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Showing posts from July, 2019

Why do we need to adhere to standards?

Cost and time are very essential to every project and its success however, standard compromise could cause a project set back which could incur more cost than budgeted on the project and even waste more time than necessary. Standards are measure, or model in comparative evaluations set to prevent excesses or inequalities. In project management, “project planning standards defined project activities and address the specific requirements of individual projects” (Finn, 2019). Suffice to mention that “Stakeholders are all those who need to be considered in achieving project goals and whose participation and support are crucial to its success” (Project Management, 2018). At the project planning phase, identification of stakeholders, analysis of their interest and effective communication to them and everyone directly or indirectly involved in the project is crucial as it helps maximize success and reduce risks. Project success depends on effective communication as it helps to define and clea

Why an impact analysis is important?

Yes, I agree with the statement of the question above. The ‘hidden cost’ reminds me of the quote “if you think it is expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur”. “A better adherence to the standards” means the professionals have responsibilities to complete the project within its ‘budget’. As stated by Finn Orfano (n.d.) the standards point to the project planning standards is such a guidance that contains specific requirements of individual projects, such as thoroughgoing goals and objectives, budget and schedule, to ascertain all the team members could identify and comply it effectively and efficiently, including risk management standards with the purpose of minimizing disruptions and ensuring the smooth process (Orfano, nd.). Michelle LaBrosse (2010) mentioned when the project is guided by standards, it means the professional team members are having a commitment to follow the rules and regulations that are stated in the agreement. Furthermore,

Can innovative people be also people that understand, apply and adhere to standards?

I do agree that following standards, taking all stakeholders in mind and having efficient communications with all parties involved in the mentioned issue would have avoided the catastrophe. Following standards is crucial for any project. The fact that the project manager didn’t follow the rules and didn’t get any permits for his work lead to the spillway compromising and the catastrophic after that. All of that could have been avoided if a certified project manager was taking the lead as he would have followed the rules, knew the nature of the project land and at the end avoided any harm for any of the stakeholders. Talking about the stakeholders, certified project managers takes into account all stakeholders of the project and tries to weigh all stakeholders impact of the projects. Finally, projects managers are good communicators by nature, they are used to communicate with each party and ask all the tough questions to make sure that the project is on the right track. I do agree as w

How to address stakeholder?

Stakeholders Internal stakeholders for this project include students, the teachers, and the school administrators. They would all need to be partners in some way to make the project work. External stakeholders would be parents, tax payers, local government and private investors. These subjects would also need to be partners in order for the project to be successful. Committees For internal stakeholders, there should be a committee that addresses issues that arise on a daily basis due to the new initiative. Internal stakeholders will be directed affected and will have their own particular concerns over the duration of the project. Students can use this committee to express any learning difficulties or environmental changes that can come as a result of the classroom consolidation. Teachers will be able to discuss new challenges in the classroom due to the project with the committee, who will be responsible for creating solutions. The school administration can also use this committee to a

How to involve stakeholders?

Strategy management is a process that requires the ability to manage change (Ketchen, 2012, page 38). This essay is about the role of internal and external stakeholders in project management. This explains why it’s important to involve and to communicate. Keywords: Internal & exernal factors, Strategic Management, Decision-making process, Transparency. We leverage the example of a school which wants to consolidate classes to save on teachers’ wages. We first list the stakeholders and their arguments. We then explain how we integrate the different stakeholders into the strategic management process. Last, we propose a solution that seems optimal. Stakeholders review and main arguments First of all, there are four internal stakeholders: 1) pupils. While they won’t benefit from lower taxes unless their parents somehow reinvest the savings into extra activity (cultural, sportive or private teacher), they would be directly impacted by classes’ consolidation. Indeed, this means less focus

Strategic management

Strategic management can be defined as an inclusive process that requires the ability to manage change (Ketchen, 2012). Each word is important. First thing first, this is a process. This means that different steps are undertaken over a period of time to set and plan the strategy for the year to come or for the coming years. This also means that year after year, the process serves as a framework to guide the thinking, to set milestones or to sort roles within the organization. Moving to inclusive, this means that several stakeholders should be involved in the process. This would of course change from an organization to another. Yet, all functions are generally incorporated in the planning process. There might have a business planning or strategy & insights department that leads and coordinates the process. Alternatively, someone may be assigned and should engage and energize the different functions behind the strategic process. Whichever option, many functions are engaged. Top manag

how strategic management applies to a variety of organizations

Ferrari is a well-known luxury sports car manufacturer. In this discussion, I am going to discuss its strategy using Mintzberg 5 Ps of strategy. The 5 Ps of strategy is meant to cover and articulate the broad subject of strategy (Ketchen & Short, 2012). It is useful in analyzing strategies, as shown below: - Strategy Analysis Plan Ferrari new plan for the 2018-2022 period is to produce 15 new models that are mainly hybrid cars and an SUV (Flak & Rebaudo, 2018). Ferrari CEO stated that "not everyone who loves Ferrari loves driving sports cars" (LILLI, 2018, para. 2). Therefore, management are trying to capitalize on the Ferrari brand to sell more cars to other consumers while remaining true to the Ferrari spirit. Poly Current hybrid cars are silent when it comes to exhaust sounds. Ferrari is a leader in sports cars that enjoys an appealing sport sound of their vehicles. So, how can Ferrari enter the world of fully electric and hybrid e

Why strategy is important?

Will Kenton (2019) defines strategic management as the management of an organization’s resources in order to achieve its goals and objectives. Included in strategic management are goal setting, analysis of the competitive environment, analysis of the internal organization, consistent evaluation of strategies, and proper roll out of strategies organization-wide by management. Ketchen & Short (2012) provide plenty of examples of strategic management which include various ancient, traditional, and modern organizations and situations. In addition, it is further explained that creativity is essential in strategic management, which ultimately is part art and part science and involves multiple conceptualizations of strategy based on recent on historical events and situations (Ketchen & Short, 2012). It can also be argued that flexibility and adaptation are essential as a part of strategic management, as strategies will evolve and new strategies will emerge for organizations based on t

What is Strategy and what is Strategic Management?

The general sentiment within strategy texts, as seen in Esmaeili, (2015) and Ketchen, & Short, (2012) for instance, is that there is no single definition of strategy as it is a complex process. However, strategic management deals with the choice of plans, decisions and actions that management make in order to influence the success of an organization (Ketchen, & Short, 2012). Strategy is therefore the complex mix of the appropriate and correct decisions and actions built into the plan that an organization aims to use for its success. In trying to mitigate the complexity of defining strategy, the Canadian management scientist, Henry Mintzberg developed the 5P’s model of strategy, as a model for the effective development of strategy by considering various aspects and possible approaches from different angles and perspectives, guided by the Ps (Basin, 2018). Basin (2018) outlines the five Ps as follows: Plan - an organizational plan on how to use its strengths, weaknesses, opportu

Why Strategic management is important?

Strategic management applies to organizations that have a monopoly over their industry and also organizations that have many similar competitors. For example, the United States Postal Service is the only entity authorized to deliver mail. However, they still need to employ strategy to combat the emergence of electronic mail and internet communication in general. This has taken the form of increased convenience features like tracking and "Informed Delivery" service that shows customers photo scans of what will be in their mailbox on any given day. Departing from their traditional model has proven to be a challenge, much like the FedEx example in Chapter 1 of Strategic Management (2012), because thieves have started to use the feature to steal credit cards (Ingram, 2019). Strategic management is especially important for companies that have many similar competitors like McDonald's or Dell. Each company has competitors who offer the same product for similar prices. Companies

what is strategic management?

Strategic management is a broad concept which can be generally defined as a process of making strategic decisions. What is strategy depends on your perspective. For some, it involves extensive business plans, for others, it may be a competitive advantage gained as a result of exclusive access to a coveted resource. As our reading suggests, there are five P’s in strategic management, not to be confused with five Ps in marketing. These strategic P’s include business Plans, strategic Ploy, a repeatable Pattern which provides a business some advantage, the company’s Position in the industry, and strategic Perspective (Ketchen & Short, 2012). Literally, no successful organization can survive without a strategic plan in place. No matter how unlikely and spontaneous its’ story may seem, you can be assured there is a very well thought out business plan behind its success. The well known social network, Facebook, which claims to have evolved organically based on what users wanted, was alway

Define strategic management

The Banaue rice terraces in Northern Luzon, Philippines are an example of ancient, traditional and modern strategic management. Settled in the Ifulgao mountains by the Batad indigenous people are thriving rice terraces that have been growing rice and vegetables for over 2,000 years. A spring at the top of the mountain fuels a reservoir that irrigates the terraces through dams, mud, stone and bamboo pipes. No modern equipment or chemicals have ever been used. Bare feet prepare the land. The terrace ‘paddies’ curve the contour of the mountain at differing widths as giant steps and if laid side to side would cover half the globe. The culture includes farmers who own one hectare of terraced land with intensive cultivation. The Ifulgao Rice Terraces were inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 as an outstanding model of sustainable land use with traditional knowledge-based technology. UNESCO recognized the living organically-evolved cultural landscape, sacred tradition