Architecture - Project Management - Exam Research Paper

Architecture - Project Management - Exam - Research Paper Example The involved parties may not be able to complete the project if the circumstances become unfavorable. Sometimes, such political changes occur that make the execution of project meaningless, thus making it useless for the involved parties to continue the project. 5. The cost has not been rightly estimated at the outset. Sometimes, lack of competence of a single estimator ruins the whole project that is worth billions of dollars. If the cost is under-estimated, the contractor in particular incurs a lot of financial loss. 6. The contractor is not experienced in the nature of work. This can generally cause the project to fail because of weakness in several areas like risk management, construction management, and cost management etc. 7. The people involved in its supervision, execution or management are not experienced or competent enough. A strong work team is fundamental to the success of every project. 8. There parties involved in it like the client, consultant and contractor do not ha ve good rapport with each other. Personal grudges are the biggest threat to the success of every project. 9. â€Å"Failing to break projects into manageable 'chunks'† (Khan, 2011). 10. The procurement method is not consistent with the specifications of the project. List and explain five critical success factors in project management. Five of the ten critical success factors in project management as mentioned by Emond (2011) are as follows: 1. Clear goals and vision: This is the first and foremost requirement in order for a PM to be successful. 2. Support of Executive Management: In order to utilize his/her full potential and make rational decisions keeping in view the resources at hand, a PM requires support of Executive Management. 3. Proper planning: Planning is one of the fundamental PM functions. 4. Realistic expectations: The PM should take care of time, cost and resource constraints while assigning tasks to individuals so that the expectations can be realistic. 5. Skill ed workforce: Since the staff is involved in the work at the grass root level, its competence directly affects the chances of success of a PM. Pre-contract planning vs contract planning: Pre-contract planning revolves around the development of contract. In order to develop a contract, first, the project feasibility study is conducted, followed by the preparation of drawings and identification of specifications, selection of procurement method, time and procedure and selection of contractor for contract. Contract planning takes care of all events that follow the development of contract, which involve development of schedule, cost scheduling and resource leveling. Project Manager Roles Define Project Management. Project management can be defined as the application of competence and methodologies to accomplish activities of a project that is meant to satisfy or exceed the needs and expectations of stakeholders from it. Another definition for project management is â€Å"the process of controlling the achievement of the project objectives, after noting a project to be the achievement of a specific objective, which involves a series of activities and tasks that consume resources† (Munns and Bjeirmi, 1996, cited in Mavengere, n.d., p. 38). Comparison of responsibilities of a Client’s PM with those of a Contractor’s PM at the pre-tender, tender and post-tender stages of project: Pretender stage: Client’