Project management approach 1 Project management approach Mid ✓ Solved

Does project management really matter to an organization? In most cases, clients would argue that it would be cheaper if projects are just handled without having to employ the use of project management. Undoubtedly, project management is an expensive practice that can amount to about 20% of the whole project. Despite its valuation, project management is more suitable for the complex and multi-faced nature of tasks that are involved in many big organizations. Therefore, project management is crucial for the success of an organization because of several reasons.

First, a lot of funds are lost due to poor project management. Additionally, a good portion of the budget is lost when projects fail to meet the goals. Furthermore, most companies and organizations rely on third parties to outsource their budgets. (Mir and Pinnington, 2014). Project management is therefore essential for companies. Franklin Templeton's case study is a clear example of why a project-based approach is an essential practice for organizations that need to improve and succeed.

The company was initially experiencing failures on how to implement scrum. However, its fortune turned around when the company chose to employ a disciplined agile framework. With this framework, Franklin Templeton was able to increase connectivity between business demands as well as technical requirements and increase adaptability and ability to change with dynamic technological changes and thus increase the value of production. The success story of Franklin Templeton will form the backbone of this essay which will try to answer the question of why companies need to adapt to project management initiatives.

Project Identification

Franklin Templeton's organization failed on several attempts to implement scrum. Further, the sales and marketing team for the organization were very slow and this was affecting the business. Customers were not fully satisfied with the organization’s products. Also, a lot of time was spent on less important tasks making it difficult for the organization to meet or confront the customers to attempt to meet their specific needs. Furthermore, technology also posed a significant problem to the sales and marketing team of the organization, due to the problem of communication breakdown.

The level of technology is fast changing and this continues to pose more problems for Franklin Templeton. The level of responsiveness and contact with customers remained low affecting the overall sales of the organization. Notably, keeping the customers you already have is more important than acquiring new customers. The organization, therefore, was aware that they had to move fast or risk losing their loyal customers. Moreover, the large-scale monolithic approach that was applied by the company was inefficient.

In many ways, the system was unable to find a solution that would enable it to provide value to the business and in a short time. The large-scale approach despite being a cheaper option was incapable of adapting to the dynamic changes with the system and business environment. Therefore, organizational leaders needed a replacement of this approach, one that would increase the value of sales over a short time, and be efficient enough to increase customer satisfaction. Conclusively, the project-based approach was needed by Franklin Templeton due to the reasons that have been discussed in this subtitle.

Strategic Elements of the Disciplined Agile

Sales and marketing teams had to work fast and diligently in finding solutions to the main problem that was affecting the organization. as already identified, everything was too slow and too big creating problems with efficiency and customer satisfaction. A multiphase approach proved to be the way forward for the company. The disciplined agile involved training and coaching the marketing and sales team. Projects were subdivided and therefore the strategy focused on specific teams and projects.

Further, influencers from different lines of business and fields were pivotal to this strategy serving to champion new skills and knowledge that are useful across the varying teams and projects. Conversely, Franklin Templeton applied anticipated agile disciplined training to cover every aspect of the organization. Therefore, a full suite of agile training was offered by the organization, providing a wide range of services that comprised of product owner training, team-based training, and training in agile for managers.

Therefore, the strategy became an all-rounded solution to the previous issues that were affecting the productivity of the organization. Notably, being a large-scale organization with branches in 34 countries, this system of agile discipline was transformed to approximately 10 countries. In summation, the agile discipline is a strategy that involves dividing the organizational projects into simpler specific projects. As a strategy, specific teams and projects are coached by experts in different aspects and lines of business.

Justification of the Project Approach

Project management with a good understanding of the project and effective management structure like that of discipline agile practiced by Franklin Templeton is bound to remit success to the organization. Project management does not only improve communication, transparency, and stimulation of success but offers a lot more. First, quick decision-making is achieved through consistent communication that must be ensured by every project manager. Communication breakdown leads to 57% failure of organizations according to a UK survey (Morris, 2013).

Therefore, communication across team members also entails quick decision making, which will undoubtedly lead to improved productivity as members are driven by a common goal. Secondly, Franklin Templeton realized a reduction in time to market. This was a positive outcome for the company as time is a crucial resource for all companies. 800 days were saved to appoint where the organization received new features continuously, allowing the time saved to be used addressing customer needs and implementing new features.

Subsequently, customer satisfaction was imminent with the reduction in time to market, indicating the efficiency of applying this project-based approach. Customer satisfaction is one of the primary goals and objectives of organizations. Companies that keep their customers satisfied attract high sales and profit maximization. Furthermore, the survey scores for customer satisfaction for the company increased from 3.6 to 4.5 on a scale of 1-5. Therefore, this approach is justifiable to be effective in increasing the productivity of an organization.

Additionally, employee satisfaction was also realized by this project-based approach. Employees enjoyed autonomy that came with a sense of empowerment from the new way of operating. Tellingly, autonomy is a tool for increasing employee satisfaction and this is crucial for employee retention (Park and Choi, 2017). The company thus adopted an approach that could address many crucial phases of the organization. Production is more likely to increase when workers are happy and work autonomously.

Conclusion

To sum up, despite the expensive nature of project management, eating up approximately 20% of the budget, its results are worthwhile. The business world is fast-changing and at times even giant companies like Franklin Templeton are affected. After adapting the water scrum fall project approach, characterized by low customer satisfaction and slow responsiveness, the company resorted to a disciplined agile framework. As a pivotal project approach, it became integral to its current success story.

Therefore, the use of the project management approach is justifiable, proven by the increase in customer and employee satisfaction, quicker decision making, and reduction in time to market. Franklin Templeton's case study is proof that a well-managed and effective project management structure can help an organization care for its key business aspects, which are time, customers, and workforce.

References

• Mir, F. and Pinnington, A. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: Linking Project Management Performance and Project Success. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp. 229-240.
• Morris, P. (2013). The trajectory of project management: why EPOS is important. Engineering Project Organization Journal, 3(2), pp. 66-70.
• Park, H. and Choi, J. (2017). A Case Study of Adapting Disciplined Agile Framework for Large-scale IT Projects. KIISE Transactions on Computing Practices, 23(7), pp. 81-88.
• Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Control. Wiley.
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• Rugh, J. (2018). Managing Projects: A Practical Guide for Learning Professionals. Association for Talent Development.