Project Management in Schools Miri Yemini • Izhar Oplatka • Netta Sagie Project Management in Schools New Conceptualizations, Orientations, and Applications Miri Yemini School of Education Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel Izhar Oplatka School of Education Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel Netta Sagie School of Education Tel Aviv University Ramat Gan, Israel ISBN 978-3-319-78607-0    ISBN 978-3-319-78608-7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78608-7 (eBook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2018941844 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. 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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents 1 Implementing Project Management in Schools   1 1.1 The History and Uses of Project Management in Contemporary Organizations  2 1.2 The Basic Vocabulary of Project Management  4 1.3 The Uniqueness of Schools in the Context of Project Management 11 1.4 Summary: Toward a Conceptualization of Project Management in Schools 14 1.5 Practical Points for Project Implementation in Schools 18 References  18 2 Project Initiation  23 2.1 Project Lifecycle 24 2.2 Teachers and the School Leadership Team as Corporate Entrepreneurs 28 2.3 Performing Organizational Diagnosis in Schools 31 2.4 Models for Project Selection in Schools 33 2.5 Practical Points for Project Initiation 40 References  41 3 Educational Planning and Its Unique Characteristics  43 3.1 The Basics of Planning and Its Applicability in Schools 43 3.2 Planning Scope in School Projects 44 v vi Contents 3.3 Funding, Cost Estimation, and Budgeting of Projects in the Public School System 46 3.4 Scheduling the Project Through the School Academic Year 51 3.5 Risk Planning 57 3.6 Practical Points for Project Planning 57 References  58 4 Project Implementation in Schools  61 4.1 Managing Change in Schools 62 4.2 The Work of the Project Team and Its Success Factors 78 4.3 Marketing the Project in School to Internal and External Stakeholders 81 4.4 Managing Parents and Community 83 4.5 Managing the Project Budget 86 4.6 Practical Points for Project Implementation 87 References  88 5 Project Termination  93 5.1 When and Why School Projects End? 95 5.2 Termination Process of Projects in Schools 97 5.3 Developing a School’s Organizational Memory and Ensuring Project Sustainability 98 5.4 Institutionalizing the Initiatives in Schools100 5.5 Practical Points for Project Termination101 References 102 6 Project Monitoring, Control, and Evaluation: The Unique Aspects of Projects in Schools 103 6.1 Evaluation of Project Success103 6.2 Evaluation of Projects in Schools108 6.3 Risk Management116 6.4 Practical Points for Project Evaluation and Project Risk Management124 References 125 Index 129 List of Figures Fig. 1.1 Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4 Fig. 3.5 Fig. 6.1 Project constraints and school outcomes triangle (adapted from Meredith & Mantel, 2011) 16 The common S-shaped project lifecycle (adapted from Pinto, 2013)24 Effort invested through the project lifecycle (adapted from Pinto, 2013) 25 Projects’ constrains and schools’ outcomes triangles (adapted from Meredith & Mantel, 2011) 26 Example of SWOT analysis at school level 33 WBS for a school project 45 Example of a Gantt chart 52 Network of the project developed according to the detailed WBS54 Solving the network 55 Solving the network continuation 55 Risk impact matrix (adapted from Pinto, 2013) 123 vii List of Tables Table 2.1 Table 2.2 Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4 Table 3.5 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Example of scoring model 35 Suggested template for the initiation phase 39 Scope presentation 46 Example of bottom-up budget planning for a school project 50 Detailed WBS, as prerequisite for network development 54 Project plan 56 Initial risk assessment 57 Assessment questions to decide on project termination 96 Final project report structure 100 Planning of the evaluation subject in the project 115 Dealing with the first three stages of the risk management process124 ix Introduction The increasing use of project management tools in organizations in the business and industrial sectors is a global phenomenon. In recent decades, such organizations are facing major pressures due to the consolidation of global markets, increased international competition, and the need to pursue commercial opportunities rapidly (Pinto, 2013). These pressures characterizing modern society in general, and the business environment in particular, fostered the development of advanced methods of management that improve an organization’s ability to plan, implement, and control its activities and utilize its people and resources (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). Thus, project management has come to be viewed nowadays as a crucial tool in increasing productivity of organizations and one of the most popular and useful tools for organizations to improve internal operations, respond to opportunities, manage contemporary challenges, and achieve strategic goals (Pinto, 2013). Evidently, there is a rapid increase in the number of organizations that use projects as the preferred way of achieving their goals (Meredith & Mantel, 2012). Nevertheless, in light of a high failure rate of projects, many have criticized the way projects are perceived and managed, as well as the way future managers are taught about projects and about project management in higher education institutions (Kerzner, 2017; Thomas & Mengel, 2008). As the field of project management has significantly grown, so has its literature, and many books and articles have been published about this managerial tool in recent years (e.g., Soderlund, 2011; Webster, 2014; Wong, 2007). However, contrary to the vast amount of empirical work carried out on project management in business and industrial ­organizations, xi xii INTRODUCTION in not-for-profit organizations and specifically in the field of education this area has been left relatively untouched (Ahmed, 2017). Education is a field that is perceived by many to be unique and so context-specific that application of generic business-related terms is generally criticized as neoliberal and a privatization-related measure (Yemini & Sagie, 2015). Nevertheless, proper application of project management methodology in schools at least should be presented to the school leadership team, adding an additional layer to the existing tool-kit of school administrators. It is commonly accepted that education is an extremely complicated field, where measurement of success is not straightforward (Oplatka, 2004; Sellar & Lingard, 2014). In addition, the whole idea of maximizing the profit of the shareholders and issues of organizational efficiency have been loudly contested (Ball, 2012), leaving the managers of projects in schools without appropriate tools. Unfortunately, no body of literature about project management in schools has evolved over time, leaving this subject far from being conceptualized specifically in educational institutions. Addressing this void is even more crucial as the school context has unique characteristics (Hoy & Miskel, 2008), which call for a separate consideration of many concepts that have come about in business organizations. This situation makes a coherent discussion of project management in schools from a context-­ related perspective a pressing need. Given the increasing pressures of decentralization and competitiveness in school environments during recent decades (Oplatka & Hemsley-­ Brown, 2012), the role of school principals and teachers as project managers is receiving growing interest in practical contexts and especially in leadership development programs worldwide. Thus, school principals nowadays are increasing their independence and control of internal matters and decision-making processes, while at the same time facing growing pressures to improve student achievements and meet government-­ mandated standards (Goldring & Schuermann, 2009; Inbar, 2009; Lubienski, 2003). These trends have exposed school staff to a complicated array of pressures that impact their work methods and ability to function, but have also provided school leaders with opportunities to act autonomously and initiate changes in their schools. Due to these changes, project management has become a critical tool for schools and therefore adaptation of this discipline in the school context is a matter of the highest priority in current educational systems. It is worth noting, however, that in spite of major reservations concerning the use of project management INTRODUCTION    xiii methodology in school administration, there is a growing stream of schools that adopt project-based learning and teaching, thus reorganizing the traditional subject-based learning into a holistic module based on a specific topic or project (Lam, Cheng, & Choy, 2010). As the issue of project management in the school context has hardly been conceptualized and examined, this book provides a comprehensive overview of models and practices of project management in schools, and conceptualizes the processes of adaptation and development of the general aspects of project management curricula within the unique context of the school organization. The book’s chapters deal with the complexity and uniqueness of the school environment within the growing implementation of project management in schools. By presenting the general theories and research on project management and adapting these theories to educational organizations and to this specific audience, we hope to open a new and promising niche for teaching, research, and practice. More specifically, this book has both theoretical and practical contributions. It promotes our knowledge and understanding of project management within the school’s contexts and reveals the unique use of project management within schools. In this manner, this book aims to contribute to a better understanding of the process of managing projects within schools and to provide a holistic view of project management within the educational arena. In addition, understanding the complicated case of schools in this context, as we believe, can significantly contribute to the broader theoretical discourse and introduce new practices. From a more practical view, this book may have implications for school principals’ and teachers’ work and training in the context of the current educational arena. The book provides a deeper knowledge necessary for initiating, implementing, and evaluating projects that can benefit schools and increase their effectiveness and productivity. References Ahmed, S. (2017). Effective non-profit management: Context, concepts, and competencies. Routledge. Ball, S. J. (2012). Politics and policy making in education: Explorations in sociology. Routledge. Goldring, E., & Schuermann, P. (2009). The changing context of K–12 education administration: Consequences for ed. D. program design and delivery. Peabody Journal of Education, 84(1), 9–43. xiv INTRODUCTION Hoy, W. K., & Miskel, C. G. (2008). Educational administration: Theory, research and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill. Inbar, D. 2009. Developing autonomy: The case of the Israeli school system. In A. Nir (Ed.), Centralization and school empowerment from rhetoric to practice (pp. 59–78). New York: Nova Biomedical Books. Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: A guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons. Lam, S. F., Cheng, R. W. Y., & Choy, H. C. (2010). School support and teacher motivation to implement project-based learning. Learning and Instruction, 20(6), 487–497. Lubienski, C. (2003). Innovation in education markets: Theory and evidence on the impact of competition and choice in charter schools. American Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 395–443. Meredith, J. R., & Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2012). Project management: A managerial approach. Danvers, MA: Wiley. Oplatka, I. (2004). The characteristics of the school organisation and the constraints on market ideology in education: An institutional view. Journal of Education Policy, 19(2), 143–161. Oplatka, I., & Hemsley-Brown, J. (2012). The research on school marketing: Current issues and furture directions – An updated version. In I. Oplatka & J. Hemsley-Brown (Eds.), The leadership and management of educational marketing: Research, practice and implications. London: Emerald Group Publishing. Pinto, J. K. (2013). Project management – Achieving competitive advantage. New York: Pearson International Edition. Sellar, S., & Lingard, B. (2014). The OECD and the expansion of PISA: New global modes of governance in education. British Educational Research Journal, 40(6), 917–936. Thomas, J., & Mengel, T. (2008). Preparing project managers to deal with complexity – Advanced project management education. International Journal of Project Management, 26(3), 304–315. Yemini, M., & Sagie, N. (2015). School-nongovernmental organization engagement as an entrepreneurial venture: A case study of sunlight’s engagement with Israeli schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 51(4), 543–571.