Chapter 3: Journey to Excellence

Chapter 3 focuses on project management as a Journey to Excellence. As you’ve already noted in the readings of past chapters, not all companies use project management effectively. Some companies do not have executive support, their project office may be too small to handle the major projects, or the company only considers project management as a scheduling tool. Yet, as shown in the case studies covered in Chapter 3, many companies use project management as an effectives means to move forward and succeed in this current global market.

This week, please read the case studies outlined in Chapter 3. Your assignment is to conduct outside research and identify a company that successfully uses project management concepts and principles. This can be a company you currently work for or another one that you identify through your own research. This assignment will assess your understanding of the concepts in the chapter and demonstrate your ability to apply them to actual case scenarios. One site that may be helpful is the Project Management Institute (PMI.org). Once you have identified an organization and have conducted research on the company, please answer the following areas:

1. Give a brief overview of the company and industry.
2. Using Table 3-2 (p. 113), identify and explain the benefits to this organization in using project management. You must choose and discuss two (2) benefits. Please be specific and focused – do not give general statements. This will require a combination of research on the company/industry as well as tying it to the concepts discussed in the textbook.
3. Choose one of the Seven Fallacies (p. 146), discuss its relevance to project management and the success of a company, and apply that fallacy to the company you selected. You can choose to either use the fallacy to explain what the company is doing right or what you believe they may be doing wrong. I realize your answer may be subjective; but again, this is assessing your understanding of the concepts and your ability to apply them to an actual scenario. For example, Fallacy 6 (Executive Support) discusses the need for visible executive support. Many companies run into problems when the project office is assigned to a lower-level manager with many organizational layers between them and the executives. Thus, if you find an organizational chart with the project office more closely aligned with the executives of the company, then you might argue that this could potentially demonstrate a higher visibility. Again, this will require outside research on the company/industry as well as tying it to the concepts in the chapter.

Requirements:

1. Minimum of 600 words.
2. Double spaced.
3. Minimum of 2 different citations/references included in your paper. One must be from the textbook; the other one can be a book, article, or website (not a blog).
4. APA format. No title page; include your name at the top of the paper.
5. Upload your paper in the appropriate area of the assignment when completed.