Achieving Project Goals Simulation Paper

Achieving Project Goals Simulation Paper University of Phoenix Course: MGT/437 Instructor: Mark Fechtel September 20, 2010 Achieving Project Goals Simulation Paper Project management is defined by BusinessDictionary. com as, “Approach to management of work within the constraints of time, cost, and performance requirements. ” Project management requires careful planning and studying all of the factors involved with in the project. Project Managers must first establish the needs of the stakeholders and provide a project plan which includes the cost and time frame the project will be completed. In addition, projects requirements should be clear and concise to ensure the Project Manager stays within the limits of the project. For example, in Week Two simulation the Huduma Foundation needed to transport eight elephants across African to a safe habitat. Huduma Foundation is a non-government organization dedicated in the rescue and relocation of wild animals in Africa. In this paper we will see how this simulation changed my perspective on project management? We will also discuss the advantages and limitations of project management are identified in the simulation. Also how we will anticipate bottlenecks when planning for a project? Also when and if the need to crunch the project will ever arise, which factor would you compromise on, risk or time? The very first step when it comes to project planning is to create a work breakdown to cover all the basics of the project. This will make it easier for everyone to work in their specific area of expertise. In order for this project to be successful it is the project managers job is to visualize the final outcome and plan for bottlenecks during the project. For example, in the simulation the goal of the Huduma Foundation was to get 8 elephants transported to the airport before the plane departed, which was an extreme challenge. The elephants had to be sedated the loaded onto trucks, and placed on airplanes while they revived from the tranquilizer. However, this task became even more difficult when one of the transport trucks broke down. Due to time constraints the Project Manager evaluated the situation and objectively selected the paramount option to compress the project cycle time and met the constraints of time and project safety. Unfortunately risk are never unavoidable when it comes to any type of project. It is does not matter how well the project is planned. Every project will need to have alternatives just in case if the unexpected happens. It is very crucial to include delays as much as possible by balancing the rest of the project resources, like time, scope of the project and safety. The project managers job is to ensure that the scope of the project and safety is never compromised. The project manager needs to ensure that proper trade offs are made between time, cost and performance of the project. In the simulation when the truck had broken down and it was a possibility that the other elephants would not make the flight the Project Manager made alternate transportation planes that were successful in meeting the time constraints of the project. After completing this simulation my perception of project management has been changed quite a bit. It is a bit like life, it never goes as it was planned to. When and if the unexpected happened with one of the transport trucks breaking down this could have caused “Operation Elephants Ark” to fail, the reality of loosing money is possible in a Project was realized. I also realized that project managers need to be able to ready to make the much needed decision by thinking quickly and carefully. They will need to take every change into consideration since the decisions can become a very drastic change either way for the project. In conclusion, being a project manager a lot rest on their shoulders as far as it comes to making sure that the project will be either a big success or a big failure. In the simulation the Project Managers of the Huduma Foundation was able to balance the elephant project when constraints to the project surfaced. The biggest factor in the project was the time constrain when dealing with animals such as elephants. The project management was able to complete the project and still did not have to sacrifice safety of the anaimal due to trying to make a time line. References Businessdictionary. com https://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/project. html Kerzner, Harold . Project Management: (9th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

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