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to lighten the mood or change the style of your delivery. Leaving room

for improvisation will add an element of freshness, realism, and sin-

cerity to your presentation.

Flexibility will also be important if there are any problems with

your presentation aids. Instead of dwelling on any problems, try to ad-

dress them and, if you cannot solve them quickly, make a humorous

aside and talk directly to your audience. Remember that the presenta-

tion is not about the visual aids; it is about you. You have prepared and

you are ready.

CONCLUDING THE PRESENTATION

In developing the outline for your presentation, you organized the ma-

terial you collected into themes and topics with an eye on what would

be appropriate for the beginning, middle, and end of your presenta-

tion. Over the course of your delivery you have carefully developed

these themes and topics in light of the purpose of the presentation. At

the end of your delivery make sure that you bring your presentation to

a close with a concise and effective conclusion. The conclusion should

be succinct so that it leaves your audience with a clear message about

your main topics and themes. Don’t repeat the main text; summarize it.

In addition, end on a positive note with energy and confidence. This

will leave your audience interested in learning more about your topics

and themes.

QUESTION-AND-ANSWER PERIOD

Dealing with questions can be as intimidating as delivering the presenta-

tion itself, and some presenters might prefer to skip the process entirely.

To properly conclude your presentation and respect the relationship you

have developed with your audience, you need to allow for questions.

When answering questions, acknowledge the speaker and repeat the

question so that the entire audience can hear it. Avoid getting into a de-

bate or argument, and if you do not know the answer to the question,

admit it. Ask for the contact information of the person asking the ques-

tion and offer to get back to them with a response later.

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POSTPRESENTATION CONSIDERATIONS

After a presentation, the script and visual aids often end up in a folder

casually tossed and forgotten on your desk. It is time to get on with

other things, and if you need to deliver the presentation again, you can

always dig up the folder and use the same materials. This approach is a

mistake and wastes a valuable opportunity to take advantage of your

initial assessment of the presentation. Even letting a couple of days

pass before reviewing your presentation will cause you to forget valu-

able points.

If you were fortunate enough to get a video recording of your pre-

sentation, use it as a tool to examine your presentation for content and

style. If possible watch the video twice, focusing on a different aspect

each time. It would be difficult to cover both aspects at the same time.

SUMMARY

Presentations and communications are critical success factors in to-

day’s competitive organizational environment. Managers find they are

spending more and more time preparing for presentations, and in

communicating their ideas with colleagues, customers, investors,

and other stakeholders. It is essential that managers consider these

presentation opportunities as important to advancing the organiza-

tion’s purpose and in achieving its goals and objectives. Properly pre-

pared, managers can use presentations as an effective tool for success

and opportunity.

REFERENCES

Adubato, Steve. “Put Power of Low-Tech in Presentations,” Star-Ledger

(May 25, 2003).

Bobo, John. “How to Repair and Resuscitate an Audience Abused by

Boredom,” Presentations 18, Issue 1 (January 2004): 58.

Bunzel, Tom. “Successful Speakers Know How Presenting and Prepara-

tion Go Hand-in-Hand,” Presentations 17, Issue 10 (October

2003): 58.

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Couzins, Martin. “How to Make Effective Presentations,” Personnel To-

day (July 22, 2003): 25.

Daley, Kevin. “Meeting the Challenges of Group Presenting,” Presenta-

tions 17, Issue 11 (November 2003): 66.

Executive Communications Group, “Best Business Attire,” PS: For

Business Communicators, http://ecglink.com/newsletter/dress

spk_men.shtml.

Finkelstein, Ellen. “A PowerPoint World without Bullets Is Possible, and

Beautiful As Well,” Presentations 18, Issue 1 (January 2004): 20.

Hill, Julie. “The Attention Deficit,” Presentations 17, Issue 10 (October

2003): 26.

Messmer, Max. “Public Speaking Success Strategies,” National Public

Accountant (November 2003): 26.

Murphy, Herta. Effective Business Communications. New York: McGraw-

Hill, 1991: 392–395.

Ross, Emily. “The Podium Set,” Business Review Weekly (Australia)

(December 11, 2003).

Stafky, Aaryn. “Taking the Fear out of Public Speaking,” Rural Telecom-

munications, (July–August 2003): 46, 49.

Wahl, Andrew. “PowerPoint of No Return,” Canadian Business 76, Is-

sue 22 (November 23, 2003): 131.

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SECTION IV

SYSTEMS

AND PROCESSES

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Project Management

n this chapter we explore a concept and a practice that has grown

in importance as organizations have become more complex and are

continuously evolving and implementing new ideas, products, and

services or seek to improve existing ones. An organization will create a

project as a way to focus resources on an opportunity or issue and to

serve as a way to effectively organize its efforts to achieve a specific

goal or objective. In a small firm, practice, or business, a project may

be the installation of a new accounting software system or the intro-

duction of a new product or service. In large, complex organizations,

several projects may be in play at the same time, with some midlevel

managers whose only responsibility is the management of a stream of

these short-term assignments. In the dynamic nature of today’s organi-

zational environment, project management is an important concept

and tool to understand and effectively implement.

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), 74 percent

of all projects fail. The projects can fail from a processes standpoint

(initiation, planning, executing, controlling, or closing), or they can

fail from a weakness in project dynamics (scope, time cost manage-

ment, quality management, human resources management, communi-

cations, or risk). Project management covers a wide range of topics

and issues and is defined as the application of knowledge, skills, tools,

and techniques to a broad range of activities to reach a predetermined

goal or objective. (See Figure 11.1.)

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ROLE OF PROJECT MANAGER

It may also be concluded that a considerable number of projects fail

from not having a skilled and experienced project manager to manage

the process. This hole is quickly being filled, however, as companies

recognize that successfully managed projects increase productivity,

yield a greater return on investment, increase profits, and improve cus-

tomer service.

But project management isn’t new. Project management coordina-

tion and planning skills have been used for centuries—even as far back

as the Roman Empire. Project management has also almost always

dealt with the same elemental challenges: incomplete project specifica-

tions and scope definition, insufficient labor, unforeseen challenges, or

unsure funding. The role and job title of the person responsible for

managing these elements, however, the project manager, was not rec-

ognized until the twentieth century.

Another reason for the importance of the role of a project man-

ager is the increasing rate of change in the workplace. Project manage-

ment skills transcend corporations and industries; with change

happening at such rapid rates, whether in technology, business, or con-

struction, project managers are increasingly in demand.

It is important, however, for all project participants to understand

the process of project management. As project-based change increases,

every project participant from part-time team member to executive

SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES

212

INPUTS

• Mission

• Team

• Resources

• Project

• Management

Skills

PROJECT

Project Goals

and

Objectives

FIGURE 11.1 Simple Project Management Process

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sponsor will be more effective in their role if they understand the

process of project management.

PROJECT SCOPE AND

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Let’s begin with a discussion of the vocabulary and processes that en-

compass project management. The project scope involves subdividing

the major project deliverables into smaller, more manageable compo-

nents. Often this includes the work breakdown structure (WBS). The

project scope is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements

that define the total scope of the project. The WBS is almost like a gi-

ant task list of what needs to get done to successfully complete the

project. It is often used to help confirm a common understanding of

what the project scope is. It has the ability to transform one large,

unique, and sometimes mystifying job into many small, more man-

ageable tasks.

The WBS helps to define deliverables and figure out the tasks

that need to get done. The WBS is also a useful tool to help monitor

the progress, verify the schedule estimates, and build project teams

necessary to complete the project. It lists the tasks that need to get

done in a prioritized, hierarchical structure in relation to what needs

to get done in the overall project. Each task should be specific enough

to be able to put a person’s name next to it who will be able to execute

the given activity.

Some of the items on the list will be open-ended tasks. Open-

ended tasks include activities that we are familiar with doing, but don’t

have a specific deliverable or hard product being produced. Examples

of open-ended activities that might appear in a WBS are things such as

“research,” “perform analysis,” or “interview.” Another type of task

might be on the list to perform but need more clarification. “Database”

might be listed, but what does that really mean? Does it mean sort the

database? Clean the database? Load the database? Test the database?

You can see that just putting the word “database” on the list could refer

to numerous activities; therefore, a greater level of detail about the task

needs to be achieved.

The WBS should include a plan for the project and output quality.

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Be sure to take the time necessary to get the quality high enough to

meet expectations. It is cheaper to design and produce a product cor-

rectly the first time than it is to go in after development is in process

and fix it. Steve McConnell, in his book Rapid Development, pointed

out that if a defect caused by incorrect requirements is fixed in the

construction or maintenance phase, it can cost 50 to 200 times as

much to fix as it would have in the requirements phase. Each hour

spent on quality assurance activities such as design review saves 3 to

10 hours on downstream costs.

Product scope and project scope have different qualities. The

product scope can remain constant throughout the process of the proj-

ect, while the project scope can change and evolve and expand. The

project may also focus on the creation and delivery of a service. If

there is no detailed product description, then creating one should be

the sole deliverable for a project. Defining what the project con-

straints are (costs, schedule, resources, material, etc.) won’t have any

meaning unless the product specification is complete. This makes

sense because if the project team doesn’t have a clear idea of the prod-

uct specification, they don’t know what they’re building or what

they’re working toward.

Given that a product scope is understood, then, it is important to

define what the deliverables are. What is being produced? Is it a prod-

uct? A service? A new design? Fixing an old problem? It is critical that

the team know what they are working toward and it helps to create

boundaries and focus the team on the outcome.

Deliverables can be either end deliverables or intermediate deliv-

erables. The end deliverable is what the final outcome of the project is

expected to be. The intermediate deliverables are the small pieces of

the puzzle that help the team get there. An intermediate deliverable,

for example, could be the creation and description of a target market,

when the end deliverable is the mass media advertising campaign for a

product or service.

Setting project objectives is critical. They serve as quantifiable

criteria that must be met in order for the project to be deemed success-

ful. Project objectives should be specific and measurable so that they

can provide the basis for agreement on the project. Measurability pro-

vides supporting detail that may be necessary to make a strong case for

a particular outcome.

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PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT PLAN

When the product scope is understood, a project scope management

plan needs to be created. This plan describes how the project scope

will be managed and, therefore, any changes in scope will be integrated

into the project. It also serves as an assessment of the anticipated sta-

bility of the project scope. In other words, it documents the character-

istics of the product or service that the project was undertaken to

create. As shown in Figure 11.2, the project scope management plan

begins at initiation of the project and moves through scope planning,

scope definition, scope verification, and scope change control (should

this be needed).

The initiation phase includes beginning to develop the scope

statement. The scope statement serves to put some boundaries on the

project and keeps the scope from increasing as you delve into the meat

of the project, which is a common phenomenon. The scope statement

should describe the major activities of the project so clearly that it can

be used to assess if extra work is necessary as the project process gets

going. More simply, it serves to detail exactly what has been agreed to

from the beginning. It is understood that changes in the project scope

require changes in the cost, schedule, and resource projections as these

assumptions are made during the project planning and scope writing.

Additionally, the scope statement can be used to help define where the

project’s placement is in a larger picture. This is the ideal place to clar-

ify the relationship of this project to other projects in the total product

development effort.

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215

Initiation

Scope

Planning

Scope

Definition

Scope

Verification

Scope Change

Control

FIGURE 11.2 Project Stages

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