Posted: December 4th, 2014

Programme and Portfolio Capability/Portfolio Project Management

Programme and Portfolio Capability/Portfolio Project Management

Order Description

Based on the topics discussed in this week’s Learning Resource, write an assessment of the various change agents that an organisation could utilise as part of a major

change initiative to develop its programme or portfolio management capability.
Find attached learning resources for this week, to be used to write this essay.

School of
Management
Key Concept
Overview
Programme and
p
ortfolio
c
apability
KMGT 702
Sustainable Programme and
Portfolio Management
Week 8
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Key Concept
Programme and
p
ortfolio
c
apability
The successful implementation of programme/project portfolio management (PPM)
requires the balancing of the elements of processes, structures, technologies and
people. The last several weeks focused on issues related to the first three of these four
elements, including managing the life cycle (processes), establishing a project
m
anagement
office [PMO] (structures) and utilising software for multi-project planning
(technologies). These are all important elements and are necessary for success, yet on
their own are not sufficient. A PPM system comprising of processes, structures and
technologies is only effective if key stakeholders are appropriately engaged with the
system. This final week of the module is focused on the last element, people. It is
through the actions of people that an organisation’s capability to deliver effective and
efficient PPM is ultimately realised.
Agents of c
hange
The development of programme or portfolio capability in an organisation will typic
ally
involve significant change in the way things are done. Academic literature highlights that
the successful implementation of change needs people in the organisation
who have
the requisite skills to facilitate and enable change to take place, i.e. change agents.
Caldwell (2003) defines a change agent as ‘an internal or external individual or team
responsible for initiating, sponsoring, directing, managing or implementing a specific
change initiative, project or complete change programme’ (pp
.139
-140). Ca
ldwell
analyses prior theoretical developments and empirical research to develop a fourfold
classification of change agents: ‘leadership’
,
‘
management
’
,
‘consultancy’
and
‘
team
’
models. The author provides a synthesis of the prior work into each of the four models
in Figure 1, page 140. Caldwell makes the important point that seeing change agency
from the perspective of a one-dimensional model or a generic type is limiting—the role
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is multi-dimensional. In the case of developing programme/portfolio capabili
ty
, it is
important to recognise this fact. Whilst there will undoubtedly be a requirement for
change agents who are leaders (the first box in Figure 1) and are needed to fulfil the
roles of visionary, sponsor, change leader; there might also be a role for external
consultants, lower level managers and specially created teams (as reflected in the
remaining three boxes in Figure 1) to undertake other important change agent roles.
Training
The Enterprise Portfolio Management Council outlines
five
stages (see Enterprise
Portfolio Management Council
, 2009, pp.165
-182) that lead to a ‘functional and
sustainable PPM process’ (p.181). In the fifth and final stage, the processes, structures,
and technologies are in place, though a number of key activities remain to be
undertaken, such as matching demand with the capacity of the organisation to deliver
and developing a PPM implementation communication plan (which gives information
about the status of individual projects in the programme/portfolio and the
availability of
resources to work on the individual projects). In addition, there is a need to provide
adequate training in relation to both the PPM and project management (PM) processes
that exist and also in relation to any particular technologies, such as PPM and PM
software packages that are being utilised by the organisation.
Thiry (2004) investigated the effectiveness of PM training programmes in six
organisations in which the training had a pan-organisational impact and, hence, was
undertaken in a
multi
-project context. The author concluded that most training
programmes are managed like projects, with the sponsors of such programmes setting
product-centric deliverables to measure their effectiveness, such as the number of
people attending training events or the number of people achieving certification by one
of the PM professional bodies. Whilst such metrics are important, according to Thiry,
what is required is a more strategic and high-level understanding of the organisational
needs in terms of PM-related training. Such understanding leads to the establishment of
softer and more subjective measures of the benefits of training programmes.
Thiry makes a distinction between those organisations that need to improve the ‘change
enablers’ of projects that constitute programmes/portfolios, as these organisations
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