Project and Change Management

Introduction

The organization has a project that has to be put in place and, therefore, it is necessary to decide on how the project will be managed in order to realize the intended change. This means that the project will be planned and a structure will be designed to enable the success of the project (Ibbs, Wong, & Kwak, 2001). Therefore, project management and change management are two things that go hand in hand because when one fails, the other one fails too. Project management involves the application of knowledge, skills, techniques and tools in the planning, execution, and controlling of a project in order to realize the goals of the project (Ibbs, Wong, & Kwak, 2001). Change management on the other hand involves the use of organizational tools to enable people to make successful personal transitions and realize that they have become better persons than before. As a result of this, the people are able to realize that some change has taken place. The whole process involves changing the current situation through a transition to the future through the use of both project and change management (Ibbs, Wong, & Kwak, 2001).

Project charter

For a particular project to be successful in an organization there must be a clear project charter that outlines the vision of the project, targets, range, organization and execution plan. The name of the project in this case is PMI’s training for Spurious employees and the vision of the project is to provide PMI course to employees within the organization to save on cost and resources (Harrington, Conner, & Horney, 2000). Since it is evident that most of the employees try to get training in this course from other institution but end up dropping out because of fatigue after work and spending time on traffic, it is suitable to offer the course at a free cost to them so that they can get a chance to realize their dreams. Moreover, offering the course under the management of the organization will ensure that all the services offered are of high quality and that the needs of the employees are met (Harrington, Conner, & Horney, 2000). This is because the organization is using its money to pay for the training and therefore it is going to ensure that it gets the value of its money and resources. This will also make the coordination of work and training easier because one will not have to travel from the work place to the training center which at times is very far from the organization. This training program targets the employees of Spurious employees, both the senior and junior ones who are interested in taking the course (Harrington, Conner, & Horney, 2000).

There is a given minimum and maximum range of employees who are expected to enroll. The minimum number is 30 and the maximum number is fifty. This number was arrived at after carrying out a study on the employees who had enrolled for the program but dropped out and those who wished they could get a chance to undertake the course (Turner, 2009). This number was also found to be realistic based on the size of the room that was to be used and the facilities available. There was only one main stakeholder in the project and this was Spurious organization. Outside stakeholders were not involved in this project. These were senior people in the organization who were involved in managing the project and these included the human resource manager, the three interns in the organization, a selected tutor from the organization, and two persons responsible for vetting the project materials (Turner, 2009). The roles for these staff who made up the project board were, the human resource manager headed the board and gave the go ahead to the board to carry on with the actions it had identified in developing the project, the tutor was responsible for teaching the staff after the attachment period for the three students elapses, the vetting persons were responsible for ensuring the materials that were needed for the project were of high quality and error free and that all the materials that were needed were available for use in time (Turner, 2009).

The implementation plan of the project involved several phases that include; the planning phase whereby the concerned personnel planned on how various activities and duties will be executed. The orientation phase will include introducing the employees to the program and helping them familiarize with what will be taking place at different periods of the program (Turner, 2009). The training phase will involve vigorous lecture time after work with the lectures lasting for about four hours and practice questions will be given before and after the lecture sessions, continuous assessment tests will also be part of the course and a final exam. The final phase will be the practical phase whereby the employees will be expected to show what they have learnt and the skills they have acquired in the organization (Turner, 2009). This will not be a form of payment for the organization but it is aimed at analyzing the training program in order to determine whether the employees are benefiting from the training or not. This will enable the organization to know what needs to be improved and know how they can improve the program and also be able to continue with the program on a yearly basis (Turner, 2009).

The resource plan will be getting all the funds from the organization. The organization is responsible for entirely providing money for the purchase of the materials required and also paying the staff who will be involved in planning and running the project. The project charter also outlines the risks and troubles that are likely to face the project and also the recommendation on how they can be solved (Kerzner, 2013).

Stakeholder Register

The most significant stakeholder of the project is the organization since it is responsible for ensuring smooth functioning of the project and the other stakeholders include the tutor, personnel for vetting material, learning employees and the students who are planning the project. Any of these can affect the running of the project (Kerzner, 2013).

Project name
Name of stakeholder	designation	role	Type of stakeholder	Type of communication	expectation	interests	Influence on project
Organization management	board	Planning and controlling	primary	Indirect communication through the board	Success of the project through employees gaining knowledge and skills	Helping employees realize their dreams easily	Responsible for finding, controlling and providing resources
interns	board	planning	secondary	direct	A good foundation of the project	Creating the project	Setting a structure of the project
Vetting personnel	board	Vetting materials	Primary	direct	Cooperation with the organization to ensure that all the necessary materials are purchased.	quality	Making sure that the materials fpr the project are of good quality
tutor	board	Tutoring	primary	direct	Cooperation and success from students	Giving the best information	Teaching through lectures and other forms of transmitting knowledge
learners	students	learning	primary	Indirect through the board	Quality education offered and a smooth running of the program	Improve knowledge and skills	Acquiring knowledge and skills. They are the reason for creating the project

Requirements and Scope Definition

These refer to the project scope and product scope. The project scope refers to the activities that are required in order to deliver a particular service. This is the coordination of the management to deliver the teaching services (Kerzner, 2013). This involves collecting the necessary resources, materials and personnel necessary to deliver the teaching services. The product scope refers to the outcome of the whole project and this is the change achieved.

WBS

This is the work breakdown structure that involves breaking down a project into several phases. The phases of this project include the planning phase, the orientation phase, the training phase, the practical phase (Kerzner, 2013).

Time Management (Critical Path Method)

The critical path method is a tool used in project management that helps in scheduling the activities outlined in the project. In this critical path method, the letters are used to represent the phases of the project which are the activities for the project. The table shows how the diagram on the activities was developed (Jaafari, 2003).

Cost Estimate

The cost estimate is the probable cost of the project in the whole process of planning and offering a service. The type of cost estimates used in this project was planning estimate whereby the cost was estimated to be five hundred dollars. This amount of money included the planning from the initial stage to the completion of the project (Jaafari, 2003).

Risk and their responses

The risk in this project was dropping out of employees who had enrolled for the program. The responses given to this problem included, offering refreshments after work in order to energize the employees before they get to class, imposing fines for those who are not serious, and making the program as flexible as possible (Jaafari, 2003).

Quality Management Plan

The quality management plan used in this project was the use of the project manager to ensure quality in every phase of the project (Jaafari, 2003). The project manager who was the human resource manager asked for feedback on the project and did his own analysis on all the activities to ensure that high quality was maintained in every activity. He also intended to carry out an evaluation on the project after the program is over to see whether it had any impact on the employees (Jaafari, 2003).

Plan for Monitoring & Control of the Project

This diagram shows how the monitoring and control of the project took place. The monitoring and control begins from the stage where the initiated through authorization by the manager, through the risk and issue management and the final report. After the project has been authorized, monitoring is done on the risk and issue management and then a report is prepared in how this control is carried out (Dinsmore, & Cabanis-Brewin, 2006).

Closing Plan

The closing plan is aimed at confirming that a project has successfully come to an end. In this final phase, it is possible to determine whether a project had been successful or not (Dinsmore, & Cabanis-Brewin, 2006). This is done through evaluating whether it has met its objectives and vision. This phase also involves determining the kind of follow up that will be done for future projects. Appreciating the team that was involved in the project is also important in this phase. The plans for reactivating the project in future are also involved (Dinsmore, & Cabanis-Brewin, 2006).

References

Dinsmore, P. C., & Cabanis-Brewin, J. (Eds.). (2006). The AMA handbook of project management. Amacom.

Harrington, H. J., Conner, D., & Horney, N. L. (2000). Project change management: Applying change management to improvement projects. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Ibbs, C. W., Wong, C. K., & Kwak, Y. H. (2001). Project change management system. Journal of Management in Engineering, 17(3), 159-165.

Jaafari, A. (2003). Project management in the age of complexity and change. Project Management Journal, 34(4), 47-58.

Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. Wiley.

Turner, J. R. (2009). The handbook of project-based management: leading strategic change in organizations (Vol. 452). McGraw-Hill.