Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions

Taking a systems view of a project means that you’re taking a step back to look at the entire scope of the project. It means you want to understand all the operations involved the project as well as how everything will work and function. It applies to project management because it allows you to have further understanding of a project and different scenarios that may occur which will lead to an overall better performance in project management.

1. What does it mean to take a systems view of a project? How does taking this view apply to project management?

Taking a systems view means looking at the big picture of how a particular project fits into the rest of the organization. It is important for project managers to understand the broader organizational environment to ensure their projects meet organizational needs.

2. Explain the four frames of organizations. How can they help project managers understand the organizational context for their projects?

The four frames of organizations are summarized below:

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Structural: deal with how the organization is structured and focus on roles and responsibilities. It’s important to understand these roles and responsibilities when dealing with project stakeholders, especially in procuring resources.

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Human resources: focuses on meeting the needs of the organization and its people. Project managers must understand various human resources policies and procedures.

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Political: addresses organizational and personal politics. Many project managers fail because they do not understand the political environment.

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Symbolic: focuses on symbols and meanings. It’s important to understand an organization’s culture, dress code, work ethic, and so on in managing projects.

3. Briefly explain the differences between functional, matrix, and project organizations.

Describe how each structure affects the management of the project.

Functional organizational have manager or vice president in specialties such as engineering manufacturing, information technology and so on. Their stuff have specialized skill in their respective disciplines. Project organization has project manager instead of functional manager reporting to the CEO. Matrix organization represent the middle ground between functional and project structure. Personnel often report to both a functional manager and one or more project managers. Project manager have the most authority in project organization structures followed by matrix and then functional.

4. Describe how organizational culture is related to project management. What type of culture promotes a strong project environment?

Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that characterize the functioning of an organization. This culture can definitely impact project management. For example if an organization values the project management and follow the guidelines, it much be easier to practice good project management. Project work is more successful in an organizational culture where employees identify more with the organization, where work activities emphasize groups and where there is strong unit integration, high risk tolerance, an open system focus, and a balanced focus on people, control and means orientation.

5. Discuss the importance of top management commitment and the development of standards for successful project management. Provide examples to illustrate the importance of these items based on your experience on any type of project.

Top management commitment and support is the number one factor associated with the success of information technology projects, according to “Extreme Chaos, 2001of textbook p.17. It’s very important to get and maintain this support. Top management can help project managers get adequate resources, approve unique project needs, and help get cooperation from other parts of the organization, and provide support as a mentor and coach to project managers.

6. What are the phases in a traditional project life cycle? How does a project life cycle differ from a product life cycle? Why does a project manager need to understand both?

A traditional project life cycle is a collection of project phases which include concept, development, and implementation and close out. The phase does not vary by project. Project life cycle vary tremendously based on the nature of the project. For example, the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) could follow the waterfall model, spiral model, incremental release model, prototype model, prototyping model, or RAD model. Using the general phases of the SDLC there could be a project to develop a strategic information system plan. Another project to complete a system analysis for a new system; another project to create a detailed database design; another to install new hardware or software; and another to provide new user training.

7. What makes IT projects different from other types of projects? How should project managers adjust to these differences?

IT project are different from others type of project because they can be very diverse in term of size and complexity, they often include team members with very diverse background and skills, and the technologies involve are diverse project manager should adjust to the differences by paying careful attention to the goals of the project and the needs of various stakeholders.

8. Define globalization, outsourcing, virtual teams, and agile project management, and describe how these trends are changing IT project management.

Globalization is everyone is connected and the same playing fields. Information technology is a key enabler of globalization. Outsource is when an organization acquires goods and/ or source from an outside source. The term off shoring is sometimes used to describe outsourcing from another country. A virtual team is a group of individuals who work across time and space using communication technologies. IT improving their enterprise architecture to ensure that infrastructure and business processes are integrated and standardized. IT projects become more familiar with negotiating contracts and many other issues, including working on and managing virtual teams.