Project Procurement Management
Project Procurement Management is a plan implemented for products to be delivered on time and the budget to be equally allocated. In addition to that, it might be termed as a relationship where buyers and sellers can complete a project using foods and services. Such relationships work well with contracts to meet the company’s standards for purchasing a product or needing service. The contracts help the vendor and buyer to agree on the terms and conditions of completing a project. For the project work to be defined, the project scope is needed to make procurement decisions and help identify the project’s limitations.
Project management has five different types of phases. Project initiation and conception being one of these phases and is regarded as the most important and analytical phase of the project management process (TEAM, 2011). What makes this phase so important is that the phase helps answer the question of why the project and the goals are to be met, especially in business. In order to set the tone and goals of what is expected in the project, an introduction to the research and practicality of the project is practiced. The end goal for this stage aims to solve problems, which is only possible when challenges are outlined through a project brief.
The second phase in project management is project planning, where five factors are considered to lead the team through all the phases of the project management process. One of the factors is the project scope, where the approximation of the time of when the project should end becomes a priority since, without such control, projects tend to fail in the process. In addition to the factors is the project estimation, where work is broken down into structures that help identify different tasks that would be laid out in the scope of a project.
With the organization’s teams’ help, managing the project is a critical step where a project plan is created to achieve deadlines, resources, tasks, and beat all the milestones they face. Moreover, the communication plan is another one of the factors considered in project planning. Communications could make or break a project’s work, and documentation of how communication could work in a team is needed. This process is valuable when a large team in the organization or colleagues do not work within the organization. By incorporating status reports, meetings, and dates, the communication plan should bring to light what the team expects.
A risk management plan is another one of the factors associated with project planning. In this factor, a project manager is supposed to report risks to the team and develop solutions on how they can be avoided. To achieve this, the title of the risk, details of the risk, how the risk can be avoided, and how understandable the risk is to the team is outlined. With the help of a status report, that list makes the project easier. In addition to that, a project manager works hard in this phase.
The third phase in project procurement management is the project execution, where the team is running, and the actual work is done (Kissflow, 2020). This is the longest stage because the teams collaborate and review work to present to their stakeholders. Unlike the project planning phase, a project manager leads and takes through the stakeholders through the difficult moments they face during the project’s execution. In this phase, a project manager is responsible for managing the budget, timeline, communication, planning of resources, managing change, and managing meetings. Due to the project manager checking on the team regularly, matters on reports, timelines, and checking on budgets would be in order.
Project monitoring and control is the fourth phase in project procurement management. This is whereby the teams ensure that everything is going according to plan as well as the smooth running of the project. In this phase, it is important to keep tabs on the project’s timelines, goals, the teams’ performance, and the project’s budget, among others. When dealing with the project goals, it is acceptable to go astray if only communication between the teams and the stakeholders is kept open and also if they are enough time to make the proposed changes.
On issues of delivery quality, one should consult on the company’s standards with the leadership. It is advisable to make reviews of deliveries before and after being sent out. The reviews should be made by the team at first and then later as by the project manager. In addition to that, a project manager’s role is to keep an eye on the project and is never responsible for managing people. He/she is responsible for pointing the finger at someone who is lagging or dropping the ball, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
The fifth phase is the project closure, where every member is satisfied and happy with the end product. In this phase, the team members are responsible for completing any task left behind and finalizing any report and organizing the project’s celebration. Contrary to that, many organizations don’t take time to go through this phase because they tend to work on many projects at a time. For this phase to go through, three steps are crucial; one is celebrating the project where the stakeholders and the teams’ work are recognized. The holding of a retrospect meeting is the second step where outcomes are recorded of what did or did not work. The third and last step is the creation of a project closure report where the project name, goals, date of initiation, the project budget, team members and stakeholders involved, project issues, and project wins are included.
In any organization, ethics or rather moral principles help in the governance of the organization. This is normally the basis to achieve the profession’s standards and in a manner such as fairness, transparency, and integrity being the points of interest (UNGM, 2020). Even with having these ethical principles, there still stands a risk of having unethical issues within the organization. One of the risks involved in organizations is the conflict of interest where its occurrence is direct and mutual. This involves a clash between two parties in the organization. This is especially seen when a civil servant’s standards and those of higher-ranking individuals in the organization differ.
Fraud is another risk to the ethical standard of an organization. This is the purposeful false representation and the intentional concealing of information to bring on another factor in its place to his/her prejudice when executing a contract. There are common scenarios of fraud in procurement that have been majorly outlined in organizations. They include customers being defrauded by their suppliers, the buyer’s employer being defrauded by their suppliers, and buyers in collaboration and personal gain by the buyer at the supplier’s expense.
Another example of an unethical issue in an organization is corruption, where it has two approaches to it, direct and indirect. The direct approach involves goods and services being sold at a discounted fee, personal debts of the buyer being paid through cheques, businesses being paid through cheques by the buyer having an interest, the procurement officer receiving cash payments to meet the buyer’s debt, and also options of sharing and shares. Moreover, the indirect approach entails the buyer benefits from the inside information, blackmail and violence threats, entertainment events offering invitations, and the buyer’s family member is employed.
There are potential areas of risk in a procurement cycle, including budgeting, where corruption and fraud can be initiated. This involves inappropriate control of the budget. Financial approval policy is another area of risk where there is the misuse of management controls, which are strict and irregular audits. In addition to that, prequalification can limit competition in a field and give the supplier an advantage. In negotiation, suppliers who are favored can be provided with useful information, especially since the requirements of a project can be falsified or rather invented (UNGM, 2020). Moreover, suppliers practice acts of fraud deliberately and with incompetence considering it an opportunity.
Although unethical practices are not limited, there are tell-tale signs of these practices. Some of these signs include dictatorial management styles, the poor keeping of records, missing files, audit resistance, high rates of secrecy, cartels of suppliers, and supplier’s overcharging. Amidst all these risks, there is a mechanism that can be applied to prevent these practices. Management responsibility is one of them, where high standards of integrity are to be maintained by the management and act as a good example to the organization for them to follow.
In addition to that, the employees’ good conduct of behavior should be addressed, while unacceptable behaviors should be rejected. It is also important for the staff in an organization to follow the organization’s code of conduct since it boldly states what kind of behavior is acceptable and the kind that is not acceptable in the given organization. Showing employee appreciation is another way of preventing unethical behavior in that this encourages loyalty and the feeling of contentment of their hard work. The organization should also consider giving the employees a day off and gifting top performers in the organization for their hard work.
In order to minimize the opportunity for unethical behavior, a system should be created for the processing of cheques and balances rather than being dependent on an individual employee. For example, customer purchases are the responsibility of a sales associate while an accountant ensures that all payments are documented, received, and recorded in a book. In addition to that, an ethnic speaker or trainer should be encouraged to visit a worksite to teach behaviors based on ethnics and their importance even though the organization is huge or small. They use motivational speaking, role-plays, and videos to demonstrate the use of work ethics.
Pre-employment screening is important because it helps employers know the applicant’s background and helps them access the organization. Moreover, all employees should be held accountable for any security or loss incident not reported; however small they are. For all data processing resources, a procedure should be introduced to introduce the enforcement of date standards. When employees are hired, it is expected that those who are accepted to be those who have an education needed as well as skill (Brookins, 2019). However, employers who expect ethical behaviors lookout for employees who are ready to accept the company’s culture. This means that the employer should ensure that the employee is ready to work with a lot of diligence and obey the company’s policies.