The article discusses project resource planning, techniques for managing resources, and the importance of human resource planning and emotional intelligence in project management. It also includes a resource leveling exercise and references.
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PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING2 Introduction The chief role of project management is to ensure that there is proper management of resources to accomplish the task effectively, on budget, and schedule. Scheduling of resources entails equipment and facilities is a complex task. According toHarrison, & Lock, (2017),the scholars define resource scheduling as the procedure of assigning resources to tasks of a project to allow for optimal use and regulating of the resources by the project teams. Therefore, project management includes scheduling of resources and resource allocation about resources availability, capacity, and effort in addition to the scope of the project. Research studies have shown that most of the projects that fail to be delivered on time or experiences trouble come as a result of over-allocating resources or under-allocation of resources on tasks. As a result, of over-allocating or under-allocating resource impact on client satisfaction, profitability, as well as the project team and project manager trust. Consequently, effective resource planning plays a significant role in solving problems related to resource availability as well as work capability in a range of ways. Therefore, resource scheduling aids in ensuring the project achieve customer satisfaction, timely delivery of the project and in accordance with the set budget. Project Resource planning The first thing before beginning any activity in project management calls for resource planning. The success of any project depends upon carefully planned resource allocation to project tasks, schedule, milestone, communication, quality as well as risks, which offers the project team a plan at the time of execution (Kaiser, El Arbi, & Ahlemann, 2015). In a project, it is human beings that make work to be done thus it is essential to plan for the project team. Nevertheless, project resources do not only involve people alone it also
PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING3 entails equipment, as well as the material required for the successful accomplishment of a project (Verzuh, 2015). Therefore, in this light, it means that resource planning even though human resource tends to revolve around people or staffing management it should be noted that there are also other resources that should not be taken lightly. Human Resource Planning In this case, the plan makes attempts to answer some question in a more precise and detailed manner. What type of individuals are needed for the completion of the project that is the necessary competencies are qualities that they should possess? What should these people perform that is the roles as well as responsibilities to be undertaken? To whom will the project team report to? As a result, the human resource plan ascertains and document the staffing needs which include roles, skills, and duties in addition to creating a reporting structure of the project resources. Also, it gives the staffing plan that specifies the timeline of getting hold of staff and release of staff. Managing the team: For the successful realization of the project requirements, it is vital to be in possession of a high-performing project team which should comprise of people who are motivated as well as technically skilled to add to the success of the project (DuBois, Koch, Hanlon, Nyatuga, & Kerr, 2015). Thus, the most vital role played by a project manager is to support the capacity of every team member to donate to the project and at the same time fostering personal development and accomplishment. Consequently, each person has to be inspired to share their ideas and work as a team towards a common objective. Therefore, in the process of performance assessment, the project manager collects the necessary
PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING4 information to ensure that the team has sufficient skills and knowledge to develop a constructive team setting. That means that there has to be a healthy communication atmosphere to enable proper working to ensure accountability. Thus, project team management involves project performance and appraisal of the project team. Performance reports act a base for a managerial decision on the manner in which to control the project team, and project performance entails the project’s teamwork outcomes like work behavior like punctuality, quality and quantity results as well as other work-related characteristics like initiative and collaboration. After undertaking project team performance reviews, the project manager has to do the following: Provide feedback to the project teams on how well they have performed on realizing the project goals. Give feedback to the project teams regarding there areas that they weak or could do better. Take corrective measures to address problems with project team performing at or below the minimum project expectations. Rewarding the best project teams to encourage their unrelenting brilliance. Techniques for Managing Resources The most crucial resource management technique is resource leveling, which targets at smoothening the stock of resources at hand, by ensuring that there is no over-allocating or under-allocating of resources. Resource Levelling: Resource leveling is utilized to assess the unbalanced utilization of resources particularly people and equipment over time and to resolve under-allocation and over-allocation conflicts (Carstens, Richardson, & Smith, 2016). During the time of project
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PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING5 planning the project manager makes attempts to schedule a particular task simultaneously. If it happens that more resources like individuals or machines are required than they are available or perhaps a certain individual has to take part in more than one task, the task has to be rescheduled logically to regulate the constraint. Hence, resource leveling at the time of planning helps in resolving such conflicts. In this sense, resource leveling works to balance the workload of the main resources over the project course typically at the expenditure of the traditional constrictions that is scope, budget and time. When utilizing specifically considered project software, resource leveling generally means resolving conflicts through the allowance of the software to calculate interruptions and bring up to date project tasks in an automated way. Project management software resource leveling requires the delaying of tasks until the availability of resources. Working with people:Since projects involve working with individuals, the interactions involves dealing with them in an emotional as well as logical way. Therefore, successful working relations among individuals begin with the appreciation of their emotions in addition to the manner in which they interact with setting goals, personality, negotiations and leadership styles. Emotional intelligence:Emotions are both physiological and psychological reactions to environmental and internal stimuli. Thus, project managers are supposed to understand and appreciate their project teams’ emotions to be in the position to suitably respond to the project team, client and project surrounding. Certainly. Emotional intelligence involves self- control, self-awareness, relationship management and understanding (Martinelli, & Milosevic, 2016). Indeed, emotions are significant to producing energy around an idea, developing a commitment to goals, in addition to developing high-performing teams. Consequently, emotional intelligence is a significant filed of the project manager’s capacity to enhance trust amongst the project members and the customer. It is a vital aspect in the
PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING6 developing of credibility and free and open negotiation with stakeholders of the project. As a result, emotional intelligence is crucial for project managers. Hence, the more complicated the project profile, the more significant the project manager’s emotional intelligence should be to enables the success of a project. Negotiation:Negotiation is a procedure employed constructing a mutually acceptable result when the desired outcome for every party conflicts. The project managers are tasked with the responsibility of negotiating with the project team, the project owner, project stakeholders and vendors (Devaux, 2015). Therefore, negotiation is an essential skill for developing support for the project and avoiding frustrations between the parties involved, as it could result in delaying or even causing failure of the project. In project management negotiation calls for the following principles: Focusing on a common goal.This is ensured by solely paying attention to the project by avoiding to focus on differences but being much open to identify solutions which are acceptable. Separating individuals from problems. Project managers strive to see to it that they frame the discussion most desirably to facilitate negotiations to look for a new outcome. Providing options that enhance shared interests (DuBois, Koch, Hanlon, Nyatuga, & Kerr, 2015). Project managers work to ensure that the projects common goals are well-understood by disallowing solutions that do not match the interest of both parties and support solutions that serve both sides interests. Nurture result in accordance to standard criteria. The success of a project is built on a standard criterion, which means that both parties have to advance a universal project success definition.
PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING7 Resource Levelling Practices The most widely used resource leveling practices by project managers include fast critical path method and tracking and crashing. The critical path shows both the longest and the shortest duration paths in a connected diagram that is followed to complete a specific project. Crashing entails the allocation of additional resources to the available project resources with the intention of getting the work performed in a fast way. However, this practice is associated with experiencing additional costs such as labor and equipment. Lastly but not least the fast-tracking process performs a critical path task, but then it takes more time. Resources Levelling Exercise The resource planning exercise takes 64 days to come to completion. The resources needed for the project in total is 46. The activity that is allocated the highest number of resources is an activity I with eight resources while activities C and F are allocated the least resources, which are two resources. During the resources leveling process, we used the critical path resources leveling process which is shown in the diagram drawn using hands on the next page. As a result, the process of project resource leveling exercise in class was well- conducted through the leadership of one of my team members who acted as the project manager coordinating all the project activities (Kendrick, 2015). There was well-structured communication, emotional intelligence and well as negotiation when developing different projects tasks as outlined in the tables and figures below. Accordingly, based on the resource planning in class I would like to say that it was quite an educating task that has not only helped me now but it will be of great importance in future since as a project manager one needs the knowledge on resource planning. The exercise was successful because well-
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PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING8 structured communication flows from the project manager across to the project teams. I can say that for the team that I was working with they were well-behaved and committed to the project, which led to the successful allocation of resources to each project task. The project comprised of ten teams, and seven project tasks working to accomplish the project. The critical path for the resource leveling exercise is A+C+E+H+I = 26 because it is the longest path having the highest number of resource requirements. Moreover, I found it enjoyable taking part in the resource leveling exercise since all the project team members showed a lot of interest in the exercise which made is a success. Below are the various resource planning activities that we performed regarding to resource planning.
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PROJECT RESOURCE PLANNING 13 References Carstens, D. S., Richardson, G. L., & Smith, R. B. (2016).Project management tools and techniques: A practical guide. CRC Press. Devaux, S. A. (2015).Total project control: a practitioner's guide to managing projects as investments. CRC Press. DuBois, M., Koch, J., Hanlon, J., Nyatuga, B., & Kerr, N. (2015). Leadership Styles of Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High-Performance Teams.Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance & Marketing,7(1). Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017).Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge. Kaiser, M. G., El Arbi, F., & Ahlemann, F. (2015). Successful project portfolio management beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural alignment.International Journal of Project Management,33(1), 126-139. Kendrick, T. (2015).Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure- proofing your project. Amacom. Martinelli, R. J., & Milosevic, D. Z. (2016).Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons. Verzuh, E. (2015).The fast forward MBA in project management. John Wiley & Sons.