CTIS493 INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIAL TOPICS

REFERENCE: A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO PLANNING, SCHEDULING, AND CONTROLLING Harold Kerzner, Ph.D.

Ethics & Professional Conduct  Internal unethical acts: Your company asks you to take actions that is in the best interest of your company, but violates your ethical beliefs.  You are asked to lie to the customer in a proposal in order to win the contract.  You are asked to withhold bad news from your own management.  You are asked to withhold bad news from the customer.  You are instructed to ship a potentially defective unit to the customer in order to maintain production quotas.  You are ordered to violate ethical accounting practices to make your numbers "look good" for senior management.  You are asked to cover up acts of embezzlement or use the wrong charge numbers.

Ethics & Professional Conduct  External unethical acts: Your customers ask you to take action that is in their best interest but violates your ethical beliefs.  You are asked to hide or destroy information that could be damaging to the customer during legal action against your customer.  You are asked to lie to consumers to help maintain your customer's public image.  You are asked to release unreliable information that would be damaging to one of your customer's competitors.  The customer's project manager asks you to lie in your proposal so that he/she will have an easier time in approving contract award.

Professional Responsibilities  Ensure Individual Integrity and Professionalism  Adhere to all legal requirements and cultural standards  Maintain moral and ethical standards  Protect the community and all stakeholders  Contribute to the Project Management Knowledge Base  Share project management knowledge on current research, best practices, lessons learned in order advance the profession.  Enhance Individual Competence  Balance Stakeholder Interests  Interact with the Team and Stakeholders in a Professional and Cooperative Manner

Professional Responsibilities  Maintaining professional integrity  Adhering ethical standards  Recognizing diversity  Avoiding/reporting conflict of interest  Not making project decisions for personal gains  Receiving gifts from customers and vendors  Providing gifts to customers and vendors  Managing the company’s intellectual property  Managing the customer’s intellectual property  Adhering to security and confidentiality requirements

Conflict of Interest / Inappropriate Connections  An individual can gain personally based upon the decisions made (personal enrichment)  Insider knowledge that the stock will be going up or down  Allow employees to use charge numbers even though they are not working on the project  Receiving or giving inappropriate gifts  Providing customer with false information  Loans with a very low interest rate  Receiving insider/privileged information

Management of Time & Stress  Disciplined time management is one of the keys to effective project management.  Do you have trouble completing work within the allocated deadlines?  How many interruptions are there each day?  Do you have a procedure for handling interruptions?  If you need a large block of uninterrupted time, is it available? With or without overtime?  How do you handle drop-in visitors and phone calls?  How is incoming mail handled?  Do you have established procedures for routine work?

Management of Time & Stress  Are you accomplishing more or less than you were three months ago? Six months ago?  How difficult is it for you to say no?  How do you approach detail work?  Do you perform work that should be handled by your subordinates?  Do you have sufficient time each day for personal interests?  Do you still think about your job when away from the office?  Do you make a list of things to do? If yes, is the list prioritized?  Does your schedule have some degree of flexibility?

Time Robbers  There are numerous time robbers in the project management environment. These include:  A job poorly done that must be done over  Telephone calls, mail, and  Lack of adequate responsibility and commensurate authority  Changes without direct notification and explanation  Waiting for people  Failure to delegate, or unwise delegation

Time Robbers  Not enough proven managers  Too many people involved in minor decision-making  Lack of technical knowledge  Lack of authorization to make decisions  Too much travel  Lack of adequate project management tools  Departmental "buck passing"  Company politics

Effetive Time Management  There are several techniques that project managers can practice in order to make better use of their time:  Delegate  Follow the schedule  Decide fast  Decide who should attend  Learn to say no  Work at travel stops  Refuse to do the unimportant  Know your energy cycle  Control telephone and time  Send out the meeting agenda

Integrated Product/Project Teams  Integrated Product/Project Teams (IPTs) have membership from across the entire organization.  IPT consists of a sponsor, program manager, and the core team.  The skills needed to be a member of the core team include:  Self-starter ability  Work without supervision  Good communication skills  Cooperative  Technical understanding  Willing to learn backup skills  Decision maker  Knowledgeable in risk management  Understand the need for continuous validation

Project Management In Small Organizations In small companies the Project Manager (PM) has:  To wear multiple hats and may have to act as a PM and technical manager at the same time.  To handle multiple projects, perhaps each with a different priority.  Limited resources  Better understanding of interpersonal skills  Shorter lines of communications  Much greater risk to the total company with the failure of as little as one project  To control budget with less sophisticated techniques

Competency Models