BBA 3626 Unit VII Assessment

BBA 3626 Unit VII Assessment

QUESTION 6

Project closing can have a significant impact on the members of the project team. Describe the approach you would take to address the needs of your team members during this difficult period in the life of the project.

After a project has closed, project managers have a very important job to do as part of their post-project activities. During this difficult time, it is essential for project managers to expeditiously update the personnel records of team members, provide each member with honest feedback and recommendations for further development or changes, and to provide notification of any issues that were spotted during the project (Kloppenborg, 2015). “Wise project managers know it is not just ethical to treat their members well; if a project manager develops a reputation for taking good care of team members, it becomes much easier to recruit team members for future projects” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p, 430). As a project manager is this situation, the approach that I would use, would involve the above criteria as well as aiding team members and coworkers in securing their next assignment as it is considered to be one of the most important things that a project manager can do. Doing so may encourage workers to want to be a part of my team again in the future and they will tell others of their good experience of being part of my team. Along with these aspects, I would ensure that team members are awarded for their participation in a successful project and that their hard work is recognized (Kloppenborg, 2015). Recognizing and celebrating the hard work of team members may help them to realize the significance of their accomplishments and will motivate them to want to be a part of a successful team in the future.

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T. J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

QUESTION 7

Identify two actions a project manager can take to avoid terminating a project early. If these actions are not effective, how should the project manager approach an early termination?

In a perfect world, all projects would continue throughout their completion with all deliverables meeting the specifications and expectations set forth with customers being fully satisfied. However, this is not always the situation and projects do sometimes terminate early. Early termination can happen in a variety of ways for different reasons including through mutual agreement between parties, because one party has defaulted, or even simply for the convenience of the buyer (Kloppenborg, 2015). Though early termination is inevitable for some projects, “project managers can pursue two avenues to possibly head off early termination” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 424). For any project manager who has been serious and successful at managing stakeholder relationships, the first avenue may involve finding other stakeholders within the customer organization or elsewhere who may be able to provide the funds necessary to revive the project and to keep it viable, even if the project must be reduced in size. The second avenue a project manager can take to avoid terminating a project early is to perform a search internally to uncover ways of continuing with the project, but perhaps at a lessened price (Kloppenborg, 2015).

If these avenues are ineffective and the project is set to terminate early, project managers should approach the early termination with full honesty and timely communication with both their parent organization and with their team members. It is essential to inform team members as quickly as possible after the termination decision has been made and to let them know why the decision was made with utterly no unjust blame being placed (Kloppenborg, 2015). “It is absolutely unethical to have reputations and careers suffer for a termination where the impacted party was not at fault” (Kloppenborg, 2015, p. 425).

Reference:

Kloppenborg, T. J. (2015). Contemporary project management (3rd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.