PRM600: Reflective Essay on PMP Certification and Project Management

This reflective essay explores the PMP certification, its requirements, and the skills needed for project management. The essay begins by examining the eligibility criteria for the PMP exam, highlighting the author's qualifications based on education and experience. It then analyzes the job description of a certified project manager, detailing responsibilities such as project coordination, budget management, and stakeholder communication. The essay further delves into the specific duties of a certified project manager, including resource allocation, project plan development, and risk management. The author also reflects on their team experience, drawing on management principles from various theorists like Fayol, Mintzberg, and Kotter, and discussing lessons learned regarding time management, coordination, and cultural differences within teams. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of a certified project manager in driving successful project outcomes and the key accountabilities associated with the role.

Certified Project Manager

Introduction
One could easily locate PMPs leading projects within almost all countries and unlike
various other certifications, which concentrate upon a specific geography or segment, the
PMP is certainly worldwide (Burke, 2009). As a PMP, one could operate in virtually any
segment, following any approach and in any region (Cattani et. al., 2011). The PMP could
also offer a noteworthy benefit with respect to salary as well as earning potential (Turner,
2014). The PMP signifies that one speaks and understands the worldwide language of project
management and links one with a community of experts and companies around the globe
(Lewis, 2006). Further, this particular reflective paper attempts to throw light upon the
eligibility for PMP exam and also knowledge required for the PMP position in a company.
Eligibility for PMP Exam
Moreover, I strongly believe that my present experience along with education level
completely satisfy the requirements for appearing in the PMP Exam. I am a knowledgeable
project manager who completely satisfies the following requirements including:
 I am capable of carrying out the tasks under general supervision and are accountable for
all areas of the project for the project life.
 I am capable of directing and leading cross-functional teams for delivering projects
considering the schedule, budget and resources constraints.
 I am capable of exhibiting adequate understanding and experience for properly applying
a method to projects, which have realistically well-defined project needs and
deliverables.

 I hold secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global
equivalent)
 I have 7,500 hours directing and leading projects
 I hold 35 hours of project management education
Job Description
The certified Project Manager deals with the chief client projects. Project management
accountabilities take in the coordination as well as accomplishment of projects well on time that to
within provided budget and scope. Oversees all areas of the projects and sets deadlines, assigns
tasks and monitors and summarizes project progress. Prepares report for top management with
respect to project status. The effective candidate works directly with clients for ensuring that the
deliverables fall under the provided budget and scope. Moreover, certified PMP coordinates with
other departments for ensuring all areas of every project are well-matched and hires new talent as
required for fulfilling client requirements. The certified project manager requires a bachelor's
degree and 2-4 years of experience within the sphere or in an associated area. He/she needs to be
familiar with several field's conceptions, procedures and practices.
Responsibilities of Certified Project Manager
 Responsibilities of certified project manager take in:
 Coordinating inner resources along with third parties/sellers for the impeccable projects
execution.
 Ensuring that all projects are completed well within provided time, scope and budget
 Assisting in defining the project scope and goals, engaging all appropriate stakeholders
and making sure technical practicability.

 Ensuring resource obtainability and distribution
 Developing a comprehensive project plan for monitoring and tracking advancement
 Managing alterations to the project scope, schedule and costs making use of suitable
verification methods.
 Measuring project performance employing suitable techniques and tools
 Managing the relation with the customer as well as all stakeholders
 Performing risk management for minimizing all the project risks
 Establishing and maintaining relations with third groups/suppliers
 Creating and maintaining all-inclusive project details
 Meeting with clients for taking comprehensive ordering briefs and clarifying particular
requirements of every project
 Delegating project tasks on the basis of junior employees’ individual abilities, skill sets
along with experience levels
 Tracking project outcome, explicitly for analysing the effective achievement of long and
short term goals
 Developing all-inclusive project plans for being shared with the customers and other
employees
Moving ahead, I strongly believe that I hold all the skills and competencies required for
being a certified project manager i.e. coaching, supervision, staffing, project management,
management, process improvement, planning, performance management, inventory control and
lastly, verbal communication. Also, I am capable enough of carrying out all the responsibilities in
a highly productive manner.
Team Experience

In one line, on the whole my team experience proved as being extremely
knowledgeable and informative. The team effort offered me with an opportunity of gaining
higher understanding related to different conceptions of management put forward through
various different researchers. The researchers differed from Pre-Mintzberg such as Henri
Fayol to post-Mintzberg like John Kotter. Examining the work as well as efforts of Henry
Fayol, I discovered highly significant management principles including Division of Work,
Discipline, Authority, Unity of Command, Remuneration, Unity of Direction, Centralisation,
Order, Scalar Chain, Equity, Personnel Tenure Constancy and Initiative (Armstrong, 2003).
Additionally, I also gained knowledge related to six chief management functions of Fayol,
which go hand together with the forces such as Forecasting, Organising, Planning,
Commanding, Coordinating and finally, Controlling. The team also augmented my
understanding about six features of management work as well as ten fundamental
management roles proposed by Mintzberg. The fundamental roles included Figurehead,
Leader, Liaison, Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesman, Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler,
Resource Allocator and Negotiator. I also gained knowledge about Mintzberg five kinds of
perfect organisation structures including entrepreneurial organisation, machine
organisation, diversified organisation, professional organisation, innovative organisation and
lastly, missionary organisation (Weiss, 2004).
Moving ahead, the group effort also acquainted me with John Kotter’s 8-Step procedure
for Leading Change i.e. Developing a Sense of Urgency, Building the assisting Coalition,
Building a Change Vision, Interacting the Vision for Buy-in, Empowering Wide-based
Operation, Creating Short-term Wins, Never Letting Up and lastly, Integrating modifications
into the Culture. Further, on a personal front I learned to better coordinate in team, interact
with individuals from different culture as well as planning. On the whole the team effort was
quite successful. However, there were still few setbacks faced with respect to time

management and coordination of team efforts. The activities were not well-planned and
prioritised as per their importance due to which some delay was faced in accomplishing team
goal. The efforts of all the team members were not properly coordinated or directed towards
common goal. This resulted in mismanagement of the team efforts. At times, there were also
small disputes within the group due to differences in culture.
Conclusion
To conclude, I have completely understood the fact that within this highly competitive
business environment, a certified project manager can certainly drive any venture or project
to its highest ability, creating work that surpasses the utmost expectations (Dennis, 2007).
While, unproductive project managers can negatively impact the output, destroy creativity or
also, impact the project completely. Within this sphere of project management, a
certified project manager is essentially an expert in handling project procedures (Hamilton,
2004). I being a certified project manager need to hold the answerability of implementation,
planning as well as completing the particular project, usually related to construction,
architecture, aerospace, computer networking, telecommunications or software development
(Stewart et. al., 2000). Moving ahead, being a certified project manager I would responsible
for accomplishing the stated project objectives. According to Hamilton (2004), key
accountabilities of certified project manager involve setting achievable and flawless project
objectives, discovering the project requirements and handling project restraints i.e. cost, time,
scope and lastly, quality. In one line, on the whole my team experienced proved as being
extremely knowledgeable and informative. The team effort offered me with an opportunity
for gaining higher understanding related to different conceptions of management put forward
through various different researchers. However, there were still few setbacks faced with

respect to time management and coordination of team efforts. The activities were not well-
planned and prioritised as per their importance due to which some delay was faced in
accomplishing team goal.

References:
Burke, R. (2009). Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques (3rd Ed.). John
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Frederiksen, L. and Florian, T. (2011). Project-Based Organizing and
Strategic Management. Advances in Strategic Management. 28(1)..
Dennis, L. (2007). Project Management (9th Ed.). Gower Publishing: Ltd
Hamilton, A. (2004). Handbook of Project Management Procedures. TTL Publishing: Ltd
Lewis, R. (2006). Project Management. McGraw-Hill Professional
Salas, E., Cooke, N. J. and Rose, M. A. (2008). On Teams, Teamwork, and Team
Performance: Discoveries and Developments. The Journal of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society, 50(3), 540-547
Stewart, G. L., Charles C. M., and Henry, P. S. (2000). Team Work and Group Dynamics.
New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons
Turner, R. (2014). Handbook of Project-Based Management: Leading Strategic Change in
Organisation. Free Press
Weiss, W. H. (2004). Team Management. SuperVision, 65(11), 19–21