Assignment Instructions/ Description
Unit 2 Shared Activity: The Organisational Context of ProjectsThis second unit offers one assessment - the ‘Shared Activity’, taking place on the discussion forum. This is worth 10% of the overall module grade. Your initial post should be completed by day 7 of this unit. You must respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by the end of the unit, day 14.
While reviewing Belbin’s team roles in this unit’s Resources, think about whether team roles should vary from project to project. Should custom roles be made for individual projects? What if the project is highly technical? For example, would an expansion of a family-owned chip shop require the same team roles as a billion-pound corporate takeover? This element of the Shared Activity will allow you to apply ideas about the organisational environment of projects to your Project business case.
The influence and involvement of personnel on a project is something a project manager must understand and, indeed, manipulate successfully. For example, if the project manager needs more money to complete a phase of the project, she should go to someone with the influence to make that happen. Project managers also have to take stakeholder influence into consideration when deciding the direction of the project. It is a project manager’s responsibility to identify the stakeholders, understand their requirements and expectations, successfully manage their influence and find a balance of what is required to keep the stakeholders content while keeping the project on track. Indeed, this is a quite a complex, political task. Fortunately, a stakeholder analysis can help. Stakeholder analysis will feature in your Unit 5 Project, and you will start to prepare the information for that element in this activity.
Risk assessment and risk management are used to identify and mitigate risk drivers. A risk driver is a situation in a project from which project risks can arise. Identifying risk drivers can help a project manager evaluate the needs of the project, make changes as needed and allow the project to stay on course. For example, consider an organisation that is taking on a new project unlike any other they have done in the past. The organisation’s level of inexperience with this new project can be identified as a risk driver. The risks that could arise from this risk driver include: overlooking necessary tasks, underestimating time, underestimating resources and exceeding budget. It is a project manager’s responsibility to evaluate risk drivers and associated risks throughout every phase of the project life cycle, propose possible solutions to risks and communicate risks to stakeholders. In your business case presentation in Unit 5, you will identify the risks involved in your scenario and propose risk-mitigation strategies to deal with them. You will discuss your initial thoughts about these in this activity.
To prepare for this Shared Activity:
Review the resources for the unitFurther clarify your scenario by identifying your assumptions about the organisational context, stakeholders and risks for your project.Focus on the following areas:Organisational structureOrganisational type; e.g. project-based organisation (PBO), project-oriented organisation (POO)Nature of the project environment within the organisation (permanent, transitory, internal/external participants)The impact of different team roles on a project’s chance of successPrimary Stakeholders: those ultimately affected, either positively or negatively, by the projectSecondary Stakeholders: the intermediaries, those who are indirectly affected by the projectKey Stakeholders: those who have significant influence upon a project, or significant importance within the organisationStakeholder Issues: problems that may arise with various stakeholdersStakeholder Management Strategies: a plan to address stakeholder issuesThink about risk drivers in your project and the risks associated with each.Consider how the risks you identified could impact upon the project, and propose strategies to mitigate each risk.To complete this Shared Activity:
By Day 7:Write a 500-word post:
Explain whether different organisational structures, contexts and projects demand different team roles or whether all organisational structures, contexts and projects need essentially the same roles for their teams.Using the scenario that you were assigned for your Project, explain the impact of including different team roles on that project’s chances of success.Perform an outline stakeholder analysis for your scenario.Perform an outline risk analysis for your scenario.
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