Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester 2

Project Management
Assignment Set- 2

Q.1 Discuss the traits of a successful project manager

Ans 1) Project Managers interact with different types of people at different level s within the organization and outside
the organization. Since their responsibilities include directing and coordinating various resources through out the life
cycle of the project, it is important the Project Managers have certain characteristics to ensure project success. There
are five main characteristics they are

1. Flexible – Flexibility is required for a PM especially when dealing with new team members who may need
specific , firm direction to get started. PM should be able to adopt various styles of leadership (Authorative,
Colloborative etc) with various people.

2. Credible – PM should be Trust Worthy , Competent, Dependable and honest.

3. Tolerant – Considering the fact that the Resources, Goals and Objectives are often vague, PM Should be
tolerant . A Non Tolerant Project Managers becomes stressed when working with ambiguous projects . While dealing
with varied group of stakeholders having different objectives and opinions , Project Managers should be able to
approach each group with understanding and Tolerance for successful project completion

4. Innovative - PM should be innovative with solutions as the Resources and capabilities needed to complete a
project may be scarce.

5. Available - As there are many aspects of managing a Project Managers must be available to spend time with
various people involved in the project for ensuring project success.

6.Common Sense - Toss away extraneous ideas and get to the core of what matters. Easier said than done of course
especially when team members get hung-up on unimportant issues.

7.Specialized Knowledge of Your Field - Experience in a particular area reduces risk which is particularly important
with companies (often the large ones) that desire security and continuity as part of the culture.

8.Self-Reliance - Tapping in to your own abilities and pressing on through a sheer force of will.

9.General Intelligence - This includes an extensive vocabulary as well as good oral and written skills. Communication
is often assumed to be easy, but being an effective communicator is not easy.

10.Ability to Get Things Done - Successful project managers have strong organizational abilities and work habits.
This means more than being able to plot tasks in Microsoft Project.

11.Leadership - Focus on motivation and not intimidation. Treat people as human beings and not "resources". Four
more traits in this area are described below.

12.Knowing Right from Wrong - Be sensitive to moral and ethical concerns. It can be surprising sometimes how
often such issues come up in the corporate world.

13.Creativity - Natural talent plus insight or intuition equals creativity. Or for a more familiar description, think
outside the box.

14.Self-Confidence - This comes from knowing you have done everything possible to prepare. Part of it comes from
experience.

15.Oral Expression - You get your message across, even in front of a large group.

Q.2 Define the change management model.

Ans: Change management is a structured and strategic approach to initiate and manage the change process in the
organization structure and culture as well as the individuals/teams behavior and attitude towards the change transition
in the field of the business processes, technology implementation or any other policies of an enterprise.

The change management process involves the task of managing change using a ethical and professional approach with
an appropriate knowledge and common sense with a control mechanism and layout of a well planned organizational
communication system. On the Management part , It is imperative to estimate what impact a change will likely have on
the employee behavior patterns/motivation, work processes, technological requirements and finances. Management
strategies the change process by assessing the reactions of the human resource to seek their co-operation and accesses
the financial as well as technology resources so as to make appropriate arrangements such that the change process is
implemented as per the vision of the enterprise and can be appropriately monitored for effectiveness and adjusted, if
and where necessary.

There are several change management models that the enterprises follow while undertaking the Change Management
process depending upon the ground realities and the organizational culture of the enterprise seeking the change process.
One of such models popularly known as ADKAR Model describes five factors for the change to be realized
successfully on an individual level that are as follows :

1. Creating Awareness why the change is needed

2. Inculcating Desire to co-operate and participate in the change process
3. Providing and collating Knowledge to guide the change process
4. Developing Ability and appropriate skills to drive the change process
5. Formulating Reinforcement strategy and plans to sustain the change process

The ADKAR model for the Individual Change management was developed by ProSci with the co-operation from many
world wide organizations.

Change Management refers to the process of continuous improvement,where Organizational Development is totally
based on Individual development. Being aware of the present situations and continuously reviewing them for the
betterment of people(which includes Employees, employers, clients, customer and also their families)

However to start this process and to make it a part of our lives is the challenge. This is what takes most time, since
people involved in this have busy schedules - be it home or office and to take time off for 'CHANGING" is not
considered worthwhile.

Some people would like to believe that they are already in that state and hence would want to review it at all. For them
to understand that "Always reviewing the present and analyzing its effects on the future" is what continuous
improvement is all about.

To initiate the process of CHANGE , one needs to be structured and patient. Expecting miracles over night is a myth.
Its a gradual process. The point most important is that "Business Goals" and "individual Goals" need to kept in focus all
the time.

Q.3 Describe the three major classification and categories of Risk management.

Ans 3) Various types of risk management can be categorized into the following:

1) Operational risk management:

Operational risk management deals with technical failures and human errors

2) Financial risk management:

Financial risk management handles non-payment of clients and increased rate of interest
3) Market risk management:

Deals with different types of market risk, such as interest rate risk, equity risk, commodity risk, and currency risk

4) Credit risk management:

Deals with the risk related to the probability of nonpayment from the debtors

5) Quantitative risk management:

In quantitative risk management, an effort is carried out to numerically ascertain the possibilities of the different
adverse financial circumstances to handle the degree of loss that might occur from those circumstances

6) Commodity risk management:

Handles different types of commodity risks, such as price risk, political risk, quantity risk and cost risk

7) Bank risk management:

Deals with the handling of different types of risks faced by the banks, for example, market risk, credit risk, liquidity
risk, legal risk, operational risk and reputational risk

8) Nonprofit risk management:

This is a process where risk management companies offer risk management services on a non-profit seeking basis

9) Technology risk management: It is the process of managing the risks associated with implementation of new
technology

10) Software risk management: Deals with different types of risks associated with implementation of new softwares

Q.4 List and explain the 10 rules which serve as the guidelines for development of high technology

Ans 4) The essence of business strategy is to define the actions of the business so as to give a better response to
customer needs than the competitors offer. In deciding where to position the business within its competitive
environment, a firm should take into account both structural factors affecting the dynamics of competition in a specific
industry, and factors determining the relative advantage of the business with respect to competitors in the same
industry.
The result of this analysis is identification of market competitive factors, i.e. the factors that need to be met to survive
and be successful in the business. Initiatives and decisions have then to be taken accordingly, and priorities established.
The business strategy output consists of:
• defining the key objectives on both existing and potential new businesses; and
• the actions to be taken to achieve these objectives and to meet the critical success factors.
The business strategy formulation provides key inputs to technology strategy formulation. This chapter of guidelines
briefly describes how to formulate a business strategy and is structured in four sections:
• Product-market analysis
• Trend analysis
• Identification of market competitive factors; and
• Strategic priorities and actions.
This analytical approach should be applied to each business line of the enterprise.
A business line is defined as a distinct product or service, sold to a uniform set of customers facing a well defined set of
competitors, offering products or services that are similar to each other.