CHAPTER 4: CONTEXT FOR PROJECT

MANAGEMENT THE ENGINEERING

SERVICE SECTOR
ABSTRACT

The ability to deliver projects on schedule, on budget, and aligned with business goals is key to
gaining an edge in today’s highly competitive global business environment. This is why it is important
for the person in charge of the project to have a comprehensive understanding of project
management, from basic concepts to extensive experience.
Project managers have an incredibly complex assignment, one that blends organizational skills,
analytical minds, and adept interpersonal abilities.
Many PMs are assisted by project management software and tools that help projects
throughout the project life cycle. Wrier can help your business manage goals and objectives, set up
Gantt charts and Kanab boards, and much more throughout the project life cycle. Try Wrier today to
see how PMs deliver successful projects.
In this section, we’ll walk you through the basics of project management and what it means to be a
project manager.
And, if you are looking for a solution to kick-start your project management journey you can unlock a
free trial with Wrier now.

What is project management?

Project management is the practice of applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
complete a project according to specific requirements.

Proper execution of this practice comes down to identifying the problem, creating a plan to
solve the problem, and then executing that plan until the problem has been solved. That
may sound simple, but there is a lot that goes into it at every stage of the process. With the
proper management plan, the project will be completed on time and within budget.

The roots of project management can be traced as far back as the building of the Pyramids
in Giza and the Great Wall of China. However, the modern development of this practice
began in the 19th century when railway companies purchased tons of raw materials and
employed thousands of people to work on the transcontinental railroad.

By the early 20th century, Frederick Taylor applied PM concepts to the workday, developing
strategies for working smarter and improving inefficiencies, rather than demanding laborers
work harder and longer. Henry Gantt, an associate of Taylor’s, took those concepts and used

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bars and charts to graph when certain tasks, or a series of tasks, were completed, creating a
new way to visualize project management.

During World War II, military and industrial leaders were employing even more detailed
management strategies, eventually leading to more standardized processes like the critical
path method.

Stages of project management

The five project management process groups are:

 Initiating: The goal for this phase is to define the project.
 Planning: This phase includes developing a roadmap for everyone to
follow.
 Executing and Monitoring: In this stage, the project team is built and
deliverables are created. PMs will monitor and measure project
performance to ensure it stays on track.
 Closing: The project is completed, a post-mortem is held, and the project
is transferred to another team who will maintain it.
IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project managers will help your organization:

1. Have a more predictable project planning and execution process

2. Adhere to project budgets, schedules, and scope guidelines
3. Resolve project roadblocks and escalate issues quicker and easier
4. Identify and terminate projects that do not have relevant business value
5. Become more efficient
6. Improve collaboration across and within teams
7. Identify and plan for risks

WHAT PROJECT MANAGER DO ?

However, that is just the tip of the project management basics iceberg. Here are a few of
the main responsibilities:

 Build the plan: Project managers are in charge of plotting out the most realistic course
for the project. The plan must include the project scope, timeline, and budget. This can
also include identifying the right tools for the job.

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  Assemble the team: Identifying the proper team is critical. Every project team will vary
depending on the scope of the initiative and the functions needed to complete the
project. Finding specialists and subject matter experts for each of the necessary tasks is
ideal.
 Assign tasks: Project managers must provide their team with a clear definition of
specific tasks and timelines for every part of the project. Although each team member
will be responsible for their own assignments, many tasks will require collaboration
from both internal and external team members.
 Lead the team: Now that the team has been assembled and their tasks
have been assigned, the project manager must keep the machine well-
oiled, covering the basics and beyond. This will include checking in on
individuals for status updates, identifying and clearing roadblocks,
negotiating disagreements, keeping team morale high, and providing
training and mentoring.

 Manage the budget: Most projects will require some expenses, which mean
understanding how to put together a project budget and manage cost is critical for
success. This will involve comparing real-life expenditures to estimates, and adjusting
the project plan if necessary.

THE TOP PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES:

“You mean there’s more than one project management methodology?” There are quite a lot
of them, actually, and some even combine to form new hybrid approaches. But what are
they exactly? How do they help project teams work better? And what makes one
methodology better than another?

Project management methodologies are essentially different ways to approach a project.

Each one has a unique process and workflow.

Here, we look at some of the top project management methodologies, grouped by similarity and
popularity.

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A. The traditional, sequential methodologies Waterfall project management
methodology:
The most common way to plan out a project is to sequence the tasks that lead
to a final deliverable and work on them in order. This process is also known as
the waterfall methodology — the traditional method for managing projects
and the one that is simplest to understand. You have to complete one task
before the next one begins in a connected sequence of items that add up to
the overall deliverable. It’s an ideal method for projects that result in physical
objects (buildings, computers), and you can easily replicate project plans for
future use.

Critical path method (CPM)

The critical path method was developed in the 1950s, based on the idea that
there are some tasks you can’t start until you finish the previous one. When
you string these dependent tasks together from start to finish, you plot out
your critical path.

How to Calculate Critical Path in Project Management

1) Critical chain project management (CCPM)

Critical chain project management takes the critical path method one step further. CCPM is
a methodology that focuses on the resources needed to complete the project’s tasks by
adding resource availability to the critical path. It also builds buffers of time around these
tasks in the project’s schedule, ensuring the project meets its deadlines .
The Agile family

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Agile project management methodologies are growing in popularity, thanks to a highly
competitive business environment and increased innovation. In general, agile
methodologies prioritize shorter, iterative cycles and flexibility.

Agile project management methodology

The core of the agile methodology was developed in 2001 with four central values:

 Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

 Working software over comprehensive documentation
 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
 Responding to change over following a plan

The Agile Manifesto of Software Development put forth a groundbreaking mindset on

delivering value and collaborating with customers. Today, Agile can refer to these values as
well as the frameworks for implementing them, including Scrum, Kanab, extreme
programming, and adaptive project framework.
Scrum
Scrum is the most popular agile development framework because it is relatively simple to
implement. It also solves many problems that software developers struggled with in the past, such
as convoluted development cycles, inflexible project plans, and shifting production schedules.
In Scrum, a small team is led by a Scrum master whose main job is to clear away all obstacles to
working efficiently. The team works in short cycles of two weeks called “sprints,” though the team
members meet daily to discuss their work and any roadblocks that need clearing. This methodology
allows for rapid development and testing, especially within small teams.
Kanab
Kanab is another framework for implementing Agile based on a team’s capacity. It originated in
Toyota’s factories during the 1940s. The departments used a visual system of cards (“Kanab”) to
signal that their team was ready for more raw materials and had more capacity to produce.

Today, this visual approach to managing a project is well-suited to work that requires steady output.
Project teams create visual representations of their tasks, often using sticky notes and whiteboards
(or online Kanab boards), moving the notes or tasks through predetermined stages to see progress
as it happens and identify where roadblocks could occur.
2) Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme programming (XP) is another offshoot of Agile. XP is a methodology designed to
enhance software quality (and simplicity) and a development team’s ability to adapt to
customers’ needs. Much like the original agile formula, XP features short work sprints,
frequent iterations, and constant collaboration with stakeholders. Change can happen
within a sprint. If work hasn’t started on a specific feature, it can be swapped out and
replaced by a similar task.

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Adaptive Project Framework (APF)
Adaptive project framework grew from the difficulty in managing most IT projects using
traditional project management methods due to uncertain and changing requirements.

APF begins with a requirements breakdown structure (RBS) to define strategic project goals
based on product requirements, functions, sub-functions, and features. The project
proceeds in iterative stages and at the end of each step, teams evaluate previous results to
improve performance and practices. Stakeholders can also change the project’s scope at the
start of each stage so the team can produce the most business value.

Event chain methodology (ECM)

The underlying idea behind event chain methodology is that potential risks often lie outside the
project’s scope. It’s essential to prepare for these risks and plan your response since unexpected
events will impact your project’s schedule, deliverables, and potentially its success.

3) Extreme Project Management (XPM)

Extreme project management (XPM) is the opposite of waterfall. It offers you a way to manage
massive change and still move forward to project completion. In XPM, you can alter the project plan,
budget, and even the final deliverable to fit changing needs, no matter how far along the project is.
It’s a good option when managing projects with a short timeline of anywhere from a few weeks to
mere days.

The process-based methodologies

Next, we have the project management methods that practically veer into business process
management (BPM), where each approach focuses on work as a collection of processes.
While project management purists may argue that these methods belong on a different list,
we think these are still good ways to plan and execute a project.

Lean
Lean is a methodology focused on streamlining and cutting out waste. The first step is to create a
work process breakdown to identify and eliminate bottlenecks and delays. The goal is to do more
with less — to deliver value to the customer using less manpower, less money, and less time.
Lean six-sigma
Combining the minimalist approach of lean (“no waste!”) and the quality improvement of
six sigma (“zero defects!”), lean six sigma focuses on eliminating waste so that projects are
more efficient, cost-effective, and truly answer customers’ needs.

JOB SATISFACTION AND EMPLOYEE MORALE

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Job satisfaction is a feeling that can produce a positive or negative effect toward one’s roles and
responsibilities at work and it is important to understand the concept of job satisfaction as there is
no single way to satisfy all workers in the workplace. Also, job satisfaction is the positive attitude
towards ones job and it is the combination of feelings and beliefs, which include the mental,
emotional, and physical domains. Job satisfaction can also be defined as a worker’s emotional
response to different job related factors resulting in finding pleasure, comfort, confidence, rewards,
personal growth and various positive opportunities, including upward mobility, recognition and
appraisal done on a merit pattern with monetary value as compensation. Another definition is that
job satisfaction is reflected as an employee’s general affective assessment of himself/herself in the
context of his or her job.
Job satisfaction is defined as a set of emotions that one feels about one’s job. It’s also defined as
feelings or affective responses to facets of the situation. These feelings are caused by the difference
between what is expected from the job and what is actually experienced, and comparing this
difference to alternative jobs.

Effects of Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction on Employee Behavior

Job satisfaction is related to the positive feeling an employee perceives about one’s job
resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. Jobs require interaction with coworkers
and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards,
living with working conditions. It has been identified that a positive relationship exists
between a person’s job satisfaction level and holding of positive feelings about the same
concerned job whereas a person dissatisfied with his job carries negative feelings about the
job and organization.

The consequences of job dissatisfaction are very long term in nature. The negative effects of
job turnover on organizations may include increased costs in recruiting, selecting and
training new employees, demoralization of remaining employees, negative public image of
the organization, disruption of day-to-day activities and decreased organizational
opportunities to pursue future growth strategies. Thus it is important to have a thorough
understanding of the factors that lead to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction so that it would
help in putting a stop on the negative consequences associated with job dissatisfaction.

Some specific outcomes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in a workplace are explained
as under:

 Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

The relationship between Job satisfaction and Job performance was described as the “Holy Grail”.
The satisfaction-performance relationship is more complex that the simple path of “satisfaction
leads to performance.” Thus it is wrong to assume that high satisfaction always leads to high
employee performance. Satisfied workers actually may be high, average or even low producers will
tend to continue the level of performance that brought them satisfaction before also. The study of
the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance has a very controversial history. In

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 1930s the Hawthorne studies conducted helped the researchers in becoming
aware of the effects of employee attitudes on their work performance .

 Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)

Job satisfaction is considered to be a major determinant of an employee’s organizational citizenship
behavior (OCB). A modest relationship exists between job satisfaction and OCB. Satisfied employees
seem more likely to talk positively about the organization, help others, and go beyond the normal
expectations in their job. They are also very likely to go beyond the formal requirements of the job
just in order to reciprocate their positive experiences. They voluntarily engage in behaviors that work
in favor of the organization.

 Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a very important requirement for many firms. Their performance gets
marked by keeping their customers satisfied and happy. Employees of service based organizations
often interact with their customers, thus the satisfaction of these employees is very important in
order to keep the customers loyalty to the concerned organization. Satisfied employees increase
customer satisfaction and loyalty. Service organizations know that satisfied and loyal customers are
highly dependent on how frontline employees deal with their customers. Satisfied employees are
more likely to be friendly, upbeat and responsive in nature which the customers appreciate. Since
satisfied employees have high retention rate, customers are more likely to encounter familiar faces
and receive experienced service. All these qualities build customer satisfaction and loyalty. The
dissatisfaction customers can increase an employee’s job dissatisfaction in a similar fashion.

 Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism/Tardiness

A consistent negative relationship exists between satisfaction and absenteeism. Dissatisfied
employees are more likely to be absent at their work, other factors have an impact on the
relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. Employees who have less job satisfaction tend to
be absent more often. But this connection is not sharp for a couple of reasons. Some absences are
caused by legitimate medical reasons and therefore a satisfied employee may have a valid absence at
times. Tardiness is another way by which employees may exhibit their dissatisfaction with job
conditions. A tardy employee is one who arrives late at work. Tardiness is a type of short period
absenteeism ranging from a few minutes to several hours for each event, and it is another way by
which employees withdraw from active involvement in the organization. This may impede the timely
completion of work and disrupt productive relationships with coworkers.

 Job Satisfaction and Turnover

Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is way stronger than that in the
case of job satisfaction and absenteeism. Yet there are various factors such as labor-market conditions,
expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are
important constraints on the actual decision to leave one’s current job for some other work. Evidence
indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employee’s level
of performance I. e, it is said that level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for

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 superior employees as compared to the poor performers. But studies suggest that job satisfaction
should be more important in influencing poor performers to stay than the superior performers
because regardless of level of satisfaction, the high performers are likely to remain with the
organization only on account of receipt of recognition, praise and other rewards.

 Job Satisfaction and Withdrawal Behaviors

Dissatisfied employees are more likely to quit their jobs or be absent than satisfied employees. Job
satisfaction shows correlations with turnover and absenteeism. It also appears to be related to other
withdrawal behaviors like lateness, unionization, grievances, drug abuse, theft or decision to retire.
Using different methods that statistically measure the financial impact of employee attitudes on
organizations, practitioners can reveal costs of low job satisfaction and the value of improved
employee attitudes on such outcomes as absenteeism and retention.
 Job Satisfaction and Workplace Deviance
Job dissatisfaction predicts a lot of specific behavior, including unionization attempts, substance
abuse, stealing at work, undue socialization and tardiness. Researchers say that these behaviors are
indicators of a broader syndrome that is usually termed as deviant behavior in the workplace. If the
employees do not like their work environment then they world respond in some way which could
either be in favor or not in favor of the organization. If the employers want to control the undesirable
consequences of job dissatisfaction, they have to attack the source of the problem.

CONCLUSION
Process-based project management is a methodology aligning all project objectives with a
company’s larger mission and corporate values. All project goals and tasks remain strategic
and must roll up to the larger corporate objectives. The steps involved include defining the
process, establishing metrics, measuring methods, adjusting goals when these prove
unstable, planning improvements, and implementing them.

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QUESTIONNIRE

1. Trace the growth and development of HRM in India?

2. Why HRM is important in today‘s scenario

3. Explain the process of HR planning?

4. As an HR Manager what steps will you take to manage your employees in the organization?

5. Discuss the challenges faced by HRM in India?

6. Describe the role of HRM in the organization?

7. Why is HR planning more common in large organization than small ones? What are the
advantages of HRP for large organizations?

8. How can we use human resources and allocate them to be used more efficiently?

9. Discuss the characteristics of Hospitality Industry?

10. Suppose you are the HR manger at the resort in Neonatal, you find that during summer it is
profitable to keep the restaurant business open, but in winters you need only half the staff what
actions would you take in October for the beginning of the peak tourist season?

11. Define the term recruitment and explain how it is different from selection?

12. List the recruitment policies followed in hospitality industry?

13. What do you understand by the term Performance Appraisal and specify its purpose in the
organization?

14. Explain the process of performance appraisal?

15. Discuss the different methods of training? 4.

16. Explain the importance and method of Evaluation of training?

17. Mention the points which the organization should look for in prospective candidates?
Differentiate between management by objective (MBO) and assessment center method of
performance appraisal.

18. How can you manage employee performance in the organization?

19. Define compensation and discuss the factors affecting compensation?

20. Discuss the concept or types of wages?

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