Question

Hi, can you answer this question in more detail?

Subject: Project Management

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Why project management has become such a popular business tool in recent years? Discuss with a company case as example.

Answer 1

Answer

Project management is the art which involves organizing and managing resources that are necessary to complete a project. It invoves planning, oganising, directing and controlling all resources for effeicient delivery of project objectives. People that manage projects are known as Project Managers. A project is a piece of work which is not a process or an operation. It has a start, an end, and goals.

A project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.

Why project management has flourished in the recent years.

1. Efficient Task Management

Every project consisits of a series of processes that need to be performed in a desired manner. Writing notes about what your team members are doing is sometimes impossible, especially when it comes to ongoing projects that take a lot of time to complete. This is where a project management tool is very useful: assign all of the important tasks to employees and monitor how they are performing.

2.. Manages Integration – Projects don’t happen in a vacuum. They need to be integrated with business processes, systems and organizations that need to be in proper corrdination and synchronisation .  
You can’t build a sales system that doesn’t integrate with your sales process and sales organization. It wouldn’t add much value. Integration is often key to project value.

3.Establishes a schedule and plan – Projects are naturally chaotic. A sound schedule is key to a successful project.The primary business function of project management is organizing and planning projects to tame this chaos. A clear path mapped out from start to finish ensures the outcome meets the goals of your project

4. Effecieint resource allocation – Resources, , humand and finaicial are scarce and expensive. By enforcing project management disciplines such as project tracking and risk management, all resources are used efficiently and economically.

5. Unique - Projects are temporary and are a diversion from routine business activities.As a result , it calls for coming together of some experts profecient in the field to compliment the the exisitng workforce both in terms of knowledge and manpower.

6.Complex project life cycles- The project life cycle consists of the conceptualization phase, the planning phase, the execution phase, and the termination phase. Understanding the project lifecycle is important because it is the base of all project management. You take one phase out and the project will fail. You cannot start a project without a good scope, or blueprint

7. Quality control

There is enormous pressure on project members to adhere to the project guidelines, deadlines, budgets, compliance standards and quality control. Project management is important to identify, manage, and control the quality of whatever is being delivered.

8. Precise Project Tracking

Tracking the time spent on every task is of great value. It allows you to collect data about team members, to know their work pace. This will make planning future projects much easier. The team leader can then make much more precise time estimations. his creates better performance and faster results.For example, a team leader can give different types of tasks to team members throughout a project to determine their strengths.

9. Knowledge Creation
The more projects a business undertakes, the more knowledge it will acquire over time. This will serve as an asset to any business and project management helps to capture and retain knowledge.


Examples of projects may include the construction of a new bridge or building or developing software for an improved business process.
A Marketing / Project management project offers various marketing related challenges on how to run a WOM-campaign from A to Z. This includes logistics, project planning and development, account management, follow-up on content development, etc.

Company Case
Flowserve is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pumps, valves and seals with over 19,000 employees in over 60 countries. wanted to drive new product growth and gain insights to improve their decision making. They were struggling to optimize labor productivity, track projects, and control costs. With portfolio and resource management, Flowserve has become nimble and delivers products to market more quickly.
Using an automated gate review process, they are now better able to manage work in the pipeline and speed time to market, which mitigates launch delays. This allows them to control costs and measure success more effectively.​​​​​​​

Reviewing Procurement System Project

Because procurement is so important to businesses in terms of ensuring that supplies are of the correct quality and offered at the right price, it is essential that procurement is done correctly. A project to analyse all the procurement systems, ensure that the process is as efficient and cost effective as possible could lead to substantial savings being achieved, throughout all aspects of procurement.