Project Management: Integrating Systems Thinking for Better Outcomes

This essay examines the application of systems thinking in project management and organizational contexts, drawing upon concepts such as general systems management, organizational structures, risk management, portfolio alignment, business value, and organizational maturity. It emphasizes the relevance of systems thinking tools and techniques in addressing project challenges, using the Texas City and Deepwater Horizon disasters as case studies. The discussion covers various management styles, the importance of organizational culture, and the strategic decision-making processes involved in portfolio alignment. Furthermore, it highlights the critical roles of managers in planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, and directing projects to ensure effective business value and successful portfolio management, emphasizing the need for strategic leadership and continuous improvement.

Running head: PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 1
Program and Portfolio Management Information System
Students name:
Institutional name:

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 2
Program and Portfolio Management Information System
Introduction
The techniques that would aid the managers solve the problems would be good
management techniques. Those management techniques are discussed in this paper. Senior
managers that will allocates junior managers to project team depending on how specialized they
are and how accessible to perform a given task within a given time. They also check availability
of the managers to perform a task given their obligations. Exploiting given time is very important
in ensuring that managers meet the required time limit. They are required to meet the strict
deadline to avoid inconveniences. Ensuring that the time set is utilized well to perform the
project task and that it does not fall behind. The subsequent difficult of this measures is that
senior managers have to distinguish that it is necessary that all scheme group associates labor
well structure on a scheme. A task that has pronounced attainment is most probable made up of a
group of individuals who could labor well together, irrespective of their individual
dissimilarities. People are required to put aside any indifference when performing any project to
ensure all factors that are needed in the project are met (Ramseur, 2010).
Project team members are said to work well in collaboration or as a collective in overseas
projects and not to fail in their management such as what occurred with the Texas City and
DeepWater horizon since they did not have a common point of objective. They can therefore put
more effort in that common point of objective to manage create a cultural collective behaviors
which would last a long period of time once the project comes to an end (Haines, 2016)

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 3
The main problem that occurs in these international projects is lack of having a good
comprehension of the culture dissimilarities; therefore, they need to have a good communication
and coordination among all the team members. This is a very important thing to undertake
among the team members (Board & National Research Council, 2004).
When managers are confronted by a dilemma that is between two people working
together, they should solve it in a wise way. such can be two people working together in a certain
project but they cannot get along well. Both individuals should co-ordinate to ensure they are
successful in their project. There are no connections or communication, which is required to have
a successful project. After a specified period of time, like two months, they have to complete the
project, and if not the should be fire all at once. The manager is supposed to give them warning
prior in case poor results of their projects (Haimes, 2015).
The senior managers should ensure that they command the junior managers in order to
perform well in their projects. They are supposed to ensure that they reach their targets. In case
of any indifference, they should ensure they resolve their indifferences and come together as a
team to handle the project without having any problem. They are supposed to face any conflict
they may be having between them directly and go through their problems with the objective of
finding a solution to their problem (Sebok, 2006). The managers should recommend that junior
managers make a strong bond by recommending an exercise they can both do to end their
conflict. Some rules ought to be established and a code of conduct to ensure there is cooperation
between the them. The rule should state the reason to cooperate and the reason to have a
collective work altogether. The person who goes against the code of conduct ought to be

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 4
punished through a stated fact in the statement of the code of conduct. This would ensure there is
a good interaction and co-operation between the two to bring about good performance.
General systems management
General system Management refer to the different ways managers go about
accomplishing the goals of the project they are working on. It comprises of the way managers
make decisions, how they plan, and organize work within the organization, and how they
practice their power. There are different types of management, which includes autocratic,
authoritative, persuasive, authoritative, democratic and Laissez-faire (Kerzner & Kerzner,
2017). These management vary depending on the individual person, level of management and
even the company or an organization itself. One is style of management is mainly because of
many different factors that are both from within and outside the organization. These factors
include internal and external environments of the business, and the type of employees the
managers are working with. There are a number of things we seek to know in this research: of
the management styles the one which is our dominant style, the situation in which the
management style will be utilized effectively, whether there is a best style and the best of leader
to use multiple management styles.
The dorminant management style is autocratic since it has variations that are
authoritative, persuasive, and paternalistic. Its increased number of variations make it the most
controlling with the least dominant style being Laissez-Faire. Autocratic managers carry out the
overall decision making process of the organization such that their decisions are the final and a
downward way of communication applies whereby communication flows from the manager
down to the employees. Employees’ do not participate in the decision making of the organization

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 5
and have their roles clearly defined and are expected to adhere to the instructions given and are
supervised as they carry out their duties. In this style of management, work tends to be very rigid
and at the same time, creativity and out-of-box thinking is not encouraged (Shafritz, Ott & Jang,
2015).
Organisational structures, forms and culture
This refers to how the business is organized and how it is capable to follow the things it
does in its daily activities in order to accomplish a project. The mission statement of any
company is to be organized and having working structures for its existence and survival. Often,
the organizational structure makes the organization to have the ethics, values and standards of
the company’s management. As a result, when creating a business plan, the company’s values,
standards and mission statement are underpinned by particular features in the management,
social responsibility, technology, operations and marketing segments of a business plan. It is
important for these segments of the business plan to transparently and appropriately constitute
the organizational structure, forms and culture (Scott, Mannion, Davies & Marshall, 2018).
Engineering risk, risk management,
Risk is an extreme occurrence to an organization which can be attached a probability
value. There are various types of the risk in every project ranging from financial, staffing,
managerial risk and is necessary for any management to develop a mechanism on how to manage
its risk. On other hand, risk management is a process that entails identification, analysis,
evaluation and monitoring of the risk by coming up with policies relevant to the firm and the risk
established by the firm. The methods used to measure and identify the risk will always differ

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 6
depending on the level of involved in coming up with risk management policies in regard to their
expertise and the capacity they hold in the organization thus is notably important that the best
level management that will handle risk in fullness and cover of all details to better wellness of
the firm be identified (Modarres, 2016).
Portfolio alignment
There are different kinds of Portfolio alignment that are necessary for making effective
decisions in a project. Making of routine choices and judgments is one of the Portfolio
alignment. This Portfolio alignment will help you come up with the choice that best suits you as
an individual or a project. Influencing outcomes is another critical Portfolio alignment towards
strategic decision making (Rahrovani, Kermanshah, Pinsonneault, 2014). For instance, having a
project at hand, the task one will be having is to establish the time period needed to accomplish
the project. Here optimism counts a lot since for one to achieve the desired outcomes one have to
embrace a positive thinking and be found committed to ones decisions. Placing competitive bets
is another important Portfolio alignment in strategic decision making since in the market one still
have other businesses and the performance of a business will be best measured when compared
to that of the other existing businesses (Mishra, Garbajosa, Wang, Bosch & Abrahamsson, 2017).
The most effective strategic decision making process will be considerate of the moves of a
business rivals.

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 7
Business value
To ensure effective and efficient project value, managers must exercise their five roles in
organizing, planning staffing, controlling and directing must be implemented in its daily running.
Planning involves formulating a strategy or a proposal on the various steps and procedures which
should be undertaken to achieve the set goals and objectives in a project or an
organization.Notably, every employee and other members working for the business must
participate to achieve the set goals. As a manager, planning must be done where on must
arbitrate on the various steps that the business should take to achieve these goals. Essentially,
managers should take steps such as ensure more advertisements are made or offer more discounts
for customers who make more purchases (Gomez-Uribe & Hunt, 2016).
Businesses involve mobilizing the materials or resources and the set team to achieve the
set goals. Therefore, managers need to assign roles and duties to the various and required
employees. Managers are responsible for making sure that the required resources are provided in
the various fields to ensure employees utilize them to achieve increased sales (Pearson, 2016).
Importantly, to see to it that a company runs smoothly, supervisors need to ensure that there are
adequate resources and staff.
Portfolio management process cycle
Portfolio management process cycle is where the manager communicates, supervises,
motivates and leads the project assistance towards a common objective.This cycle is a bit crucial
since the manager needs to play the role of monitoring and directly engaging with the employees

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 8
in all the divisions in the company. It is always important since this ensures that managers and
delegate roles are seen by employees. Notably, workers in any institution will carry out their
duties as instructed by the managers but they will ensure effectiveness and efficiency if the same
instructions come from their managers (Turner, 2014).
The manager has to ensure he or she continuously scrutinizes or inspects the job and
corrects where the responsibilities are not conducted as required and expected. Additionally,
controlling entails checking the course of work from the planning stage to the directing stage.
One has to make sure that the team’s output and performance is similar to the set goals and
objectives therefore reducing risks. Additionally, one need to correct and assess the performance
of the employees.
In addition to the above management roles, managers must possess leadership skills and
exercise strategic leadership and management. Strategic leaders are disciplined and courageous
where they spend most of their time thinking and strategizing on activities with extensive future
outcomes and are not afraid to take risks. They are open-minded where new inventions and ideas
are always accommodated and explored (Larson & Gray, 2015). Further, they are enduring since
some strategies will not always provide a simple journey. They are also accountable where they
accommodate the weaknesses of their employees and are persistent on improving performance to
yield results. Strategic leaders are insightful and visionary as well and work hand in hand with
their team to accomplish the set goals and objectives. Supervisors should also exercise balanced
commitment, be positive role models, be persuasive, exercise effective communication skills and
have a positive influence on their team.

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM 9
Exercising portfolio management process and leadership is not easy and therefore leaders
need to possess tactical management skills in times of crisis and growth in an organization. This
way, during times where the resources are scarce or are just enough, for instance, the leaders can
ensure that they are evenly and properly allocated. Further, managers must exercise their basic
roles effectively to achieve the set goals and objectives as well as have an effectual and useful
team.
Organisational maturity.
Organisational maturity shows how an organization is structured in the right manner to
accomplish a certain project. The management of an organization will start by observing the
need that ought to be attended to or corrected within the organization and orient themselves with
the facts at hand about the organization and make the appropriate decisions regarding the
organization and finally act on the decisions (Gomes, 2018). This way of organizating an
organization is a good one for the organization because it is very simple and straightforward
(Bourne, 2016). Paired comparison analysis is the other decision making that is usually much
appropriate especially when the business is involved in tough and complex decisions. This mthod
helps in decision making by drawing a list of all the available options to the business, marching
the options against each other, and establishing the most favorable option. This decision method
helps an organization in picking the best option for the organization at a situation where there are
options which are competing with each other at a go (Gomes & Romão, 2015).

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
10
Conclusion
In conclusion, process and strategic thinking are two complementary things since
strategic thinking is usually a process of deciding what to do and how to do it while process
defines the steps undertaken to do a project hence achieving one’s objective or goal. As a result,
for an individual or a project to engage strategic thinking there must a process into that hence the
two depend on each other.

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
11
References
Haimes, Y. Y. (2015). Risk modeling, assessment, and management. John Wiley & Sons.
Haines, S. (2016). The systems thinking approach to strategic planning and management. CRC
Press.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Mishra, A., Garbajosa, J., Wang, X., Bosch, J., & Abrahamsson, P. (2017). Future directions in
Agile research: Alignment and divergence between research and practice. Journal of
Software: Evolution and Process, 29(6), e1884.
Modarres, M. (2016). Risk analysis in engineering: techniques, tools, and trends. CRC press.
Rahrovani, Y., Kermanshah, A., & Pinsonneault, A. (2014). Aligning IT for future business
value: conceptualizing it project portfolio alignment. ACM SIGMIS Database: the
DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 45(3), 30-53.
Scott, T., Mannion, R., Davies, H., & Marshall, M. (2018). Healthcare performance and
organisational culture. CRC Press.
Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S., & Jang, Y. S. (2015). Classics of organization theory. Cengage
Learning.

PROGRAM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
12
Gomez-Uribe, C. A., & Hunt, N. (2016). The netflix recommender system: Algorithms, business
value, and innovation. ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS), 6(4),
13.
Pearson, S. (2016). Building brands directly: creating business value from customer
relationships. Springer.
Turner, J. R. (2014). Handbook of project-based management (Vol. 92). New York, NY:
McGraw-hill.
Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2015). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge:
PMBOK (®) Guide. Project Management Institute.
Bourne, L. (2016). Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational
implementation. Routledge.
Gomes, J., & Romão, M. (2015). Enhancing Organisational Maturity with Benefits Management.
International Journal of Information Technology Project Management (IJITPM), 6(4), 34-47.
Gomes, J. M. V. (2018). Organisational maturity and information systems and technology
projects in healthcare: the mediation of project management..
Nejib, P., Beyer, D., & Yakabovicz, E. (2017, July). Systems Security Engineering: What Every
System Engineer Needs to Know. In INCOSE International Symposium (Vol. 27, No. 1,
pp. 434-445).