Distinguishing Features of Job Management inside the twenty first Century

The aim of this [Warning: mysql_connect [?collaborative software tools  posting would be to examine the current incredibly hot subjects of task management. From the twenty first century, you will find a clear swift from difficult methods technique of job management to soft factors, a requirement for strategic contemplating in project management (Buttrick, 2000), new good results factors (Atkinson, 1999) and job uncertainty administration (Ward & Chapman, 2003). Broader job administration theory and more intense research efforts are also a trend in the field (Winter & Smith, 2005).

Human beings have been executing projects from ancient times (Kwak, 2003). From relocating a tribe to constructing enormous buildings such as the pyramids, projects were a dominant element of history. Not long ago, those involved in projects understood that they needed methods and processes to help them manage these projects more efficiently. To meet this need, scientists and practitioners worked together to form a new concept which was called «project management». According to the PMBOK's definition "project administration is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to challenge activities to meet undertaking requirements". (A Guide to Project Administration Body of Knowledge, 2004). There are many different views during the literature concerning the birth of undertaking administration. Maylor (2005) mentions that "project administration from the way that we would understand it today did not exist until the 1950s" and Wideman (2001) tracks the first use of task administration within the UK's Institution of Civil Engineers report on UK post war national development first published in 1944.

Since then, there have been a lot of changes. "The tough methods approach, which treated the project as a mechanical activity, has been shown to be flawed" (Maylor, 2005). The delicate skills of task administration are getting more attention because it is now clear that "the ability to apply these skills effectively throughout the life cycle of a job will enhance the achievement of a project exponentially" (Belzer). In spite of the perfect understanding of planning, scheduling and controlling, projects have still a high rate of failure. Belzer points out that "more often they fail because of a task manager's inability to communicate effectively, work within the organization's culture, motivate the challenge team, manage stakeholder expectations, understand the business objectives, solve problems effectively, and make distinct and knowledgeable decisions". To address these problems within the twenty first century, a project team needs to develop a series of tender skills such as "communication, team building, flexibility and creativity, leadership and the ability to manage stress and conflict". (Sukhoo et. al, 2005).

In addition, job management requires a stronger strategy orientation. "More than 80 per cent of all problems at the task level are caused by failures at a board level in firms to provide crystal clear policy and priorities" (Maylor, 2001). The tactic that Maylor suggests is very different from the traditional link between strategy and projects, as he proposes a "coherent, co-ordinated, focused, strategic competence in job management which eventually provides source of competitive advantage". This two-way methodology that relates organisational and task strategy is illustrated in figure 1. To better understand the project's strategy, there may be also a need to analyse "the experiences from past activities, politics during the pre-project phases, parallel courses of events happening during venture execution and ideas about the post-project future" (Mats Engwall, 2002).

Moreover, Maylor highlights a change in project's accomplishment criteria, from conformance to performance. In 1960s undertaking managers seek to comply only with the documented specifications of the project, while current projects require real performance. In other words, the achievement criteria of the twenty first century as indicated by Maylor have changed to as short time as possible, as cheaply as possible and towards a maximum customer delight. Other academics imply nowadays a much simpler view of achievement criteria which is focused only in keeping the client happy (Ferguson, 2005) in contrast with the 90s view of just finishing the undertaking on time and on budget.

Changes in risk administration are also one of the incredibly hot topics of challenge administration from the new century. Ward (2003) propose the term «uncertainty management» and recommends that a "focus on «uncertainty» rather than risk could enhance job risk management". Adams has an interesting view of risk as he describes it as "a reflexive phenomenon - we respond to perceived probabilities and magnitudes, thereby altering them", a definition that differs from the traditional quantitive analysis of risk. Green broads even more the scope of risk administration and includes the clients. He thinks that "the process of risk administration only becomes meaningful through the active participation of the client's job stakeholders". In his point of view there exists a new way of assessing risk management that "depends less upon probabilistic forecasting and more upon the need to maintain a viable political consistency within the client organisation".

The conventional theory of challenge administration consists of a narrow focus on projects as unique and totally separated units of work. But latest projects tend to be integrated smoothly while in the general context of organizations in order to "develop the «management of task portfolios» and «programme management» which are more strategically orientated towards «doing the right projects»" (Winter & Smith, 2005). It is common ground within the literature that the theory of challenge management needs more research. Koskela and Howell (2002) suggest that the theoretical base "has been implicit and it rests on a faulty understanding of the nature of work in projects, and deficient definitions of planning, execution and control". From their point of view, enrichment of job management with new methods and techniques cannot be done with any stable theoretical background. As a result, there exists a trend of putting more effort in research and rethinking the way which «bodies of knowledge» is written so that complex projects' actions will be better documented.

As a conclusion, we could use the words of D.T. Jones (2005) who writes that "project management is no longer about managing the sequence of steps required to complete the challenge on time". He adds that "it is about systematically incorporating the voice of the customer, creating a disciplined way of prioritising effort and resolving trade-offs, working concurrently on all aspects of the projects in multi-functional teams".