My Role as A project Manager
As a project manager I hope to establish organization and structure in my team. I think the best assets any project can have are its team members. From my previous experience in assuming the role of project manager, I can confidently say that a project manager’s role is as good as the team’s organization. If the team is lacking organization, it means that the project manager is not fulfilling his/her duties, Therefore I hope to lead my team by first building an organizational structure that will assist the team in carrying out planned projects successfully.
I know that being a project manager you face many challenges, one of which is maintaining authority in your team. Working with your colleagues you need to carry out a persona that says that you are a part of a team but also a manager. I plan to do this by keeping a close eye on circumstances, and monitoring my team closely. I do this to increase the level of control I have over my team, by this I plan distribute my team members over cases that need my attention. And finally I will have the team report back to me, together with my team I will make decisions in accordance with their reports. This way I still maintain my authority and still participate as a member. The other important factor is having respect in your team, any disputes or misunderstandings between team members will be dealt with in a team discussion, which will be conducted at least once a week in a fixed date. This will keep the respect and understanding between team members.
Time line for My project including major tasks and milestones
In Accordance with my SMART objectives...
1. Find 10 volunteers that will help me launch the program
2. Contact 2 local government schools to initiate the tutoring programs.
3. Organize a charity event to collect 20 more volunteers that will start the first tutoring program.
The start of A project ...Summer Tutoring Classes 2011
***All Dates are in 2011
| Time line | Major Tasks | Conducted by |
| June 27th – June 29th | Orientation program for the 10 volunteers that will become staff members | Orientation given by my colleagues and I |
| July 1st-July 3rd | *Finalize Accommodations for the tutoring programs in public schools *Finish Gathering the list of students who will be participating in the program | *Staff, Colleagues and my self |
| July 4th – July 8th | Carry out Charity events and Campaigns to collect up to 20 volunteers | Volunteers, staff,and my self |
| July 9th – July 11th | Give lessons on tutoring and layout ground rules for volunteers | Staff, myself |
| Milestones | Trained volunteers may be found at Y.W.C.A. Volunteers that live around the vicinity will be contacted | |
| Training Sessions | (Still in progression) will be conducted by volunteer workers from the organizations affliated with Y.W.C.A and possibly others who are willing to work with us. | |
| Project Execution | ||
| TIME LINE | Major Tasks | Conducted by |
| July 12th | Placement Examinations for students to test their skills in English and Mathematics | Set by staff |
| July 13th | Students will be identified as Advanced, Medium or Lower according to the examinations | *Exams will be checked by volunteers and staff |
| July 14th | Volunteers will be assigned to students | Staff |
| July 15th – July 17th | Tutoring Materials and student lists will be prepared | Staff, Volunteers |
| July 18th | Classes are officially open | |
| July 18th- August 19th | Summer Classes will be closed | |
| August 19th | Closing Ceremony for students | Staff, volunteers, and myself |
| August 22 | Volunteer-Assessment program | *Staff , myself |
| *Volunteers will be assessed on level of Activism & Tardiness *Credit hours for volunteers will be Assessed Accordingly | ||
| August 25th – 26th | Letter of Appreciation for volunteers | |
Finances for the project, basic principles for managing funds
For the Finances part, from my staff of 10 members, I would allocate 2 people to be in charge of handling finances and budget. The basic principles for managing the funds will be to first plan out our expenses then to allocate budget to finance our expenses. The two people will be in charge of submitting a report every week on our expenses, and final decisions will be made on them as a team. Therefore the person in charge will be allocated to record our expenses using cashbook and ledger entries. The two people allocated in this criterion will be chosen in such a way that there will be a check and balance in their work. For this I plan on working closely with them, so as to prevent any faults or dishonesty.
Basic Principles of Managing people
I hope to establish basic principles for managing volunteers along with my staff. I believe for a successful project to be carried one should first establish basic norms and values that will be followed throughout the project. From my experience as a Coordinating volunteer, it’s not always easy for things to go smoothly and carry out your task. Most of the problems with volunteers are showing up late, missing important days of work, not showing up at all, and quitting too early in the process. I acknowledge that these situations could happen to the volunteers that I will be working with. And I am prepared to take on these challenges as a leader. For this I will adapt a credit hour system, and allocate one staff member to closely monitor the volunteers. The credit hour system, is basically a system that is designed to manage volunteers, it includes all the work that each volunteer has ever contributed to the project, along with how much time. It includes when the volunteer punches in and punches out (enters and leaves) work. Volunteers will be notified of this system, so that they will be more serious in their work. The credit hour system will be reviewed every week along with our meetings; it will finally be put to practice in the volunteer assessment program, which will be conducted at the end of the project.
Steps that should be taken to monitor the effectiveness of specific project team members
The Credit hour system and the volunteer evaluation unit is part of my staff that will be responsible to monitor the effectiveness of specific project team members. Even though volunteer participants have a staff member to monitor them. There will be a punch in and punch out set for my staff also. I will check if the staffs are carrying out their tasks appropriately, and our weekly team meetings will demand their participation in the project.
As for the volunteers, I will have already allocated 2 people for this also. One is for managing the credit hour system, and the other one is for the volunteer evaluation. Together they will be in charge of determining the real credit hours of volunteers, including recording Minimum Credit hour.
Minimum Credit hour is credit hour that will be determined by the staff to identify volunteers that are not putting in much effort, in carrying out their tasks effectively. After such volunteers are identified, they will be contacted by our public relations staff, and will be notified that they are running under minimum credit hour. Minimum credit hour means that a volunteer won’t be getting any credit for his/her work.
Rewards for volunteers in the project team
The credit hour system, along with volunteer evaluation will aid greatly in determining who works the hardest, it will also be a good incentive, and motivation for others to keep up their good work. Accordingly, volunteers with the highest credit hours will be rewarded. Rewards include esteemed recommendation letters, Recognition Awards, eligibility for other opportunities in Y.W.C.A and affiliated organizations.
Level of Effectiveness
I predict that the level of effectiveness will be great since being a volunteer you are not looking for wages or salary, but inner satisfaction in your work. In some way or another you are changing people’s lives; to be recognized in such a respectable work is an honour itself.
Key Areas in my project: Volunteer coordinator, Public Relations officer
VIVA, Vision for Integrated Voluntarism Association is a youth led non- profit that works towards improving the quality of education in local public schools by mobilizing youth to become positive agents of change in their communities.
VIVA is currently organizing a summer program that will be tutoring students from two local public schools. Through this program VIVA aims to:
1) Help students improve fundamental skills in English and Mathematics
2) Increase the level of Participation of youth in their communities
3) To change the perspectives of the society to implement future projects
The Public Relations Officer is responsible for
1) Meeting with Y.W.C.A* staff and other organizations to deliver reports and to collect volunteers
2) Working with local Public schools with regards to accommodations for the tutoring programs
3) Over seeing the public status of VIVA within aspect of Press releases, and public statements.
The Public Relations officer will report to the project manager.
The Public Relations Officer is expected to contribute 8-10 hours of work a week
The public Relations officer should posses
*A good working habit, and interpersonal skills
* Excellent written and oral communication skills
*Leadership Qualities
---------------------------------------------------
*Young women's Christian Association Ethiopia
^_^ Really Great Bethlehem. I can't stop to smile when I read your assignment. I think your project plan was great and you wrote it down greatly.
ReplyDeleteOne advice from me. Maybe you can plan to make some kind of competition event for the students in the closing ceremony. I think it would be nice and can be attractive. It can encourage your student to learn.
And one question from me (I forgot to ask you when we discussed). Have you teached children before? Teach children is interesting but little bit "difficult". We must use special "strategy" when we teach them if we want to handle them and make them understand with the lesson. So training for the volunteers in the first time is should be done.
Ok, keep be great! :)
Great vision and an aim Bethlehem :)
ReplyDeleteBest of Luck for your project.
Thank you Dewi and Shaima for your motivational comments. Yes I have taught children before, I was particularly involved with children who were at this age group. You would be surprised to know that they are really eager to learn, and are sometimes more demanding. Their are some children who just enjoy learning and you have to approach them in a way that they look forward to the program. I remember some coming to class an hour early just so they could meet us. But that was from the project that I worked on another public school, I'm now trying to implement the same project in my community.Thank you again for your comments!! And Best of luck to you too Shaima!!
ReplyDelete