Road Project Management Essay Example for Free

Road Project Management Essay In any project, there should be proper management of the project to be successful. Different projects have different fulfillment conditions, and in our case, it is not spared. Construction of the road requires a great deal of designing and application of various guidelines to make it fulfill the requirements and suite future generations, and their relevant application plus its effects to the social-economic and culture-political nature of situation. Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK, contains a tailored five phases that guide implementation of a project even though these phases sometimes overlap: Initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing processes are the five phases (James 2006, pp. 66 – 70). Initiating process is usually important; this is because the necessary details that are required for successful completion of the project are devised. At this time, features like the Activity Completion Report (ACR), should be considered and developed through out of the project (John 1992, pp. 23 45). The idea of refining and defining the objectives of the project should be analyzed in the planning process. Other conditions such as project plans and sub-plans should be developed and obtaining the required funding should be a forefront issue before the project begins. The longest and most important phase is the executing process. This is when the project plan is implemented; this is through coordinating different human resources and other resources that are required to lead into successful completion of the project plans. Another important phase is controlling the general process. This is ensuring that the project objectives are met; this can be checked by use of measuring and monitoring the project development through regular inspections. This phase overlaps the different phases to enable it in tracking variances and changes that may occur (Subhankar 2003, pp. 56 – 70). The last phase is the closing process phase. This stage ensures that the project is brought into an orderly end. This can be obtained by formalizing, and then communicating the conclusion of the project and passing over the completed project to the accountable sector. Other activities that are common in this part of phase are completion of the Activity Completion Report and since this is a major project, it requires post implementation review. When the project phases are under control, the main issue is how the project will be managed. Various issues are brought into consideration to successfully manage the project. Issues such as contracting, environmental impacts, maintaining the project within the plan and human resource distribution are common. Project contracting is the most important in management since it allows the delivery of the materials, equipments and services to the road region. Contracting is usually affected by the funds that are available and engineering considerations. This may result into poor coordination between the different contractors. This can be prevented when each contract process is well defined in advance. Project safety and environmental considerations should be monitored at each step of the project. Human resource that is within the area including the inhabitants of the area should be ensured that they will be safe throughout the project, and if possible safety measures and parametric should be on stand by. The environment should be preserved and maintained to reduce issues that are related to pollution. This may be due to factors such as disposing of the excess amount of soil that was dug out, oil that the machines use as examples of environmental sensitivity in this case (Subhankar 2003, pp. 56 – 70). Risk is inevitable; it is like a natural thing. The risky areas run from contracting to the process at the scene should be analyzed and techniques such as SWOT, brainstorming should be applied in developing a risk matrix. This when applied will reduce issues such as late delivery by contractors and collision of project interest. Project control process comes into plan when trying to maintain the objective of the project. Issues such as the width of the road, road signs, vertical cross-section and environmental should be maintained within the original plans. All project steps should be maintained into the most original proposal plan. Human management is the tricky part since the required human resource should be at the right place at the right time, and it includes issues like team building and delegation of responsibilities. In addition, issues like how leadership should be accorded e. g. authoritative should be checked. In delegation of duties the use of X – Y theories may be applied so result into satisfaction of the human resource that are involved (James 2006, pp. 66 – 70). Total quality management (TQM) is a strategy that is employed by management in ensuring that the quality is observed. This brings around the issues of the type of materials that are used and the level of human expertise. The material quality should meet the required standards and during the executing of the process the right mixture of various materials should be observed. An example is the mixture between sand and cement, or the types of beams and steel that is used in construction of the required bridges and culverts (Dwigt 1990, pp. 96 100). After the completion of the project, project close out process is brought into light. The key elements that are associated with this stage of development are: Completion of the Post Implementation Evaluation report (PIER) †¢ Completing and archiving the project records. †¢ Disbursing the resources e. g. facilities and staff. †¢ In addition, recognizing outstanding achievements When the project is completed an issue arise, was the project successful and what was used to measure the level of success. Like quality that requires conformance to the requirements or specifications and fitness for use in the project, also, project success usually requires a combination of project management and product success. Three means that are frequently used to show that the project was successful are; cost, schedule and scope objectives. The cost that was required in the completion of the project is within the standards that was set; Budget. This means that the amount of funds that was used did not pass the estimate. Another issue is the schedule – time. The question arises whether the project was completed within the time scale that was proposed. If this was met, then the project is successful in terms of time. Lastly, the issue that relates to the product which in our case the road. A question such as whether the road was able to accommodate the different types of tracks that are supposed to access it and the traffic issue, if all the conditions that were initially set are met then in terms of project scope is successful. In success of any project, various issues are brought into focus. Starting from the project phases to the success of the project should be managed well, and viewed through different angles. Various issues should be brought into focus, which results in meeting the original plans of the project, and at the same time meets the required quality level.