Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
In the "ready! fire! aim!" world of technology, what is the role of that staid discipline,
project management? The fact that if you perform by-the-book project management, you
will probably not be able to meet your competitive targets for the technology
advancement.
The project manager has never been a highly touted position in information technology
industry. One reason might be that it requires far more discipline than creativity, much
like being a drill sergeant in the armed forces. Also, it can be detrimental to your career if
you're the manager of a project that fails.
• Planning
• Organizing
• Staffing
• Controlling
• Directing (Kerzner p.226)
Like many organizations, an IT organization also have to follow the guidelines of project
management to have a successful project. There are a several steps that is involved in
keeping an IT project on track. This project will list out these steps.
PLANNING
Project management is a science that has a track record going back decades. Its core
concepts are as old as work itself. No matter how hard you try, you can't eliminate
planning altogether. So project management is being forced to adapt to the technology,
not the other way around.
The most important responsibility of a project manager are planning, integrating, and
executing plans. Planning can be best described as the function of selecting the enterprise
objectives and establishing the policies, procedures, and programs necessary for
achieving them. Planning is a required management function to facilitate the
comprehension of complex problems involving interacting factors.
The project manager is the key success to a good planning. There are nine major
components of the planning phase:
In order to have an effective total project planning the project manager must have all the
necessary information at project initiation. These information requirements are:
ORGANIZING
A key factor to good project performance is the project manager’s ability to integrate
personnel from many disciplines into an effective work team.
STAFFING
Because project managers often work in a high-responsibility, low-authority
environment, they must know to elicit top performance from all members of the project
team. Before the staffing function begins, five basic questions are usually considered:
According to PMBOK, when the project management team is able to influence or direct
staff assignment, it must consider the characteristics of the potentially available staff.
Consideration include:
• Previous experience - have the individual or group done similar or related work
before? How did they perform?
• Personal interests - are the individuals or group interested in working on this
Project?
• Personal characteristics - are the individuals or groups likely to work well
together as a team?
• Availability - will the most desirable individuals or groups be available in the
necessary time frames?
A project manager is successful only if the project manager and his team are totally
dedicated to the successful completion of the project. This requires that each member of
the project team and office have a good understanding of the fundamental of the project
requirement.
CONTROLLING
• Measuring: determining through formal and informal reports the degree to which
progress toward objectives is being made.
• Evaluating: determining cause of and possible ways to act on significant
deviations from planning performance.
• Correcting: taking control action to correct and unfavorable trend or to take
advantage of an unusually favorable trend.( Kerzner p.227)
In the controlling function it is very important that the project manager understands the
organizational behavior in order to be effective and also must have strong interpersonal
skills.
According to Doering, the team leader's role is crucial. He is directly involved and must
know the individual team members well, not only in terms or their technical capabilities
but also in terms of how they function when addressing a problem as part of a group. The
technical competence of a potential team member can usually be determined from
information about previous assignments. The leader needs a tool to measure and
characterize the individual members so that he can predict their interactions and structure
his task team accordingly.
DIRECTING
Staffing: involves seeing that a qualified person is selected for each position.
Training: involves teaching the individuals and groups how to fulfill their duties and
responsibilities.
Delegating: assigning work, responsibility, and authority so others can make maximum
utilization of their ability.
Counseling: holding private discussions with another about how he might do better work,
solve a personal problem, or realize his ambitions.
Coordinating: seeing that activities are carried out in relation to their importance and with
a minimum of conflict. (Kerzner p. 228)
Most of the projects my organization handles are IT Projects. The project manager serves
only as the focal point for activity control, that is, a center for information. The main
responsibility of the project manager is to keep all level of management informed of the
status of the project and to attempt to influence managers into completing activities on
time. However, some project managers are not subject matter experts or they don't follow
the rules of a good project manager. As a result to this, some projects don't succeed. To be
a good project manager and to complete a project successfully, a project manager must
follow the guidelines of project management.
According to David Raths, there are a several steps involved in keeping an IT project on
track. These are some of the major steps.
The project managers objectives during the staffing are to acquire the best available
assets and try to improve them, provide a good working environment for all personnel,
and make sure that all resources are applied effectively and efficiently so that all
constraints are met. (Kerzner p.162)
CONCLUSION
Effective project communication is needed to ensure that we get the right information to
the right person at the right time and in a cost-effective manner. Proper communication is
vital to the success of the project. (Kerzner p.268)
A good project manager should be able to plan, organize, control, staff and direct. In an
IT industry such as Sprint, it is important that you get the user involved from the start.
Also, be careful when choose your project team. Make sure you keep the project
information in one place and set regular meeting to inform the status update. Watch out
for scope creep and maintain quality standards. If there is a need, don’t be afraid to call a
time-out and finally use a proven tracking system.
Organization Overview
CHF International was founded in 1952 and serves more than 20 million people each
year. With programs in 30 countries worldwide, our reputation has been built on notable
achievements and strong relationships with the communities we serve. The results of our
work are impressive: improved quality of life, greater stability, increased prosperity - all
of the ingredients necessary for sustainable peace. Whether it’s developing infrastructure,
housing, agriculture, health, or one of the many other areas we support, our commitment
and dedication - like our organization - continues to grow.
Our mission is to be a catalyst for long-lasting positive change around the world by
helping to improve social, economic and environmental conditions. Our success is based
on bringing together people, organizations and resources necessary to ensure steady,
sustainable change. Our determination is to recruit highly talented individuals who are
equally committed to making a profound difference in the lives of those who need it
most.
Executive Summary
As our Senior Human Resource Manager, you will play a critical role in the continued
success of CHF International and its ability to meet its mission objectives. You will lead
the transformation of our global staffing department and develop long range goals and
objectives. You will introduce process change and structure that vastly improves our
ability to serve at the highest level. You will strategically address our current and future
international staffing requirements and introduce systems and procedures that better meet
the needs of the organization. You will formulate and administer organizational policies
and will evaluate and document best practice. You will work with a staff of three
recruitment managers, and two HR coordinators on development and training, to
maximize their potential and develop skills and knowledge.
• In support of new and existing programs, lead the placement and recruitment of
highly talented individuals to fill positions throughout the world. Build capacity to
increase staffing levels and fully engage with managers and proposal teams to
understand objectives and assist with needs.
• Develop long term candidate sourcing strategies, create a process to track current
and potential candidates and formulate a system that enables the organization to
access the skill sets and the availability of CHF staff already assigned to programs
around the world.
• Develop organizational policies and document all systems and procedures. Draw
attention to issues and ideas that can further enhance the work environment at
CHF.
Essential Experiences and Attributes
Experience:
Attributes:
• Highly organized and thoughtful in approach, analytical with the ability to make
critical assessments. Excellent project management skills. Business minded and
able to see the entire picture.
• Assertive and persuasive and not easily deterred.
• Able to thrive in a writing intensive environment. When making policy changes,
able to make decisions based on sound research.
• Facilitator and team builder.
• Articulate and able to drive change.
• Understands the need for accurate assessment and documentation as well as
consistent equitable approaches; willing to stand firm when necessary.
• Committed to providing the highest level of service.
Employee Benefits
CHF International offers a generous benefits package: Medical, dental and vision
insurance; retirement plan options; disability; 15 days vacation and 10 paid holidays per
year; free parking. We are easily accessible to the Metro (Red Line) and offer some
reimbursement towards travel costs.
To Apply:
For each position listed on your resume, please be sure to include both the month and
year you started and stopped work – no “2001-2003” ambiguities, please.