Definition of Boundaries in Project Management
Question
According to Kerzner “the first step in making project management work must be a complete definition of the boundaries across which the project manager must interact”. Critically examine this statement.
(From: Kerzner, H. (2009). Project Management:a systems approach to planning, scheduling and control. (10th ed.) New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. p. 381.)
In discussing this question I will first define the key terms in the statement provided for discussion as a means of building the main premise of my essay. It is necessary to define some of the key terms which will facilitate the critical examination of the statement.
Kerzner (Kerzner, 2009) defines project management as the planning, organising, directing and controlling of resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and objectives.
The need for the definition of project boundaries is inherent in the nature of a project plan as the project boundaries are the main factors that differentiate a project differs from ‘business as usual’. (What??!!)
The fact that projects require an organisation’s input into activities different from normal business activities means that there must be a means of measuring whether the organisation’s goal in commencing the project has been achieved. (Not clear- remove!)
There are four main criteria for assessing the success or failure of a project or as Stephen Hartley (Hartley, 2009, pp. 10- 13) calls them, constraints or variables. These constraints or variables are time, resources, costs and service or product specification. These constraints form the boundaries of the project and as a result they are the limits within which the PM will operate in delivering the project.
Rick Morris (Morris, 2008) argues that if the project manager does not ascertain these boundaries the project will fail. He further argues that the answer to project success is through proper project management through
According to Kerzner “the first step in making project management work must be a complete definition of the boundaries across which the project manager must interact”. Critically examine this statement.
(From: Kerzner, H. (2009). Project Management:a systems approach to planning, scheduling and control. (10th ed.) New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. p. 381.)
In discussing this question I will first define the key terms in the statement provided for discussion as a means of building the main premise of my essay. It is necessary to define some of the key terms which will facilitate the critical examination of the statement.
Kerzner (Kerzner, 2009) defines project management as the planning, organising, directing and controlling of resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and objectives.
The need for the definition of project boundaries is inherent in the nature of a project plan as the project boundaries are the main factors that differentiate a project differs from ‘business as usual’. (What??!!)
The fact that projects require an organisation’s input into activities different from normal business activities means that there must be a means of measuring whether the organisation’s goal in commencing the project has been achieved. (Not clear- remove!)
There are four main criteria for assessing the success or failure of a project or as Stephen Hartley (Hartley, 2009, pp. 10- 13) calls them, constraints or variables. These constraints or variables are time, resources, costs and service or product specification. These constraints form the boundaries of the project and as a result they are the limits within which the PM will operate in delivering the project.
Rick Morris (Morris, 2008) argues that if the project manager does not ascertain these boundaries the project will fail. He further argues that the answer to project success is through proper project management through
Cited: Edmondson, A. C., & Nembhard, I. M. (2009, March 1). Product Development and Learning in Project Teams:The Challenges Are the Benefits. Journal of Product Innovation Management, pp. 123-124. Hartley, S. (2009). Project Management- Principles, Processes and Practices . New South Wales: Pearson Education Australia. Kerzner, H. (2009). Project Management: A systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. New York: Wley and Son. Lenfle, S., & Loch, C. (2010). Lost Roots: HOW PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAME TO EMPHASIZE CONTROL OVER FLEXIBILITY AND NOVELTY. California Management Review, 32- 35. Ministry of Education, G. o. (2012, April 23). The Ultra-Fast Broadband in Schools programme. Retrieved from New Zealand Ministry of Education: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/EducationInitiatives/UFBInSchools/Overview.aspx Morris, R. A. (2008, November 1). Stop the Insanity of failing projects. Industrial Management, pp. 20-24. Muther, R., & Na d l e r, G. r. (2011, July 1). 100 years of Project Planning. Industrial Engineer, pp. 40-44. Podean, I. M., Benta, D., & Mircean, C. (2010, April). Overlapping Boundaries of the Project Time Management an dProject Risk Management. Informatica Economică, pp. 156-163. Schlesinger, L. A., Kiefer, C. F., & Brown, P. B. (2012, March 1). New Project?Don’t Analyze—Act. Harvard Business Review, pp. 154-158.