and in January 2011, it was opened for the students within the set
budget and timeframe. The objective of carrying the following project was to enhance the position
of university at the international level as international business school. Along with this, another
purpose of executing this plan was to develop sustainable education facility with “Wow factor”.
Further, in addition, there was one more challenge in front of the project manager i.e. maintain
student satisfaction during construction (Bredillet, 2010). This project was providing the University
of Exeter Business School with additional world class research, social, teaching and learning
facilities. At the time of development of project plan, there was some key objectives set such as
enable the business school to deliver its vision, enhance position as an international business school
at international level, creation of a state of the art educational facility, creating a sustainable
building with reducing CO2 emissions etc (Burke, 2013).
On the other hand, several resources were used for the following project. The budget was 14
million pounds. The human resources were appointed in this plan was project manager, project
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management staff, cost management team, client, architects HLM, consulting engineers Hoare Lee
and civil and structural company Opus International. The estimated total cost of University of
Exeter Business School project was 13 million pounds with annual cash flow of 500,000 pounds.
Apart from this, the key challenge for the project team was to satisfy the demand of various
stakeholders with various expectations (Bredillet, 2010). They had to work hard regarding
completing the project plan under the given time duration and manage complex problems. Further,
project team members worked closely with university and take reliable and appropriate decisions.
Beside all of these, to meet the expectations of the stakeholders and manage complexity level of
plan, a good communication was required. To reduce the significant delay in completion of the
work and avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding situation, project management team was
needed to establish a proper communication by formal and informal methods. After end of three
years, the whole University of Exeter Business School plan was completed within 14 million
pounds by achieving all objectives and deal with challenges (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011).
2. Evaluation of the application of the concepts and principles of business project management
There are three concept of business project management: time, cost and quality. These three
are most important factors which are not easy to control. Evaluation of application of the following
concept in the context of University of Exeter Business School, it has been found that the plan
would be completed within the 3 years under the 14 million pounds budget by meeting various
quality standards. After the completion of the work, it has determined that whole event had been
done as per the set three major constraints (Schwalbe, 2015).
By moving towards the principles of business project management, it related to objectives of
the plan. In the context of University of Exeter Business School, there were three objectives set by
project manager which are as follows:
 Enable the business school to deliver its vision and enhance its position as an international
business school at international level.
 To maintain student satisfaction during construction of university building.
 To provide additional world class research, learning, teaching and social facilities (Wysocki,
2011).
3. Preparing project plan documents for the case study by assumptions
a. Time management plan
Time management can be defined as managing time in an effective manner so that a
right activity can be completed within the right time duration. With the help of different time
management activities, it becomes easy to assign particular time frame to events. In the case
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of University of Exeter Business School project, project manager has adopted a time
management plan in order to manage the whole project plan and complete it within the given
time duration (Patanakul and Shenhar, 2012). For this, a time management plan within the
context of cited plan is as follows:
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
University of Exeter Business
School 824 days Mon 12/3/07 Thu 1/27/11
Initiation 55 days Mon 12/3/07 Fri 2/15/08
Project charter 10 days Mon 12/3/07 Fri 12/14/07
Feasibility study 20 days Mon 12/17/07 Fri 1/11/08 3
Defining project scope and
objectives 3 days Mon 1/14/08 Wed 1/16/08 4
Planning 50 days Thu 1/17/08 Wed 3/26/08
Appointing project team 20 days Thu 1/17/08 Wed 2/13/08 5
Setting of project
organization chart 3 days Thu 1/17/08 Mon 1/21/08 5
Work breakdown structure 5 days Thu 2/14/08 Wed 2/20/08 7,8
Contract suppliers 20 days Thu 2/21/08 Wed 3/19/08 9
Assigning resources 5 days Thu 3/20/08 Wed 3/26/08 10
Execution 590 days Thu 3/27/08 Wed 6/30/10
Build deliverables 500 days Thu 3/27/08 Wed 2/24/10 11
Project status report
development 30 days Thu 2/25/10 Wed 4/7/10 13
Managing change request 30 days Thu 4/8/10 Wed 5/19/10 14
Risk assessment 30 days Thu 5/20/10 Wed 6/30/10 15
Monitoring and control 78 days Thu 7/1/10 Mon 10/18/10
Measuring objectives 20 days Thu 7/1/10 Wed 7/28/10 16
Checking quality
deliverables 30 days Thu 7/29/10 Wed 9/8/10 18
Evaluating performance 28 days Thu 9/9/10 Mon 10/18/10 19
Project close 73 days Tue 10/19/10 Thu 1/27/11
Releasing resources 30 days Tue 10/19/10 Mon 11/29/10 20
Project documentation 20 days Tue 11/30/10 Mon 12/27/10 22
Project punch list 20 days Tue 12/28/10 Mon 1/24/11 23
Sign off project 3 days Tue 1/25/11 Thu 1/27/11 24
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b. Gantt Chart
From the above Gantt Chart of University of Exeter Business School, it has been clearly seen that after completion of one activity, other
events have started. All tasks have interrelated with each other and complete within the assign time frame (Walker, 2015).
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c. Work Breakdown Structure
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d. Payback period
To determine payback period for the present project, the project manager has assumed cash
flows for the 6 years. In this context, the invested amount has been received in 2.14 years.
Year Cash inflow in £ Cumulative frequency in £
1 3,000,000 3,000,000
2 5,000,000 8,000,000
3 7,000,000 15,000,000
4 9,000,000 24,000,000
5 12,000,000 36,000,000
6 15,000,000 51,000,000
Payback periods in years for Project A 2.14 years
e. Quality Management plan
Quality management helps in ensuring the quality of services and products as per the set
standards. It is considering as an important parameters for the organizations that make the
businesses differentiate from its competitors. There are various quality management methods
available which uses by the firms to make ensure the quality of the goods. TQM, Quality Control,
Six Sigma etc. These all are essential for meeting the customer satisfaction by offering quality
commodities (De Bakker, Boonstra and Wortmann, 2010). For the present project, Quality
Management Plan is as follows:
Project Quality Management Plan
Project Title: Management Information
System
Date of prepare:
Quality role
Establishing quality standards for project.
Reviewing requests of client (Morris, 2010).
Looking new ways to enhance and maintain
quality of expected outcomes.
Giving suggestions to making modifications in
quality standards (Morris and Pinto, 2010).
Quality responsibilities
Assisting in development of quality plan.
Helping the project manager and relating
expectations of stakeholders for project by
developing Quality Control Procedures (Portny,
2010).
Conducting supplementary quality control audits
on demand of the project manager.
Providing feedback to project manager in project
plan (Heising, 2012).
Quality assurance approach: Cost of quality, Control charts, Benchmarking, Flow charts,
Cause and Effect Diagrams and Pareto Chart.
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Quality control approach: Statistical Quality Control, Acceptance Sampling, Histogram and
Scatter Diagram.
Quality improvement approach: Total Quality Management, PDCA cycle, ISO standards,
LEAN technique, Quality Circles, Kaizen
f. Communication plan
Communication planning is the combination of art and science to reach to the target
audience by using different medium of communication channels. In the case of project
management, it means communicate the information with the project members about the progress of
plan (Jun, Qiuzhen and Qingguo, 2011). In the context of University of Exeter Business School
project, a communication plan followed by project manager is as follows:
Stakeholders Communications Name Delivery Method/Format
University of Exeter Business School Monthly Status Report Hard copy and meeting
Project Manager Daily status report Meeting
Cost management team Daily Status report Meeting
Quality analyst Weekly Status report Email
Risk assessment analyst Weekly Status report Email and Meetings
Project board Monthly Status report Hard copy and meeting
Architects Monthly Status report Email
Consulting engineers Monthly Status report Hard copy and meeting
Civil and Structural Company Monthly Status report Email
Contractor Monthly Status report Hard copy
g. Change management plan
In the case of University of Exeter Business School project, the project manager has planned
to bring some changes in the plan and its related activities. For this, a Change Management Plan has
followed which is as follows:
Changes that needed to be implemented Why to make changes
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Assess change Because of unique nature of project and it will
positively affect the final outcomes of the plan.
Adopt new communication methods The poor and ineffective communication method
will affect the communication process and create
confusion while understanding the information
(Morris and Pinto, 2010).
Change in leadership Because of increase the involvement of project
management team in project decision making.
Process and technology To ensure the progress of the plan and measure
quality of deliverables.
Client involvement needed to increase To determine need and expectations of university
regarding project (Jun, Qiuzhen and Qingguo,
2011).
h. Risk Management plan
Risk management plan uses by the project manager to determine the risks in the plan, the
level of impact on activities and the strategies to mitigate them. With the help of this, it becomes
easy the hazards and their effects on all over the events. By considering University of Exeter
Business School project, a risk management plan is as follows:
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Risk Pre
mitigation
probability
(a) (1 to 5)
Pre
mitigation
impact (b) (1
to 5)
Pre
mitigation
rating
(a*b)
Mitigation strategy Post
mitigation
probability
(c) (1 to 5)
Post
mitigation
impact (d) (1
to 5)
Scope risk 3 4 8 Clearly defining goal and objectives of project. 1 4
Scheduling risk 4 2 8 Adopting various scheduling methods such as Work
Breakdown Structure etc.
2 1
Human Resource
risk
5 5 25 Appointing skilled members who are having the
good knowledge in civil and structure areas
3 4
Design risk 3 3 9 Preparing flexible and feasible design of plan in
order to make changes if required.
2 3
Technical risk 2 1 2 Making sure stability, security, scalability, usability
and availability of new technical equipments and
system.
1 1
Communication
risk
3 2 6 Use formal and informal communication methods
to communicate the information with project
management team members.
1 1
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CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that University of Exeter Business School has
wanted to change its education system completely with the aim of creating a new image at
international level as an international excellent business school. For this, the project manager has set
out some objectives along with the constraints. At the time of preparation of project plan
documents, various areas have included in it such as Gantt Chart, Work Breakdown structure,
change management plan, risk management plan, payback period etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Artto, K., Kulvik, I., Poskela, J. and Turkulainen, V., 2011. The integrative role of the project
management office in the front end of innovation. International Journal of Project
Management, 29(4), pp.408-421.
Bredillet, C., Yatim, F. and Ruiz, P., 2010. Project management deployment: The role of cultural
factors. International Journal of Project Management,28(2), pp.183-193.
Bredillet, C.N., 2010. Blowing hot and cold on project management. Project Management
Journal, 41(3), pp.4-20.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Caniëls, M.C. and Bakens, R.J., 2012. The effects of Project Management Information Systems on
decision making in a multi project environment.International Journal of Project
Management, 30(2), pp.162-175.
De Bakker, K., Boonstra, A. and Wortmann, H., 2010. Does risk management contribute to IT
project success? A meta-analysis of empirical evidence. International Journal of Project
Management, 28(5), pp.493-503.
Heising, W., 2012. The integration of ideation and project portfolio management—A key factor for
sustainable success. International Journal of Project Management, 30(5), pp.582-595.
Hwang, B.G. and Tan, J.S., 2012. Green building project management: obstacles and solutions for
sustainable development. Sustainable development, 20(5), pp.335-349.
Jun, L., Qiuzhen, W. and Qingguo, M., 2011. The effects of project uncertainty and risk
management on IS development project performance: A vendor perspective. International
Journal of Project Management, 29(7), pp.923-933.
Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Killen, C.P. and Hunt, R.A., 2010. Dynamic capability through project portfolio management in
service and manufacturing industries. International Journal of Managing Projects in
Business, 3(1), pp.157-169.
Lee, S.K. and Yu, J.H., 2012. Success model of project management information system in
construction. Automation in construction, 25, pp.82-93.
Mantel, S.J., 2011. Project management in practice. Wiley,.
Meredith, J.R. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2011. Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley
& Sons.
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Morris, P. and Pinto, J.K. eds., 2010. The Wiley Guide to Project Organization and Project
Management Competencies (Vol. 8). John Wiley & Sons.
Morris, P.W., 2010. Research and the future of project management.International Journal of
Managing Projects in Business, 3(1), pp.139-146.
Patanakul, P. and Shenhar, A.J., 2012. What project strategy really is: The fundamental building
block in strategic project management. Project Management Journal, 43(1), pp.4-20.
Patanakul, P., Iewwongcharoen, B. and Milosevic, D., 2010. An empirical study on the use of
project management tools and techniques across project life-cycle and their impact on
project success. Journal of General Management, 35(3), pp.41-65.
Portny, S.E., 2010. Project management for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.
Wu, P. and Low, S.P., 2010. Project management and green buildings: lessons from the rating
systems. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 136(2),
pp.64-70.
Wysocki, R.K., 2011. Effective project management: traditional, agile, extreme. John Wiley &
Sons.
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