Implementing change in a project is difficult, and little practical guidance is available to assist small projects.
Several theoretical frameworks informed the purpose of this study designed to put in plain words the complex phenomena of implementing change in every practice whether it be in Technology, Industrial or Agriculture. Although change occurs continuously in the world and in our daily lives it is rarely implemented that way in organizations but rather as a series of steps, it is known as a ladder of change.
An innovative part of the pack of legislation, market imperatives. And project management initiatives and new technology create projects that need to be managed, often crossways departmental or corrective lines. Project Management is a methodology and a discipline which can bring important benefits to the individuals, group or organizations. By applying project management methodology, it will assure every project to success and way for more possibilities. Project Management methodology will ensure the limited resources are used on the right projects and efficiently. Project Management methodology will harness the energy of the workforce in achieving favorable change. Project Management methodology will manage compound changes in an organized way. Project Management methodology will assess risks, defining goals and implementing key success in project areas and setting quality objectives. However, all organization has limited resources and, for that reason, a limit to the number of projects it can start and control. Near enough too many projects through a resource limited organization causes gridlock and stress. Managing the project portfolio efficiently is a fundamental principle of good project management and as it will implement change.
For the reason that for the most part every project involves new ideas and learning yet a project to put up houses or flats may involve new materials or unusual soil conditions or there may be new initiative for tenant selection or co-ownership schemes project management has evolved a discipline to manage the new and unusual. But with the help of Project Management the above concerns will be addressed because its objective is to define the project, reduce it to a set of manageable tasks, obtain appropriate and necessary resources, build a team or teams to perform the project work, plan the work and allocate the resources to the tasks, monitor and control the work, report progress to senior management and/or the project sponsor, close down the project when completed, review it to ensure the lessons are learnt and widely understood.
If a project has a beginning and an end, what is its life cycle and how is it managed must be considered. To be successful and workable project methodologies should be suitable to the task and the organization. For simple projects in a small organization, agreed milestones, a few checklists and an important person to maneuver the project are all that are required. And for complex projects in a large organization a more structured approach is needed, to set up and support the project, keep an eye on and guides its progress, solve its problems, bring the end product or gain and close the project down. In order to be aware of the methodology we need to look at the project life cycle and the most common is waterfall which was given to us by Dr. Randy Gamboa but as we had our System and Design we used the FAST framework in completing a project. The detailed life cycle will be reliant upon the dimension and nature of organization and the dimension and nature of the project. On the other hand, in outline they all have very similar elements.
A typical methodology would involve a number of stages and activities which occur at different parts of the life cycle.
The primarily stage involves the project manager and sponsor in the preparation and endorsement of an outline project rationalization, plan and project budget. There is no reason why a project sponsor should not also be the project manager. A senior manager who has a strong business reason to drive the project will have the organizational right and clout with other senior managers and will over and over again make a first - rate project manager. The startup stage involves the choice and briefing of the project team and some conversation on the roles and organization. The feasibility or research stage will institute whether the project is possible and set up the risks and key success measures upon the project. Unless the organization undertakes research or new product development, feasibility often means ‘can this process or technology be cost effectively applied to the organization or department’, rather than is it generally feasible. It may include the identification of external resources such as specialist consultants or product and service providers who may wish to tender goods, software or services for the project.
The work will be undertaken by the team which may include external consultants and co-ordinate by the project manager. This team should consist of the key users or main beneficiaries of the beneficial change the project is delivering (hence the term ‘project deliverables’ or ‘products’. They may be line managers, supervisors or staff with particular skills. They must be the best people available and never those ‘who can be spared’ because they have difficult or awkward personalities. The object is to build a team that is better than the sum of the individuals. It is often the difficult people who consider and manage the detail. Their expertise and diligence should not be ignored but they are usually happier working in a solitary way or with likeminded individuals. Defining and planning the project in more detail by inscription and publishing a full definition of the project and determining a project plan. This work is undertaken by the team and co-ordinate by the project manager. Both should be communicated extensively to ensure maximum understanding of the project’s objectives by all staff who will be affected by the project. Now is the time to ensure their input to minimize surprises at a later stage.
The implementation stage involves the execution of the project as agreed, whilst carefully monitoring progress and managing changes. The team may need to be expanded at this stage to resource all the tasks. If so, it is essential they are fully briefed and feel ‘included’ as part of the team. When project management is not an integrated part of an organization’s culture it is a very good idea to undertake some team building events that allow the team to work together in a competitive but non-threatening environment. As people get used to forming and dissolving teams the need for and style of such team building events will be decided by the team. The close down stage involves the satisfactory delivery, the reasonable to the project ‘customer’ that is of the products or services that attain the beneficial gain. A project review should be held to learn the lessons. These should be formally documented and published the warts and all. There some had attended seminars in which very senior managers had disclosed the best and most horrible features of their for the most part the critical projects. They are always received with respect because people like to learn from the experience of others and bad experience is often more informative than good.
Nevertheless, implementing project management is the method of implementing change.
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