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Role of Project management in the growth of an organization
Project management is the field of planning, executing, measuring and controlling the various jobs related to a project that aims at achieving specific and defined goals. A project has defined metric and success criteria and the aim of project management is to achieve the completion of tasks that will result in achieving those success criteria. The goals which are part of a project are unique, well defined, measurable, controllable and time constrained in nature. They are often also constrained by financial resources or funds. It is a specialised job that requires expertise in project management. There are project management courses available in business schools and also on online education portals that can prepare a professional for the role of a project manager.
Any organization’s ultimate aim is to maximise the profits for its stakeholders. For this the organization strategizes and plans its activities to the minutest detail. However, without good execution, a strategy however great will fail. The ability to execute is critical to the success of any organization. In fact, great execution can also fill up the gaps in poor planning. Project management is all about the perfect planning and execution of the organizational projects.
Big organizations invest on project management as they realise its criticality in their processes. The complexity of their processes requires the organizations to invest in project management. In smaller level organizations, the task of project management largely rests on the shoulders of IT management or on the service line. In large organization, there are multiple functions and business units. A single project may run across various processes across functions and business verticals. That leads to parts of the project being led by various managers of different processes. This leads to a lack of alignment in the project. Different managers are responsible for different areas and there is no single consolidated view of the project. It may also result in the project not getting sufficient attention from the managers. Project management brings all the various elements together under one head. Hence, project management is important to enable consolidation of business efforts for the common good.
In all kinds of projects, it is advisable to remove the project away from its individual project constituents, to a dedicated project manager. A project manager is responsible for the successful completion of the entire project and not its individual parts. His entire timeline is dedicated to the cause of the project he is handling. His primary responsibility is to move the project forward instead of putting out the daily fires – a task accomplished by the managers of individual processes within a project. A project manager is also useful because he is at the centre of the project. As such, he is aware of all the elements at work and keeps them aligned. Due to the nature of the work, a project manager has to be a self-starter and have good people skills. He should have strong work ethics and have the ability to think critically. He should be able to work during times of transition and ambiguity. In essence, he can keep the project running like a well-oiled machinery.
However, for smaller organizations who cannot hire a project manager, all is not lost. Project management is possible without a project manager as well. Such organizations can gain from a structured approach that project management provides.
Project management is a key element of success in any organization that utilises information technology and a good system. Together with technology, project management allows an organization to be focused while saving both time and money. It also spurs a culture of innovation and brings in diverse approaches to solve local needs. Project management is useful for any organization, irrespective of its size or type. It has a broad range of scope as it be applied to an organization of any structure. However, it must be remembered that project management can bring in superior execution within the organization only when it is applied along with information technology tools and techniques.
The main challenge of project management lies in achieving the desired goals within the given time constraints. The key areas of achievement and other information critical to the project are usually mentioned in the project documentation. Documentation is created right from the beginning of the project. The main constraints in project management are that of time, scope, quality and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimise the available resources and applying them to meet the objectives.
Without a clear definition of project goals and available resources, project management cannot establish correct decision making and it hampers the end objectives of the project. With the clarity provided by project management principles, an organization can achieve the project objectives within the given constraints feasibly.
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