Every person can be considered as a manager if although he only just conducts or manage a project in a small organization. According to Schwalbe, K. (2000), the world as a whole spends nearly $10 trillion of its $40.7 trillion gross product on projects of all kinds and more than 16 million people regard project management as their profession. A project will come out with step of the procedure to build something that can be beneficial to the organizations. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result, (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Project also can be considered done if the objective has been reached and it can be short or sometimes long duration time. According to Kemp, S. (2006), management can be known as control the situation when it comes to the problem with preparation in investigation, evaluation, planning and getting ready.
To make a project success, the organizations must have project management to realize it and solve the problem by time. According to Schwalbe, K. (2000), Successful project management means meeting all three goals like scope, time, and cost and satisfying the project’s sponsor. According to Kloppenborg, T. J. & Baucus, M. S. (2004), project management has become an important skill for employees as corporations and other organizations have begun organizing work in terms of projects conducted by teams of employees, intending to achieve specific outcomes for the organizations. In the PMBOK Guide (2008), it stated that project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. To compile with two definition of project management, it is related that good management of employees and applicant about knowledge and others is required to meet the success in the organization’s project.
Figure 1: The triple constraints of project management
2.0 Objectives
The objectives of this literature survey are discovering the observation that has been made between several sources:
1) To recognize the growing need among manager for using project management
2) To understand the role of the project manager by using project management
3) To converse the relationship between project, management and project management to make project successful.
4) To investigate the effect that a project manager’s level of optimism has on IT project success
3.0 Approach of literature survey
Successful project manager can be look at the strategy and how the problem can be solved. Related to the benefit of the using project management, SWOT analysis has been introduced. According to Schwalbe, K. (2010), strategic planning involve determining long-term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends and projecting the need for new products and services. This statement can be prove with another source that has been written by Wong, A. K., & Zhang, R. (2013) stated that SWOT analysis for Hong Kong real estate developers in the China market is to gain an insight into Hong Kong developers in China’s Market, SWOT analysis is adopted as a basic methodology.
Moreover, using SWOT analysis, the project management can classified the problem and solve it with accurately because human brain does not work in a linier fashion. So, it will come out with different decision. A manager can consider various method of the solution that can give advantage to the organization and apply it.
4.0 Benefit of using project management
According to Robertson, S., & Robertson, J. (2005), below are the show of observation of requirements practices that contribute to project success indicators (PSIs).
Figure 2: A number of observable indicators reveal the likelihood of a project being successful.
Project management is designed to help manager or people to prepare them for professional practice in the global economy. It will cause the teamwork to receive the increasing emphasizes from organizations. According to Picariello, G. (n.d.), the benefits of project management are serve everyone to involved in the project management process such as the manager who oversees the project, the client who anxiously awaits for the completed project and the production team which gets the project up and running. Project management is not rocket science, yet it often gets dressed up that way. Project management can be look like a set of tools. A roadmap can be gaze to enables managers to guide a project from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and do so in a way that demonstrates efficiency, cost-savings and plain creativity.
Moreover, Schwalbe, K. (2000) also has the opinion about benefit of using project management. Firstly is better control of financial, physical, and human resources. Regarding the skill to well manage the financial, a manager must to know how to control the allocation of budget. It is to avoid from over spend or waste spend in the not important thing. Control physical staff and human resources can meet the efficiency work done among staff. A manager must know how to appreciate their staff and it can increase their skill. Secondly, a manager must to improved customer relations. This is the one of the important path in the project because customer is person that can upgrade the organizational ranking. More the customer resembling about the product, it can be consider as a good project management.
Thirdly is a shorter development time. As a good manager, he must know how to show their staff with the good service and excellent development project. Less the time line of the project, it will consider good management and many stakeholders will trust the organization. Next is a lower cost. Usually, the user will choose the product with less cost from high cost. Nowadays, with the exposition of variety product, it will increase the competitor. Without excellent manager, the organization will lose a lot of amount otherwise it can be save and do something more advantage to the organization. Sixthly is higher quality and increased reliability. Each organization should have their own quality of work that should follow by each of the staff. The project will success complete and upgrade the quality of the project.
In addition, a higher profit margin is one of the benefits of using project management. The reports of the organization will should success or fail the project based on report about profit margin. The more it will make high advantage. Eighthly is improved productivity. The motivation that gives by project manager will affect the staff. They will have spirit based on the way how a manager manages the project. Lastly is better internal coordination. A manager that have good in project management, they will hire staff that have a good quality in work and high spirit in project. With that attitude, the project manager can get a high quality of project.
According to Smith, D., Bruyns, M., & Evans, S. (2011), he has his own opinion regarding benefit of using project management like investigate the effect that a project manager’s level of optimism has on IT project success and investigate the effect that a project manager’s stress management has on IT project success.
Several authors have surveyed project managers and conducted extensive literature searches to learn about essential project management skills, (Smith, K. A., & Imbrie, P. K., 2007). According to Pinto, J. K., & Kharbanda, O. P. (1995), there are several lists the following necessary for effective projects manager such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning such as work breakdown, project scheduling and knowledge of project managements software. The organizing can be look like team building, establish team structure and defining team policy. For leading skill such as motivation, conflict management and interpersonal skill. Lastly is controlling. For controlling like project review techniques, meetings skills and project close-out techniques.
4.0 Discussion
4.1 Factors
According to Palmer, E. (2014), there are five factors that lead to successful project such as smart people, smart planning, open communication, careful risk management and strong project closer. Firstly is a smart person to completely falling apart. In the organizational team, there are should have good strategy and plan among team member to make a project success with efficiently. They need to face serious trouble to present an excellent result. Following is smart planning. A manager should have competed skill among other’s competency in order to gain more successful and market the product in the international. A manager also should in a right track to produce a good clear documentation of milestones and deliverables will make things much easier as the project progresses.
Thirdly is open communication. Warmly and easy going is a good attitude in a manager to provide good project. They should listen to the opinion among their staff in order to get excellent result to solve the problem. Next is careful risk management. Project manager should know a risk that can affect their project and have backup planner about it. Lastly is strong project closer. The team member should have strong relationship each other to get potential to continue in critical success factors. They can solve the problem together.
Based on my observation between several authors, the factors for a project to be success are based on the manager and time management according to excellent project management in the organization. Both of this factor can make the project success or sometimes different. It can be consider by the user and stakeholders itself about the project.
4.2 Similarities
Benefits of project management have been classified by many authors and it has several similarities between them. The similarities can be shown by Picariello, G. (n.d), Schwalbe, K. (2000) and Smith, D., Bruyns, M., & Evans, S. (2011) classified that manager’s attitude, staff talented and effectiveness management are the key to make the project completely success.
Manager’s attitude is the one of the benefit in project management that motivated the workers or staff to work in effectiveness and efficiency. A manager should know how to get strength among their staff and the strategies to use in order to overcome the entire problem. Moreover, some of the managers have knowledge outside their field such as engineering work although their core field is financial organization. A manager can have extra chance to upgrade the organization based on the knowledge. The organization can classify as high standard based on the services and broad field.
Next is staff talented. Staff that involve in the project should identify overall about the project. It is to make them work out of the box such as some problem occur and need immediately solutions. This time required staff critical thinking before a manager come and solves it. This kind of staff is diamond in the organization because can fast act before more loss.
Lastly is effectiveness management. This is the main point of similarities benefit of using project management. The work flow will smoothly happened without hard trouble if a manager can estimated what can happened. The productivity of work can be measured by the result and how long the product in the market. More longer time it will get more positive impact.
4.3 Difference
Differentiation can be classified in benefit of using project management between Picariello, G. (n.d) and Smith, D., Bruyns, M., & Evans, S. (2011). According to Picariello, G. (n.d), benefit in using project management is the clients who nervously wait for their project to be success. It is different with Smith, D., Bruyns, M., & Evans, S. (2011) that do not have benefit in user but only classified about management’s investigation, strategies and how to overcome the solution.
This two author have their own reason why important user and management. Based on my opinion, Picariello, G. (n.d) is include user in the benefit of project management because user is the one part that organization can know how success their project to others. User is no compromise and the result comes from good dealing and excellent product. Without that, the organization never know patch in the broken.
In other hand, Smith, D., Bruyns, M., & Evans, S. (2011) only use strategies management in their benefit of using project management is the time line and work flow happened based on planning. Time in the management field is very important and waste only one minute can be consider as loss about thousand ringgit. Moreover, It will success if excellent management have in the organization. Effective communications in management will cause all of the staff know their work and each responsibilities can produce excellent team member. They will do their work without protest.
Both of the user or clients that seriously wait for their product and effective management in the organization can be collaborate and produce one of the harmonies in management field. A manager must to consider both part which is user part and management part. So, it will light and the product will full fill both criteria.
4.4 Unique
Based on my observation in the various sources, the uniqueness that has in benefit of using project management is a manager can have their own experience in order to handle the critical problem. These experiences never appear without do some project. With that, a manager will learn how to do planning, investigation, solve problem and do time line project.
Moreover, project management teaches a manager to have their own skill in management because with that they can learn from mistake. If a manager only follow the guideline without thinking outside of the box, maybe the project only point at the same level. Never upgrade and never have braved to try new thing.
5.0 Conclusion
In the conclusion, benefits of using project management in the organization not only affect the product but also the entire organizations include management skill in time, product and critical thinking. Moreover, staff is the people who collaborate in overall project from beginning until last. It is important to have knowledgeable staff and committed in their work. Sometimes, the staffs only have one of that. So, the rest must to increase from time to time. A manager should know how to handle all kind of situation otherwise it relate to staff or the user.
In addition, the management time is good but have to delay the project because of some exchange relate to the content and design itself. So, backup plan must to prepare and solve it immediately to avoid higher loss in organization. Lastly, a manager should have knowledge about project management skill to increase the productivity and upgrade their organization’s level.