Project Management and Leadership

Project management just like herding cats is a challenging process. A project manager must emphasize collaboration, constant recognition and affirmation to the project staff. Project management has challenges that discourage team members from team working and they include: absence of incentives, too much work resulting in stress and not having the time to delve into project’s goal.

A project plan is a formal written document used to prepare, manage and control a project. Plans are important to project teams since: they define their project mandates in detail by establishing project boundaries, scope and deliverable, they indicate the project schedule, major milestones and project performance to improve monitoring and control of project activities. Project plans also list various criteria that the product or service should qualify by identifying existing resources and indicating additional requirements to complete the project.

Different temperaments bring diverse traits in the project. The four members would join different groups, thus be able to control their individual emotions for the benefit of the project.

The strategies I would execute in team decision-making include:

Structure and Leadership: As the overseer, I am responsible for making major project decisions in consultation with the team leaders. Team leaders would oversee working groups. Individual members will be responsible for making minor decisions. This sequence of events yields responsibility, promoting the development of the project.

Goals: Operational goals make a difference in project strategy and install methods for keeping these visible to all. Team leaders are responsible to their team members as they are required to measure and remind the members of long and short-term operational plans and budgets on a timely basis. This will promote competitiveness for the benefit of the project.

Issue Resolution Systems: Projects are initiated to resolve or promote an issue. Good project organizations know how to assign an issue to a project team for problem-solving and decision making or planning. This promotes a competitive edge to the project organization.

To introduce the Community celebration parade project, I would do the following:

• Create a Case document. A case document is a description of the project opportunity. With transactional leadership, I will include the project problem and potential costs associated with implementation.
• Make Feasibility Study. The feasibility study investigates whether the benefits stated in the case can be delivered, strengths and the resources required to implement the project.
• Develop Project Charter. It is a project statement that describes the reasons for the project, project goals, objectives, scope, budget, stakeholders, expectations, implementation plans, constraints and solutions.
• Assign Project Team. The project charter is developed so as to proceed with identifying human resources. Using charismatic leadership, a project team will be established which includes: project team and project committee.
• Perform Review. A review stage is conducted to ensure that the project is successfully initiated or completed. Participatory leadership will ensure that project review is done as fast as possible in readiness for planning.

After the project initiation phase, planning for the project will be the next phase. The following will be undertaken taken:

Every project needs a roadmap with clear, distinct goals. All stakeholders benefiting from the outcome of the project will be named and their mandates stated. A document that clearly outlines all project to-do activities will be created and maintained. Realistic deadlines will be set, taking into account members’ productivity, availability and efficiency. A realistic budget for the project will be created. Team members will later be chosen and their roles and responsibilities on the project described in detail to avoid miscommunication for the delivery of the project on time and within the budget framework.

To realize a functional roadmap for the realization of project goals, proper leadership styles should be practiced. They include:

Charismatic style – Charisma promotes persuasion needed while determining and mobilizing team members to join the project. Charismatic leaders show great confidence and appreciation for team members creating a group image that supersedes project expectation.

Transformational style – This is a leadership style where vision and mission of the project is important in winning over and convincing stakeholders to join in realizing the goals of the project. Motivation of staff is important in the course of project implementation.

Participative and Transactional style – Participative and democratic leadership seeks to involve all stakeholders in project management while transactional style enables the making of clear structures in the planning of the project to be followed by all team players failure to which they will be held accountable for their actions.