Key Approaches to managing an organization - project & process - Project Management

The article is aimed at forming an understanding of the main differences between the two management approaches, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, as well as the expediency of their application in the management of the organization.

Project and process management began to develop widely and be applied in the industrial practice of organizations at the end of the XX century. The rapid development of the two approaches has led to their competition and opposition in the modern world.

At the moment, most foreign companies use these management approaches, but in Russia they are just beginning to be introduced in order to increase competitiveness in the market.
Process management in the organization.

Process management consists in ensuring that all the activities of the organization are divided into separate mutually agreed processes, the results of which should be subject to constant monitoring. An important point in this management approach is also the definition of the relationships between processes and the organization of their effective interaction.

The following groups of processes are distinguished:

End-to-end (cross-functional) - pass through several divisions of organizations;
Processes (intrafunctional) and sub-processes of departments - limit activities within one functional unit of the organization;
Operations (functions) - the lower level of decomposition of the organization's activities, usually performed by one person.

When using this management approach, the activities of the enterprise are represented in the form of a set of running business processes. A business process in IDEFO notation is understood as a set of interrelated activities aimed at creating a specific product or service for consumers.

There are several levels of description of business processes. The first level usually describes the strategic management of the enterprise, so business processes are used for analytical modeling. The task of business processes of this level is the formation of general ideas about the main business processes of the enterprise and the exchange of these ideas between managers. This level does not imply the actual execution of the developed business processes.

The description of the sequences of such business processes is usually carried out using text regulations or simulation modeling (usually used to determine the optimal parameters of processes). The next level involves the use of executable business processes – business processes that control the movement of control points in a computer environment in strict accordance with the actions performed in the organization. The third level represents the business objects of the organization, the state of which determines the state of the entire company as a whole at the moment.

The essence of the process approach to management is as follows:

Identification of key performance results and comparison of the company's business processes;
Identification of business process customers and their requirements;
Creation of the structure of business processes, based on the importance, nesting and chronology of activities;
Definition of business process parameters;
Identification of responsible and executors of each process;
Designing logic - a technology that should ensure the creation of the desired result in the right time;
Setting up a system for synchronizing the activities of different processes (ideally, automating the planning and control of all process indicators);
Personnel training - the formation of readiness for group responsibility for the result (often this requires a sufficiently strong restructuring of the motivation system);
Formation of a cyclical mode of design-analysis-adjustment of processes, based on the results of the analysis - the so-called "rhythm of business".

Process management has its advantages and disadvantages, presented.

Advantages:

A clear system of mutual relations within the processes and in the relevant units;
Pattern of operations;
Dominance of strategic problems over operational ones;
Consistency of criteria for the effectiveness and quality of work of departments;
Increasing the impact of employees by empowering them and increasing the role of everyone in the team;
Increasing the transparency of the organization's work;
Operational change of business processes with changes in the conditions of the organization's activities;
Quickly respond and make adjustments to external changes in the environment.

Disadvantages:

Dependence of work results on qualifications, personal and business qualities of employees and performers;
The complexity of managing functionally mixed work teams.

A necessary stage in the development and description of the organization's activities is to determine the characteristics of business processes, which include:

Process boundaries – starting events (process inputs) and results (process outputs);
Normative documents of the process – legislative acts, plans, instructions, templates;
Process resources – performers, participants, equipment, tools, information systems for controlling business processes;
Process indicators – measurable process variables and their normative values: the volume of the result, the amount of time spent, the amount of material and money losses, the customer satisfaction index, the number of defects, etc.

Characteristics are an important component of every business process, allowing you to improve the process of management, resource allocation and achievement of goals in the organization. Despite the great advantages of process management, the company's transition to this method of management requires high costs. This is a huge work to identify the same type of operations, classify them and present them as working algorithms of business processes, since in many organizations there are rarely well-written management documents and templates for a particular process.

The considered management approach should be used in organizations with multiple repetition of the same operations performed by different performers. Such companies are the majority of office organizations associated with the preparation of large volumes of documentation: banks, investment and consulting companies, publishing houses, insurance agencies. In addition, this approach is effectively used in enterprises with clear and detailed work regulations, for example, in government bodies.

Project management in an organization Project management Project management is central to project management. According to the international standard PMBOK, a project is understood as a temporary enterprise aimed at creating a unique product, service or result.

Each project is limited by a time frame, and its completion occurs at the moment of achievement of the set goals, or when the goals are not achieved or there is no longer a need for the project itself. Each project is limited by budget, resources and deadlines. The balance of these main components ensures the quality and fulfillment of the set goals. In this regard, it is possible to identify the main features of project management:

The presence of specific project objectives arising from a certain strategy of the organization;
Uniqueness and uniqueness of project tasks;
A set of restrictions - time, financial resources, etc., in the conditions of which each of the projects is implemented.

Like process management, project management has its advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

Responsibility for the implementation of the project on time;
Improved management of plans due to the use of calendar-network schedules in planning;
Improved assessment and reduction of financial risks;
The presence of the final identified goal;
Decomposition of project activities to the level of work or technological operations, allowing you to determine in detail the composition and quantity of resources, as well as the budget;
Definition of a critical path, which allows you to identify more significant works (operations) for the project, the change in the duration of which will affect the duration of the project as a whole;
Flexibility in project management;
Identification and monitoring of control points;

Improve the efficiency of communications.

Disadvantages:

The reliability of the result depends on the quality of the information;
Complicates the organization of the distribution of financial resources;
The complexity of taking into account the impact of parallel projects on the result;

Resource competition between projects.

The effectiveness of the project approach is ensured by a number of factors:

The strategic factor is aimed at organizing the current activities of the company to fulfill the tasks set, linking strategic and operational planning;
The economic factor allows you to distribute resources between the projects of the organization, concentrating them on more important tasks;
The organizational factor is focused on corporate goals, allows to reduce the inconsistency of mutually contradictory actions;
The motivating factor allows to increase the number of stakeholders in the final results of the project, increases the dedication and professionalism of employees due to clearer ideas about their own contribution to the planned result;
The consolidating factor reduces the subjectivity of decision-making, based on the joint decision-making of specialists;
The communicative factor contributes to the development of communications between stakeholders;
The structure-forming factor ensures the formation of new structures and teams of the project.

The project management approach provides transparency in the management of the organization, allowing you to control finances, resources, materials, equipment and volumes at all stages and tasks of the project. In addition, the project manager and the project team are responsible for the implementation of the project within the specified time frame with the achievement of the set goals. The structure of the project itself is static and consists of planning, risk assessment, team building and communications, summing up and completing the project.

Project management is used in research, consulting, construction organizations, in any companies in the development of innovative projects, the implementation of targeted programs, etc., where the result of projects is the creation of a unique product, service or result. When applying the project approach, it is required to constantly monitor the number of projects and labor resources.

Very often there is a problem when on some projects there is an overabundance of resources, and on others there is a shortage, or when the number of projects in the organization is much greater than the people who are able to fulfill them.

Each of the approaches has its advantages and disadvantages, so the application of a particular management method depends on the specifics of the company's activities. However, in modern practice, both methods begin to interact closely with each other, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of achieving strategic goals (such as increasing revenues, expanding the customer base, improving production quality, reducing production costs, etc.) and increasing the manageability of the organization.

Implementing process or project management is a rather time-consuming process. Before implementing one of the approaches in the company, it is necessary to understand the firm's readiness for change, as well as the need for project or process management at all levels of management. Employees and management must clearly understand why this is necessary, otherwise difficulties often arise on the part of the staff, which leads to delay and increased costs.

In addition, the company's management should be focused on changes and understand that any changes are associated with a number of obstacles, overcoming which requires strength and resources in order to get the desired result in the future. This means that management needs to firmly insist on its position, and not turn a blind eye to the current problems in the company associated with the introduction of a new management method.

Another important factor is the understanding by management that it is impossible to instantly get the desired result, and a certain period of time is required for debugged work, after which the implemented management approach will allow achieving the company's goals. The success of any type of management depends on its correct application in a particular organization.

Conclusion:

Process and project management is aimed at creating horizontal links in the organization. Employees involved in the process and project can independently solve emerging problems without attracting the attention of senior management. However, process management is aimed at managing repetitive operations, the sequence of which is combined into business processes, and the project approach is based on managing a unique combination of operations combined within a unique project.