Global Context for Project Management

Global Context for Project Management

Introduction

The report contains all the necessary information about global context for project management. In this project there is discussion about the meaning of global project. In global project there are members from different time zones who belong to different countries. The report gives detail study about the importance of global context for project management. Global context for project management it important as it is gaining importance in the current times. A proper framework is important in global project management. The importance of project management in respect to global context is also discussed in the report. The study highlights the various phases or stages of life cycle related to a product. A proper framework is very important an essential for managing a project on the global level. The study also gives detailed information about the risks that are associated with global project management and the factors that affect the same.

Global projects

In global projects there is involvement of a lot of members. The members that take part in global projects are from various cultures and they belong to various organisations. The members are from different time zones and from different countries. They are from different natives and they speak different types of languages. The various dimensions are very important to understand and they should be taken care properly. These dimensions can result in success of the organisation as well as may lead to failure of any project. These varieties of language and diversity in the types of members add challenges to the project.

The members who belong to different types of organisation have different types of skill and knowledge. They have different means of working. They have access to different types of skills and tools. They have different ways of looking at things and different way of doing a work. In global context when a project is carried on, different roles are given to different team members. The roles are allocated as per the knowledge level and skills of the members. In global project the members are required to work together keeping their time constraints, geographical factors, cultures and way of working aside. With the help of global project they have a chance to work together with diversity. They get chance to get above their weakness. There are meetings which are conducted in various locations. It helps the members to understand the culture, people and situations of different countries. They get chance to understand different kinds of people and explore varieties. The team members who are from different time zones work in different timings. In this way the project can be carried on for 24 hours. There is possibility to work for twenty four hours on a project because different members from time zones work for different hours and hence the project is carried on for whole twenty four hours if required. Time zones help in proper maintenance of work. Different work can be assigned to different people who belong to different time zone. It helps in around the clock work. A work which is done by team in Japan can be supervised by another team in Australia on the same day because of different time zones.

Framework for project management in global context

There are various advantages of a global project. It has to be managed properly. With various advantages that come with global projects there are also some of the basic challenges which are related to global project management. These challenges can be reduced by using proper framework. There are various challenges related to diversity, communication, differentiation in practices. A proper framework should be adopted which must include all the possible chances for reducing the disadvantages that can arise due to global project management. A proper framework should consider global team, global communication, global organisation, collaborative tools, and collaborative techniques. These all factors are very essential for making any project successful in all terms. As the project is related to global context the management of the project is difficult and it can be done by adopting the above framework. A global team must have proper cultural collaboration. It should have a sense of trust among the members. A global team should have the ability to reduce all types of conflict that will arise between them. A global team should be such that there should be proper team leadership in it. Proper coaching is required in a global team for success.

There should be proper communication known as global communication among the teams. The communication should follow rules and templates of communication. It should follow the approach of global communication techniques. There should be creativity in the types of communication that should be followed.

Global project management should consider global organisations while managing the projects as different types of organisation have different way of working. The project structure should be made considering these organisations. There should be adoption of a global project structure. While having global project the human resources or the members should be selected from various countries and diversity. It will lead to success of the project. When different minds will think about one thing they will come up with innovations and creativity. Only selecting global human resources are not enough. Even after selection of the human resources they should have proper support from their relative organisations to work in the project. Without consent from the organisation it will be difficult for the members to work in the project.

As the project is global in nature its context should also be global. It should be carried on in such a way that there is no loop hole in the project. They should use various basic tools that can be used by each and every member of the project. Using complex tool will not be an option as it will lead to creation of confusion in the minds of the members. The tools that should be used must be simple and basic in nature. The tools should consider various audio and video tools. The audio and video tools related to working of the project will help in better understanding of the project. They can work effectively in the project though using audio and video tools. It will also improve and increase the productivity of the members. Only using audio and video tools will not be enough. The leader should use various tools which are related to text and it should even contain some images so that working is better understood by the members. The project management software that should be used must be very simple. It should be in such a way that every member who is a part of the project should be able to understand it. There should be various knowledge sharing tools that can be used by the members to gain knowledge about the process of working.

Even it would be viable to use various collaborative tools. Collaborative tool will keep the members of the groups connected to each other. It will help the members to work with ease. The way of doing work should be very basic. It should use techniques that are basic in nature. The different individual who will work will have different capability and it will be difficult for them to understand the techniques if they are complex in nature. Proper audio and video techniques should be used for proper collaboration. Online meeting should be conducted regularly. The members are from different countries. It would not be possible for them to meet physically and conduct meeting. That would be a time taking and costly method. So, online meetings should be conducted regularly to keep the members connected to each other. The techniques that are to be used in the project should be in such a way that by using that knowledge can be shared by one individual. It will help in the overall development of each and every member of the project.

Importance of project management in global context

The economy in the current situation and time has become highly globalised. The level of dependence of each country on the other has highly increased in all terms. The success and growth f a country depends upon the way a country is dependent on other country. They have to depend for their growth and success. The effect is on the whole economy. Each and every sector of the economy is affected by globalisation. Even the private sectors understand the need and importance of globalisation. Globalisation has affected their working and even they are opting for projects at global level and are trying to manage them with all their strength. The organisations which are working privately have to work according to the need of the new economy. They have to work taking all the requirements of the new globalised economy. They have to adopt and coordinate with languages, variety of countries, time zones, and cultures. This is the best time for managing the project on a global context. This time can be considered as the best time to conduct global projects. The demand of global projects has been increasing. People understand the need and importance of the global project. They are trying to manage them in the best possible way they can. Even global projects are becoming a trend. The success rate of global project is more than normal projects. The interests of conducting global projects have increased. Competition in the current age has increased. An increased competition has increased the need of global projects. Success cannot be only achieved by using the resources and minds of people of one confined place. The market place in the current time is not only limited to domestic market it has spread to all over the world. To increase the business and gain high amounts of revenue managing of global projects are very important. The growth in globalisation is increasing the need of global projects more and more. The countries are now working more dependently and less independently. It is very important for them have global projects in their ventures. Cooperation will lead to more success and even the wants and needs of the organisations can be met easily. It will become easy to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. The various barriers which were related to collaboration have now been removed. Various trade restrictions have also been removed. This has lead to an ease for conducting and managing projects related to global context.

Knowledge areas for project management in global context

Management of project in relation to global context is very difficult. It has both traditional as well as modern form of working. It should consider various values for working and there are certain knowledge areas which are very much essential for managing a project which has relation to global context. The various key knowledge areas of project management in global context are –

Project integration management, project scope management, project time management, project cost management, project quality management, project human resource management, project communication management, project risk management, project procurement management, and project stake holder management.

Project life cycle management

There are various process and procedures that take place within a project. The various stages of a project are called the life cycles of a project. After successful completion of each and every stage the project gets completed. There are five processes or steps in a project life cycle. The five processes of project include initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and project closure phase.

The first stage of a project lifecycle is the project initiation phase or stage. In this stage there is discussion about what is the need of the project. The benefit that will be derived from the project will be assessed. In this stage important decision about the project are to be taken. There are six steps in the initiation phase. The first step that is done is creating a business case. In this the total strength and weakness of the business is assessed. In the second step there is conduction of a feasibility study. The feasibility study is conducted to find out the cost and benefit of the project. It is done to know that whether it is beneficial and feasible to have so much cost for a project. The third step under project initiation phase is creation of a project charter. It is important because through this step the goals and objectives of the project can be known. The fourth step under the project initiation phase is identification of stakeholders and creation of a stake holder register. The fifth step is creation of a team who will work in the project. This step is important because through this step the team for the project is performed. In this step all the members who have different skill and talent and are suitable for the project are selected. Then the last step in the initiation phase is conducting a final review and checking whether all the steps are correct or not.

Project planning is the second phase of a project life cycle. It is a very important phase. There is various purpose of project planning like establishment of business requirements, planning of resources, preparation of cost schedules. Project planning is very important because it has a scope of planning; it has a scope of resource planning. Project management is important in budget planning, risk management, and also helps in quality planning.

In the execution stage there is proper execution of all the rules and methods which have been decided to make the project come into existence. In monitoring and controlling stage there is supervision of the project. It is done after some days. It is done to check the progress of the project. It can be used to determine that whether the development or progress of the project is satisfactory or not. In the project closure stage there is final completion of the project. In this step the project is completed and all the procedures and work related to the project are bought to pause. By completing this step the success or failure of the project can be determined.

Theories related to project management

There are various theories which are related to project management. One of the important theories is the underlying theory of project management. It can be considered there is no such hared theory for managing a project. It totally depends upon the ability of the manager. But underlying theory is important. It gives information about the project management as well as project about project planning. Under theory of project management is the theory of management. This theory states the importance and how to use and manage a project properly. Theory of planning is also a theory related to project management. It provides framework regarding how a project should be carried on.

Factors that affect global context for project management

Cost – it is one of the biggest factors that affect the project which is related to global context. The costs of conducting global projects are huge. It requires a lot of people and members. There is a huge cost incurred to bring all the members together. The members or the team if from different countries and conducting meeting between them is also very costly.

Clarity – there are members in the team who follow different language and are from different culture. It is difficult to follow one particular type of language. There is a lot of confusion regarding which language should be chosen for communication with the team members. One language couldn’t be understood by all the team members and it is difficult to adopt different language for different team members. Because of this language barrier there is problem of clarity and sometimes messages are unclear in the minds of the members.

Communication – there is difficulty in communication as each member is from different culture. As discussed earlier there is problem regarding selection of language. When language is not selected properly there will be definitely a problem of communication.

Risks related to project management in global context

There are various risks which are related to project management which is done in global context. Sometimes there is no responsibility that can be seen in the senior managements of the project. In certain situation when something wrong happens there is no one in the team who is ready to take full responsibility and accountability of the wrong thing that happened. When something good happens everybody is ready to take credit but during wrong things no one is there to take an accountability of the same.

Sometimes there is difficulty in making estimates about the wrong things which are done. Estimates are never certain. It is never sure that the estimates which have been made will be true in the near future. Sometimes the team members are totally blank. They do not have any idea regarding what they should do and there is a lot of confusion in the minds of the people regarding how the work will be carried on. Only initiating the project is not enough. There are situations when there is lack of enough resources which is required to carry on the project. This is one of the greatest risks related to global projects.

Conclusion

There are various advantages of a global project. It has to be managed properly. A proper framework should consider global team, global communication, global organisation, collaborative tools, and collaborative techniques. A global team must have proper cultural collaboration. It should have a sense of trust among the members. There are various challenges related to diversity, communication, differentiation in practices. A proper framework should be adopted which must include all the possible chances for reducing the disadvantages that can arise due to global project management. There should be proper communication known as global communication among the teams. As the project is global in nature its context should also be global. It should be carried on in such a way that there is no loop hole in the project. Project management in global context is very important and it should be done very carefully and properly.

References

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Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1 – what is the leadership style that should be followed in managing a project related to global context?

There are various ways which can be used to manage a project. In some projects a particular leadership style works whereas in some projects another type of leadership style works. There is no such die hard rule to use a particular type of leadership style. The type of leadership style differs from one project to another. Hence, selecting of a leadership style depends upon the type and requirement of the project and scope of the project.

Question 2 - what should be the communication style in global context for project management?

As we have discussed in the presentation that the members in the global project are from different time zones. They follow different culture and they understand different type of language. Communications in these types of group are very difficult. Such a language should be used that can be used by the leader that it should be understood by each and every member of the organisation. The leader of the project should use effective communication styles and forms to make the members understand what he or she actually means.

Question 3 – how can the global project management know that the project that is related to global context is off track at any point?

There are various phases and life cycles of a project. The importance of these life cycle and stages is that it provides all the information related to the project and its success. One of the important stages in the life cycle is monitoring and controlling stage. This monitoring and controlling stage can be used to know the level of progress. Through this step it can be known that whether the project is going off track or not.

Question 4 – if the project which is related to global context is out of track what is the procedure or way that can be used to get it back on the track?

Commencing of project is of no use until and unless there is no tracking of the project. Keeping a schedule of the project is as important as any other process of the project. When the project manager knows that the project is out of track then the leader and its members should identify the step from which the project took an off track and start the step again from the beginning. It will help in bringing the project back to track.

Question 5 – as we know a global project management is very costly. So what should be the appropriate budget that should be fixed for a project?

Like there is no thumb rule for leadership style similarly there is no thumb rule for determining and fixing an appropriate budget for a project. Global project management is very costly and it needs a lot of resources. an appropriate budget for any project that is related to global context can be determined only after looking at the cost structure and resource requirement of the project. If costs are met properly then the chances of success of the project is more

Question – 6 what is the best possible way to manage the teams who are diverse in nature and are from different culture?

The team members that work in the project are related to different countries. They belong from different countries and have different way of working. The teams can be managed properly by using proper methods of communication and the project manager should use proper tools for making the work successful.

Question 7 – what are the characteristics of a successful team in global context for project management?

Project management team is very important. They are the one who are liable to make the project successful. If the project team is not knowledgeable then it is difficult for the project to become successful. The various characteristics of a successful project management team are that the team should be balanced. The team should have variety of skill and talent. The team members should participate effectively in planning as well as controlling. The team should be motivated as well as dedicated to work and they should want success of the project. They should take part in the communication effectively.

Question 8 – what are the top risks related to global context for project management?

The risks related to global context for project management are –

Various accountability liabilities are not taken by certain members.
In certain situations the estimates that are made are wrong.
In various situations most of the team members do not have any idea regarding what they have to do.
In certain situation there is use of inappropriate technologies which reduces the chances of success.
In some projects the use tools are not proper for carrying on the projects.
The scope of a project is not determined
The requirement of resources is huge in global project. Sometimes the resources are not sufficient and lack of resources is a risk as it will reduce the chances that the project will succeed.

Question 9 – how can one make a global context for project management work?

There should be proper communication and sense of understanding amongst the team members. It is important for making a project work. Only making a communication is not sufficient. The communication that should take place should be clear and proper in all sense. The work done by the team members should be productive and effective in all terms and senses.

Question 10 – how resource planning should be done in global context for project management and what is the importance of resource in the same?

Resources are vital not in project management but in each and every activity that is done. Resource planning should be done keeping all the requirements of the project in mind. The project schedule should be considered before planning the resource needed for the project. Resource planning should be done properly because resources are limited and it should not be wasted.

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