PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

 Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES 1
Project Management Processes Common to Technology-Intensive Organizations.
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES 2
The contemporary business environment is being characterized by intensive deployment
of technology in order to gain competitive advantage for survival and thrive. In that respect
technology is pervading all business processes within an enterprise. This has created a need for
new advanced strategies for work management (Pinheiro, 2010). Corporations all over the globe
have therefore shifted there work process systems by adopting implementation of projects as a
work management strategy in order to attain their strategic goals in the competitive global
business environment. Research studies indicate that both large and small sized technology
intensive organizations have high probability of organization success when work is handled as
projects (Bradshaw, 2008; Murphy and Ledwith, 2007). Corporations shift towards
implementation of projects in their efforts to gain competitiveness has been aided and catalyzed
by several factors. Pinheiro (2010) points out that these factors include: a) advance in computing
and internet technologies, b) globalization, c) availability of knowledge workers, d) cut throat
competition and e) finite resources.
Implementation of projects as a work management process has given rise to new terms
employed in the work process. The new terminologies include a) project, b) activity, c) schedule
and d) project management (PMI, 2008). A project is defined as an interconnected collection of
activities with a definite commencement and termination points, with the activities yielding a
unique outcome. Activity also called task is a micro unit of work that is carried out to accomplish
a project, and consumes time and resources. A schedule is a plan that is used by project
managers to allocate resources to the various activities under the project in order to facilitate
timely completion of a project (PMI, 2008). Project management is the use of both hard and soft
skills and techniques to plan and control resources necessary for the completion of a project to
the desired state. Scholars stress that a project has the following unique features: a) it is carried 
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES 3
out by a team assembled for the specific project; b) the team comprises of individual from
diverse background and organizations; c) the teams responsible for projects are interdisciplinary; d) the project team only hands over the project to the sponsors once the project is
complete becomes viable once completed and e) benefits of a project are realized once the
project is complete (PMI, 2008).
Though implementation of projects is reckoned as a contemporary work management
process by organizations, specifically technology intensive organizations, to gain competitive
advantage, it requires effective deployment of financial, human resources. Technology intensive
organizations should therefore have an effective project management framework to ensure
project success. Project management framework is a critical implement in facilitating
organizational survival; consequently, it should be backed and controlled by senior management
of an organization through all the phases. An effective project management framework involves
several phases, which include a) project management initiation, b) planning, c) implementation,
d) monitoring, e) measurement, f) control and g) closing (Pinheiro, 2010). Due to the strategic
importance of project management framework, top echelon personnel of technology intensive
organizations are being involved in control of project implementation. Drucker (2000) observes
that controls are being extensively utilized in technology intensive organizations to overcome
emerging risks, regulations and unfavorable factors that are impeding growth of organization that
heavily use technology in their processes. Pinheiro (2010) opines that control of projects is
accomplished through the use of the following techniques: a) project management plans, b)
project-matrix organization and c) management tools and techniques.
Stelth and Le Roy (2009) assert that project management has over the years been a
concept that has been employed in organizations, and at the same time going through 
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improvement and variations. The first documented project management concept was Critical
Path Method (CPM), which was created in 1957 by Morgan Walker and James Kelly (Korman,
2004). Critical Path Method, commonly known as CPM, used arrows and network methods to
represent processes in a system. The second project management concept was developed by the
U.S Navy, it was known as Program Evaluation Research Task or PERT. Program Evaluation
Research Task, commonly known as PERT, was used by the naval to track progress and
completion time o