Project management approaches for dynamic environments Essay Example for Free

Project management approaches for dynamic environments EssayThis paper sets out to investigate the nature of juttingsconducted in fast changing environments. Examples andtheory are utilize 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 project category.The paper closes with recommendations for furtherresearch. In this paper, assert 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 bringing activities in line with a plan 3. The terminal figure dynamic is taken to mean characterised by constant change 4. In the project management context dynamism is taken to be a belongings of a projectthat represents the extent to which a project is inuenced by changes in the environment in which i t is conducted.This paper argues that this is a non-binary dimension thatapplies in varying degrees to all projects, so strictly anygiven project is neither dynamic nor not dynamic. All projects have 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 peculiarity of this paper, a dynamic project is taken to be one that isnecessarily subject to graduate(prenominal)er than normal levels of changedue to the environment in which it is conducted.The business enterprise environment is changing at an increasingpace 57. Roth healthful and Zegveld 8 went so far as to say we are in the midst of a technology 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 accele rating, raising the stakes 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, such as in mining10. Consider how the Australian Submarine project waschallenged by developments in the IT assiduity 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 find a type of projectthat encounters unknown unknowns and how it is best 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 pool of trials. Turner and Cochran 13espouse the goals and methods matrix that describes quatern 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 creates new-fashioned technologies, called super high tech. Shenhar 15 describes how low technology projects are typically performed in construction, production and utilities, and high technology projects in the computer, aerospace and electronics industries. He oers make 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 re quire prototyping. Shenhar and Wideman 14 argue that another 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. functionalworkCio 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 reek 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 body 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.Howe ver, 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 publicationof 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 appropriate abroad overview of approaches that might be used to betterdeal with dynamic environments. Approaches were brokendown as follows