University Project Execution and Control: Change Management Discussion

This discussion post delves into the critical role of change management within project execution and control. The student's work emphasizes the necessity of change management for project success, highlighting its role in aligning with organizational goals and addressing the impact on stakeholders. The post examines the key issues that can necessitate changes in a project, such as specification changes and planning inadequacies, using the 'Blue Spider' project as a case study. It analyzes the implications of late change identification and the need for design material alterations. Furthermore, the discussion outlines effective change implementation strategies, including meticulous planning, clear communication, and the use of tools and techniques to manage change requests. The student stresses the importance of understanding change needs, developing effective strategies, and communicating changes to the team for successful project outcomes. The post concludes by underscoring the significance of change management as a fundamental component of any project and advocates for proactive and strategic approaches to handle project modifications effectively.

Running head: DISCUSSION
Part A: Managing Project Changes
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1
DISCUSSION
Part A: Managing Project Changes
Change management is a necessary need of project management as it has a critical role to
play in ascertaining project success. Change management can be indicated as the process of
managing a change in such a way so that the organizational goals are fulfilled (Lock, 2018).
Project management mainly deals with achievement of the key project requirements, while
change management specifically focus on the people who are impacted by the change. Therefore,
change management becomes an integral need of project management (Kerzner, 2017). The
process of change management mainly ensure use of standardized methods and procedures that
enables prompt handling of the key changes that can affect the outcome of the project. A change
management process generally involves five stages which include acknowledging and
understanding the need for change, communicating the need to the team, developing the plan for
change and implementation of the change (Hornstein, 2015).
On basis of the chosen case, it can be said that the key issues that could lead to any
necessary changes in the project include change in the project specification and improper
planning. In the blue spider project the requirement of change was identified quite late thus
making the change implementation process quite difficult for the project team. Another key issue
that could lead to change management in a project in un-fulfillment of the initial or certain
specific requirements in a project. The change was necessary in the blue spider project since a
week before the final proposal was to be submitted, it was identified that the preliminary design
material could not be operated above 130 °F. The problem faced was quite serious and the
specific requirement of operating the material above 145°F was not possible to achieve without
changing the design material. The change request that is raised in the given case study is to
change the design material or incorporate new materials so that the developed design can be

2
DISCUSSION
operated above 130 °F up to 155°F. The key strategy of implementation of change in an
organization is to plan the change in an effective manner prior to its implementation. The
planning process should correctly identify and document the need of the change and the benefits
that the project will realize by incorporation of the change in the project. It is necessary to design
effective strategies that can help in dealing with the change as they occur in the project. Change
management is the fundamental part of any undertaken project and therefore, the team members
need to correctly identify the key changed needed in the project to design effective strategies of
implementation of the change. Another key strategy is to communicate the change to the team in
a proper manner so that the entire team have an idea of the key changes needed in the project.
This will help in easier implementation and acceptance of the changes in the project. The
strategy of effective planning and proper communication will work best for the Blue Spider
project since there are certain planning issues that can be identified in the blue spider project.

3
DISCUSSION
References
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change
management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2),
291-298.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Lock, D. (2018). Project management. Routledge.