Project Management: Proposal on Work Breakdown Structure Analysis

This report presents a project management proposal centered on the analysis of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and its crucial role in developing effective project management plans. It outlines the research aims and objectives, including analyzing the project plan development process, identifying the requirements and components of a comprehensive project plan, and determining the purpose, benefits, and drawbacks of WBS in various project scenarios. The proposal poses key research questions addressing the necessity of WBS, its impact on timeline accuracy, and its limitations. It includes a literature review highlighting the use of WBS in dividing projects into manageable phases, its benefits in creating project timelines, and its applications in project scheduling and budgeting, while also acknowledging its potential inaccuracies in complex projects. The research uses recent, high-quality sources to support its analysis and follows APA guidelines, ensuring graduate-level writing quality and coherence.

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management: Proposal on Work Breakdown Structure
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Introduction and Background of the Research
Work Breakdown Structure is an important tool in project management that is used to
breakdown a number of activities that are associated with the project into different phases and
sub-phases (Harrison & Lock, 2017). A work breakdown structure is generally developed when
there are a large number of activities with complex relationships between them and sufficient
clarification is needed regarding the priorities and interrelationships between the activities.
This particular research is based on the study of work breakdown structures and their
roles in development of a suitable project management plan. This proposal is used to put forward
some initial literature analysis on work breakdown structure and determine some research
questions to be addressed in course of the research.
Research Aims and Objectives
The main aim of the research is to analyze work breakdown structure and the role played
by it in the development of a proper project management plan. Accordingly, the objectives of the
research are developed as follows.
 To analyze the process of development of a project plan
 To analyze the requirements and components of a complete project plan
 To analyze the purpose of development of work breakdown structure in a project
plan
 To determine the benefits of the work breakdown structure on the project plan
 To determine the drawbacks of the work breakdown structure in different types of
project plans

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Research Question
Based on the topic of the research as well as the research objectives, some research
questions can be developed that will be addressed by the end of the research. These research
questions are as follows.
Why is work breakdown structure required in a project plan?
How can a work breakdown structure help to develop highly accurate timeline for a
project?
What are the limitations of work breakdown structure in a project?
Rationale of the Study
Work breakdown structure is an integral part of any project management plan and hence,
it is extremely important to know about it in details in order to develop sufficient amount of
project management skills. To some of professionals who are involved in project management
department, a work breakdown structure is simply a division table that shows the phases, sub-
phases and work packages of the project (Robinson, Ryan & Abbasi, 2018). However, it is not
such a simple tool as it appears and it requires considerable amount of skill to develop well
defined work breakdown structures especially in complex or long term projects. Hence, it is
important to gain sufficient insight on work breakdown structures in order to be able to develop a
proper project plan and also earn project management skills.

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Literature Review
According Heagney (2016), a work breakdown structure is used to divide a particular
project into several phases and sub-phases within which, there are number of interrelated work
packages. These work packages are generally derived from the overall deliverables of the project
and usually have interrelations between themselves. The interrelationships between the work
packages of the project help to determine the priorities of the same, which are then executed
based on their priorities.
As per the works of Fleming & Koppelman (2016), work breakdown structures are
beneficial for the development of a suitable project timeline and schedule. Without a work
breakdown structure, a timeline for the project can be estimated but it will not specify any
particular time window for a particular work package and hence, it cannot be determined
whether the project can be completed within the estimated time or not. On the other hand, using
a work breakdown structure, specific time windows can be assigned to each work package thus
helping in the development of a highly accurate project timeline.
Based on the works of Turner (2014), it has been found that there are multiple
applications of work breakdown structure in a project. In addition to the project schedule, the
project network diagram can also be developed from the work breakdown structure. Estimation
of project budget is also possible using the work breakdown structure and bottom up cost
estimation technique.
However, Kerzner & Kerzner (2017) states that a work breakdown structure has its own
drawbacks and it often produces inaccurate results in cases of complex projects. In these cases,

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the work packages may not always have a simple or linear relationship and as a result, accurate
work breakdown structure cannot be developed covering the entire project.
Conclusion
In this proposal, an initial research has been conducted on work breakdown structure and
its role in project management and based on the objectives of the research, some research
questions have been developed. These research questions will be analyzed throughout the course
of the research in order to find suitable answers to the questions.

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References
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Robinson, B., Ryan, M., & Abbasi, A. (2018). Analytical observations of work breakdown
structure parameters. In Systems Evaluation Test and Evaluation Conference 2018:
Unlocking the Future Through Systems Engineering: SETE 2018 (p. 427). Engineers
Australia.
Turner, J. R. (2014). Handbook of project-based management(Vol. 92). New York, NY:
McGraw-hill.