Models And Theories Of Change Review Part Iii

MasterÐŽ¦s Project in Change Management

Models and Theories of Change Review Part III

By: Carl V. Gibson

Organizational Leadership and Change Management LDR/515

Mentor: Mr. Bruce W. Webb

University of Phoenix

Date: June 17, 2007

Introduction

The people process part of change management and project management is one of the most difficult facets yet key contributors to failure related to a project. For this reason American Airlines must select the project manager and team members who will be critical to the success of the project. They need to be able to facilitate meetings, track tasks versus issues, establish the primary issue related to a conflict, the ability to empower team members and avoid ÐŽ§scope creepЎЁ (HIMSS 2000). These people need to have excellent communication skills that will facilitate the relationship among the various team members to achieve the goals of the project. The focus with project management tends to be tentative to tasks, critical paths, and the connection to those functions and ignore the people factor that is critical for success, not enough time is spent (HIMSS 2000). To be successful at project management it is vital to have a strong skill set for both task and people supervisory skills. A wide variety of meetings are held that pay attention to the tasks and the budget management related to the project (Michael Schmidt, 2003). The human factor can at times be ignored, while it requires special attention and strategies to be successful in implementing a new project. The primary plans that have a successful track record have been founded on a quality improvement process. For a project to be successful they must be able to effectively manage the tasks, budget, and people related to the project (Michael Schmidt, 2003). The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational culture and human behavior influence the success of projects. Specifically, it looks at the culture, project leadership, creation and management of teams, and strategies.

Every company that attempts to undertake change faces the problem of implementation. An important point to bear in mind is that reallocation of resources is not simply a matter of investing, retooling, and hiring new people. There are a number of techniques that can be applied to implement change such as team building, confrontation and transactional analysis. According to the text (Gray, 2006), there are three major categories to change management; scope changes, implementation of contingency plans, and improvement changes. Any changes to American AirlinesÐŽ¦ implementation process should be planned out appropriately. Proposed changes should be identified, such as systems modifications that were not originally planned. Will changes affect the budget or timeline of the project? Can negotiations keep costs down and stay within the milestone due dates? Any proposed changes should be evaluated, formally approved, documented and announced to all who are involved. Assigning a resource to the changes that need to be implemented will make sure that the new tasks are driven to completion.

Project managers should plan to encourage teamwork and motivate personnel to quickly identify and resolve problems in order to complete the project successfully. To select the right people for the project, recruiting personnel from other departments and managing the temporary involvement of team members must be carefully planned from the beginning. Conflicts cannot be avoided and project managers must establish a process to assure every conflict is addressed properly and has taken care of at the right moment and is following pre-defined structure (Clifford & Larson, 2006).

There are a variety of factors that can influence a person's level of job satisfaction; these factors include the level of pay and benefits, the perceived fairness of the promotion system within a company, the quality of the working conditions, leadership and social relationships, and the job itself the variety of tasks involved, the interest and challenge the job generates, and the clarity of the job description requirements.

American Airlines project manager will recommend leadership behaviors required to keep momentum alive during the implementation of the SkyMall and In Flight Meals project. The project management is much more than creating a work breakdown structure and tracking a plan. The hardest part for many is the personal side of project management. In this paper, we will explore how the organizational culture of a company and basic human behavior influence the success or failure of projects.

While completing the simulation ÐŽ§Managing Project RiskЎЁ, there are three key learning points that the project manager needs to apply while working on the project plan. The first is to identify the top risks when implementing the project plan. When making decisions about implementation, it is important to make sure that those assessments with the highest risk are kept at the forefront. High risk usually means a high dollar figure attached to it should it fail or cause a delay to schedule. The second is to evaluate and prioritize these risks. Applying a weighted risk factor can help the project team look at a risk qualitatively. The simulation allocated the risk exposure by finding the probability of risk to occur and multiplying it by the impact of the risk should it occur. The third learning point is how to respond and monitor the project risks. Assigning mitigation strategies is an important step and can be costly if not monitored properly. Understanding the get well plan of a risk and who will need to pay for the proper changes can keep a project within task or bust a project. Not all risks are under the project teamÐŽ¦s control and it is imperative to recognize who owns each risk.

In order to evaluate the elements of American Airlines SkyMall and In flight Meals program you will need to look at the back ground throughout history ethnicity; geography and politics have created distinctions and differences among people and societies. Not until the 20th century and the advancement of technology have people, races and nations been able to learn form each other so quickly.

When many cultures come together, their differences and how to deal with these differences becomes an issue. This is never more evident then in business where many cultures must come together for one unified goal. To minimize conflicts that differences in

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