Week 1 – Discussion Due Wed 5/5/2021

Compare project management and operations management. Where do they meet in the project
cycle? What does this look like within an organization?
If you have not seen project management in practice, what might they look like within your
current or future organization? Why is it important to consider these management techniques?
Support your response with references to the course content, media, and readings.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project

activities to meet the project requirements. It enables organizations to execute projects

effectively and efficiently. (Project Management Institute, 2017)

Operations management is concerned with the ongoing production of goods and/or services and

managing the transformational process. (Project Management Institute, 2017)

A project life cycle contains four phases: project definition, detailed planning, monitoring and

control, post-implementation review. (Westland, J., 2007) Project management is applied

throughout the project life cycle to ensure the outcomes meet the goals. In the modern business

world, projects are running at a fast pace with rapid changes. To maintain the project quality and

competitivity in the industry, operations management is critical and it interacts with project

management. Operational management is applied in the development and post-implementation

phases in the project life cycle. Project resources and knowledge are transferred between project

and operations to manage and balance constraints. It helps to minimize errors and failure, and

maintain high productivity. Higher productivity leads to a reduction in the cost of production,

reduces the sales price of an item, expands markets, and enables the goods to compete effectively

in the world market. (Roy, R. N., 2007)

For instance, in the Architecture and design industry, we applied project management to initiate a

new project which can be a new build or a space renovation. We set goals and scope of work to

meet client’s needs. Project management can facilitate the production process and make sure the

project is completed on time with proper quality control and stay within the budget. During the

design development process, operational management is applied to ensure that our resources are

available and delivered as scheduled. It allows us to prepare alternatives when changes occur.

Changes are not only due to the scarcity of resources but sometimes are requested by the clients.

We embraced projects and operations management to prevent any loss in cost, time, labor, and

quality by transferring the resources and information promptly.

For all operations, the goal is to add values to the inputs, so that the outcomes have a higher

market value than just the sum of the individual inputs. (Roy, R. N., 2007). For instance, a well-

defined and designed multiuse building or space has a higher value than a single-use shell

building or vacant space which including sales, profits, and long-term returns. It is important that

we implement projects and operations management to ensure the project delivers consistent

business value in the competitive market. Customers' satisfaction and goals can be achieved as a

result of the proper implementation of project and operations management techniques.

Goals:
 Meet deadline
 Maintain right quality
 Ensure productivity
 Prevent waste
The projects finishes on time, within budget and delivered the required features and functions.

Higher productivity leads to a reduction in cost of production, reduces the sales price of an item,
expands markets, and enables the goods to compete effectively in the word market. (Roy, R. N. ,
2007)
The operations system of an organization is the part that produces the organization’s products
which can be physical good or services. (Roy, R. N. , 2007)

For all operations, the goal is to create some kind of value-added, so that the outputs are worth
more to consumers than just the sum of the individual inputs. (Roy, R. N. , 2007)

Reference list:
Project Management Institute, publisher (2017). A guide to the project management body of
knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.) Project Management Institute.
Meredith, Mantel,jr, Shafer (2017). Project Management In Practice (6th ed.). Wiley.
Roy, R. N. (2007). A Modern Approach to Operations Management. India: New Age
International (P) Limited, Publishers.
Westland, J. (2007). The Project Management Life Cycle: A Complete Step-by-step
Methodology for Initiating, Planning, Executing & Closing a Project Successfully. United
Kingdom: Kogan Page.

Reference
PMBoK 6ed
Section 1.2.2
Section 1.2.3.4
Section 1.2.3.5
Section 1.2.4.1
PMBoK Chapter 2

Roy, R. N. (2007)
Page 2-4