2012

What is the relevance of project management in the civil engineering construction industry

MUKWEVHO N- STUDENT NO 210016678 CIVIL MANAGEMENT II ASSIGNMENT 1 3/13/2012

INTRODUCTION Background

Early Background of Project Management

Before describing program management, it is worth looking at the history of the development of project management that has led to the need for effective program management. Project management as an idea has been around a long time after all, they were building pyramids a few millennia before Christ but it is a recent management science. First used by the military as a management discipline during the Second World War, it progressed into the civil sector during the late 50's and early 60's of the last century. At that time, its focus was on various approaches to the Critical Path method, including PERT, Precedence, and activity-on-arrow diagrams, as well as various others. Indeed, I understand that the UKs Electricity Operator had a team developing the "line of irreducible time for projects" method at about the same era. Perhaps its lack of a catchy title was its downfall! If project management as a management science discipline can be tracked to a start in the 50's and 60's, then the 70's was the period when the focus moved from the time span of the project and its reduction, to project control. This was achieved by developing integrated, computer-based, management systems capable of integrating time, cost and quality, or at least in theory. Many were sold, but few truly integrated the project, and worse still, few integrated all projects in the owner/client's organization. By the early 1980's the market place was full of companies who had bought their integrated management system, but were still failing to deliver successful projects to time, cost and quality. So, by the early 1980's companies were again seeking help with their projects, mainly from owner/clients rather than contractors and suppliers. They recognized that their project managers were trying to lead and control projects when they had little "given" authority over those they were managing, often managing in a "matrix" organization. As we now know, matrix management is the hardest form of project organization for the project manager to lead and manage in, and requires real discipline in the roles and responsibilities of the PM and the line manager. The PM should focus on "what", "when", and "how much"; whilst the line manager should focus on "how", "how well" and "who". Clearly the PM has some say over the "who", because s/he is responsible for leading and building the project team and needs a group who can be "formed" into a team. What the owner/clients were now looking for were PMs who had lots of personal authority and could manage in the matrix with the minimum of "given" authority. This led to them seeking training courses to improve the "interpersonal" or "softer" skills of the PM, including characteristics such as leadership, conflict management, motivation, perseverance, team-building, and more. At that time, I was teaching project management at Cranfield, and this was the most common request from the market place. We developed courses that integrated the hard and soft skills of project management, as well as providing an overview of projects and where they fitted into the business. These were taught both in the classroom and using the outdoors, where the dramatic backcloth and realism of the short project exercises enhanced the participants' development of their softer management skills. By the end of the 1980's and into the 1990's the key word in the discipline, along with other disciplines, was "competencies". The UK Association for Project Management developed its Body of Knowledge, which listed around 40 competencies required by a

good project manager. It is this and other similar initiatives in Europe and the US that has informed most of those who run training programs in project management. At about the same time, two things also became clear. Firstly, the project manager alone was not enough to deliver successful projects. What you also need is a good project sponsor, to be accountable for the investment in the project and to engage the PM to undertake the delivery of the project and its deliverables or assets. Secondly, you need a user/operator to put the asset or deliverables to work and make the agreed return for the business or organization.

AIM

The purpose of project management is to foresee or predict as many dangers and problems as possible; and to plan, organise and control activities so that the project is completed as successfully as possible in spite of all the risks. The ever-present element of risk and uncertainty means that events and tasks leading to completion can never be foretold with absolute accuracy. For some complex or advanced projects, even the possibility of successful completion might be of serious doubt. Project management can involve the following activities: planning - deciding what is to be done; organising - making arrangements; staffing - selecting the right people for the job; directing - giving instructions; monitoring - checking on progress; controlling - taking action to remedy hold ups; innovation - coming up with new solutions; representing - liaising with users.

Setting Objectives
Effective objectives in project management are specific. A specific objective increases the chances of leading to a specific outcome. Therefore objectives shouldn't be vague, such as "to improve customer relations," because they are not measurable. Objectives should show how successful a project has been, for example "to reduce customer complaints by 50%" would be a good objective. The measure can be, in some cases, a simple yes or no answer, for example, "did we reduce the number of customer complaints by 50%?" While there may be one major project objective, in pursuing it there may be interim project objectives. In lots of instances, project teams are tasked with achieving a series of objectives in pursuit of the final objective. In many cases, teams can only proceed in a stair step fashion to achieve the desired outcome. If they were to proceed in any other manner, they may not be able to develop the skills or insights along the way that will enable them to progress in a productive manner. Objectives can often be set under three headings:

Performance and Quality

The end result of a project must fit the purpose for which it was intended. At one time, quality was seen as the responsibility of the quality control department. In more recent years the concept of total quality management has come to the fore, with the responsibility for quality shared by all staff from top management downwards.

Budget

The project must be completed without exceeding the authorised expenditure. Financial sources are not always inexhaustible and a project might be abandoned altogether if funds run out before completion. If that was to happen, the money and effort invested in the project would be forfeited and written off. In extreme cases the project contractor could face ruin. There are many projects where there is no direct profit motive, however it is still important to pay proper attention to the cost budgets, and financial management remains essential.

Time to Completion
Actual progress has to match or beat planned progress. All significant stages of the project must take place no later than their specified dates, to result in total completion on or before the planned finish date. The timescale objective is extremely important because late completion of a project is not very likely to please the project purchaser or the sponsor.

SCOPE OF REPORT A projects scope defines the broad parameters of the project, be it an ecoregional programme, an effort to conserve a priority area, an initiative to combat a particular threat, or actions to protect a species. Efforts to conserve or effectively manage ecoregions, priority areas, or protected areas typically have a geographic scope or project area. Efforts to address threats, enabling conditions, or species have a thematic scope.

PROJECT SCOPE STATEMENT

PROJECT OBJECTIVE To

DELIVERABLES A 2,200-square-foot, 2-bath, 3-bedroom, finished home. A finished garage, insulated and sheetrocked. Kitchen appliances to include range, oven, microwave, and dishwasher.

 High-efficiency gas furnace with programmable thermostat.

MILESTONES 1. Permits approvedMarch 5 2. Foundation pouredMarch 14 3. Dry in. Framing, sheathing, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical inspections passedMay 25 4. Final inspectionJune 7

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS 1. Home must meet local building codes. 2. All windows and doors must pass NFRC class 40 energy ratings. 3. Exterior wall insulation must meet an A factor of 21. 4. Ceiling insulation must meet an R factor of 38. 5. Floor insulation must meet an R factor of 25. 6. Garage will accommodate two large-size cars and one 20-foot Winnebago. 7. Structure must pass seismic stability codes.

LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS 1. The home will be built to the specifications and design of the original blueprints provided by the customer. 2. Owner responsible for landscaping. 3. Refrigerator is not included among kitchen appliances. 4. Air conditioning is not included but prewiring is included. 5. Contractor reserves the right to contract out services. 6. Contractor responsible for subcontracted work. 7. Site work limited to Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

CUSTOMER REVIEW

John and Joan Smith

PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES 1. Nielsen, David How to Write the Project Statement of Work (SOW) Retrieved 20 FEBRUARY 2012 1. ^ Defining Six Sigma Projects - Retrieved March 01, 2012 2. ^ Ellis, T. J., & Levy, Y. (in press). A framework of problem-based research: A guide for novice researchers. Informing Science Journal.

Dinerstein, E., G. Powell, D. Olson, E. Wikramanayake, R. Abell, C. Loucks, E. Underwood, T. Allnutt, W. Wettengel, T. Ricketts, H. Strand, S. O'Connor, and N. Burgess. (2000) A workbook for conducting biological assessments and developing biodiversity visions for ecoregion-based conservation. Conservation Science Program, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, D.C., USA. Page 35. http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/pubs/terrecoregionswkbk.pdf (PDF, 13.2M) http://assets.panda.org/downloads/guidebookpart1.pdf http://assets.panda.org/downloads/guidebookpart2.pdf http://assets.panda.org/downloads/guidebookpart3