Harvard Business School: the Atekpc Project Management Office
Cases in Applied Project Management
Individual Assignment
Identify the main purpose and mission of a PMO and what are the main challenges and obstacles in implementing a PMO? (HBS: The AtekPC Project Management Office)
Submitted by: KMO Greene
Introduction
The AtekPC Company found in 1984 has grown in size and scope to become a mid-sized technology PC manufacturer. The company now boasts 2100 fulltime employees with an additional 200 part time workers and revenues of $1.9 billion. AtekPC finds itself, like all other PC manufacturers facing a changing industry, one that is transitioning from a growth market industry to a maturing market industry and like all competitors in the marketplace, AtekPC is experiencing tremendous cost pressure and demands from management to adapt. In order for the company to survive must less thrive, company CIO John Strider believes a PMO implementation is very necessary but he is conflicted about the best way to implement said PMO office. Does he implement a PMO–heavy or PMO-light model? Can the PMO implementation change the organizational culture for the better and deal with the pressure AtekPC is facing or would the PMO implementation be disruptive to the organizational culture and as such become more of a problem than a solution. Questions about the main purpose and mission of the PMO and the main challenges and obstacles in implementing the PMO are questions that John will struggle with and questions that this assignment tries to answer.
The purpose and objectives of a Project Management Office (PMO) as defined by PMBOK is as follows: A project management office (PMO) is a management structure that standardizes the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques. The responsibilities of a PMO can range from providing project management support functions to actually being responsible for the direct management of one or more projects. There are
Individual Assignment
Identify the main purpose and mission of a PMO and what are the main challenges and obstacles in implementing a PMO? (HBS: The AtekPC Project Management Office)
Submitted by: KMO Greene
Introduction
The AtekPC Company found in 1984 has grown in size and scope to become a mid-sized technology PC manufacturer. The company now boasts 2100 fulltime employees with an additional 200 part time workers and revenues of $1.9 billion. AtekPC finds itself, like all other PC manufacturers facing a changing industry, one that is transitioning from a growth market industry to a maturing market industry and like all competitors in the marketplace, AtekPC is experiencing tremendous cost pressure and demands from management to adapt. In order for the company to survive must less thrive, company CIO John Strider believes a PMO implementation is very necessary but he is conflicted about the best way to implement said PMO office. Does he implement a PMO–heavy or PMO-light model? Can the PMO implementation change the organizational culture for the better and deal with the pressure AtekPC is facing or would the PMO implementation be disruptive to the organizational culture and as such become more of a problem than a solution. Questions about the main purpose and mission of the PMO and the main challenges and obstacles in implementing the PMO are questions that John will struggle with and questions that this assignment tries to answer.
The purpose and objectives of a Project Management Office (PMO) as defined by PMBOK is as follows: A project management office (PMO) is a management structure that standardizes the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques. The responsibilities of a PMO can range from providing project management support functions to actually being responsible for the direct management of one or more projects. There are
References: Project Management Institute. (2013). A Guide to the project management body of knowledge: PMBOK guide (5th ed.). Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute Harvard Business School. (2002). Project management manual. (Vol. 9-697-034). Boston, MA: IPS Assoc. Mcfarlan, F. (2007). The atekpc project management office.Harvard Business School Case Studies, 9(308), 049. Singh R, Keil Mark, Kasi Vijay (n.d). European Journal of Information Systems. Identifying and overcoming the challenges of implementing a project management office. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ejis/journal/v18/n5/fig_tab/ejis200929t5.html