Programme Managing Organisational Performance and Innovative Improvement

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CRANEFIELD COLLEGE OF PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT

FOR

MODULE M2

Programme Managing Organisational Performance

and Innovative Improvement

 “We hereby declare that this assignment is entirely our own work, and that it has not previously been submitted to any other Higher Education Institution. We also declare that all published and unpublished sources have been fully acknowledged and properly referenced. This includes figures, tables and exhibits. Where modified by us, this has also been indicated.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. INTRODUCTION

1. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE CASE

1. STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS

3.1.1.        Project Manager has no authority

According to clement and Gido (2006:322) the project manager has primary responsibility for providing leadership in planning, organizing, and controlling the work effort to accomplish the project objective. The project manager provides leadership to the project team to accomplish the project objectives. The project manager Reichart did not have authority on the Trophy project. He had no control over the resources and the budget expenditures on this project. He did not take charge in controlling the project to success. He did not have input in anything on this project. Functional managers took advantage of him in this project by charging direct labour time to his project but working on their own “pet projects”. He also did not have any input to the allocation of resources. Changes in the project were done over him without consulting him that is the assignment of the assistant program manager by the Group staff in order to closely track the progress of the Trophy Project. The assistant program manager made changes by wanting to introduce a complex computer program to computerize the various problems and track progress. To make things worse the customer made recommendations to assign a representative in Reichart’s department to be “on site” at the project on a daily basis and became involved in attempting to involve problems.

3.1.2. Ineffective Program manager and Project Management Office

The organization has the Project management office but it’s not effective. Programme managers have the responsibility of matching each project manager with specific demands of the programme, prioritising projects with the assistance of executive leadership, and appraising the strategic organizational benefits. In Reicharts’s case the Trophy project was given to him and the case does not mention by whom. Reichart ran with the project as a project manager on his own without the assistant of a programme manager. Reichart was not supposed to spend more time preparing paper work and reports. Reichart was instructed not to report to project office and to report to the operation manager shows lack of leadership and authority in the programme manager.

3.1.4. Roles and responsibilities not defined

Clement and Gido (2006:354) the effectiveness or lack thereof, of the project team can make the difference project success and project failure. Once the project manager has been selected for the project, one of the first things that the project manager must do is select the project team. The project manager must have sense of the types of expertise, experience, or skills need. According to Clement and Gido (2006:363) the role and responsibilities of each participant should be discussed so that everyone knows each other’s role. Clarification needs to be provided about any perceived or identified overlaps or gaps in responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities in the Trophy project were not clearly defined. Line managers only realized that they had a role to play after 6 months in the completion of the project. The line managers, project team and senior manager involved in this project did not know their roles with regards to the project. The customer assigned a representative to the project and became involved in attempting to solve these problems.

3.1.5. No evaluation and appraisal

The evaluation and appraisal is not done in this organization. The organization lacks systems thinking. The organization has no total quality management philosophy. It has no culture of measurement, appraisal and review. Reichart who had been an assistant project manager was assigned to be a project manager for the Trophy project without being evaluated. Reichart was replaced by Red who was program manager on the Trophy project after which, by mutual agreement, was replaced by a third project manager. Once again no evaluation and appraisal was done to match the position. It was only by mutual agreement. As alluded by HAROLD KERZNER, Project Management 10th edition on Pg.18 , Success in project management is like a three-legged stool. The first leg is the project manager, the second leg is the line manager, and the third leg is senior management. If any of the three legs fail, then even delicate balancing may not prevent the stool from toppling. The critical node in project management is the project manager–line manager interface. At this interface, the project and line managers must view each other as equals and be willing to share authority, responsibility, and accountability. In excellently managed companies, project managers do not negotiate for resources but simply ask for the line manager’s commitment to executing his portion of the work within time, cost, and performance. Therefore, in excellent companies, it should not matter who the line manager assigns as long as the line manager lives up to his commitments. Since the project and line managers are “equals,” senior management involvement is necessary to provide advice and guidance to the project manager, as well as to provide encouragement to the line managers to keep their promises. When executives act in this capacity, they assume the role of project sponsors, as shown which also shows that sponsorship need not always be at the executive levels. The exact person appointed as the project sponsor is based on the dollar value of the project, the priority of the project, and who the customer is. A good project manager will always compliments his managers his staff