Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2 Project Management MB0049 - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1138) Assignment Set- 1 (60 Marks)

Q.1 List and explain the traits of a professional manager.

Desire to manage: The successful manager has a strong desire to manage, to influence other, and to get results through the team efforts of subordinates. To be sure, many people want the privileges that come with managerial position, which include high status and salary, but they lack the basic motivation to achieve results by creating an environment in which people are able to work together toward common aims. The desire to manage requires effort, time, energy, and usually, long hours of work.

Communication skills and empathy: Another important characteristic of managers is the ability to communication through written repots, letters, speeches, and discussions. Communication demands clarity, but even more, it demands empathy.

Integrity and honesty: Managers must morally sound and worthy of trust. Integrity in managers includes honesty in money matters and in dealing with others, effort to keep superiors informed, adherence to the full truth, strength of character, and behavior in accordance with ethical standards. The other characteristic we find in a great manager is they live what they teach and they command respect by their example. You cant be one thing and say another because youll lose respect. Its not that important that your salespeople just like and admire you. It is important that they respect you first the other things will follow.

Q2 .Describe in brief the various aspects of programme management?

Governance: Defining roles and responsibilities, and providing oversight Management: Planning and administering both projects and the overall program Financial management: Implementation of specific fiscal practices and controls Infrastructure: The program office, technology, and other factors in the work environment supporting the program effort Planning: Activities that take place at multiple levels, with different goals. The program plan is not a traditional plan

Program governance is the aspect of the discipline that creates both the structure and practices to guide the program and provide senior-level leadership, oversight, and control. Strategically, it encompasses the relationship between the oversight effort and the enterprise's overall business direction. It also encompasses all the decision-making roles and responsibilities involved in executing the program effort.

Projects are typically governed by a simple management structure. The project manager is responsible for day-to-day direction, a senior IT executive integrates technology with business interests, and a business sponsor is accountable for ensuring that the deliverables align with business strategy.

Programs require a more complex governing structure because they involve fundamental business change and expenditures with significant bottom-line impact. In fact, in some instances their outcomes determine whether the enterprise will survive as a viable commercial/governmental entity.

Q.3 Compare the following: a. Traditional Vs. Projectised Organization b. Reengineering Vs. E-engineering

Projectised organizations 1. They have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing one entire deliverable product. 2. The teams will have all the resources required to finish the jobs. 3. They have a time schedule within which all the elements of the projects Have to be completed. 4. There is greater accountability among team members and everyone is Responsible for the delivery. 5. It is found that a sense of ownership of the project motivates team members to be creative, cooperative among them to achieve high productivity

Traditional organisations 1. They have the formal organization structure, with departments, functions, sections having a hierarchy of managers and their assistants. 2. All of the managers function on a continuous basis catering to a series of requirements issued by the planning Department. 3. They have teams comprising members who are responsible for completing One entire deliverable product. An assembly of various units of their production forms a products and a variety of such products make up the Business of the company. 4. No particular member or a department or a team is responsible for the Completion of any particular product. Their creativity and innovation is in Particular respect of their jobs.

Re-engineering:

1.Reengineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. A business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. 2. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasks into complete cross-functional processes.

3. It is an approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs

E-engineering

1.e-Engineering is an answer for growing globalization of manufacturing, sourcing and engineering. In the world of ever increasing speed, competition, treats and opportunities, you need to conduct your business better, faster and more efficiently every day. 2. This is exactly the main goal of our e-Engineering: to help run your business according to the highest global standards and best practices, by providing with up-to-date, leading-edge industrial Web applications, customized to your needs. 3. Although the term e-engineering has been around for a while, its definition has been broadened as of late to encompass entirely new job roles and ways of working. Initially, e-engineering simply referred to electronic engineers working collaboratively from different locations.

Q.4 List out the macro issues in project management and explain each.

Ans:- Macro issues (a) Evolving Key Success Factors (KSF) Upfront: In order to provide complete stability to fulfillment of goals, one needs to constantly evaluate from time to time, the consideration of what will constitute the success of completing a project and assessing its success before completion. The KSF should be evolved based on a basic consensus document (BCD). KSF will also provide an input to effective exit strategy (EES). Exit here does not mean exit from the project but from any of the drilled down elemental activities which may prove to be hurdles rather than contributors. Broad level of KSF should be available at the conceptual stage and should be firmed up and detailed out during the planning stage. The easiest way would be for the team to evaluate each step for chances of success on a scale of ten. KSF should be available to the management duly approved by the project manager before execution and control stages. KSF rides above normal consideration of time and cost at the levels encompassing client expectation and management perception time and cost come into play as subservient to these major goals. (b) Empowerment Title (ET) ET reflects the relative importance of members of the organization at three levels: (i) Team members empowered to work within limits of their respective allocated responsibilities the major change from bureaucratic systems is an expectation from these members to innovate and contribute to time and cost. Group leaders are empowered additionally to act independently towards client expectation and are also vested with some limited financial powers. Managers are empowered further to act independently but to maintain a scientific balance among time, cost, expectation and perception, apart from being a virtual advisor to the top management. Partnering Decision Making (PDM) :

(ii) (iii) (iv)

PDM is a substitute to monitoring and control. A senior with a better decision making process will work closely with the project managers as well as members to plan what best can be done to manage the future better from past experience. The key here is the active participation of members in the decision making process. The ownership is distributed among all irrespective of levels the term equally should be avoided here since ownership is not quantifiable. The right feeling of ownership is important. This step is most difficult since junior members have to respond and resist to being pushed through sheer innovation and performance this is how future leaders would emerge.

Q.5 Describe the various steps in risk management listed below: a. Risk Identification b. Risk Analysis c. Risk Management Planning d. Risk Review Ans: Risk Analysis : Are those events or conditions that may occur and whose occurrence has a harmful or negative impact on a project. Risk management aims to identify the risks and then take actions to minimize their effect on the project. Risk management entails additional cost. Hence risk management can be considered cost effective only if the cost of risk management is considerably less than the cost incurred if the risk materializes. There are different types of risk involved in a project. The main types are:(a) Project risksit is the risk arising out of a change in the scope of the project, changes in the work quantities, changes in the resource requirements, estimation error or unexpected developments in a project. (b) Market risks it is the risk arising out of a change in any of the Following marketing parameter price change, changes in market regulations, Economic changes, competition, competitors product changes, etc. (c) Industry risk it is the risk arising out of a change in scientific instruments Used in business activity, changes in companies policies because of changes in the Industry. (d) Social and political risk it arises out of changes in labor situation, labour laws, environment law, etc. Risk Identification: To identify risks, we must first define risk. Risks are potential problems, ones that are not guaranteed to occur. When people begin performing risk identification they often start by listing known problems. Known problems are not risks. During risk identification, you might notice some known problems. If so, just move them to a problem list and concentrate on future potential problems.

Risk identification can be done using a brainstorming session. The brainstorm typically takes 15 30 minutes. Be sure to invite anyone who can help you think of risks. In the brainstorming session, people call out potential problem that they think could hurt the project. New ideas are generated based on the items on the brainstorm list. A project manager can also use the process to refer to a database of risk obtained from past. The information obtained from such databases can help the project manager to evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and its impact on the project. Example of risks are: We may not have the requirements right. The technology is untested, Key people might leave, The server wont restart in situation X, and People might resist the change. Any potential problem, or critical project feature, is a good candidate for the risk list.

Risk Management Planning : Risk is real for any company or organization. Don't kid yourself. Things happen when you least expect them to happen. Are YOU ready for the unimaginable, the unexpected, the unwanted? As an executive, have you put your head in the sand around risk? Do you pretend that all is well, and nothing will change? If so, it's time to face reality: data gets lost, buildings burn, people resign. When any of these occur, your organization is at risk for malfunction, inefficiency, chronic struggle, revenue loss, and even total failure. Is this the path you want to go down? Beginning now, you can initiate the process of developing your organization's risk management plan. Take charge. Form a committee representing Board members and staff, and ask them to partner with you to create this critical document. Make sure everyone understands the importance of the work, and explain to them how they can benefit from contributing to the finished product. Risk managements plans are not optional; they are essential for every company, large or small. There are no valid exceptions. Implement the following seven steps, and give yourself and others a huge slice of peace of mind: 1. Define what risk looks like for your organization. What constitutes risk in your shop? Threats to normal operations? Threats or compromises to people's safety? Loss of physical and electronic property? Loss of revenue? Decreased public/community support? Unethical behaviors? Create a comprehensive definition of risk that means something to YOU and YOUR organization. 2. Identify specific risks. Ask the committee to brainstorm as many different risks as they can possibly imagine. Record them on a white board or flip chart. Examples of various risks include: firing of the chief executive, dwindling interest in one of your major products, departmental silos, Board infighting, inability to fundraise, economic downturn, layoffs, building fire, computer crashes, philosophical differences between key employees, extended leaves for managers, interruption in receiving necessary supplies. All of these are potential risks, and there are many others. Continue brainstorming until the group believes they have come up with an exhaustive list. 3. Categorize each risk. Determine category names for the identified risks. Examples may be: Chief Executive, Board of Directors, Physical Property, Technology, Data, Employees, Products or Services, Customers/Clients,

Stakeholders,. Place each risk under one of the selected categories. Create as many category names as you need. 4. Rank each risk according to severity or significance. Choose headings such as "most severe", "moderately severe", "of minimal concern". You don't have to use these same words for your headings, but be sure that your phrases adequately differentiate between the degrees of seriousness. Perhaps you would like to color code each risk according to its significance heading: red for "most severe"; black for "moderately severe", and green for "of minimal concern". Set it up the way it best works for you and your organization. 5. Develop strategies for reducing or eliminating each risk. Begin with the risks under your "most severe" heading. It's critical that you don't delay in thinking through possible solutions for those major issues. Ideally, determine multiple strategies for each risk. Be sure to consider who within the organization is going to be responsible for implementing the various strategies, and the resources needed to implement them. Omitting this information from the plan only causes big problems later. 6. Write your plan. Using all of the above input, shape a readable document. Practicality is paramount here. The plan is worthless if nobody can follow it, interpret it, or actually rely on it as a guide during crisis. After it is compiled, seek feedback from the committee as well as other employees and Board members. Incorporate changes where indicated. Check for evidence of common sense throughout the document. Hold yourself accountable to a high standard around common sense. A pie-in-the-sky risk management plan doesn't serve anyone. 7. Test some of those strategies in your plan for viability. Do they work? Can they work? Why or why not? Where are the pitfalls? What steps are missing? Would you benefit from having certain outside experts review your strategies? If so, which types of experts? Risk Review:

1. Identify Threats: The first stage of a risk analysis is to identify threats facing you. Threats may be: Human from individuals or organizations, illness, death, etc. Operational from disruption to supplies and operations, loss of access to essential assets, failures in distribution, etc. Reputational from loss of business partner or employee confidence, or damage to reputation in the market. Procedural from failures of accountability, internal systems and controls, organization, fraud, etc. Project risks of cost over-runs, jobs taking too long, of insufficient product or service quality, etc. Financial from business failure, stock market, interest rates, unemployment, etc. Technical from advances in technology, technical failure, etc. Natural threats from weather, natural disaster, accident, disease, etc. Political from changes in tax regimes, public opinion, government policy, foreign influence, etc. Others

This analysis of threat is important because it is so easy to overlook important threats. One way of trying to capture them all is to use a number of different approaches: Firstly, run through a list such as the one above, to see if any apply. Secondly, think through the systems, organizations or structures you operate, and analyze risks to any part of those. See if you can see any vulnerabilities within these systems or structures. Ask other people, who might have different perspectives. 2. Estimate Risk: Once you have identified the threats you face, the next step is to work out the likelihood of the threat being realized and to assess its impact. One approach to this is to make your best estimate of the probability of the event occurring, and to multiply this by the amount it will cost you to set things right if it happens. This gives you a value for the risk. 3. Manage Risk: Once you have worked out the value of risks you face, you can start to look at ways of managing them. When you are doing this, it is important to choose cost effective approaches in most cases, there is no point in spending more to eliminating a risk than the cost of the event if it occurs. Often, it may be better to accept the risk than to use excessive resources to eliminate it. Risk may be managed in a number of ways: By using existing assets: Here existing resources can be used to counter risk. This may involve improvements to existing methods and systems, changes in responsibilities, improvements to accountability and internal controls, etc. By contingency planning: You may decide to accept a risk, but choose to develop a plan to minimize its effects if it happens. A good contingency plan will allow you to take action immediately, with the minimum of project control if you find yourself in a crisis management situation. Contingency plans also form a key part of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) or Business Continuity management (BCM). By investing in new resources: Your risk analysis should give you the basis for deciding whether to bring in additional resources to counter the risk. This can also include insuring the risk: Here you pay someone else to carry part of the risk this is particularly important where the risk is so great as to threaten your or your organization's solvency.

4. Review: Once you have carried out a risk analysis and management exercise, it may be worth carrying out regular reviews. These might involve formal reviews of the risk analysis, or may involve testing systems and plans appropriately.

Q.6 ABC Company implements got a very big project and they decided to allot the same to a new project manager, who joined the company recently. In order to execute the project successfully, what are the various phases in which the project lifecycle should be divided.

ANS: The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the projects goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life. 1) Initiation:- In this first stage, the scope of the project is defined along with the approach to be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects the team members based on their skills and experience. 2) Planning:- The second phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the end of the project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of a criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable. The governance process is defined, stake holders identified and reporting frequency and channels agreed. 3) Execution and controlling:- The most important issue in this phase is to ensure project activities are properly executed and controlled. During the execution phase, the planned solution is implemented to solve the problem specified in the project's requirements. In product and system development, a design resulting in a specific set of product requirements is created. This convergence is measured by prototypes, testing, and reviews. As the execution phase progresses, groups across the organization become more deeply involved in planning for the final testing, production, and support. 4) Closure:- In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written formal project review report containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product by the client, Weighted Critical Measurements, rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing project resources, and a formal project closure notification to higher management.