Stephanie Guereca
YesterdayJul 15 at 7:34am
Kerzner (2005) defined best practices as the actions or activities that the organization or people that lead to a sustained competitive advantage in project management (p. 237). My organization is between phases one and two of the project management maturity model, and as a result, many of our best practices are PMI and industry-specific standards, but there are a few project-specific best practices for my team (Kerzner, 2005). For example, a couple of best practices based on professional standards include the PM software we are required to use for tracking and execution, as well as the templates used. The software was recently implemented. It’s beneficial and useful for project management and implementation. The only issue is that not every team member uses it is to the best of its ability, which decreases the value of it. PMO has some work to do in terms of teaching everyone its features and championing its usefulness to encourage everyone to track tasks in the software. Our PMO has templates available to use for project execution, which helps create WBS’s and SOW’s. Additionally, my team uses functional-specific templates for the different data conversion projects we implement. In this case, as a team, we discuss and determine what a best practice is based on experience and lessons learned. Otherwise, our PMO is largely in charge of deciding what activities become best practices, continuously evaluating and updating best practices, and are the executive championing the value-added for using best practices.
References
Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://redshelf.com
YesterdayJul 15 at 1:11pm
The Department of Defense, in recent years, has transformed itself into a billion-dollar organization by procuring state-of-the-art weaponry all the way to developing cutting edge technology to which patents are held. In the area of acquisition and procurement, the defense department answered the call to implement several tools and processes, which mimic top-level manufacturing organizations, that are designed to collect and help analyze data to establish trends. These trends are then forwarded to defense contractors who in turn make changes based on the analyzations.
The three processes in the defense department that are considered to be best practices are Earned Value Management, program team liaising, and contract administration and oversight. The questions at hand are: who determines these processes are, indeed, best practices, how do you validate that these processes are best practices, and how do you get executives to recognize that these processes add value? (Kerzner, 2005, pg. 239, para.5) In short, the audit teams which provide internal oversight to the defense contract management agency determine which processes are worthy to be considered best practices. These audit teams not only review data but conduct interviews with the contract and quality teams, who provide explanations on how earned value management is used to forecast cost on the project which prevent the unnecessary spending of taxpayer dollars. They also elaborate on how the teams coordinate which each other about different data and shipping schedules; this may seem like a small undertaking, but this process has saved close to $57 million in manpower and shipping costs in the past five years. Finally, the oversight provided by the contract team keeps the contractor aware of their obligations and recovers any capital or products that are the rightful possessions of the government. The audit teams then provided reports to the upper-echelon leadership who, in the past, have found their findings and explanations of the program team members to warrant the identification of the processes to be best practices since they serve critical roles and have a significant cost savings. This conclusion follows Kerzner’s (2005) statement that “best practices can be discovered anywhere.” (pg. 240, para. 4)
Reference:
Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://redshelf.
TuesdayJul 14 at 12:28pm
Knowledge Transfer
Organizations that are most effective at knowledge transfer can improve their project outcomes by nearly 35 percent. These organizations are also approximately three times more likely to have a formal knowledge transfer program (Flanagan & Kelly, 2015). The organization can improve knowledge transfer actions by changing the culture from one of secrecy to open information sharing. Management must embrace the value of knowledge transfer to make it an active functional part of the organizational culture. This action includes formal knowledge transfer training programs.
A major component used to maintain a sustainable competitive edge within the soft beverage industry (the company previously employed at) is through the establishment of a robust knowledge transfer method or sharing within the organization. When the executive management team approved a best practice, at that point, a protocol is written. It’s then sent to human resources and the training departments where it is filed and becomes a mandatory protocol for the organization. All the new “best practices/protocols” case studies are logged into the firm’s software system (e.g., Advanced-Data Systems), where employees can review them as needed, almost like a lessoned learned library. The organization has a wonderful library filled with best practice case studies, which provide a great learning resource, especially for new employees. Still, I discovered that many staffers do not take the time to read these case studies. Two best practices case studies each week were discussed and shared in my team to promote knowledge transfer. The discussion was performed during our team meetings. This has allowed a few modifications to the practices which have been great for continuous improvement!
One area I believe the organization needed improvement was in the managing and archiving the best practices. The records/file clerk assigned to perform this task became overwhelmed, and it was not being done efficiently. When I left, the company was hiring a specific person to manage the technological component of the best practices/protocols system.
If managers follow appropriate steps and even create a change in their culture plus encourage their staffers to follow suit, an immediate improvement in the project environment and the likelihood of successful project completion will present itself. If the need for knowledge transfer is ignored, the opposite reality is guaranteed to present itself. That is a greater likelihood of project failure and a corporate culture toxic to knowledge transfer.
Reference
Flanagan, K., & Kelly, M. (2015). New Report: Effective knowledge transfer drives project and program success. NCBI Resources. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6297101/
Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://redshelf.
TuesdayJul 14 at 5:06pm
Compare how knowledge transfer for project management happens in your organization with the model shown in Figure 15-4 of the text.
Knowledge transfer for project management happens when best practices are discovered and communicated to those working on projects. My organization uncovers best practices through the feedback and data collected from those working on current projects. This information is then evaluated by executives to determine if these are one-off scenarios or if they are, in fact, a best practice that should be used going forward. Best practices are then classified as something that should be used on every procedure within a project or if the best practices are process specific. Once classified, overarching best practices will be added to all procedures, and those that are process-specific will be added to those particular processes. Once procedures are updated, communication is sent by email to impacted individuals asking them to review the updates to ensure understanding. Emails and procedures are then stored in a shared location on the company’s intranet for employees to review at will. The storage of this information is considered a best practice library. According to Kerzner (2005), “the purpose for creating a best practices library is to transfer knowledge to the employees. The knowledge can be transferred through the company intranet, seminars on best practices, and case studies” (p. 244). The intranet contains the procedures and archives of previous updates to ensure information is retained for risk purposes and provides a source for employees to gain knowledge of the best practices used within the organization.
Where can your organization make improvements to ensure knowledge transfer is a critical success area in the future?
My organization can make improvements in communicating the best practices to the employees to ensure knowledge transfer is successful in the future. Currently, emails are used to transfer knowledge to employees; however, these emails do not force them to read the procedures or make sure that the best practices become known to the employees. Therefore, there is a gap as emails can slip through the cracks and accidentally be lost or deleted without the knowledge being obtained. If an employee fails to read the email or review the updated procedure, errors can occur that can cause the project to suffer.
Where is your organization excelling?
My organization excels in recognizing best practices and making sure procedures are updated promptly to ensure employees have the knowledge readily available when they are working their assigned tasks. This activity allows employees to be more productive and decreases the chances of errors as long as the employees are reading the procedures and any updates made during the project.
Reference: Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://redshelf.
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