The Key environmental forces which have influenced the way projects are managed are both internal and external,When talking about the external factors we are actually looking at elements such as political ,economical,social ,technological and international(PESTI).These element have played a major role in how projects are managed today and has given rise to the importance of project management.This is because of the challanges and problems in today`s modern society involves risk and uncertainty ,with rapid changes in technology and increase in competition had made project management more complex as well as key to success in the business world.External factors are unavoidable and uncertain and could couse disastrous impacts on the performance of the organization in managing different projects.”The more uncertain and changing the environment ,the more complex is the organization structure likely to be”(pilcher 1992)
An example of major project include the American Manhattan project in which the first atomic bomb was created during world war 2 ,the project was basically meant to be completed in the shortest time possible because the Americans wanted to be the first to build it and stay ahead of the Nazis.This project involed a great deal of advance research and technology and it also helped in exploring new areas of science and engineering for the people who worked on this project .The technological advantage for any organization is one of the key external factor for high tech companies such as computers,electronics,phanmaceutical and communication,For example When Apple introduced Macintosh in response to this the Microsoft introduced windows vista ,apart from that we also see heat in competition in the communication industry such as nokia ,Samsung,motorolla ,sony and so on .Each of this companies are competing each other to become the market leader to obtain as much market share and brand loyalty as possible.This is one of the reason where the nature and scope in managing the project have changed .
Projects often tend to make life much easier and fruitful and if the project is not successful it can also have a negative impact.one of the example is the Mangla Dam project of Pakistan.The aim of the project was to build a Dam so that it can store more water and therefore resolve the issue of electricity shortage.It was meant to be finshed between the year 2002 and 2005 but it was not completed and due to the failure of this project the country is facing high levels of electricity shortage and load shedding.There may be several reasons why the project could not be completed ,could be technical or may be it was costly.But because of this failed project it effected the country in many areas .
Economic factors such as inflation ,rate of economic growth ,level of unemployment has affected organizations in many ways.When a project is undertaken by an organization it is given a budget ,With increasing amount of inflation the use of scarce resources have become more costly which inturn increases the budget of the project .This makes the job of project manager more complex and difficult as he has to manage the entire project with limited budget ,apart from this he also have to fully utilized the resources and not wasting it and within the budget given for the project.
Social factors play a pivotal role in managing projects because they influence the behaviour of the organization interms of employees attidudes and behaviour,Understanding human needs are very important for a project manager,social issues such as health and safety,recreational needs,education,living and working conditions need to be addressed in order for the success of the project.For example an organization choose to undertake a project and there fore select a team and a project manager to complete the task ,if the team members feel they are working in an environment which is risky,or if they are not treated with respect or they are not being rewarded or their needs are not being fullfiled can create a negative impact on the project and will totally change the way the project is managed.With highly motivated team members will enable the project to be managed flexibly with more chances of success,
International factor are also important because they are the factors which came in existence because of globalization.With rapid changes in development of new trends ,business and project management the element of uncertainties have increased,
Organization with different corporate cultures and perceptions are now competiting against each other and have forced them to follow different approaches and policies to cope as well as stay ahead of their competitors.This is the reason in today`s world organization undertake more and more projects and manage them in their own unique way so that other companies or competitors may not be able to dublicate it.
In todays modern and technically advanced society it has become very important for organizations and the project managers to fully utilize the internal resources available to them while managing different projects.The internal factors which has changed the way projects are managed can be catagorized as manpower,materials,machines,money and methods .The project managers have full control of these factors but they need to be indentified properly ,with complete honesty .Failed and poorly managed projects are the reason why these factors are very important,These factors are the main resources of an organization and are major contributors to the way projects are managed .For example a project manager who have control over these resources is unable to manage them properly which can inturn lead to project failure and can be very harmful for the organization.however it is also very important for an organization to identify its Strenths and Weaknesses,for example two firms are competing each other for high market share ,high revenue and one of these firm has an advantage of better technology ,now it is up to that firm how it manages and utilize this strength and vise versa. Organizations are suppose to fully utilizes their core competencies in order to succeed and every organization have its own unique competencies ,due to this reason project managing process differ becouse different organizations work according to their mission statement, their culture,their aims and objectives and their policies,.
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