Project management approaches for dynamic environments Essay Example for Free

Project management approaches for can-do environments EssayThis paper sets out to investigate the nature of leap outsconducted in fast changing environments. Examples andtheory atomic number 18 used to illustrate the nature and challenges ofthis category. Suitable management approaches are identied under the following headings Planning, Experimentation, Lifecycle, Controls, Culture, Communication, and Leadership style.The dynamic foresee category.The paper closes with recommendations for furtherresearch. In this paper, attend is taken to mean the mechanisms throughwhich resources are managed to achieve objectives 1, and is dierent to the PMBOK technique 2 which is strictly focused on transport activities in line with a plan 3. The term dynamic is taken to mean characterised by regular change 4. In the project management context dynamism is taken to be a dimension of a projectthat represents the extent to which a project is inuenced by changes in the environment in whic h it is conducted.This paper pleads that this is a non-binary dimension thatapplies in varying degrees to all projects, so strictly whatever given over project is neither dynamic nor non dynamic. All projects earn some degree of dynamism, so the dimensionis not dichotomic. Therefore, the ideas in this paper may be applied in varying degrees to any project as deemed appropriate. For the sake of simplicity though, for the remainder of this paper, a dynamic project is taken to be one that isnecessarily subject to higher than normal levels of changedue to the environment in which it is conducted.The commerce environment is changing at an increasingpace 57. Roth swell and Zegveld 8 went so far as to say we are in the midst of a engineering explosion. They arguedthat 90% of our technical knowledge has been generated inthe last 55 years, and that technical knowledge will continue to increase exponentially. Perrino and Tipping 9 reportedthe pace of technology is accelerating, raising t he bet and risks formanaging innovation, and requiring earlywarning and shorter response time.Change, in all formsof technology and business processes, can be regarded asincreasingly pervasive and providing challenges even wherehigh technology is not a core business, much(prenominal) as in mining10. Consider how the Australian Submarine project waschallenged by developments in the IT industriousness betweenthe 1980s design phase, and sea trials decades later 7.This paper will now investigate dynamic projects from atheoretical point of view. Gray and Larson 11 argued thatPich, Loch and De Meyer 12 reap a type of projectthat encounters unknown unknowns and how it is high hat suited to what they called a learning strategy which involves scanning, problem solving and exibility. They argue thatthis is distinct from projects conducted in well understoodenvironments which are suited to instructionism, and distinct fromselectionism where the most fruitful initiative is chosen after a po ol of trials. Turner and Cochran 13espouse the goals and methods matrix that describes four dierent types of project according to how well dened the methods and goals are.Projects can have poorly denedgoals (re) or poorly dened methods (water), or both (air).Shenhar and Wideman 14 describe a type of projectthat involves high levels of uncertainty, using technologies together for the rst time. They call these high tech 14. They also describe a type of project that actually createsnew technologies, called super high tech. Shenhar 15 describes how low technology projects are typically performed in construction, deed and utilities, and high technology projects in the computer, aerospace and electronics industries. He oers build and bridge construction as examples of low technology projects.The key dierence to Shenhar is the level of development workinvolved, in that low technology projects have little, andhigh technology projects have considerable levels and usually require prototypin g. Shenhar and Wideman 14 argue that an early(a) key dierence is the number of designcycles. In low technology projects they say there is typically only one cycle with a freeze before development, and with high technology there are at least two, typicallythree cycles.OperationalworkCio 16 suggests that projects be placed on a spectrum of newness from operational to project. The idea has been adapted in Fig. 1 to illustrate the sliding scaleof unknowns that applies to projects. Unknowns in this perceive refer to any aspect of the project, including the methods to achieve it, the objective, and the environment it has to operate in.The guide to the project management consistence of knowledge (PMBOK) 2 describesprogressive elaboration, where planning is developed in greater detail as the project progresses. Using progressive elaboration to ll knowledge gaps, it might be possible to move a project to the left inFig. 1, thereby achieving the objective in a more predictable fashion.Howeve r, rapid changes in the environment, including tools and methods, and attempts to innovate,act to push the project to the right, increasing unknowns.The two forces of exploration and change act against eachother continuously throughout the project. The challenge isto conduct exploration at a greater rate than the appendageof environmental change. It is also important to ensure that the amount of change created by the exploration andimplementation is not counterproductive overall. An example of Project A in Fig. 1 might be a production line where there only variable is the colour required.The intention here is to review literature to submit abroad overview of approaches that might be used to betterdeal with dynamic environments. Approaches were broken pop up as follows