How to Improve Learning in Bachelor Students - Research Proposal Example

Ali Adeh Ali Nancy David (your Sociology 400 27 November 2009 How to Improve Learning in Bachelor’s Students Abstract This paper will deal with all vital information necessary to help Bachelor Students in Project Management Department understand the importance of project implementation strategies through portfolio management. Most of the pieces of information explained in this paper will be gathered from extensive literature review as presented below. The significance of this is to lay bare all the procedures the students should be aware of. Introduction If the university is imagined to be like a big organization, it is possible to map out implementation strategies for Bachelor’s students as they learn how to carry out portfolio management. This paper attempts to explain how college curriculum could be improved to help Bachelor’s students under the main idea behind their studies. Normally, large organizations utilize certain strategies as they implement their project management procedures. In this same way, this proposal will educate Bachelor’s students the right way to go about doing their portfolio management. Research Questions The following are the research questions analyzed in this paper: (I) What areas of portfolio management do the Bachelor’s students need to know more about in the process of learning about project management? (II) How could their college curriculum be improved Ali 2 to reflect a well-rounded education on portfolio management? (III) What are the typical roles of the components in a project management? That is, the Project Manager, the engineers, the field workers etc. (IV) How could Bachelor’s students utilize the knowledge outlined in the improved curriculum for their learning? Literature Review A firm can handle one project or multiple projects at the same time, and the important thing is that such a firm undergoes similar project management processes. What a Bachelor’s student needs to understand are all these procedures necessary in successfully managing portfolio. Even though most of the contents in this paper are suggestive recommendations that could be utilized in improving the curriculum of Bachelor’s students, however it also explains the important roles or functions of project managers and other components of project management. The first thing is that the Bachelor’s student should first of all see himself as a Project Manager (Lewis 24). Therefore, he would need to carry out the following roles of a Project Manager: Managing the project (s) is the sole duty of the project manager (bachelor’s student), and this involves series of activities, including planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of a project. These activities are analyzed step-by-step below: (I) Planning: A project manager needs to plan ahead some important things about the project: Like he/she would have to inspect the location for the project; he/she would have estimate the overall cost of the projects; he/she would have to arrange about the recruitment process for the experts that would work on the project; he/she would need to quantify any unforeseen problems that may occur during the execution of the projects. The planning stage is very crucial to the success of the entire project, and this is why project managers should pay serious attention to details, documentation and communication (Lewis 31) Ali 3 (II) Execution: This is the next stage in project management: the project manager would put all his/her resources together by manipulating the workers and other parties that would work on the project in order to make it a success. Executing projects requires that the project manager (bachelor’s student) exhibits a high-level judgment in putting the right energy in the right area, and removing wastages and avoidable excesses. (III) Monitoring: The project manager (bachelor’s student) should spend most of his/her time to monitor the projects in the course of execution. During monitoring, it is possible to detect some strategic faults that needs quick fixing. Many errors and faults occur in the course of working on a project, it is the duty of the project manager (bachelor’s student) to identify the sources of the errors and do everything possible to eliminate it. The success of a project depends on how much time the project manager spends on checking the facts and rules about the project. (IV) Control: It takes seriousness for any project to be successfully completed: in this way, the project manager should exercise his/her authority and control all the activities of the parties involved in the project. These parties might be engineers, builders, carpenters, architects and so on. What is actually important is the possibility of guaranteeing that the final project will be good of high quality ever. Once the project manager makes a big mistake of not following all the procedures required for the execution of the projects, in such circumstances, there might be some failures owing to improper working procedures (Lewis 100). (V) Closure of a project: this is the final step in project (portfolio) management: this is when a project manager feels that a project had been completed when all objectives and expectations have been fulfilled. It is the time the project manager looks at his work and feels happy to have managed such a project. What is important in closure of a project is that the project manager would have checked all the important features of the project and realized none has been forgotten and mistakenly left uncompleted. At this time, the project manager can hold the final Ali 4 meetings with all the people involved in the project and encourage them to review the final project in order to detect if there are any areas that require improvements or not. Some engineers might suggest removing some parts of the project or even recommend that the project be extended from its current plan. However, it is not enough to plan, execute, monitor, control and close a project, there are some necessary attributes a project manager should have in order to make the project successful (Lewis 140). Some of these characteristics include: (a) Challenge-loving: Most successful project managers did not see their projects as difficult things they need to do in order to earn their salaries: however, most perceived their jobs as a great challenge to their experiences and education. They see a project as “a baby” that requires some cares and pamper. They work at their projects with all their minds, and never ever entertain any thoughts of failure in their assignments. This character reveals determination and willingness to succeed. It shows the desire to turn unknown situation into a winning one. Everyone understands that executing a project, no matter its size, depends on showing good attitude towards the job. In this way, every project manager should possess great determination, in addition to their skill and education. A failed project manager may have education and skill, but if he/she lacks a strong character to work toward success, he may not be able to successfully execute a project. (b) Clear Description of Functions: it is important that all the functions that would be undertaken in the course of a project be clearly outlined before the commencement of the project (Lewis 144). The purpose of this is to utilize the principle of division of labor, whereby an expert handles each of the project execution process so as to end up in complete such. But in the absence of this, there would definitely be mistakes and errors due to experts doing the wrong assignments. This would also lead to time wastage, as workers, engineers, laborers would be spending their time doing the wrong job at the right time. Once everyone has been assigned what to do, each expert can take responsibility for any Ali 5 mistake that comes from that assignment. (c ) Organizational structure: Sometimes, project managers have discovered that a typical organization structure which successfully worked for a project may not necessarily work for another (Lewis 144). Hence, the organizational chart must be designed in a way that it is directed only at making the experts work successfully on a project. Arranging the organization in an efficient way will prevent overlapping of duties, which if left uncontrolled, may result in time-wasting and the creation of more problems. Take for instance, an engineer in charge of civil construction may be wrongly placed on an organizational structure to handle works related to chemical engineering. This kind of arrangement would not lead to success. (d) Timeliness: One issue that most project managers understand they should not joke with is timeliness: It is always true that every project involves series of activities. For example, to make a concrete floor, there is time allotted for sieving the sand, mixing sand and cement, pouring out the mixture and letting the concrete dry. If the time needed for mixing sand and cement is wasted, it is going to affect the time to let the concrete dry or time to do other activities. Also, the project managers should know the right time to order the beginning of the project; he/she should know when to begin monitoring of the project; he/she should know when the order the closure of the project. When a project has a timeline for completion, it means that each minute is very important, and the project managers should recognize that the importance of monitoring a project is to make sure that things like time, conformity to the standard, and orderliness are taken care of so that the project can close successfully. Many projects almost reach their completion status when they are faced with acute shortage of time. In this case, one can prove that the project manager might have been slack about keeping to time. In such a situation, the project may need to be rushed: and rushed projects often have some serious problems at the end of the day. It may happen that a process has been mistakenly overlooked or badly done. Ali 6 The Problems Affecting Project Management In the course of project management, many problems often show up: some of these problems can be solved before the commencement of the project or during the execution of the project. However, in some instances that these problems are not quickly known, they may cause serious damage to the overall appeal of the final project. Hence, these problems commonly affect project management as recorded in several case studies: (I) Budgeting: Financial calculations of how much a project would cost are normally helpful in determining the exact cost for the whole project. It is very advisable that project managers, working with accountants, must lay out the precise project cost. This should be done in a way that it takes into consideration some vital issues like inflation, hike in prices of commodities, unexpected cost and so on (Lewis 2). Knowing how much a project would cost beforehand helps to project how to save money or cut cost. This kind of activity always comes up during the planning stage. A project that lacks pre-execution budgeting in place may suddenly face financial problems possibly midway to its execution. This is why project managers should take this step quite seriously. Whenever money problems come up during a project execution, if there is no alternative to keep the project going, this may surprisingly lead to incomplete closure of the project. In a situation where the project under construction is the 1st face of a series of projects, this may cause delay in the execution of the rest projects. (ii) Size of the projects: Sometimes project managers discover that the size of the project under execution is gradually increasing: that is, the workload is increasing (Lewis 7). This may happen in a situation whereby some weather problems or natural disaster occurred and caused the project’s scope to expand. At that point in time, the project managers would know immediately that the project is facing serious problems. Likewise, it is possible for a project’s size to suddenly increase due to the effects of mismanagement. If a project manager does not do his/her homework very well, he/she Ali 7 might have underestimated the extent of the project. And it is only a matter of time for the actual size or scope of the project to be released. (iii) Skill and Unskilled Labor: While executing a project, having a bad organizational structure that awards responsibilities to the workers illogically may cause some serious problems. For example, if a technician is given the job meant for a qualified engineer, such a mistake could lead to poor project quality (Lewis 26). And this could waste a lot of time that could have been committed into executing the project. Putting the wrong worker in the right position can also cause some site accidents, because the wrong worker may not have enough knowledge about the precautions that should be taken while carrying out such an assignment. And once there is a trouble somewhere, it will be spread to other sections in no time. (iv) Human Relations Management: A project manager works with human beings to accomplish his/her mission. To succeed, the project managers should have robust relationship with the people he/she works with. Constant argument and fights could cause the project to be delayed or permanently halted. In this way, the project manager can, for sure, understand that his efforts have woefully failed. Good human relationship brings out the best from the people as they are happy and willing to contribute their quotas to the success of the project undertaken. Uncoordinated actions from the project manager may discourage the workers he is dealing with. But when a project manager demonstrates gracefulness and the habit of appreciating every act of hard work, such a project manager would be successful in controlling the people working with him. How to Become A Successful Project Manager The points highlighted below are crucial for anyone who wants to become a successful and goal-oriented project manager (Lock 15): (I) Education: In order to acquire enough knowledge about the job of a project manager, it is helpful to go to the higher institution and study Estate Management/ Project Ali 8 Management/Urban Development Studies. These fields of studies would prepare anyone that would like to become a good project manager with enough knowledge. This is actually the basic requirement to work for big construction companies. There are several courses designed to teach all areas of project management, including lessons on project finance and budgeting, project management, project processes, Human Relations Management, Statistics and fundamental knowledge in accounting, and legal affairs course. (ii) Practical Experience: There is no way to acquire practical experience except actually working on a construction site for some time. A pragmatic project manager might have spent years working for a construction firm and learning the rules and guidelines of the trade. By doing this, it is possible to identify the sensitive areas of project management, like the budgeting, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing of projects. Even though someone may have studied about all these issues at the higher institution, having a firsthand experience of how things are done is great. Individual practical experience may differ from one another because of the levels of exposure: a project manager who has worked for a big construction company may have acquired more down-to-earth knowledge than someone who has only worked for a small construction firm. The difference in their levels of experience may be bridged by attending conferences, seminars and workshops where important issues about project management are often discussed in meetings or through open discussion sessions. (iii) Personal Motivation: To be an outstanding project manager, someone needs to possess a strong character that reveals confidence and good human relationship. It requires nice human relationship to be able to connect with the other workers and encourage them to work harder. Whenever a project manager comes short of expectation by engaging in selfish behavior, such a manager would only succeed in causing constant disagreement and quarrel among the workers he/she works with. But smooth communication skill may increase worker’s loyalty to the project manager; and this would help the execution of the project to be successful. A project Ali 9 manager should be a goal-getter; he/she should never entertain doubts about his/her ability; he/she should demonstrate the willingness to listen to problems and quickly find solutions to them. Above all, the project manager should fill his/her mind with the perfect picture of the final project. He/she should always fantasize about a great outcome of all his day-to-day efforts (Lock 54).. Bachelor’s Students and the Processes of Learning about Project Management Imagine that Bachelor’s students are project managers, it is important that they learn about all the facts and highlights presented above. They should familiarise themselves with the main attributes of an exceptionally good project manager. They should study about the major problems that could make a project to end up in absolute failure. They should learn about the qualities a successful project manager needs to have. They need to analyse the requirements for executing projects successfully. They need to turn themselves into great project managers by being personally motivated and ready to demonstrate good human relationship (Heerkens 44). Possible Outcomes The possible outcomes of this project may including highlighting the important features of portfolio management and explaining how it could be better carried out. Project management is a process that requires serious acts of management, starting from the selection of the project manager, who must be astute, educated and experienced, and who is ready to approach his/her duty with adequate skill. The project manager should develop three kinds of approaches, as far as the project is concerned (Lewis 44). First, vision: the project manager should envision how he/she wants the project to end. This includes thinking a lot about what would be the outcomes of his/her actions. Second, mission: it is the duty of the project manager to map out the processes he/she is going to adopt in carrying out all his functions of planning, execution, monitoring, controlling and closing of the project. Third, goal: the project manager’s goal should include meeting the deadline, maintaining comfortable working environment for all the Ali 10 workers, and safeguarding the quality and standard of the projects under execution. The Bachelor’s students should be aware of all these facts as they study to acquire more knowledge in their respective fields of study. Therefore, a university can be compared with a construction company, where Bachelor’s students treat their studies like project. And to successfully complete these projects, they need to be pragmatic, knowledgeable and possessing good personal qualities that would make them pass their studies brilliantly (Heerkens 85). Suggestions for Future Research The project management is a widespread subject that may range from huge construction works to building refurbishing and floor cleaning. It requires constant researching to arrive at the best approach about portfolio management. In whatever circumstance, to be successful, the project must be timely carried out. It must conform to the standard requirements. And the project manager should work hard in seeing to it that no problems are allowed to show up and disturb the smooth execution of the project. So, research are still needed to improve the areas outlined above. Bachelor’s students, as well as other students could spend a great deal of their time analyzing the effects of other variables in influencing the outcomes of a project management program. Works Cited (References) Heerkens, Gary. Project Management: 24 Steps to Help You Master Any Project. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2007. Print. Lewis, James. Fundamentals of Project Management. New York, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2007. Lock, Dennis. Project Management. Surrey: Gower Publishing Ltd., 2007. Print. Read More