Hrm 517critique the Prioritizing Process at D. D. Williamson

1. Critique the prioritizing process at D. D. Williamson.

The Project management process is used globally by multi-billion-dollar corporations and must be managed effectively to prevent failed or incomplete projects (“ Successfully implementing effective project management initiatives”, 2011). The ability to successfully manage projects is a highly sought-after skill and many organizations struggle with finding project managers that possess the ability to successfully manage projects on time and within budget constraints and the D.D. Williamson Company is no exception to this problem. D. D. Williamson like many of today’s organizations must manage their projects in order to maintain their competitive edge/advantage in business. “The worldwide leader in the production of caramel colors” (Kloppenborg, 2010) was faced with the management of 78 projects that needed to be prioritized, organized, and completed. The D.D. Williamson company decided to approach their project management task by using a four step method designed to prioritize, weigh, refine, and rate each project: 1) Establish criteria for prioritizing projects. 2) Weigh each criterion. 3) Refine the list of projects. 4) Rate each project on each criterion and total ratings (Kloppenborg, 2010). The problem with this method is that project management team did not conduct a strategic analysis outlining the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) that is associated with each of the 78 projects. Their failure to include the “internal and external elements” (Kloppenborg, 2010) in which to base their scoring criteria did not provide the team with the direction and guidance needed to effectively base their scoring system. Completing the SWOT would have established “guiding principles” such as vision, mission and provide the team a clear way forward to determine the organization’s capabilities and its ability to perform needed projects (Kloppenborg, 2010).