UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN PHILLIPPINES FOUNDATION
Salinas Drive, Lahug Cebu City
GRADUATE SCHOOL
SW 376A (Program Development, Strategies and Management)
(Summer Class 2020)
Module No. Challenges of Project Management
ProgDev-OO5
Overview and This module is a synthesis of what we have discussed in the four (4)
Introduction previous modules. We will review project management and focus on the
various roles of a project manager including his or her qualities and
attributes. We will also dwell on the various challenges the project manager
or initiator face in project management.
Learning At the end of the module, students should be able to:
Outcomes 1. Discuss the various challenges in project management as applied to
their jobs.
2. Describe qualities of a project manager they have acquired as they
performed their work and those they intend to acquire in the future.
3. Create a Gantt Chart or a PERT Chart
Learning
Activities
Contents
A. Introduction
Discussion Points:
• After the video presentation, what struck you most about the video? What realization do
you have? You can encode your comments on the Chat Box.
• Project managers are described to be ‘band leaders’ or orchestra conductors. Why is this
so?
• Project management is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project
management.
• A project terminates after attaining its objectives. Operational work continues
indefinitely to sustain the business or project.
Project Process Groups:
1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Monitoring and Controlling
5. Closure
Knowledge Areas of Project Management
B. Four Phases of Project Management Life Cycle
1. Initiating
The Project Initiation Phase is the 1st phase in the Project Management Life Cycle, as
it involves starting up a new project. You can start a new project by defining its
objectives, scope, purpose and deliverables to be produced. You'll also hire your
project team, setup the Project Office and review the project, to gain approval to
begin the next phase.
Overall, there are six key steps that you need to take to properly initiate a new
project. These are:
a) Develop a business case
b) Undertake a feasibility study
c) Establish a project charter
d) Appoint a project team
e) Setup a project office
f) Perform phase review
2. Planning
Create the following:
a) Project plan
b) Resource plan
c) Financial plan
d) Quality plan
e) Risk plan
f) Acceptance plan
g) Communications
plan
h) Procurement
plan
i) Contract the supplier
j) Perform phase review
3. Executing
• The Project Execution Phase is the third phase in the project life cycle. In this phase,
you will build the physical project deliverables and present them to your customer for
signoff.
• The Project Execution Phase is usually the longest phase in the project life cycle and it
typically consumes the most energy and the most resources.
To enable you to monitor and control the project during this phase, you will need to
implement a range of management processes. These processes help you to manage
time, cost, quality, change, risks and issues. They also help you to manage
procurement, customer acceptance and communications.
a) Build deliverables
b) Monitor and Control
c) Perform:
a. Time Management
b. Cost Management
c. Quality Management
d. Change Management
e. Risk Management
f. Issue Management
g. Procurement Management
h. Acceptance Management
i. Communications Management
4. Closing
• The Project Closure Phase is the fourth and last phase in the project life cycle. In this
phase, you will formally close your project and then report its overall level of success
to your sponsor.
• Project Closure involves handing over the deliverables to your customer, passing the
documentation to the business, cancelling supplier contracts, releasing staff and
equipment, and informing stakeholders of the closure of the project.
• After the project has been closed, a Post Implementation Review is completed to
determine the project’s success and identify the lessons learned.
C. Causes of Project Failure and Success
Failure:
• Scope creep
• Poor requirements gathering
• Unrealistic planning and scheduling
• Lack of resources
Success
• Customer requirements satisfied/exceeded
• Completed within allocated time frame
• Completed within allocated budget
• Accepted by the customer
D. The Project Manager
Individuals specifically designated to coordinate the implementation team and manage &
monitor the project process at various phases
Project Manager Attributes:
• Leader & manager
• Facilitator, coordinator
• Communicator
• Credibility: Technical/
Administrative
• Work under pressure
• Goal-oriented
• Innovator
• Versatile
• Knowledgeable about the organization
• Political sensitivity
• Conflict: sense, confront, resolve
• Can deal with stress, chaos, ambiguity
• Planning and follow-through
• Can manage ethical dilemmas
Responsibilities of Project Managers
• Establishes goals
• • Sets priorities
• Identifies activities & tasks
• Identifies and quantify project resources
• Prepares budgets
• Reports to senior management
• Manages people
• Coordinates
• Communicates with users
• Controls budget budgets
• Sets project time frame
• Set expectations
• Obtains and allocates resources
• Monitors project progress
• Controls risks
• Verifies whether goals and objectives were achieved
• Delivers results
Accidental Manager
• Many individuals find themselves undertaking project management responsibilities with
little or no preparation. Referred to as "accidental project managers", they have no
training or experience and must often manage projects from the side of their desks.
• Unlike traditional project-based industries, such as aerospace and construction, which
use professional project managers, the public sector is appointing untrained staffers to
manage projects whenever there is an unexpected need for project management.
• Respondents of the survey also indicated a high level of management support, but most
indicated an absence of project management tools and
• 83% acknowledged that there was no project management methodology in place. Only
41 per cent of respondents indicated that their department see project management as a
core competency.
• The relatively high level of management support indicates a willingness or enthusiasm for
project management but the lack of methodologies and tools implies a lack of
preparedness and a lack of sound project management foundation from which to achieve
successful project outcomes.
• Without these project management tools, they say, an organization does not have a
strong foundation from which to build skilled project managers, an organizational culture
of project management, and ultimately, better business outcomes.
• While they expected that the accidental project manager would be close to extinction,
the survey results suggest the opposite – the accidental project manager is alive and
kicking in the public sector.
E. Your Working Style
Working Styles Assessment (Source:www.mehaf.org)
• Teams are made up of individuals with different work experience and backgrounds, each
with his or her own particular working style. There are many different working styles to
think about, and every person’s individual working style plays a key role in the team’s
development and success.
• “The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up
what you are for what you might become.” (W.E.B. DuBois)
Purpose of the Assessment
The purpose of this brief questionnaire is to get some idea of your preferred or dominant
working style.
Outcome
There are no right or wrong answers and you may find that several choices appeal to you
because you prefer a combination of styles.
Instructions
• Complete the questionnaire on found in Appendix A.
• Read each statement and order your responses with the numbers “1,” “2,” “3” or “4,”
with “1” being the response that BEST describes you and “4” being the response that
LEAST describes you. Use whole numbers only (no fractions or decimals).
• You have approximately 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
• Once you have completed the questionnaire, transfer the results to the score sheet
provided for (Appendix B).
• Refer to Appendix C for details about your working style
• Appendix D will give you information about using your style with other style.
Assignment:
Answer the Working Style Questions found in Appendix E.
F. Team Work
What is a Team?
A team is a small group with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable
for common purpose, goals and approach .(Krietner and Kinicki, 2001)
Stages of Team Development
• How fast a team moves
through each stage will
depend on the team
members, their individual
skills, the work they are
expected to do, and the
type of leadership
available to the team. -
Shirley Fine Lee
What are the Qualities of an Effective Team?
Clear Purpose Informality
Participation Listening
Civilized disagreement Consensus decisions
Open communication Clear roles and work
assignments
Shared leadership External relations
Style diversity Self assessment
Prerequisites for an Effective Team
(Krietner and Kinicki, 2001)
Cooperation Individual efforts are systematically
integrated to achieve a collective
objectives
Trust “Trust begets trust”
It is the reciprocal (give-and-take) faith
in others’ intention and behavior
Cohesiveness It is a process by which a sense of “we-
ness” emerges to transcend individual
differences and motives.
Members of the group stick together.
G. Some Tools for Project Management
A. Gantt charts
• provide a way to track and manage project timelines, progress, and deliverables. Vertical
lines or bars are used to visualize each task, and each Gantt chart includes resources,
milestones, tasks, and dependencies.
• Resources: Project managers must have insight into what resources are needed for tasks
outlined in a Gantt chart, in order for each to be completed on time.
Milestones: Along your timeline, there will likely be milestones, both small and large, that
must be hit in order to keep your project on track. A milestone is an important goal, event, or
deliverable in your project, such as a kickoff meeting or major deadline. Using milestones in
your project plan can help you monitor progress and identify potential delays.
• Tasks: There are specific things that need to be completed along the way of your project
• Dependencies: Tasks on your Gantt chart will be related to each other. A dependency links
tasks together to ensure work gets done in the right order.
Refer to Appendix D for samples of Gantt Charts
The main goal of a Gantt chart is to track the timeline and completion of a project. It’s especially
helpful for project managers who need to keep team momentum going
B. PERT Charts
A PERT chart is a project management tool that provides a graphical representation of a
project's timeline. The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) breaks down the
individual tasks of a project for analysis. PERT charts are considered preferable to Gantt
charts because they identify task dependencies, but they're often more difficult to interpret.
How do PERT Charts Work?
• A PERT chart uses circles or rectangles called nodes to represent project events or
milestones. These nodes are linked by vectors or lines that represent various tasks.
• Dependent tasks are items that must be performed in a specific manner. For example, if
an arrow is drawn from Task No. 1 to Task No. 2 on a PERT chart, Task No. 1 must be
completed before work on Task No. 2 begins.
• Items at the same stage of production but on different task lines within a project are
referred to as parallel tasks. They're independent of each other, but they're planned to
occur at the same time.
Refer to Appendix E for sample PERT Chart
Assessments
Optional
Activities/ http://www.relatably.com
Resources
http://betterbusinesslearning.com
www.mehaf.org
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/gantt-chart-example
https://www.teamgantt.com/blog/gantt-chart-example
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pert-chart.asp
Prepared by:
ROSARIO E. SEQUITIN, RSW,MMPM, MSSW
Appendix A
Work Style Questionnaire
1. When performing a job, it is most important to me
A [ ] do it correctly, regardless of the time involved.
B [ ] set deadlines and get it done.
C [ ] work as a team, cooperatively with others.
D [ ] demonstrate my talents and enthusiasm.
2. The most enjoyable part of working on a job is
A [ ] the information you need to do it.
B [ ] the results you achieve when it’s done.
C [ ] the people you meet or work with.
D [ ] seeing how the job contributes to progress.
3. When I have several ways to get a job done, I usually
A [ ] review the pros and cons of each way and choose.
B [ ] choose a way that I can begin to work immediately.
C [ ] discuss ways with others and choose the one most favored.
D [ ] review the ways and follow my “gut” sense about what will work
the best.
4. In working on a long-term job, it is most important to me to
A [ ] understand and complete each step before going to the next step.
B [ ] seek a fast, efficient way to complete it.
C [ ] work on it with others in a team.
D [ ] keep the job stimulating and exciting.
5. I am willing to take a risky action if
A [ ] there are facts to support my action.
B [ ] it gets the job done.
C [ ] it will not hurt others’ feelings.
D [ ] it feels right for the situation.
Appendix B
Score Sheet
Transfer the answers from the Working Styles Questionnaire onto the
scoring grid below by entering the number you chose for each letter. Next,
total the columns and record the answers in the space provided.
TOTALS A[] B[] C[] D[]
A[] B[] C[] D[]
A[] B[] C[] D[]
A[] B[] C[] D[]
A[] B[] C[] D[]
A[] B[] C[] D[]
Your LOWEST score is your preferred or dominant working style. In the case
of a tied score, you should pick the working style you feel is most like you.
A = Analytical
B = Driver
C = Amiable
D = Expressive
My preferred working style is
________________________________________________________________
Appendix C
Working Style Characteristics
A–Analytical B–Driver
• Cautious actions and decisions • Takes action and acts
• Likes organization and structure decisively
• Dislikes involvement with others • Likes control
• Asks many questions about specific details • Dislikes inaction
• Prefers objective, task-oriented • Prefers maximum freedom to
work environment manage self and others
• Wants to be accurate and therefore relies • Cool and independent,
too much on data collection competitive with others
• Seeks security and self-actualization • Low tolerance for feelings,
attitudes and advice of others
• Works quickly and efficiently
by themselves
C–Amiable D–Expressive
• Slow at taking action and making • Spontaneous actions and
decisions decisions, risk taker
• Likes close, personal relationships • Not limited by tradition
• Dislikes interpersonal conflict • Likes involvement
• Supports and “actively” listens to others • Generates new and innovative
• Weak at goal setting and self-direction ideas
• Demonstrates excellent ability to gain • Tends to dream and get others
support from others caught up
• Works slowly and cohesively with others in the dream
• Not good with follow-through • Jumps from one activity to
another
• Works quickly and excitingly
with others
• Seeks security and inclusion
Appendix D
Using Your Style with Other Style
Analytical Driver Amiable Expressive
Your Style
Other
Style
Analytical Establish priority Take a deep breath, Cut short the social Translate your
of tasks to be done. relax and slow down. hour and get right vision into specific
Commit to firm time With analyticals, you down to the tasks or goals.
frames for your work need to demonstrate specifics. The more Involve analyticals
and stick to them. you have considered information you in research and
all or most options or have to support your developing the
outcomes before position, details of the plan
moving ahead. the better. of action.
Driver Organize your work Remind each other of Don’t take anything Take time to think
around major themes; your similarities and personally. Getting about what your
prepare “executive your need to adopt results is what vision really is;
summaries” with qualities of the other counts with drivers; translate it into
headings or bullets styles. be decisive and action steps with
that state the dynamic. Emphasize objectives and
conclusions first and the timelines.
supporting data and bottom line.
analysis second.
Amiable Start off on a personal Spend time up front Laugh with each Tell them how
note, gravitate to gaining trust and other about how important the
project specifics and confidence; be important it is being team concept is to
expectations; inclusive. Be sure to relational. Then making your vision
emphasize the greater be specific about focus on what we a reality. Give
good of the project. deadlines, even when really need to amiables the job of
it seems obvious. accomplish here and team building to
do it. make the dream
come true.
Expressive Jazz up your Be patient and try to Engage the Remind each other
presentation; try to work with a flip chart expressive with of your tendency
think of the BIG to harness creative appreciation of their to generate a lot of
picture. Involve the spirits. Emphasize vision and creativity. ideas without
expressive in time lines and due Harness this energy thinking through
developing the dates. Build in to deal with pesky how to implement
“vision” or marketing flexibility to allow the but important details them.
of the plan. free rein of creativity. only they can
address.
Appendix E
Working Style Questions
Appendix D
Sample Gantt Charts for Project Management
Project management is one of the most common verticals relying on Gantt charts. These charts
help project managers identify the tasks involved in each project, create a timeline for each
task, and assign dates, tools, and progress updates for each of the tasks within the project.
Joint Workplan
UNICEF (Philippines) and NASWEI with DSWD
Result* Activities Timeframe (in Responsible
months)** Partner
0- 4- 7- 10-
3 6 9 12
Conduct of training needs analysis (TNA) NASWEI
Preparation of Training Modules NASWEI &
60 LGU Social DSWD
Workers trained on Organization of Training Management Team
NASWEI
case Management of
children in disaster Conduct of Training (Batch 1 and 2) incorporating the
situations Care for Care Providers module NASWEI,
DSWD
Evaluate training NASWEI &
DSWD
60 selected Conduct of training needs analysis (TNA)
individuals from NASWEI
identified LGUs Preparation of Training Modules NASWEI &
affected by T. DSWD
Yolanda trained as
Conduct training NASWEI &
para-social workers
DSWD
Evaluate training NASWEI &
DSWD
Trained LGU social Conduct of mentoring and coaching visits
workers are NASWEI
mentored and Organize case conferences
coached NASWEI
Knowledge products Writeshops NASWEI &
produced DSWD
Publication and Distribution NASWEI &
DSWD
Monitoring and Conduct of project meetings NASWEI &
Evaluation DSWD
Conduct of monitoring visits NASWEI
Conduct of Project Evaluation (internal and external
evaluations) NASWEI &
DSWD
Materials, Reproduction, Communications and Local NASWEI
Transportation
Appendix E
Sample PERT CHARTS
Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pert-chart.asp
