successful project management - Commonwealth of Learning

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WELCOME!! It is a pleasure to welcome you to this fascinating course: Successful Project Management. We believe that everyone engages in a project of one type or another, but not all of us take time to get information about best ways to manage the project before it begins. The aim of this training course is, therefore, to help you open up new horizons so that you can harness your full potential in managing a personal project or that of the organisation you work for. Although focus is on distance education (DE) project management, there are generic principles that apply to different project types. You need to develop, knowledge, skills, and appropriate attitudes so that you can become a more effective project manager who is able to achieve intended goals. Conversely if you are not the manager of a given project, and are a member of the project team, going through this course will help you make more meaningful contribution towards achievement of the project objectives. This is your opportunity, and your greatest benefit will accrue if you: • Keep an open mind. • Interact freely with colleagues during the training. • Contribute your opinions and experiences freely. • Relate new ideas to typical projects you have engaged in or those you intend to manage. • Encourage colleagues to share with you their experiences. • Ask questions to ensure that you do not leave the training with doubts on your mind. What are your objectives? You probably came for this training after your organisation realised your potential as project manager, or you came on your own in order to learn ideas on how best to manage a project. What did you discuss and agree before coming? In other words, what are your objectives for participating in this course? To remind yourself, say something below. ?? Activity By investing in this training, I would like to achieve the following three objectives: 1. 2. 3. 10
Overview Successful Project Management in Open and Distance Learning is a harvest of lived experience in project management. Its primary objective is to sensitise those whose professional commitment is the purveyance of open and distance learning products and services. On the platform of knowledge and how such knowledge is globalised, DE has emerged with vigour to defy the erstwhile stigma that it plays second fiddle to what has been termed conventional education. Evidence of successes in DE abound, but for that to happen it is not a question of approaching it in a hit or miss fashion. The present volume adds voice to that state of affairs, but this time with special attention duly paid to the field of distance education. Truthfully, project management has been written about, but in our literature review, at least in Southern Africa, there has been no specificity in writing about the potential of ideas about DE in elevating praxis to even higher echelons. Bearing the foregoing in mind, lived experiences have been carefully selected and synchronised with generic ideas and principles of project management. By starting with the evolution of project management, the objective was to locate the discipline in its historical context, thus creating awareness to the project manager that he/she will be practising within a community of professionals. This is followed by the definition of the concept of project, which concomitantly elucidates related terms to which the project manager will find recourse from time-to-time. Before migrating to Chapter 3, a brief panorama of areas associated with project management in ODL is presented. Chapter 3 characteristically touches on the vortex of project management processes, namely communication and interaction among stakeholders and team members. The Chapter places into perspective the interaction techniques that the successful manager should muster in a given context. The issue of emotional intelligence is accentuated to signify that management of a project is more than intellectual engagement, and is buttressed on the affective dimension of human relationships. It is on the basis of this foundation that Chapter 4 introduces the central issue of project planning. The Chapter justifies the purpose of project planning and in the same stride makes a clear distinction between a poorly managed and a wellmanaged project. This, as the Chapter explicates, is done systematically, in order to eliminate risks. 11
Page 1 and 2: SUCCESSFUL PROJECT MANAGEMENT Insig
Page 3 and 4: About the Authors Stanslaus Tichapo
Page 5 and 6: The content of your message……
Page 7 and 8: DEDICATION To the intellectually in
Page 9: Foreword The goal of this book is t
Page 13 and 14: Abbreviations BOCODOL: Botswana Col
Page 15 and 16: To come up with a quality product a
Page 17 and 18: allowed effective resource allocati
Page 19 and 20: Chapter 2 What is a Project? Work o
Page 21 and 22: Stakeholders Stakeholders is the te
Page 23 and 24: Project Areas in Open and Distance
Page 25 and 26: that it is complete, it is no longe
Page 27 and 28: A useful tool you could use to capt
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 3 Interaction For Successfu
Page 31 and 32: are then requested to append their
Page 33 and 34: ?? Activity 1. Suggest any improvem
Page 35 and 36: Please note that this is not the pl
Page 37 and 38: knowledgeable about issues may not
Page 39 and 40: ?? Activity To what extent do you a
Page 41 and 42: You may now contribute to our discu
Page 43 and 44: • Use language that shows you ack
Page 45 and 46: • Fourthly, avoid jargon because
Page 47 and 48: You will note that these are sugges
Page 49 and 50: Perhaps this is a difficult questio
Page 51 and 52: Chapter 4 How to Plan the Project D
Page 53 and 54: Planning involves answering the que
Page 55 and 56: S= The course should help officers
Page 57 and 58: • Is the product, at various stag
Page 59 and 60: ?? Activity i. What is meant by obj
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Chapter 5 Structuring and Schedulin
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?? Activity The Mission Statement f
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Table 5A WBS for the B. Com. Degree
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Sample Gantt Chart Figure 5B Course
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Chapter 6 The Project Team Knowing
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observation, how productive is your
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The tasks to be done In project man
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• have a clear knowledge of proje
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critics who question ideas from tea
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Two members are in disagreement wit
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our own things without interference
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vi. Members being unable to manage
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Organizations perform work either a
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Let us now share ideas about the ma
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• infrequent communication with s
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On the basis of what we said above,
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Project Cost Management Regarding p
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1. Do you concur that managing a pr
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?? Activity 1. Explain what you und
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Chapter 8 Project Control and Evalu
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Individual activities Team activiti
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• New tasks without guidance or t
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?? Activity Suggest five ways in wh
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Project closure You will recall tha
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• Evaluation is planned at the ou
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surprising that project team meetin
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determined, it is important to cons
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In our opinion, if you produce agen
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• informed as to the meeting’s
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?? Activity Five types of difficult
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• the language of meetings. 121
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Case Study A Two lecturers from the
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Case Study C Two distance education
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The NGO recommends re-education of
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The head of your institution decide
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• The learner does not have to le
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References Andersen, E.S., Grude, K
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