Individual - Videoconference - Assignment Example

Nilson D. David American Intercontinental Individual – Videoconference MGT 647 – Project Panning, Execution and Closure Individual – Videoconference May 17, 2014 Introduction Modern business faces stiff competition from the rival firms as they try to maximize their profits with the limited resources hence must find the right balance in the inputs to employ to improve the outputs, .as a result firms remain innovative and adopt modern technologies that increases efficiency at affordable costs so that they can compete and acquire a large market share. The company CEO thus have no choice but to be inventive on all features of the business operations. The project manager hence should develop the following innovations criteria to help them manage the project in a proper manner. The manager should be able to define the project success standards by identifying the various stakeholders involved which include those that are directly affected by the project, persons who sponsor the project implementation and the society at large (Journal, 2013). This will aid the business to upsurge its market share, meet the customer targets by attaining specific standards, the firm will also be able to increase its revenues since they can achieve the target sales while maintaining the customer satisfaction and keeping up with the industry and state standards. However the problem exist since some goals will be given more priority than others as there will be a trade-off of the choices. But the business goal must be decided since it is only rational to determine direct issues that will affect sales and improve revenue. Second, project manager should allow degree of freedom, project animators and decide on the restraints. Constraints are the limited resource available while the motivators are those factors that initiates a faster result of the project and freedom allows for adjustments during the project cycle (Charrel & Galarreta, 2007). This factor is advantageous to the company’s projects to be stretchy so that it can be successful. None the less, allowing too much flexibility may lead to wide deviations from the project objectives and should only be allowed at minimum levels. This factor has the rationale that if one direction is bound to fail, the manager can find other alternatives to remedy the situations while maintaining the project desires. Third, the manager should set achievable goals and avoid impossibilities. This is done by negotiations by consumers, managers of the organizations and all the staff members involved on the realistic targets to work on while keeping a good demand and forecast predictions about the future (Kerzner & Learning, 2013). This will enable the company to solve problems with ease, focus on interest and objectives and finding options for the project. However negotiations of the project goals may result to the unexpected threats to arise or new resources required during the project cycle that may increase the cost of project implementation and change its schedule. None the less forming decision based on the collective idea helps the manager to form a credible point of view on the goals of the project. Fourth, the manager should decompose tasks into mini nature i.e. it involves breaking the large tasks into small multiple activities to make work easier. This permits accuracy and decisions that otherwise the manager would not have realized and easier tracking of the job. This helps to reveal a more detail of the work to be done hence leading to accurate estimates of the project results (Kerzner & Learning, 2013). However, breaking work into a more elaborate process will result into the organization to spend more since it will require more labor force, resource inputs hence increasing the cost of the project. Thus the project activities should be done in a way that it does not hinder the planned project cost but one which is suitable and cost effective to the business. The manager should however adopt the Planio computer software in the project cycle. This is a software that helps to design and track the project online and consists of the following features (Stellman & Greene, 2008). It has a collective file management that is easily accessible to all the project heads, it automatically generates charts hence the manager can easily communicate to all the staffs and clients that are involved and can track- times under which the project is developing and its implementation. Planio software hence portrays traits that enables the manager to coordinate work activities at all levels with ease and the company should implement it as it would be more efficient since supervision and coordination costs will be greatly reduced. The software enables the manager to work from any place hence do not need to be present at the project site while the files are also updated since it can synchronize data with ease. Software makes each and every member involved in the project process to access information with ease hence improves customer service in the organization since all communications are in one central place (Phillips & Luckey, 2013). The new system also has strength in the product management to the company since information is passed with ease and all time available to the project managers. Planio does bring with it opportunities as for example, they make the company to be competitive in the market which increases sales leading to more revenues while also increasing knowledge to the management team. However, since there is no perfection, Planio software schedule does not usually allow flexibility which makes it difficult for the manager to adjust activities in case of problems which might make the organization not to achieve its objectives (Stellman & Greene, 2008). The cost of installation may also prove to be high which might increase the company prices for goods reducing their market share. Information might also be accessible to external source that may leak ideas and plans to competitors hence should be administered with care. None the less, the threats and weaknesses of the software acts as benefits to the organization. Minimizing flexibility will help the company to stick to its objectives and not deviating to unnecessary plans and ideas. This makes each manager to remain focused on the priorities making the organization to realize its goals. Moreover, the software enables the manager to acquire information from both the internal and external that can be used to counter the rival firms hence the company can expand its revenue and remain competitive. Conclusion Investing in the new technologies is thus key to the development of any company and must do so in the most appropriate costs that does not lead to too much deviations or increase the cost of production that increases prices making the organization to lose its market. Inventions are more efficient, faster in work production ensures quality and increases the production outputs that earns more income to the company. Implementing the innovations will help the project managers to stick with the objectives and remain within their budget since they will define the clear guidelines to be followed. References Kerzner, H. R., & Learning, I. I. (2013). Project management - best practices: Achieving global excellence. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Journal, P. M. (2013). Agile Project Management: Essentials from the Project Management Journal. Hoboken: Wiley. Charrel, P.-J., Galarreta, D., & International Workshop on Organisational Semiotics. (2007). Project management and risk management in complex projects: Studies in organizational semiotics. Dordrecht: Springer. Stellman, A., & Greene, J. (2008). Applied software project management. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly. Klein, R. (1999). Scheduling of resource-constrained projects. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Phillips, J., & Luckey, T. (2013). Software project management for dummies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Zak, D. (2011). An introduction to programming With C++. Boston, MA: Course Technology. Cruz-Cunha, M. M., Carvalho, V. H., & Tavares, P. C. A. (2011). Computer games as educational and management tools: Uses and approaches. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Lankoski, P. (2010). Character-driven game design: A design approach and its foundations in character engagement. Helsinki: Aalto University. Lester, A., & Lester, A. (2007). Project management, planning and control: Managing engineering, construction and manufacturing projects to PMI, APM and BSI standards. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More