A [40 MARKS] Read the article below and answer ALL the questions that follow. GOLDRATTS CRITICAL CHAIN Much research has been done on scheduling with constrained resources, and the findings verify what was expected projects are completed faster when there are fewer of them struggling for attention from a limited set of facilities (Adler, Mandelbaum, Nguyen, and Schwerer, 1996). More recently, in the book Critical Chain (1997), Eliyahu Goldratt applies his Theory of Constraints so brilliantly developed in his famous book, The Goal (Goldratt and Cox, 1992) to the constrained resource problem. While Goldratts focus in the Critical Chain is on a single project with multiple demands on a scarce resource, the logic extends to the multi-project case without alteration. In the following few pages you will note that the exposition focuses mainly on scheduling. It should be quite clear by now that resource usage and project schedules are inextricably bound together. The technological necessities that force schedules to be ordered in very specific ways simultaneously force resources to be used in very specific ways. To schedule work is also to schedule resource usage. If technology is the prime force behind scheduling the activities of a project, resource availability constrains all solutions to the scheduling problem. To begin our discussion of Goldratts approach, imagine for the moment that you are sitting in a room full of people with extensive experience as both project team members and project managers. Now imagine the responses you would hear if the group were asked the question: What things bugged you most about the projects you have been involved with? Typical of the responses that we have gotten to that question are: Project due dates are too often unrealistic. There are too many changes made in the projects scope. Key resources and data are often unavailable when needed. The budget is frequently unrealistic and therefore often exceeded. It seems like my project is always in competition for resources with other projects. One interesting observation is that these same issues are raised regardless of the organizational context. Thus we hear strikingly similar complaints regardless of whether the group is referring to a construction project, a software development project, a project to develop an advertising campaign, or an R & D project. Hussain and Wearne (2005) asked more than 1000 project managers to identify the greatest problem of project management, a subtly different question than we asked, and they found that project organization, resource, and time issues were paramount. (Change in scope was ranked 11th in their research.) Based on these findings, it is not farfetched to conclude that the causes of these problems are generic to all types of projects. Project management is fundamentally concerned with effectively trading off scope, cost, and time. Referring back to the lists of complaints, it can be seen that each issue (excepting organization) deals with one or more of the three primary project objectives. Given our conclusion that the problems encountered when managing projects are strongly related to the need to trade off one project objective for another, a natural question arises about the extent to which the need to make these trade - offs are caused by human decisions and practices. In other words, can more effective project management minimize the occurrence of these problems? Source: Mantel, Meredith, Shafer and Sutton (2011) 2 DD QUESTION 1 (30 Marks) Critically discuss what is meant by Goldratts critical chain as referred to in the case study, and how effective it is in scheduling resource constrained projects. Present examples to illustrate points crafted in the discussion. QUESTION 2 (10 Marks) Rationalise why Critical Chain Project Management recommends the use of buffers and state each type of buffers specific purpose. SECTION B [60 MARKS] Answer ANY THREE (3) questions in this section. QUESTION 3 (20 Marks) Discuss the stages of Tuckmans model for team development showing how the tool may be effectively used by the project manager. QUESTION 4 (20 Marks) Why, if there is a tendency to overestimate activity durations and add in a safety net to the end of a project, do so many projects come in behind schedule? Critically discuss. QUESTION 5 (20 Marks) As a result of companies being constantly in need of outsourcing or contracting significant segments of project work to other companies, there arises a need to establish mutually beneficial relationships with the people from different organizations as conflicts in such situations become inevitable. Such conflicts often create costly delays impacting the project negatively. One approach to resolving conflict is to use project partnering as an effective way to engage both the project owner and contractors. Critically discuss how partnering can be used strategically to facilitate the relationship between the parties. QUESTION 6 (20 Marks) Project network times are not a schedule until resources have been assigned. Critically discuss this statement with reference to defining resource scheduling, benefits and types