Managing projects in fast track:a case of public sector organisation in India

Completing projects faster than the normal duration is always a challenge to the management of any project, as it often demands many paradigm shifts. Opportunities of globalization, competition from private sectors and multinationals force the management of public sector organizations in the Indian petroleum sector to take various aggressive strategies to maintain their profitability. Constructing infrastructure for handling petroleum products is one of them. Moreover, these projects are required to be completed in faster duration compared to normal schedules to remain competitive, to get faster return on investment, and to give longer project life. However, using conventional tools and techniques of project management, it is impossible to handle the problem of reducing the project duration from a normal period. This study proposes the use of concurrent engineering in managing projects for radically reducing project duration. The phases of the project are accomplished concurrently/simultaneously instead of in a series. The complexities that arise in managing projects are tackled through restructuring project organization, improving management commitment, strengthening project-planning activities, ensuring project quality, managing project risk objectively and integrating project activities through management information systems. These would not only ensure completion of projects in fast track, but also improve project effectiveness in terms of quality, cost effectiveness, team building, etc. and in turn overall productivity of the project organization would improve.

The MISLEM Project : developing meta-level quality indicators for establishing a systematic linkage between educational institutions and the labour market:education, employment and graduate employability: project manual

The MISLEM Project comprised representatives from Higher and Vocational Education in four partner countries, Austria, Romania, Slovenia and the UK. In addition to this, representatives from a major UK graduate employment agency and the Austria Quality Assurance Agency were also involved. At the inaugural meeting of the Project, partner teams discussed and agreed upon appropriate methodological processes with which to carry the Project forward.

Managing healthcare quality in project management framework

Healthcare professionals routinely deploy various quality management tools and techniques in order to improve performance of healthcare delivery. However, they are characterised by fragmented approach i.e., they are not linked with the strategic intent of the organisation. This study introduces a holistic quality improvement method, which integrates all quality improvement projects with the strategic intent of the healthcare organisations. It first identifies a healthcare system and its environment. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the system are then derived with the involvement of the concerned stakeholders. This leads to developing the strategies in order to satisfy customers in line with the organisation's competitive position. These strategies help identify a few projects, the implementation of which ensures achievement of desired quality. The projects are then prioritised with the involvement of the concerned stakeholders and implemented in order to improve the system performance. The effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated using a case study of an intensive care unit at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex Hospital in Trinidad. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.