The Importance of Managing Resources for Ensuring Project Success

Suppose you are a project manager, working sincerely and whole-heartedly for making the project successful. After the completion of some necessary activities, e.g., project planning and scheduling, your main focus will surely be to find out the resources that you will require for carrying out the project activities properly.

Resources can be of different types, such as people, materials, equipment and other supplies. For instance, in a software development project, you will need programmers, software engineers, system analysts, office staffs, as well as a convenient office place, computers with high configuration, internet facilities etc. The project manager must ensure about the availability of these resources.

In some cases, the project manager identifies that the project is heading in a wrong direction. Deadline is approaching very fast, available budget is getting exhausted; however more than 50% of project activities are still unfinished. In this moment of severity, the project manager has two options; he has to make arrangements for the appropriate training for the team members to enhance their capabilities, or he needs to hire skilled personnel. Promptness in decision making is largely required in this case for the project manager.

Again, choosing right people for the right job is not a very simple task. The project manager must have the capability to determine the appropriate skill level necessary for a particular activity in the project, and also to match people to those skills. To hire the perfect staff, the project manager should make sure to define the roles properly, arrange interview and test the candidates. He should also be careful about the budget, because hiring skilled people may not always be achieved in a cheaper way.

The project manager must guarantee that the team members are respected properly. Without getting proper attention, admiration and respect, the team members in a project will not try to give their 100%. Furthermore, the project manager will have to utilize his motivation skills properly. He must encourage his team members to render their best effort, and remunerate them whenever they do something special. He must also try to empower the team members and ensure their participation in all sorts of decision-making process. This will ultimately increase the overall productivity and the project will lead towards success.

Ensuring better workplace environment is another important thing that must be carefully taken care of by the project manager. Experiments have suggested that people’s performance and their job satisfaction are seriously affected by the room size, furniture, equipment, temperature and humidity, brightness and quality of light, noise and most often the degree of privacy available. If the project manager fails to ensure good working condition, it may become really costly for the project. Staff turnover will increase, and more money should be spent on recruiting and training of new staffs. There will be the possibility that the project will not be finished in time.

The project manager must also ensure the optimal utilization of the available resources. Sometimes it is seen that some members of the project team spend their official time sitting idly, while other members work incessantly and find very little time to relax. The project manager has to set the duties and responsibilities of every member of the team and continuously monitor them. He must also ensure that all the members of the project team are 100% committed to achieve the project goals and objectives.

The project manager should also be careful about utilizing non-human resources. He must make sure about the regular supply of materials and equipment required for the project. He must also confirm about the better quality of these resources, which is extremely necessary in a project.

The project manager has to communicate well with the project sponsor to make sure about the availability of funds. The sponsor must be knowledgeable about all the potential obstacles, risks and other necessary issues on an on-going basis. This will make sure about the availability of the resources in a timely manner.

Lastly it can be mentioned that managing all sorts of resources in a proper manner is absolutely necessary to ensure the overall success of the project. The project manager must give appropriate attention in this regard.

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