Introduction

NASA is a government agency that mainly focuses on establishing or innovating flight technologies in the US. The organization engaged in an innovative project named Autonomous Rotocraft Project (ARP), which was concluded in 2005. The agency gave the responsibility of managing the project to one individual. The key roles assigned to the project manager included planning and implementation the project, project team coordination, managing communication with and among stakeholders, assessment of risks involved and data production and evaluation. Initially, the manager experienced problems in the management of human resources. However, application of effective tools and techniques enabled the manager to solve the problems. This paper aims at examining the aforementioned problems and how the project manager solved them through the use of effective tools and techniques and gives an explanation about how I can use the tools another project.

Problems Encountered

As mentioned earlier, the manager of the project encountered problems in the management of human resources. Firstly, the manager encountered difficulties in coordinating the project team members. The problem occurred due to the fact that NASA consists of individuals from different organizations. As Martin (2006) explains, the problem related to inability to effectively coordinate workers sourced from different organizations is common in project management. The problem usually emerges since the project team consists of people with varying working styles, background and experience.

Another problem encountered by the manager was that the manager was dealing with two supervisors who often had different priorities for the project. As a result, the supervisors relayed varying information to their teams regarding priorities of the project. As Martin (2006) explains, conflicting or different priorities between project teams implies that the teams have different objectives. This implies that the ultimate goal of the project may not be attained.

The ARP manager noticed the two problems soon after the project commencement and used one approach to solve them. The manager engaged the two teams involved and defined the scope and expectations of project to them. The responsibility of each stakeholder was defined. Each stakeholder was required to agree to the assigned responsibilities. The manager also set deadlines for completion of each task. In order to enhance coordination among team members, the manager approached each team member as they carried out their tasks and assisted them to understand their responsibilities, short-term goals and long-term goals. In other words, the manager solved the problems through adopting participative leadership technique. Further, the two project teams were also combined in order to enhance effectiveness of their coordination and communication. An important tool for communication used by the manager was an ARP website that contained all vital information regarding the project. The stakeholders were required to check the website frequently for any updates.

In short, the ARP managed to effectively solve problems related to coordination and communication through adopting participative leadership technique and using website as a tool or channel for communication with stakeholders. I can apply participative leadership style on my project through defining the project scope to stakeholders, working together with them to make plans on how to attain the desired objectives, seeking and recognizing their opinions, demonstrating how different tasks should be undertaken and supporting transparency with and among members of project teams. I can utilize website to communicate to stakeholders and allow them to make responses and give opinions on the website. I can augment the website with other internet tools such as FaceBook and Twiter, which are better in enhancing personal communication and networking.

References

Martin, G. (2006). Managing People and Organizations in Changing Contexts. New York, NY:

Routledge