Project schedule versus resource assignments

A project schedule is a layout that indicates the logical sequence, expected duration and dependencies that exists between activities. Activities are arranged by use of project schedule. Depending on the magnitude of a project, how long it will take to start its implementation and any other reason; the details of the activity schedule may differ.

Before assigning resources to the activity schedule, the following steps have to be undertaken: The main activities should be listed; the main activities should be broken down or decomposed into manageable tasks which are assigned to individuals during implementation to form their short term goals;

The sequence and order in which related tasks are to be undertaken and their relationships (done by techniques as critical path analysis) are developed; the start-up and completion time of activity is established by realistically determining how long it can take to finish an activity and hence the whole activity; the date of task completion and the quantity of output expected is determined and finally, the kind of person to undertake an activity and task allocation is determined on basis of technical expertise and competence.

After a successful completion of activity scheduling, resource assignment follows the following schedule: activities are entered into resource schedule proforma for each activity; a list of necessary resources is identified and listed for each activity, related resources are put into cost categories; determine their measures in terms of cost and quantities and finally identify the funding sources.

The best project management tool that can both accommodate project schedule and resource assignment is the Gantt chart or horizontal bar chart it is a tool used to plan the time scale of a project and the estimated amount of resources required. It is a useful tool for analyzing and planning more complex projects. Possible resource conflicts

A conflict is the behavior intended to obstruct the achievement of some other personal goals. It is an ongoing hostility between two or more groups. In any project appraisal, conflict issues have to arise because of different backgrounds of individuals involved. These conflicts may have either positive or negative impacts towards the project. The negative effects can lead to project delay, failure of the project and can lead project team turn over while the positive effects can cause members to search for a new approach, can trigger the thinking of a new idea, can cause tension that stimulates creativity and can make people clarify their opinions.

Possible sources of conflicts can be: poor communication channels, lack of support from management, lack of information and lack of resources or necessary tools to do the job. Due to the fact that we have our own unique ways of picturing things, differences in perception can cause conflict because of different views of the same situation. According to brian and Cronin, conflicts will also arise as a result of differences between corporate and individual goals, differences between formal and informal groups and conflict between an individual and the job. 1. Unbalanced work load This is one element that contributes to resource conflict in an organization.

If in any case an individual is overqualified or under qualified to perform a certain task, this would raise conflict between an individual and the job. Overspecialization of a job leads to monotony that brings about job dissatisfaction while under qualification of the task would lead to job complexities. Besides, if an activity was to be performed by ten people but instead performed by five people, there is a conflicting issue of inadequate human resource that will bring about conflict. If these elements are not considered, they will amount to unbalanced work load that could result to conflicts in project appraisal. 2. Poor schedule adjustment

As defined, activity schedule is a layout that indicates the logical sequence, expected duration and dependencies that exists between activities. If at all there is no logical sequence to be followed in undertaking the project, the conflicting issues in project appraisal would emerge. This would mean that the target completion period and costs-benefits are not met, hence increasing conflicting issues in project management. If for example an activity is to take two weeks but instead takes four weeks, there is time constraints factor that is not met within the stipulated period deemed to be of economic value. Since time is a critical resource to success factors of a project, if not properly managed, would result to increased conflicts.