Project Management Process

Discussion 1 chapter 9

Project management is the process of scheduling a company’s resources in order to complete a specific job, function, or obligation. Employees, funds, technologies, and intellectual property are among the resources that an organization would wish to manage to achieve its goal. A project can be a one-time function and a continuous process. Project scheduling represents an essential aspect of any project management life cycle (Shtub & Globerson, 2006). I also believe that without task and activity scheduling, project managers cannot be able to achieve much through the project. Scheduling tasks and activities enable project managers to rally all the required materials and resources into one critical part of the project, ensuring speed and accuracy. Task scheduling also allows project managers to have a holistic view of the project as they plan and organize what task will be performed when and where. The project task schedule also ensures that the project managers divide tasks into smaller do-able tasks, which also helps improve the team’s efficiency and eliminate mismanagement of resources. Task scheduling also enables the project managers to understand when the project will start, its time frame, and finishing period; the information is essential in luring more clients and investors.

Efficient handling and resource allocation to comprehensively tasks on time and budget represent a crucial element of any project scheduling management. Scheduling resources represent crucial tasks such as allocating resources, people, and the necessary infrastructure required to complete tasks in a project. Scheduling resources involves the allocation of resources on the capabilities, the effort required, and availability basis. The benefits of resource allocation for companies with multi-project capabilities ensure that the project management teams have the time to ensure that the resources required to complete a particular project have been allocated, reducing the risk of projects stalling due to the lack of resources. Through resource scheduling, an organization is also able to distribute tasks effectively. Effective task distribution ensures that an organization can complete a task effectively and improves the general quality of the finished products.

Being the person in charge of overseeing the development of the States transportation department, budgeting is an essential aspect as it involves planning and organization the distribution of resources to ensure their maximum value is realized. One of the best budget planning techniques is the use of the bottom-up budgeting process. The steps I would employ to ensure my team implements this process are through the following process.

The first step is identifying specific aspects of the entire project, having a holistic view of the entire project, and developing the required goals. Secondly, it is essential to determine the departmental budgeting needs and summing them up to understand the overall budget needs. Once the totals have been established, it is essential to present it as a single total or aspect to the overall management with a comprehensive illustration of all the departmental needs.

Discussion 2 (Chapter 12 & 13)

General Motors (GM) represents one of the remaining corporations of the ancient American heavyweights, with a heritage that is essentially the history of America that covers both the positive and negative aspects. Whether it is creating some of the earliest premium automobiles, for many years, General Motors has been a prominent participant in American history, dominating the car industry as the world’s largest (Francis, 2017). The birth of General Motors coincides with the growth of the American manufacturing industry. General Motors was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, who was also the company’s first president. The business essentially merged several firms, including Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland, and other lesser-known brands today. The inability to innovate was a significant factor in the demise of Historic General Motors. Innovation is how an organization’s management team is tasked with adding new products, ideas, concepts, methodology, or even a fabrication to help with technical risks and production. The company’s failure to invent. These improvements were required to keep Old GM competitive and ensure that the firm could produce vehicles that met the needs of its customers. In an organization, an act or failure to act by an individual has some consequences. In the case of General Motors, the people who should be blamed for the collapse of the company include the general managers for their greed and lack of oversight. However, the lack of innovation is an aspect that should be blamed on the project management team for their inability to plan and focus on the future. Their inability to comprehend and plan for the cutthroat competition and a shift in technology consumption led the company to collapse.

Automation is an essential aspect of any organization in the current market. Many organizations turn to automation as a technique that enables them to save on labor costs. Like many organizations, General Motors also sought to take advantage of robotic engineering that would cut costs on its ever-growing human capital cost. The company went ahead to make a $5 billion investment in the automated programs in 1980, which ultimately became a disaster in the eyes of critiques. One of the reasons why the automated program failed was the lack of a comprehensive planning process in the initial stage. The planning stage of project management ensures that project managers have the time to look at the entire project holistically and determine the kind of needs a project would solve. General Motors’ focus on robotic plans was an impulsive response to competition and the burgeoning human capital cost. The company also failed to ensure a comprehensive supporting resource and infrastructure available that would ensure the success of its robotic plan. Adopting a long-term view on the viability of the company’s automation plan, I think the project was viable since it would have ensured the company reduces the budget required to hire, train, and support the human workforce at its disposal. Other costs accrued under supporting human resources, such as medical cover schemes and retirement pension schemes, would have been eliminated through robotics.

Discussion 3

The primary job of any government in the world is to ensure that it has protected its citizens and ensure that it protects and represents the interests of its citizens in the best way possible. As government representatives, congressmen and women are the primary custodians of the citizens’ interests. In their duty several years ago, congress saw it fit to cancel the funding of the production of an electric battery which would have seen a complete revolution in the Motor industry. The primary purpose why congress had to cancel the budget on the production of such a revolutionary invention was to favor the production and retail of petroleum-based products, which has a more significant economic value on the citizens and the government at large due to revenues through taxes and job creation. Therefore, the government had to forgo an invention due to the economic status of the status quo.

 The advantage of such an act by congress is that it allowed the companies that continued to produce diesel and petroleum engines to continue reaping profits through their continued existence. It also guaranteed a proven stream of revenues for the government through the taxation of petroleum-related products and government interests in petroleum production. The process also ensured that those working within the petroleum production and supply chain continued to reap their benefits while also having a secured source of income.

The disadvantage of the act by congress a few years ago was that it negatively impacted the environment. Continued reliance and usage of petroleum products increases carbon dioxide production and leads to the atmosphere, which are the major contributors to global warming. The continued production and reliance on petroleum products also increases the level of insecurity and terrorism in the world. It is a fact that some of the companies with interest in the petroleum production and supply chain, especially those operating from the war-torn middle east countries, are the biggest financiers of terrorism groups in that region who act as protectors of these companies’ interest in those regions. If I was a software developer and then my project is put abruptly on hold the questions, I would have for the management include: what economic consideration did you have before making that decision? Why was I not involved during the discussion? After absorbing the shock, I will not completely abandon my idea as it would be meaningful to someone else in the future.

References

Shtub, A., & Globerson, S. (2006). Project management: Processes, methodologies, and economics.

Francis, A. (2017, December 20). Case Study: The Decline and Fall of General Motors. MBA Knowledge Base. Retrieved from