Leadership Lessons Of The Ronald Mcdonald House Team Project

In order for an organization to remain successful, it must be able to fulfill its day-to-day operations without mistakes. If these demands cannot be met, a new project must be created in order to stay in business and ahead of the competition. If an organization has a problem, they can benefit from fixing it by following a formal process for identifying, selecting, initiating, and planning projects (Valacich, 2009).

The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on

In the current business environment, the demand for project managers is ever growing. In short, project management is a provisional project constrained by time, cost and scope (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2013). Between the immense organization, optimization, and communication assets skilled project management brings to a project, it is easy to see why project management is a booming field of study. Furthermore, project management can be both financially and personally rewarding when long term milestones and goals come to fruition.

Successful organizations are always looking for ways to improve process and procedures, increase revenues and profits, while staying relevant in today’s business world. Strong leadership is the backbone of any organization and is the catalyst for driving a culture of innovation and change. Organizations looking to make small or large-scale changes typically do so through the implementation of work projects. Projects are collaborative efforts carefully planned and designed to achieve a specific goal. According to Young (2010), “projects take careful planning, and a successful project is one that is done on time and within budget” (p.344). Project management is the activity of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, while monitoring procedures and timelines, and usually has an assigned project manager (PM). Organizations such as Apple are known to have many projects in motion at any given time. This many projects happening simultaneously can be extremely complex, expensive, and taxing on resources, but somehow Apple has managed to implement project after project with huge success.

Throughout my career, I increased my capabilities through a series of challenging projects. Whether designing and constructing an orphanage in Africa or planning a research facility on the Arctic glacier of Greenland, I have learned there is no individuality in project management and everyone involved must function as a team.

Managing our emotions has allowed us to be effective in avoiding conflict stemming from disagreements and to foster a positive, inclusive, and collaborative group climate, thus improving our group efficiency. Moreover, transparency has been a vital contributor towards success in upholding our goals, vision, and communication. Lastly, valuing diversity has been important to our group, as being able to identify and utilize individual’s strengths within our group has optimized respectfulness and efficiency in task allocation. As a result of upholding our common purpose, a strong, shared identity, and our team values, we have achieved team synergy. Nevertheless, we wish to improve on the implementation of our team goal of working together effectively by more clearly identifying milestones that need to be completed for upcoming projects.

A project organization is a framework of rules and regulations that companies use to facilitate the harmony and finishing point of project activities. Its foremost objective is to generate a atmosphere that will encourage relations between project workers with the least amount of distractions as possible. It is important to select the organization structure at the beginning of every project. Based on the uniqueness of the project, each project structure has various forms of its own

A project organization is a structure that facilitates the coordination and implementation of project activities. Its main reason is to create an environment that fosters interactions among the team members with a minimum amount of disruptions, overlaps and conflict (pm4dev, 2007).Selecting the organization structure is one of the most important points to start any project. On the basis of unique characteristics of the project, each project structure various forms its own advantages and disadvantages. One of the main objectives of the structure is to reduce uncertainty and confusion that typically occurs at the project initiation phase .The Structure defines the relationships among

Leadership is multifaceted. There are some individuals that are great visionaries who excel at exciting change in people. Too often though, these same people lack the discipline or patience to deal with the day-to-day grind of managing. Likewise, there are other individuals who are very well organized and methodical but lack the ability to inspire others. The SBA also states that “managers are very good at maintaining the status quo and adding stability and order to our culture” while “leaders are very good at stirring people 's emotions [and] raising their expectations” (SBA 2009). Having the capability to maintain project stability while empowering those involved toward effective project completion, are invaluable traits to any successful project manager. By reinforcing these abilities effectively overtime, the project manager can better recognize the need to manage interfaces and sustain social networks throughout the term of production.

Today’s projects have dramatically increased in complexity, which requires a culturally and functionally diverse mix of individuals who must be assimilated into an effective unit – a project team. In order

Through history man has been leading other individuals in order to achieve a target. As Bolles (2002, p. 3) defined, an aim for international market companies is to improve their systems by becoming more competitive in the market. One way to achieve this is through projects that will positively impact the firm. This encourages companies to turn to Project Management to deliver business results (Project Management Institute, 2010, p. 1).Two factors that show whether a project has been successful or not is by being completed within its time restraint and budget. A real life example which proves that point is the Millennium Dome. This building project was on time and to budget (politics.co.uk, 2014). Hence, critically this project was

2-15-99 Project Management: The Managerial Process COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER 1 Modern Project Management What is a project? The project life cycle The project manager The importance of project management Snapshot from practice: The best wireless phone in the world Snapshot from practice: The emergence of e.Schwab The evolution of project management systems Project management today-- An integrative approach Integration of projects with the strategic plan Integration within the process of managing actual projects Research Highlights: Chaos: Software Projects Summary Text overview Review questions & exercises Case:

The success of any organisation or project depends on proper synchronization of different supportive factors ranging from full understanding and application of general organizational philosophy, proper use of resources, prudent leadership and dependable systems of a particular business set up. Organizational systems or structures are not static as they are directly linked to the strategies in place at a particular time Media: (50 Lessons, (2004) ). All these factors are important for effective project execution and realization of organisation goals. With the foregoing dependencies, it is imperative therefore, that project managers study the mission and vision statements of the organisations that they work in or work for so that they work well while knowing the kind of organisation culture that surround them and the general expectations thereof. As organization cultures and labour force in place differ from industry to industry, project managers’ decisions on team role composition are therefore influenced by varying contextual situations in which projects that they lead exist.

A project organization is a structure that facilitates the coordination and implementation of project activities. Its main incentive is to create an environment that encourages interactions among the project personnel with a minimum amount of distractions, overlaps and conflicts. At the start of every project, it is important to first select the organization structure. On the basis of unique characteristics of the project, each project structure various forms its own advantages and disadvantages. The main goal of an organizational structure is to reduce confusion and uncertainty that is almost certain to occur in a project’s early stages. The structure defines the relationships among members of the project management and the relationships

“All projects need simple processes in place to monitor and control cost, progress and quality. It is argued, however, that projects involving innovation and complexity, almost regardless of size, need a “systems approach” to project management.”