BSS049-6 Project Management Practice

1 – Project Management Methodologies and theories

 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION:....................................................................................................................2

APMBOK:..................................................................................................................................2

USE IN CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL PROJECTS:..............................................................2

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS:...........................................................................................4

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS THAT WILL HELP ENHANCE BEST PRACTICES:..............4

SIX-SIGMA METHODOLOGY:..............................................................................................5

USE IN CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL PROJECTS:..............................................................6

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS:...........................................................................................7

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS THAT WILL HELP ENHANCE BEST PRACTICES:..............8

Reference List..........................................................................................................................10

Page 1 of 13
INTRODUCTION:

The paper demonstrates an in-depth knowledge, proper understanding, and a critical

evaluation of the two project management theories/bodies of knowledge, in various contexts.
The paper also synthesizes and applies the project management knowledge and understanding
and also evaluates projects for a client, including stakeholder management, issues and risks
that occur, and so on. In the study, two six sigma methodologies and APMBOK have been
chosen for evaluation and analysis. The paper will shed light on the various challenges and
issues associated with the use of these methodologies or bodies of knowledge and also
evaluates their key success fact
ors that would facilitate the enhancement of best practices.

APMBOK:

The association of the project management body of knowledge (7th edition, 2019) is basically
the foundation to ensure projects’ success and also facilitates the successful implementation
of various projects related “programs” and “portfolios” in all industries and sectors. It is
basically a combined effort by the “global professions” in “project management” for
providing the vitaal requirements of “successful project management” (Farokhshahinia et al.,
2020). In other words, it is a “scope statement” for all new and aspiring, and experienced
professionals in project management. lt offers some common references, definitions, and
glossaries of various project management terms. The APMBoK tends to form the basis of the
qualification of APM and accreditation (Farokhshahinia et al., 2020). It also structures and
informs the various research projects and publications. 
The use of this Body of Knowledge has been applied in a number of contemporary global
projects (APM, 2016). The “APM Body of Knowledge” is basically categorised into 4
different chapters and each of the chapters has 3 major sections. More than 6 to 10 topics are
covered in every section and overall, there are 80 topics (APM, 2012). 

USE IN CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL PROJECTS:

The APM BoK is applied to various contemporary global projects and one of such projects
has been discussed herein. The project that is considered here is of the company “Advanced
CAE” which is an “Engineering Solution Provider” for a “Process Analyzer System” and

Page 2 of 13
associated services for “oil”, “gas”, “petrochemicals”, and so on. The project is referred to
here as “Project 15A001” which is about designing and producing a “sample conditioning
system” for the “emission monitoring equipment” within a “refinery plant” in “Huston”. The
total project value was 30,000 USD (Farokhshahinia et al., 2020). 
In this project, the project managers and the engineers have to follow the “ISO process” and
the “work flowchart of the project” in the ISO. Appendix 1 of APMBok describes briefly the
“project development process” (Farokhshahinia et al., 2020). The APMBok suggests that all
project engineers have to begin with designing and drawing of the “material procurement” to
the “system integration” and then “internal system testing”. The Body of Knowledge also
suggests that the project engineers must review the project progress of every stage regularly
and must resort to their “senior project manager” to ensure successful and timely delivery of
the project. In the case of 15A001, the project engineers updated the progress report of the
project on a weekly basis and the phase of “handover and closure” is to be regulated as
“Factory Acceptance Test”. In this project, the decision-making of the project and the scope
were developed by the “Business unit” (Mohindra and Srivastava, 2019). 
In Section 1 of the APMBoK, it is found that projects are mostly executed according to a
“typical linear” project life-cycle with specific governance. As stated in the APMBoK,
various aspects of skills are necessary for project management and successful project delivery
along with proper professionalism. APMBoK suggests that “communication”, “influence”,
“teamwork”, “negotiation”, and “leadership” are a must for all projects, and in the
communication section of APMBoK, it mentions the correct communication style is a must
typical project management (Ebiloma and Rimtip, 2019). These factors have been applied to
the 15A001 of Advanced CAE. The project was being executed in Singapore and the client is
in Huston and there were a “12-hours-time difference” between the two places and this
caused various communication issues in terms of E-mailing. Thus, the communication
process of the project was changed to telephone communication” which has increased the
efficiency tremendously (Ebiloma and Rimtip, 2019). 
Also, the Delivery section of the APMBoK covers 6 basic components of the project,
portfolio, and program management: “Scope”, “Schedule”, “Risk”, “Finance”, “Quality” and
“Resources” (Mougouei, 2017). The APMBoK also includes an integrative management
section that serves as a base for these components. Also, in the “integrative management
section” of APMBoK, the framework or the structure of the organization of the project is
described as a “typical model” and Project 15A001’s organizational chart suits correctly to
this structure (Famuwagun, 2017).
Page 3 of 13
CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS:

Benefits:
 The APMBoK tends to serve as an efficient guideline for project, program, and
portfolio management and helps the project managers to pick various useful insights
and ideas from the APMBoK in order to improve the execution of their projects
(Kamal et al., 2020). 
 Applying APMBoK in the project as discussed, the project managers are more
motivated towards investing more in “professional training” and the “sharing of
knowledge” for the project team.
  It facilitates the project managers of the global projects to implement the project on
the “same baseline” and in the form of a “community” and enables them to learn from
their failures and improve their project outputs (Kamal et al., 2020).
 APMBoK suggests effective information about project management and other
disciplines such as human resources, health and safety, accounting, laws, and so on
which gives the project managers a wider view of the management process while
handling a project (Ebiloma and Rimtip, 2019). 
 The risk management section of APMBoK taught the project managers of 15A001
many important things about project risk management and promoted the successful
execution o the project (Ebiloma and Rimtip, 2019). 
Challenges:
 The APMBoK, in Section 1.3.1, tends to refer to the “Responsibility Assignment
Matrix” but it does not show the project managers teh way of creating one or the way
it would look (Mougouei, 2017). 
 It does not demonstrate the “how-to” pertaining to the various methods, techniques,
and tools and only uses it as a foundation knowledge resource.
 Section 3.1.5 “planning” and scope management section was not much applicable to
project 15A001.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS THAT WILL HELP ENHANCE BEST

PRACTICES:

The key success factors which would help in enhancing the best practices are:

Page 4 of 13
  The house-testing section mentioned in Appendix 2 mentions that the testing can only
begin after the competition of the production and this made this estimation of the
period of time taken for each stage easily obtainable
 Appendix 2 of the APMBoK referring to the “Sample Conditioning System” enabled
the proper scheduling of projects and to prioritize of the project events to ensure
timely delivery (Ebiloma and Rimtip, 2019)
 The “Integrative management section” of APMBoK is a very typical fitting
appropriate with the organizational charts of most global projects including 15A001.
 The suggestion of APM BoK that the risk attitudes of the project sponsors must be
evaluated beforehand and it is important to manage it in such a way that it pleases
everyone. This facilitated effective risks management of the project (APM, 2016)
 The communication section of the APM BoK provides essential knowledge to the
project managers to employ the correct and effective communication styles to
facilitate the success of the project

SIX-SIGMA METHODOLOGY:

The six-sigma is basically a project management methodology that aims at improving the
project processes, reduce project wastes and eliminate errors, and increase customer
satisfaction throughout an organization. This methodology is driven by typical statistical
analysis and data, and this provides a way of minimizing mistakes and maximizing values in
the project management starting from project initiation and delivery (Sreedharan and Sunder,
2018). The six key principles of this methodology are:
a. To reduce and eliminate project wastes, be it time, raw materials, or any other project
resources 
b. Minimizing defects and variations in terms of project outcomes
c. To effectively define the factors causing problems. 
d. To utilize the data in an effective manner so that it increases the productivity and the
efficiency of the project.
e. To enhance the satisfaction level of the project stakeholders
f. To develop an innovative and effective project design (Sreedharan and Sunder, 2018)

Page 5 of 13
USE IN CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL PROJECTS:

In order to use “Six-sigma methodology” in the global contemporary projects, it is important

to visualize the way the products and services go from their initial conception to the hands of
the customers and check whether the six sigma is a good fit for the project or not (Anbari,
2018). The six-sigma methodology is basically structured in five steps or phases for solving
successful quality problems, namely: “Define”, “Measure”, “Analysis”, “Improve” and
“Control” or the DMAIC process (Anbari, 2018).
The Six Sigma methodology started as a way of improving the various “business processes”
at 2 significantly big “global organizations”. Both the enterprises, “General Electric” and
“Motorola” found several procedures of using the methodology and applied it for the
improvement of the organization’s corporate structures (Galli and Kaviani, 2018). To their
success, both the enterprises along with free more hundreds have adopted the six sigma their
global projects and processes (Pournaghshband and Watson, 2017). 
As a matter of fact, “six sigma” become “relevant” in a number of industrial markets and still
there are some projects that tend to benefit from the “organization and structure” of the
“methodology” of the business. All over the globe, a number of infrastructures and logistical
processes have been facing problems that can be solved with easy by the application of Six
Sigma methodology (Pournaghshband and Watson, 2017). 

“Midfield Terminal in Abu Dhabi International Airport – UAE”: 

A tremendous airport expansion is taking place in Abu Dhabi which is home to more than 2.8
million people. The aim of this project is to better serve the people of the country and to
compete with the airport in Dubai. A new midfield terminal is being constructed and after its
completion, the capacity of the Airport would be 30 million passengers each year (Galli,
2018). The most important area of this project six sigma can improve the project is by
recruiting more potential “project managers”. The agile “six sigma professionals” with due
certification tend to understand effectively the requirement of following the stringent rules
and finish the project activities within the given timelines. 

“Hyperloop – USA”:
Elon Musk has been working on a new project called “Hyperloop”. The project basically
aims at creating a new and innovative transportation mode for freight as well as people inside
the pods that movies through the “reduced pressure tube”. In a hypothetical approach, these

Page 6 of 13
“pods” would go beyond the modern airlines’ speeds and will provide a more convenient
experience to larger metropolitan. The main aim f this project is to be “energy effective”,
“quiet”, and “exhilaratingly fast”. One f the main challenges that this project faced is the
criticism pertaining to “emergency evacuations”, “discomfort of the passengers” and the
“probability of an accident” (Pathiratne, Khatibi and Johar, 2018). The Six sigma tool
DMAIC can address these challenges and can benefit the project as it can employ this tool for
disproving any kind of “uncertainties investors”, “engines” or the “passengers” might have in
the new system of transportation. 

“South-North Water Transfer Project – China”:

China has been facing some tremendous water shortage issues as the northern part is
drastically arid and there is a huge lack of irrigation. At present, “a multi-decade long
megaproject” is taking place in the “People’s Republic of China”. The project is named as
“South-North Water Transfer Project” and the main purpose of this project is to bring down
water from the “Yangtze River” to the north China via a range of “three canal systems”. One
of the major challenges faced by this project was that it had to undergo potential backlash
from the opponents pertaining to waste of water by evaporation and river depletion
(Pathiratne, Khatibi and Johar, 2018). These issues can troubleshoot with the help of six
sigma by using the “Simulation Modelling Tool”. This will help to visualize the various risks
faced by the project as well as the impacts on the nearby environment. 

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS:

Benefits:
 The six-sigma process tends to add value to the project and also ensures its quality in
terms of the overall output of the project. 
 The six-sigma methodology helps in optimizing the projects’ supply chain and also
enhances the overall satisfaction levels of the customers (Galli, 2018).
  The benefits of six sigma are not just confined to simple problem-solving tasks but
also consider the whole production process starting from the “raw materials” to the
end products”. 
 It is a proactive process and identifies and gives useful recommendations for potential
problems for the firm incurs any damage (Galli, 2018).

Page 7 of 13
  It helps to reduce the overall project costs and facilitate the manufacturing of products
within a credible environment. 
Challenges:
 The six-sigma methodology tends to inspect the business processes brick by brick and
thus generates a huge amount of data and thus it is often a lengthy and complex
process of interpreting these data (Galli, 2018).
 The six-sigma methodology does not highlight the specific mission statement policies
and thus focusing only on “six sigma endorsed policies” might cause potential risks. 
 Six sigma is comparatively an expensive process and thus it might not be cost-
effective for small businesses (Galli, 2018). 
 A lot of training and development programs are required for teh adoption of this
methodology. 

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS THAT WILL HELP ENHANCE BEST

PRACTICES:

 One of the most significant success factors of six sigma is that it provides a “top to
down support system” and a “management commitment”. It involves the changing of
the culture of the organizations and calls for a considerable investment of resources
and time (Pathiratne, Khatibi and Johar, 2018). 
 The management of the cultural change is another success factor that is critical to the
overall success of the six-sigma methodology. The management culture is an integral
part of a project and this methodology help to manage the organizational culture
through values, beliefs, and assumptions.
 Another key success factor of this process is the focus on the voice of the customer.
The project improvement activities tend to devote distinct attention to the customers
and the project outcomes are based on the customer benefits (Pathiratne, Khatibi and
Johar, 2018).
 This methodology tends to emphasize on training and development of the employees
or the project engineers which in turn increases their efficiency and reduces the
chances of loss or failure of the project.
 Most importantly, the six-sigma methodology ensures the quality of the project
outcome and also monitors each stage of the project continuously ensuring timely
delivery with agile quality (Pathiratne, Khatibi and Johar, 2018). 

Page 8 of 13
CONCLUSION:
The paper has entailed a detailed discussion of 2 “methodologies/bodies of knowledge”
pertaining to “project management” and discusses the use of these methodologies on
“contemporary global projects”. In addition, the paper also critically evaluates the challenges
and benefits associated with the practical implementation of these methodologies or bodies of
knowledge. Apart from that, the key success factors have also been identified and discussed
for both the methodology as well as the body of knowledge that enhances best practices
within project management. 

Page 9 of 13
Reference List

Anbari, F.T., 2018. Innovation, project management, and Six Sigma method. Current Topics
in Management: Volume 10.
Association for Project Management. (2012). APM Body of Knowledge 6th edition.
Association for Project Management. (APM). Retrieved August 31, 2016, from
https://www.apm.org.uk/BOK6
Ebiloma, D. and Rimtip, M.N., 2019. Factors Affecting the Success or Failure of Project
Management Methodologies (PMM) Usage in the UK and Nigerian Construction Industry.
International Journal of Innovation and Sustainability, 3, pp.17-28.
Famuwagun, O.S., 2017. Project Management Methodologies and Bodies of Knowledge in
Contemporary Global Projects.
Farokhshahinia, R., Shabanibahar, G., Farid Fathi, A. and Shirvani Naghani, M., 2020.
Explaining the Risk Estimation Pattern of Managers Tasks Based on APMBOK Risk
Management Cycle: A Case Study of Student Sports Managers of Payame Noor University.
Journal of Sport Management, 12(1), pp.285-307.
Galli, B.J. and Kaviani, M.A., 2018. The impacts of risk on deploying and sustaining Lean
Six Sigma initiatives. International Journal of Risk and Contingency Management (IJRCM),
7(1), pp.46-70.
Galli, B.J., 2018. Risks related to lean six sigma deployment and sustainment risks: How
project management can help. International Journal of Service Science, Management,
Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 9(3), pp.82-105.
Kamal, M.F.M., Rui, T.J., Nasir, N.M., Abas, N.H., Hanapi, Z., Abdullah, R.N.R. and
Affandi, H.M., 2020. The adequacy of the term of reference for the construction management
(Cm) education and training from the perspective of practitioners in malaysia. Journal of
Technical Education and Training, 12(3), pp.118-125.
Mohindra, T. and Srivastava, M., 2019. Comparative Analysis of Project Management
Frameworks and Proposition for Project Driven Organizations1.
Mougouei, F.R., 2017. Comparison of the Structure, Elements and the Scope of Global
Standards in Project Management. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 11(3),
pp.578-589.
Pathiratne, S.U., Khatibi, A. and Johar, M.G.M., 2018. CSFs for Six Sigma in service and
manufacturing companies: an insight on literature. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma.

Page 10 of 13
Pournaghshband, H. and Watson, J., 2017. Should Six Sigma Be Incorporated into Software
Development & Project Management?. In 2017 International Conference on Computational
Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI) (pp. 1021-1026). IEEE.
Sreedharan V, R. and Sunder M, V., 2018. A novel approach to lean six sigma project
management: a conceptual framework and empirical application. Production Planning &
Control, 29(11), pp.895-907.

Page 11 of 13