Project Management : Boundaries

Project refers to an effort made for a definite mission that consumes resources but operates under time. Project leads to several activities that can be new or just opposite to historical standards of an organization. The activities such as planning, scheduling, organizing, leading, controlling a project to attain a specific goal is known as project management (Hartley, 2009). According to Webster, and Knutson (2006) "project management is application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements. Project Management is accomplished through the application and integration of the project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing." Management of projects is somewhat different from the historical trends of an organization because they have a specific goal. A project manager plays a diverse role performing different activities which helps the project to be successful and profitable for the stakeholders. These activities include strategic planning, setting goals and objectives, performing financial analysis, negotiating, leadership which at last has the positive outcomes which are necessary for a successful project (Hartley, 2009). But, in any case project manager has to communicate and work across the certain boundaries in project management. This essay will examine the boundaries across which the project manager must communicate for a successful project management and how these boundaries can become a barrier.

A project always consists of processes, phased stages which lead to the evolution of a life cycle known as project life cycle. Each phase has a number of key objectives, responsibilities, activities, decisions, stakeholders, inputs, outputs and reviews with respect to time constraint (Hartley, 2009). Project management life cycle enables to determine the path and stages which a project manager has to follow to ensure successful management of a project. It depends on the kind of project that how many stages and activities will be performed. There is no fixed value.

Project Management in the 21st century is vast and worldwide if it is a big project. For example, nowadays, most of the IT companies operate their projects globally because they

hire people from different countries around the globe to get successful output of the project and provide more profits to the stakeholders. Most of the times, it depends on the project manager how he/she manages the project and how much does he follows the life cycle. Project manager is the individual who is responsible for managing the key processes of project management which was mentioned above. His/her main area of focus is to make sure that the project is completed on time, within the approved budget and scope and at the right performance level in order to benefit an organization and the stakeholders of the project. Project Manager must be good at leadership and management skills as he/she has various authorities by which he can to make sure that he provides what his team workers need in order to perform well. There are different boundaries across which a project manager has to work (Lewis, 2007).

Boundaries in terms of project management are the different characteristics which help in determining that what will be done in a project and under what terms and conditions. Boundaries can be defined by contracts, relationships and are pliable to control. It certainly depends on the type of project that the boundaries will be clear or unclear (Atkinson, Crawford & Ward, 2006). Boundaries play a very vital role in project to be successful. There are many different boundaries in Project Management. As mentioned earlier, if these boundaries are mismanaged then they can be converted into a barrier which can lead sometimes to the failure or delay of the project. These boundaries are as follows.

The most vital boundary in a project across which the project manager must communicate are the stakeholders. Stakeholders can be widely defined as the individuals, firms, organizations or a group of people who influence the project or are influenced by the project. Stakeholders can be team members of a project, customers, community which are involved in a project internally or externally or both (Assudani and Kloppenborg, 2010). For, successful project management all these stakeholders are to be identified by the project manager. A project manager must be able to communicate with them in an effective manner and meet expectations of the stakeholders on priority basis. Project manager must be able to figure out and analyze what priority he has to give to a stakeholder and how much important a stakeholder is in a particular manner. This differs because of the quantity of

Stake and the kind of stake they have in a project (Assudani and Kloppenborg, p 70, 2010). Successful project management requires a strong stakeholder management from the project manager. There are examples of serious calamities in project management which lead to the failure of project due to poor stakeholder management. An example of it is the project management within United States Department of Defence (DOD). They are always very complex and complicated to be managed even after having best assets due to the various structural, behavioural, and environmental complexities (Sutterfield, Friday-Stroud, Shivers-Blackwell, 2006). Due to poor stakeholder management at the higher and lower level the project delayed for 10 - 15 years which simultaneously increased the cost and the timelines of the project (Sutterfield, Friday-Stroud, Shivers-Blackwell, 2006). This poor management lead that boundary become a barrier for the project. Stakeholders are interlinked with the other boundaries like cost estimation, time, resources which also affect the project directly or indirectly. So, a project manager must communicate with the stakeholders so that, this boundary does not become a barrier.

Another important boundary across which a project manager has to communicate is time. There is a time limit or in other words a finite constraint in every project under which the project must be completed. The major issues which are faced by organizations is the need of schedules which indicate the time in which certain actions can be performed, synchronization of time and the requirement of distribution of time so that the activities can be performed in a smooth way and better manner. Time is a big factor