• Identifying real or potential project activities in your workplace and describing them
from your viewpoint
• Your opinions on how well project management is handled in your workplace
• Applying some of the text book theory to what is observed in the workplace as a way
of identifying gaps or opportunities in current work practices
Introduction
Project management involves the responsibilities of planning, implementation and the closing of
projects. The projects are mostly in various life cycles and as each cycle progresses the more
challenges are encountered. Project managers must have the ability to adapt to the demands of
various phases of the project. Most of the demands are associated with management theories and
practices and are also based on individual opinions, experiences and on the contexts that the
projects are prevailing. Project management is basically a team sport and it depends heavily on
the team players especially the principal players who must shoulder the responsibility and also be
accountable to the tasks that they have been charged with.
The project management major roles are classified into three dimensions; a) Technical,
Transactional and Transformational.
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The technical role of project management covers the hands-on leadership that the project
manager performs as the principal overall leader of the team. The other team leaders must also
play a crucial role in project definition during the technical part of the project’s life cycle. The
transport department in my work place is the critical unit in the transport company that I work
for. The technical aspect of the project involves the detailed analysis of the various performances
of different models of trucks in different seasons and distances involved. The fuel consumption
per kilometer, the repairs and maintenance expenses involved together with the costs of
acquisition, capacity of the trucks and the payment terms ( Cleland & Gareis, 2006). The heads of
various departments were also fully involved during this period as all the technical aspects of the
truck would have to be considered and weighed in comparison to other viable alternatives. The
role of project management is to control the phases and ensure that technical phase flows to the
next phase smoothly and in accordance to the implementation plans without causing any
interference with planned delivery plans that have been scheduled for later dates.
Transactional
The nature of transactional role in project management involves the management of all the
workflows and the project baseline, metrics and all the parameters of orders, payments and
deliveries. These requirements are needed to control the project and also ensure that all the
timeframes are not affected (Ireland, 2006).Transactional role in the transportation industry
where I worked involved the implementation and control of the acquisition processes that
involved the payment and delivery of trucks and generally to ensure that are all the aspects of
project implementation are all progressing as scheduled.
Transformational
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Transformational role generally involves the leadership aspects of project management.
Communication skills and creation of positive relations among the employees is very important
at this phase. Most effective project managers at mostly very alert at these stage as team
maintenance, motivation and development are crucial and the success of the project largely
depend on this last phase of project implementation (Lock, 2007).The mission of the project
must be clearly understood by all the team members especially at this period. In my work place
the transformational stage would be characterized by complete delivery of the trucks as ordered,
dispatch of various consignments to different locations as planned and the reviewing of the
feedback system in accordance with the performance of the trucks.
To conclude, most activities at my former work place were handled largely based on past
experience and personal opinions and input from my colleagues from other departments. Their
theories on different models of trucks especially on their effectiveness and fuel efficiency were
all true. I would rate the performance of the project manager as outstanding and very effective.
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References
Cleland , D.I. & Gareis, R. (2006). Global Project Management Handbook. McGraw-Hill
Professional.
Ireland, L.R. (2006) Project Management. McGraw-Hill Professional.
Lock, D. (2007) Project Management (9th ed.) Gower Publishing, Ltd.
