John Potter Plymouth Business School University of Plymouth Project Management

Projects usually have three main areas of objectives Function, performance, specification and quality Containment of expenditure within budget Timescale We term this the quality, cost and time triangle. The quality, cost, time triangle

As well as the internal objectives of the project a number of organisational issues are relevant Organisational politics often come into play Individuals may have their own agendas with regards to the success or failure of the project Commercial pressures, competition and advances in technology may have an impact on the project and how it is organised Other factors such as environment issues may impact on the project Interactions between the major stakeholders in the project may have an impact. The organisational context of the project

Program evaluation and review technique Identify activities needed to be undertaken Assign estimated timescales Identify milestones by which each activity is to be completed Identify which activities can be undertaken in parallel Consider resourcing issues which may mean the project may take longer but use less people and resources at any one time Identify the critical path, that is the minimum time needed for completion of the project. Where project management started in earnest – the PERT approach

One of the simplest ways of creating a project plan is the Gantt Chart. The Gantt Chart is a simple bar chart showing the activities and their relationship Take the following seven activities involved in building a wooden storehouse from a construction kit Collect brochures Visit suppliers and compare products Construct concrete base Accept delivery Assemble tools required Construct building according to plans Paint building Fit out the inside with shelves and electrical power. Introducing the Gantt Chart

Simple Gantt Chart for the previous slide Days of the month Activity Collect brochures Visit suppliers Construct base Delivery process Assemble tools Construct building Paint Fit out interior Week number

 We have a ready made tool to create Gantt Charts with Excel in Microsoft  A Google search of ‘Gantt Charts in Excel’ will reveal many references – here are three excellent ones  office.microsoft.com/.../excel.../create-a-gantt-chart- in-excel-HA aspx   using-excel.html

We can identify ten core leadership capabilities for effective project management Setting direction Setting an example Communicating effectively Bringing out the best in people Delivering results on time Self awareness of the effect you have on your team Creating emotional alignment Handling crises Accommodating change Handling uncertainty and ambiguity Applying the core leadership capabilities to project management

There are many ways we can describe leadership style Communication process is one such approach Autocratic Democratic Laissez-faire or covert The mixture of task related behaviour and relationship related behaviour Whether your emphasis is on achieving the task, building a team or working with individuals. The practical impact of leadership style

In recent times the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership has been recognised Emotionally intelligent leaders understand their own emotions, manage their emotions, understand others’ emotions and build good working relationships. In operational settings five styles of leadership tend to be observed The most effective are vision based, coaching, promoting cross functional working and inclusion or democratic The least effective are coercive and pace-setting. Emotionally intelligent project leadership

Examples: Daft, R.L (2008) Leadership. Cengage Goleman, D. (1998) What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review Goleman, D. (2000) Leadership That Gets Results? Harvard Business Review Tannenbaum,R, & Schmidt, W.H. (1973) How to Choose a Leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review Adair, J. (1983) Effective Leadership. Gower Publishing: England Create a Gantt chart in Excel. Available at: How to Create a Gannt Chart Using Microsoft Excel. Available at:

This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license ( The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved Author John Potter InstituteUniversity of Plymouth Titlehanding over the project, close down and knowledge capture Date Created 10/06/2011 Educational Level Level 5 Keywords Learning from WOeRK Work Based Learning WBL Continuous Professional Development CPD leadership and management UKOER LFWOER Text for audio commentary