Page 9 - DMGT302_FUNDAMENTALS_OF_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Fundamentals of Project Management
Notes
4 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
13. Monitoring progress and reporting to higher authorities.
14. Closing all records, submission of final report and transfer of responsibility after
completion of specified project.
Notes A project can only be successful when there is no conflict between the management
and the local populace.
Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. The successful ........................ is all about structure, control, sufficient attention to detail
and continuously driving action.
2. A project can only be successful when there is no conflict between the ........................ and
the local populace.
3. Project management is quite often the province and responsibility of an individual
........................ .
4. The project manager needs to be an ........................ expert who can motivate the workforce
by training and promoting leadership among them.
5. ........................ companies used project organization to develop new automobile models.
1.3 PM as a Profession
Not all project managers are equally competent. Not all project managers have the ability to run
programs, establish PMO’s, strategically align project portfolio’s, recover big projects, or manage
risk effectively. Not every doctor is capable of heart surgery. But doctor’s get paid for being
doctor’s, have demonstrated considerable training and understanding, have spent thousands of
hours mastering their jobs. Doctor’s are professionals.
By any definition, Project Management is a profession
It should be obvious to the reader that project management is a demanding job. Planning and
controlling the complexities of a project’s activities, schedule, and budget would be difficult
even if the project had the highest claim on the parent organization’s knowledge and resources,
and if the PM had full authority to take any action required to keep the project on course for
successful completion. Such is never the case, but all is not lost because there are tools available
to bring some order to the chaos of life as a PM—to cope with the difficulties of planning and the
uncertainties that affect budgets and schedules. Also, as we have indicated, it is possible to
compensate for missing authority through negotiation. Mastering the use of project management
tools requires specialized knowledge that is often acquired through academic preparation,
which is to say that project management is a profession. The profession comes complete with career
paths and an excellent professional organization.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) was founded in 1969. By 1990, the PMI had 7500 members.
It grew to 17,000 by 1995, but five years later membership had exploded to more than 64,000. By
November 2009, the PMI had more than 300,000 members worldwide. The exponential growth
of the PMI is the result of the exponential growth in the use of projects and PMs as a way of
getting things done.