PRMA5112 – Project Management and Administration

Projects, project managers and project management

Lecture 1

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Introduction to project management

Learning outcomes;
• Define the terms ‘project’ and ‘project management’;
• Identify different types of projects;
• Discuss project characteristics or attributes using examples;
• Explain the importance of project management in an organisation;
• Describe the roles and responsibilities of a project manager;
• Outline the leadership personal characteristics of a project manager;
• Discuss the required skills of a project manager; and
• Explain project complexity.

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Recap on Management

What is management?
Is a process of activities that are carried out to enable a business to
accomplish its goals by employing human, financial and physical resources
for that purpose.
What are functions of management?

1. Planning

2. Organising

3. Leading

4. Controlling

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What is a project?

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Key terms

1. Deliverable
2. Manager
3. Organisation
4. Plan
5. Project
6. Project management
7. Resources
8. Risk
9. Scope
10. Stakeholder

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Definition of a project

A project is a well-defined activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service. This
activity is unique and unfamiliar to the organisation that requires a specific set of skills to
complete the specific task within a set time frame. Routine activities within a business or an
organisation cannot be considered as projects.

 Projects demand the use of resources that are scarce or expensive, but which have to be
deployed over a most complex frame work of tasks.

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Characteristics of a project

i. It involves a single, definable purpose and well-defined end product or service

ii. It is unique
iii. It is largely unfamiliar to the day-to-day business activities
iv. It utilises skills and talents from multiple professions and organisations
v. It is temporary in nature as it has a limited time frame
vi. It is created to a achieve a specific goal in the organisation

*Read table 1.2 and 1,3 on the project characteristics*

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Types of projects

Four basic categories of projects;

1. Manufacturing
2. Construction
3. Management
4. Research

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What is project management?

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Project management?

Project management is the planning, organising, directing and controlling of business resources
for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and
objectives. The project management utilizes the systems approach to manage­ment by having
functional personnel assigned to specific tasks.

 Project management is the process of planning and organising the resources available in
order to complete the project.

 Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project
activities to meet the project requirements.

 Project management is the art and science of bringing together diverse physical, intellectual
and human resources in an effort to accomplish a single task in a well-planned and
systematic manner.

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Project management

Characteristics of project management;

1. A single person (project manager) leads the organisation and delegates tasks to the rest of
the team.
2. It is goal-oriented, temporary in nature and affects cross-functions in an business.
3. Requires a variety of knowledge and skills across different functions of a business.

Importance of project management;

4. It allows exchange of knowledge because of cross-function participation.

5. It allows for proper allocation of resources in a short period of time.
6. It is beneficial for achieving specific company goals within a limited time frame.

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ICE Task 1

Conduct an independent research (you can consult your textbook and online
library sources) on the objectives of a project.

In a word document, briefly describe 5 objectives of a project.

Guidelines;
• You are to type out your responses in a word document to be submitted. Your
submission is limited to a single page.
• The document should include; your Name, Surname and Student number.
• This ICE Task is to be completed and submitted by Friday 5 August 23h59.
• The submission link available under ICE Tasks on Blackboard.
• Email the lecturer if you have any questions or queries.

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Project manager

Project managers are leaders who delegate work and decide how this should be done, act as
representatives for the interests of both the project team and the business.
 It is the duty of a project manager to provide vision, scope and leadership to all stakeholders
involved in a project.

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Project manager

Responsibilities of a project manager;

i. Project manager is responsible to lead the team throughout its implementation.
– Triple C’ model (communication, cooperation and coordination)
ii. Project manager is to motivate the business case of the project to other managers and
the organisation that the project outcomes are aligned to the organisation’s vision.
iii. Project manager is to be knowledgeable with regard to the latest finings, techniques,
technologies and procedures that are applicable to their field.
iv. Project manager needs to train and upskill the relevant employees, while contributing
to the body of knowledge on project management.
v. Project manager is tasked with bringing new members onto the project and preaching
the advantages and powers of project management to other organisations and
departments.

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A project manager is a person in-charge of planning, leading, organising and
controlling resources and the team to achieve project goals.

Roles of a project manager

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Leadership personal characteristics of a project manager

i. Authentic
ii. Courteous
iii. Creative
iv. Culturally understanding
v. Emotional control
vi. Intellectual
vii. Managerial
viii. Political
ix. Service-oriented
x. Social
xi. Systematic

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What is project complexity?

Project complexity is a single or a combination of factors that affect the standard

response/actions taken to achieve the project outcomes.

• Uncertainty is the chance occurrence of some event where probability distribution is

genuinely not known.
• Risk is when the outcome of an event, or each set of possible outcomes, can be predicted
on the basis of statistical probability.

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What can be considered as project complexity?

• That having a large number of different systems that need to be put together and/or that with
a large number of interfaces between elements.
• When a project involves construction work on a confined site with access difficulty and
requiring many trades to work in close proximity and at the same time.
• That with a great deal of intricacy which is difficult to specify clearly how to achieve a desired
goal or how long it would take.
• That which requires a lot of details about how it should be executed.
• That which requires efficient coordinating, control and monitoring from start to finish.
• That which requires a logical link because a complex project usually encounters a series of
revisions during construction and without interrelationships between activities it becomes
very difficult to successfully update the programme in the most efficient manner.

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Project complexity perspectives

i. The managerial perspective; which involves the planning of bringing together numerous
parts of work to form work flow.
ii. The operative and technological perspective; which involves the technical intricacies or
difficulties of executing individual pieces of work. This may originate from the resources
used and the environment in which the work is carried out.

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Importance of project complexity

1. Project complexity helps determine planning, co-ordination and control requirements.

2. Project complexity hinders the clear identification of goals and objectives of major projects.
3. Complexity is an important criterion in the selection of an appropriate project organisational
form.
4. Project complexity influences the selection of project inputs, e.g. the expertise and
experience requirements of management personnel.
5. Complexity is frequently used as criteria in the selection of a suitable project procurement
arrangement.
6. Complexity is frequently used as a criterion in the selection of a suitable project
procurement arrangement.
7. Complexity affects the project objectives of time, cost and quality. Broadly, the higher the
project complexity the greater the time and cost.

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Factors of project complexity

Categories of project complexity factors

1. Organisational (people involved/relationships)
2. Operational and technological
3. Planning and management
4. Environmental
5. Uncertainty

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Factors of project complexity

1. Organisational (people involved/relationships)

– Poor relationships between the project parties
– Having a large number of project stakeholders
– Problems with the client
– Poorly defined project roles
– Poor communication
– Poor decision making

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Factors of project complexity

2. Operational and technological

– High amount of mechanical and electrical installations
– High degree of technology
– Incorporating state of the art/leading edge or new technology
– Performing a process for the first time
– Regulations to be adhered to
– Physical size
– High number of trades involved
– High degree of physically complex roles
– High degree of technically complex roles
– Role that has no known procedure
– The inherent difficulty of the building process
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Factors of project complexity

3. Planning and management

– Large number of elements that make up a process
– High level of interdependencies between processes
– Project coordination
– Organisational structure
– Having substantial critical path activities
– High cost/value
– Long timescale projects
– Rigidity of sequence
– Degree of overlap of phases
– Interrelationship between activities in different overlapping parts
– Poor information generation, transmittal, usage and feedback

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Factors of project complexity

4. Environmental
– Sites in a restricted environment
– Sites in a public environment
– Sites in an ancient environment
– Sites in an exposed environment
– Sites on contaminated land
– Brownfield sites
– Understanding the market conditions
– Understanding the legal environment
– International projects

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Factors of project complexity

5. Uncertainty
– Lack of uniformity due to continuous change in resources
– Lack of uniformity due to mechanical or other resource breakdown
– The effect of weather or climatic condition
– Unpredictable sub surface
– Undefined work in a defined new structure
– Undefined structure or poor buildability assessment
– Lack of working drawings
– Uncertainty resulting from overlap between design and construction
– Lack of experienced local workforce

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 The end

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