Strategic Project Management

This document discusses the key responsibilities and elements of strategic project management in the healthcare sector. It covers topics such as the relationship between project master plan and proposal, advantages of GERT over PERT/CPM, and the need for both managerial and technical competence in project management. The document also provides insights into contingency plans, budgeting, and risk management in projects.

STRATEGIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Describing the project master plan and establishing the relationship between master plan and
project proposal...............................................................................................................................2
Examining the ways through which GERT overcomes the limitations of PERT/CPM..................3
Advantages of Network over Gantt chart........................................................................................4
Evaluating the contingency plans, budget and reserve to manage risks in the project....................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Evaluating the relative need for both managerial and technical competence in project
management.....................................................................................................................................7
A brief discourse of the ways in which behaviour of people influence the specific project...........9
Evaluating the significance of training for project managers in an organisation..........................10
Assessing the significance of information exchange and communication to the success of the
project 10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference list.................................................................................................................................12
Appendix 1: Gantt Chart................................................................................................................13
Appendix 2: Network Diagram.....................................................................................................14
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Introduction
In the contemporary business environment, it is of much importance to carry the ability and
knowledge of managing, organising and achieving organisational goals for a skilled manager of
any organisation. These are the key responsibilities of the managers, senior executives and also
the directors of any specific organisation. Project Management involves the idea along with the
budget for the new service to be implemented, hiring significant human resource and also
evaluating the performance of the project in regular basis. In context to this study, the various
stages and the elements of Project Management in Cheshire House, a health care organisation
will be discussed in details to understand the significance of strategic project management.
Task 1
Describing the project master plan and establishing the relationship between master plan
and project proposal
With growing technological development in every sector, it has become important involve
facilities that are widely dependent on the technological devices which improve the quality of the
facilities. In context to the case scenario, the master plan remains the implementation of wireless
network in the hospital. It is important to note that such technologies have already started to be
implemented as investment are done by the healthcare sector with a rate of 65% according to
survey conducted in UK. Cheshire house is reputed organisation of the health and social care
sector which has always been positive and has shown skills to undertake new changes in the
organisation to improve the quality of the services provided by it.
The master plan of the organisation remains the implementation of these wireless network in the
organisation which would support the improve quality of service to the care users and also
ensure that the devices help to monitor the performance of the employees and professionals
working in the organisation. As opined by Forsythe et al. (2016), the basic relationship that can
be established between master plan and project proposal is by understanding the goal of the
organisation and the resources available to execute the plan to achieve the target. It is important
to note that if the master plan is the objective and then the project proposal is the aspect which
suggests the best possible ways or procedure to achieve the target.
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Figure 1: Relationship between Master Plan and Project Proposal
(Source: Created by Author)
Examining the ways through which GERT overcomes the limitations of PERT/CPM
Programme Evaluation Review Technique and Critical Path Method are techniques which are
quite useful and support the management of a specific project in ensuring that there is not any
delay or backlogs in production or scheduling of the plan. These techniques are useful in
coordinating a range of jobs that needs to be accomplished by the executives in order to meet the
objective of the organisation (Harikrishnakumar, 2017). However, when it comes to evaluating
the performance and utility of these techniques in project management, the PERT technique
often fails to be effective in many aspects compared to GERT. The differentiation is explained
below in the following Table.
Limitation of PERT Ways through which GERT overcome the
limitations of PERT
It is uncertain in nature when it comes to
estimation of time and resources. It has been
GERT addresses the limitations of other
scheduling techniques as it involves the
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Setting up
objective
Drafting the
final plan
Resource
Allocation
Implementation
of formulated
Plan
Evaluation of
the activities

observed critically that implementing the
PERT techniques primarily depends on the
assumption made by the project managers.
network logical estimation of activities with a
randomly determined sequence of
observation.
The result or the outcomes depends on the
accuracy of the assumptions made by the
project managers while implementing the
PERT technique in the strategic changes that
are necessary for the organisation.
GERT basically is beneficial as it allows both
logic and estimation of the duration for
completing a specific activity of the project. It
basically allows loop between activities in a
network. Hence the accuracy remains more in
implementing GERT.
It is time and manpower intensive which leads
to the involvement of significantly high
expenditure in the development of the project.
GERT basically works efficiently and
effectively in simple network system and
provide accurate probable of outcomes.
Table 1: Elaborating the ways through which GERT overcomes the limitations of PERT
and CPM
(Source: Created by Author)
Advantages of Network over Gantt chart [Refer to Appendix 2]
Project management involves the use of a variety of pictorial representations which are
significant and useful in a variety of forms and in varied occasions. The Gantt chart and the
Network diagrams are some of these representations which are included to elaborate the time and
scheduling of the project activities. It is important to note that Network diagram are intensively
used by Project Managers in the contemporary business scenario.
Network Diagrams elaborates the Project Work-flow unlike Gantt chart which represents
schedules of the project.
Network Diagram specifically focuses on the sequential order of the activities. However, Gantt
chart focuses just on the tasks and time management.
The network diagram covers a major time frame in one go and provides an eagle eye view on the
progress of the project unlike Gantt chart which provides minute details which can be confusing
in complex system of work.
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Evaluating the contingency plans, budget and reserve to manage risks in the project
Contingency plan
Contingency plan is important for a project as it helps a business or a project to recover from any
type of unexpected events such as any type of abnormal loss, loss due to lack of management
and others. Based on the viewpoint of Ahimbisibwe et al. (2015), the risk in the project is
required to be assessed with the impact that directly associated with probability chart which are
prepared by the managers. A contingency plan includes scenario by which the plan is prepared
and after then it is required to be triggered that puts the contingency plan into action. Response
includes the brief overview of the strategy that has been acquired with the contingency plan.
Inspired from the viewpoint of Dong et al. (2016), it also includes key responsibilities which are
associated with each element of the plan that is required to be charged at every stage.
Budget
Budget is the total estimated amount which would be incurred in future course of business or
project. According to Chohan and Jacobs (2018), it is prepared after considering the past
expenses that has already been incurred in their normal business operation. The following table
shows the budget which consists of estimated cost that would be incurred in future years.
Budget
Particulars Amount
Group insurance £ 10,000.00
Debt services £ 2,000.00
Governmental aid £ 5,000.00
Laboratory expenses £ 3,000.00
Administration and
finances
£ 7,000.00
Transportation £ 3,000.00
Salaries £ 10,000.00
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Public safety £ 2,000.00
Bills £ 5,000.00
Other expenses £ 3,000.00
Total cost £ 50,000.00
The above table shows the budget that shows the cost would be around £ 50000 that would be
incurred on several items. It can also be seen that the maximum amount that is £ 10000 would be
incurred on salaries and group insurance.
Reserve
Reserve is the amount of money that is required to be kept each years from total amount of profit
for maintaining the working capital. Dreassi et al. (2017) have stated that it is the amount that
provides support to an organisation during heir any kind of financial crisis. This particular
amount increases every year and after a certain level some portion of the reserve is included with
the current working capital.
Time frame [Refer to Appendix 1]
Activities Start time End time Duration
Setting up objective 1st April 2019 4th April 2019 4 days
Drafting the final plan 5th April 2019 7th April 2019 3 days
Resource Allocation 8th April 2019 12th April 2019 5 days
Implementation of
formulated Plan
13th April 2019 22nd April 2019 10 days
Evaluation of the
activities
23rd April 2019 27th April 2019 5 days
Recommendation 28th April 2019 31st April 2019 4 days
Evaluating the project success through strategic alignment
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With the help of the strategic alignment, the project proposal can be estimated to be a success by
considering the following aspects,
● Success rate of the project
● Focusing on value creation
● Eliminating wastes
● Specific and more decision on resource allocation
● Encouraging Innovation
Task 2
Evaluating the relative need for both managerial and technical competence in project
management
Health and social care sector being the most important sector of public service sector needs to
implement successful projects as the health of the mass is dependent on the quality of the
changes implemented in the organisation. Project management thus needs to be impactful and
should involve significant success areas for meeting objective of the organisation. Project
management involves a wide range of activities which necessarily include certain skills in terms
of managerial and technical competencies.
Project managers play a crucial in determining the success rate of the project as they need to
acquire and have a number of both managerial and technical skills. A success of project depends
upon the following factors,
Finance and Budget preparation
It is quite essential for a project manager to sum up the overall requirement of the project. The
financial resources need to be prepared specifically so that the development of the project is not
intervened in any significant stages. In the views of Martin et al. (2010), the project manager
requires having good leadership skills while assisting in the preparation of the budget which
would help the employees to get the vision of the project once it is ready to be executed.
Accurate estimation can be made by the managers if they have prior experience in preparing
budget. Resource allocation is a crucial part of the project and project managers need to have the
skill to successfully allocate the resources as per the requirements of the various phases of the
project. In context to Cheshire House, the project manager of the change in the operational level
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due to the implementation of the new wireless network need to understand the budget required to
install the wireless network and also train the employees to get accustomed with the new
strategic change of the organisation.
Work Schedule Software
In order to complete the project on the project manager prepares work schedules. Effective
leadership and communication skills are very important for the project managers to successfully
assist the subordinates with the work scheduling of the operation once the project plan is
implemented in the organisation. One of the significant technical skills of the project manager
involves the preparation of the work breakdown structure and allotting the duties of the
employees according to their areas of skills (Engelbrecht et al. 2017). Effective communication
skills basically help the project manager to elaborate the specific duties of the employees as per
the requirement of the project. In context to Cheshire House, the implementation of the wireless
network which unifies all the technical devices of the hospital needs proper estimation of the
possible outcomes which is primarily done by the project manager of the organisation.
Technical Reports
A successful project management is determined by the excellence of the project manager in the
area of identifying risks and constraints in context to budget and operational risks. It is important
for the project managers to prepare reports that elaborate the various risks and constraints
associated with various phases of the project. The added requirements are analysed and are
included in the project execution while the extra stuffing and unwanted aspects of the project are
rejected. In the opinions of Kaiser et al. (2015), this involves a great skill of negotiation of the
project managers. It is important to note that in such situation. Understanding the real need of the
project and taking action in favour of the future of the project includes a significant amount of
expertise in the area of negotiations. In respect to Cheshire House, the hospital need to hire a
project manager who had the capacity to figure out the various risks and constraint the
organisation might face in installing the wireless network for quality improved service to the
care users.
Project Evaluation
The project manager happens to be the central point of the project in terms of communication. It
is the basic work of the project manager to communicate effectively so that he is able to
coordinate the various activities associated with the development of the project runs without any
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significant interventions. In this aspect the project managers need to have the skill to resolve
issues with the working team or if any technical issue arises. According to the words of Rossi et
al (2016), the organisational skills of the project managers are beneficial in such juncture where
they are able to reorganise the pan if certain changes help the project to reach its objectives more
precisely. In accordance with the case scenario of Cheshire House, the organisation need to hire
an individual as the project manager who has the expertise to handle crisis in the project and is
skilled enough to resolve it.
A brief discourse of the ways in which behaviour of people influence the specific project
Organisations, especially one of the public service sectors employs a varied range of individuals
who belong from various cultural and social backgrounds. It is very important for project
managers to encourage this diversity and also involve people in the plan so that it gets more
approachable in nature.
Understanding the requirement of the team members
A significant project management requires a positive set of team members who are efficiently
contributing to the project for its completion. In the views of Artigues et al. (2015), it is
important for the senior executives and the project manager to provide a positive environment to
the employees and also understand the need of the team members which ultimately leads to a
successful development of a team.
Providing space to express opinions
Team members need to have space to express their opinions about the progress of the project in
context to various phases it leads to effective engagement of the members of the team. Such
behaviour from the project managers and the response can actually lead the team to achieve its
objective more effectively.
Encouraging innovation
Innovation is considered to be the key to success in every organisation considering contemporary
service sector globally. In the views of Radujković and Sjekavica (2017), a success rate of the
project is also determined on the basis of how much emphasis doe the organisation gives in
implementing innovation as one of the ingredient of the project.
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Evaluating the significance of training for project managers in an organisation
Project Managers are crucial part of any organisation. In context to health and social care sector,
it is very important for the project managers to undergo training to learn number skills that are
essential for organisation to improve its quality of service and elevate the rate of customer
satisfaction.
● Resource Planning and Allocation
● Time Management with Work Breakdown Structure
● Cost Estimating
● Monitoring Teams and the Progress
● Ensuring Customer Satisfaction
Assessing the significance of information exchange and communication to the success of
the project
Information exchange and communication is the most crucial aspect of Project management. It is
matter of fact that the project undergoes various phases of development and each of these phases
consists of a wide range of activities. In order to fulfil the objectives of every phase, the
information exchange of both in terms of team members and stakeholders are of utmost
importance. According to the words of Miterev et al. (2016), team members need to have clear
and clarified professional relations amongst each other where the chances of conflicts and
constraints are taken down. In context to stakeholders and investors, the organisation is bound to
provide information about the progress of the project and communicate this information in
regular intervals s that steady and healthy relation persists for future endeavours.
Conclusion
Project Management involves wide range of activities performed in different phases. It is likely
that project managers need to cover a wide range of areas to monitor. From the above mentioned
study, it can be concluded that project management requires specific training for he appointed
project managers to perform in a particular project. The basic relationship that can establish
between master plan and project proposal is by understanding the goal of the organisation and
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the resources available to execute the plan to achieve the target. These techniques are useful in
coordinating a range of jobs that needs to be accomplished by the executives in order to meet the
objective of the organisation. In fact, the importance of communication and information
exchange is also discussed in details.
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Reference list
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success factors for software development projects: A comparison of agile and traditional plan-
based methodologies. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(1), pp.7-33.
Artigues, C., Leus, R. and Nobibon, F.T., (2015). Robust optimization for the resource-
constrained project scheduling problem with duration uncertainty. In Handbook on Project
Management and Scheduling Vol. 2 (pp. 875-908). Springer, Cham.
Chohan, U.W. and Jacobs, K., (2018). Public Value as Rhetoric: a budgeting approach.
International Journal of Public Administration, 41(15), pp.1217-1227.
Dong, J., Liu, J. and Yang, C., (2016). Hospital emergency response and contingency plan in
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Hospital Administration, 32(5), pp.343-345.
Dreassi, A., Miani, S. and Paltrinieri, A., (2017). Sovereign pension and social security reserve
funds: A portfolio analysis. Global Finance Journal, 34, pp.43-53.
Engelbrecht, J., Johnston, K.A. and Hooper, V., (2017). The influence of business managers' IT
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Forsythe, L.P., Ellis, L.E., Edmundson, L., Sabharwal, R., Rein, A., Konopka, K. and Frank, L.,
(2016). Patient and stakeholder engagement in the PCORI pilot projects: description and lessons
learned. Journal of general internal medicine, 31(1), pp.13-21.
Harikrishnakumar, R., (2017). A practical approach to project scheduling: considering multiple
critical path scenarios in project network (Doctoral dissertation, Wichita State University).
Kaiser, M.G., El Arbi, F. and Ahlemann, F., (2015). Successful project portfolio management
beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural
alignment. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.126-139.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Martin, V., Charlesworth, J. and Henderson, E., (2010). Managing in health and social care.
Abingdon: Routledge. 2nd Edition.
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Miterev, M., Engwall, M. and Jerbrant, A., (2016). Exploring program management
competences for various program types. International Journal of Project Management, 34(3),
pp.545-557.
Radujković, M. and Sjekavica, M., (2017). Project management success factors. Procedia
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intellectual capital assets: An application within Terradue Srl. Journal of Business
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Appendix 1: Gantt Chart
Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
0
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
5
1
6
1
7
1
8
1
9
2
0
2
1
2
2
2
3
2
4
2
5
2
6
2
7
2
8
2
9
3
0
3
1
Setting up
objective
Drafting
the final
plan
Resource
Allocation
Implementa
tion of
formulated
Plan
Evaluation
of the
activities
Recommen
dation
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Appendix 2: Network Diagram