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Art of Requirements Gathering
No full textThis article discusses new techniques for requirements gathering
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLES AND JOB SATISFACTION IN LUXURY RETAIL PROJECT
Get PDFThis is a study on the impact of leadership styles on the employee job satisfaction in the luxury retail project management industry. The purpose of conducting this research is to identify the impact of different types of leadership styles on the employee job satisfaction towards the organization. This research examines major leadership styles, which may be summarized as autocratic leadership, democratic leadership laissez-faire leadership, transactional leadership and transformative leadership styles. The proposed research solution for this study is a qualitative correlational study. In this study specially designed questionnaires will be used to collect the primary data from targeting population which is the people who work in the luxury retail industry in Shanghai China; Furthermore, the secondary data came from a comprehensive literature review. After the primary data and the secondary data analyzed, the study result will be addressed at the end of this research.
The result of the research shows that there is a significant relationship between the leadership styles and employee job satisfaction in the retail industry. Especially the transformational and democratic leadership style has a positive correlation in between; the funding suggests that the transformational and democratic leadership style may be the most appropriate style for leaders in the luxury retail project management
SCRUM IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY TO IMPROVE PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN DESIGN PHASE
Get PDFAs building technologies dramatically developed over the past several decades, construction project delivery methods evolved tremendously. Since the Renaissance, the fields of architecture and construction have been regarded as complex art forms. Today, both disciplines are regarded more as technical fields meant to improve human functional, technological, and practical needs. Therefore, the management of a project plays a more critical role in contemporary construction projects.
Over the several decades, there has been no significant change in the way of construction projects management changes. However, client requirements and expectations are constantly evolving. Because of this disconnect, traditional construction management practices cannot meet the needs of the current market. The potential project risks are increased by the gap between how the projects are conducted and how the projects should be managed. This negatively impacts the overall performance of the project as well as the quality of delivery.
Recently, more and more construction projects have begun improving project performance by utilizing new management frameworks. Most notably, “Agile” construction has gradually garnered attention throughout the industry because of its outstanding ability in managing risks and changes.
This thesis researches the implementation of “Scrum” (a framework of Agile project management) from the information technology field into the construction industry by means of the literature review. Through precedent analysis, the benefits and shortcomings of Scrum will be revealed. The benefits of Scrum that contribute to overall project performance will be analyzed in detail through the findings made through case studies, personal interviews, and a comprehensive literature review.
The result of the research shows that Scrum provides significant improvements for construction project performance in many ways. By decreasing uncertainty and increasing management of risks, it has obvious potential benefits in the design phase of a construction project.
In sum, this thesis identifies the advantages of the project performance by using Scrum in the design phase of construction projects. It predicts the future outlook of the possible development of Agile models in the construction industry. The thesis also includes the recommendation section to provide the suggestions for the future researches
ROLE OF EFFECTIVE QUALITY RISK MANAGEMENT IN DRUG SAFETY PROJECT
Get PDFIdentifying risk is one of the key topics of discussion in project planning and update meetings. Project managers have to identify and manage different risks at various levels of projects. These risks must be managed and eradicated in the effective and structured manner to perform effective quality risk management and thus leading to adequate project management. The research investigates the potential root cause of the quality risk management issues using tools such as the fishbone diagram (Ishikawa), 5-Whys, FTA etc. which could remedy this situation. An effectiveness check measure can also be implemented after applying corrective/preventive actions to ensure that quality is met at each step of the process. Over 90 articles were searched using keywords risk minimization plan, benefit-risk assessment, drug safety, and pharmacovigilance. The search was further narrowed to 16 articles which had information based on human studies and drug safety. Non-human studies and single case assessments were excluded from the research.
The quality data of 20 large pharmaceutical companies were surveyed extensively and it was suggested that only limited number of projects used very rare risk management practices and most of the projects do not use all the current tools of risk management. The most extensively used method of quality risk management included failure mode and effects analysis. This technique was mostly utilized in assessing change control and failed investigations. The data of this analysis suggested that risk management strategies are not used extensively. This research recommends the practice of tools used for quality risk management such as fish-bone diagram (Ishikawa) and FTA at early stages of drug development. Effectiveness check measure is also suggested to ensure that quality is met at each step of the drug safety. There may be other risk-benefit assessment methods which are not identified by this research and further research is warranted to guarantee the success of these measures
Implementing Project Management Principles in Digital Advertising Age
Get PDFDigital advertising is a rapidly evolving industry in the US, which only has a short history of 20 years. As the demand for brands and advertisers to accurately target their audiences at the right time has increased, projects have been gradually featured as the most critical revenue-generating factor for companies in the advertising industry to survive. The advertising ecosystem, which includes agencies, technology vendors, media partners, brands and publishers, has developed as a complex system which requires efficient project management methodologies to meet the increasing demands of the industry.
This thesis aims to discuss the main problem for a lot of traditional advertising agencies: how to execute successful projects to stay profitable in the industry. However, since each company has its business nature, to define the quality of a specific project is confusing and hard to implement. Therefore, to identify whether a plan is a successful one or not is to analyze the financial benefits that it brings to a company and the time it takes to achieve the financial goals. By taking this practical challenge, this thesis ventures an empirical investigation in which project features as the central unit of the advertising ecosystem. However, rather than assuming a composition of a company by temporary projects, this thesis seeks to explore interdependency among projects, groups, as well as other organization components, such as people, to determine ways to properly manage projects which can lead to financial success for a company in the digital advertising industry. With a combination of frequent practices and a focus on the project management mindset, agencies can be able to develop better structures to provide on-time and high-quality delivery. Project management mindset should be spread amongst managers, senior leaders and entry-level employees across advertising agencies to build consistent project methodologies (Grabel, 2017).
The paper dives into interrelation among projects, advertising agencies, brands, advertisers, and media networks, which provide essential support for project-based advertising, to research guidelines and examples of successfully-executed projects. The paper uncovers a collaborative practice space for which the term project ecology will be proposed, via consecutively embedding projects into different social and corporate layers
SOFT SKILLS INFLUENCE IN PROJECT MANAGERS IN THE CLOUD SPACE
Get PDFIn technology companies, Project Managers (PM) are being required to develop a set of soft skills, in addition to their technical expertise, in order to positively influence project’s outcomes and succeed in their professional careers. New technologies known as “Cloud”, “Cloud computing”, and “Cloud technology” are being adopted by companies to organize their projects with top technology, and their people with the skills required to work with them. The present work examines academic research and available literature associated to the soft skills related to project management and project managers in the Cloud space in order to identify the top soft skills influencing project success in Cloud, and establish the baseline to create a training program that Cloud companies can use to reinforce and/or develop required soft skills. The present work does not undermine the importance of technical knowledge to perform projects with success, but presents a case on the most important soft skills required in the successful practice of project management in Cloud organizations, and provide insights for future work in the development of a soft skills training program that project managers could take and benefit to succeed in their PM roles in Cloud projects
AGILE ADOPTION IN INVESTMENT BANKS
Get PDFMany companies and organizations, regardless of industries, countries, size, and cultures, are in the process of transiting from traditional project management methods to Agile. When it comes to financial industry, today’s investment banks, face more unstable market conditions, faster changes of worldwide politics, economies and technologies, stricter regulations, and greater pressure to meet customers’ requirements and sustain revenue growth. Investment banks are usually full-service global financial institutions, which provide advisory and financing banking services, as well as sales, market making, and research on financial products. Therefore, investment banks are in great need to transform from traditional PM concepts to Agile. However, a big issue in investment banks is the lack of applying Agile. To address this issue, this thesis is focusing on “what is the current status of adopting Agile in investment banks”, “why investment banks have not fully adopted Agile”, “why investment banks should adopt Agile methodology” and “how to apply agile in investment banks”.
The research of this thesis will be conducted using two main approaches. To answer the first three questions mentioned above, two main approaches, researching the existing articles and questionnaire survey among the investment banks employees, will be used. Based on the findings and conclusions of the research and the survey, recommendations will be provided to address how investment banks can successfully apply Agile within the organization. The results of the research will be able to provide a guidance for investment banks on how to smoothly transit from traditional project management methods to Agile, and help to bring more attention to this topic and stimulate more related research in the future
Managing Business Process Transformation Projects Using Contextual Hybrid Agile Methodology
Get PDFBusiness and business processes never cease to change, and this is especially true with today’s accelerating pace of changing business environment. Executives and project teams in both traditional and Agile organizations across industries have been increasingly motivated to find a flexible project management methodology that can work well and can be readily customized in the context of each of their own organization.
This thesis seeks to first abstract the concept and practices of the Agile methodology by examining the hallmarks of both traditional and Agile project management through comparison. It then constructs a contextualized model by identifying key characteristics of a project team and analyzes the most relevant factors that help determine specific Agile practices to adopt. The end goal is to identify an effective and flexible project methodology that business process transformation project teams can use to build or enhance their operating models
BIM and Project Management in AEC Industry
Get PDFBuilding Information Modeling has altered project managers’ role in architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. In theory Building Information Modeling (BIM) has promised the project managers to enhance communication and collaboration aspect of managing their projects, thus increasing the efficiency and success rate of the AEC industry projects. However, in real world application, project managers had challenges and barriers with BIM implementation into their processes. This study intends to highlight the main characteristics of the BIM, its benefits, barriers and risk management capabilities to elaborate on why BIM adoption has been slower than anticipated. Based on quantitative data collection through surveys, this study then asserts BIM impact on production efficiency rate. Findings of this research paper show that project managers had been facing 2 main challenges when implementing BIM into their project management processes: 1. Lack of knowledge of the software 2. Lack of knowledge of project management role shifts that had to take place once BIM was implemented. The findings of the quantitative data analysis show that BIM increased the production efficiency rate where it was implemented. In conclusion, the research paper asserts on the main question identified in the problem statement on why project managers in AEC industry should implement BIM into their project management processes
