Project_Management_Concepts_and_Applications

Project Management Concepts and Applications PM/571 Project Management Concepts and Applications Projects have historically been around since the beginning of time. From the building of the great Pyramids to the development of the Ipad, some type of project management had to be developed for a successful project. Projects are not only for businesses to develop their company or the building of structures to completion. Projects can also be developed to start a nonprofit organization to help those in need of services when none are available. This paper will discuss the organization of Candlelighter’s for Childhood Cancer in my community when 10 families came together to help each other out and to share in their grief. Description of Candlelighter’s for Childhood Cancer project In 1985, Daniel was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. After being told he had flu-like symptoms for a week, we were flown out of our state to the nearest pediatric oncology medical center which was the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). While awaiting the fixed-wing aircraft that would fly my son and I to UCLA, a woman arrived at the nurse’s station where I was sitting and told me that her daughter had also been diagnosed with Leukemia. Her magic words, the only words I can remember her saying were, “this does not mean your child is going to die.” She was an angel that came from nowhere and knew just what I needed to hear. After six weeks, my son and I returned to our home and awaiting us was a group of families that shared with us a journey none of us wanted to go on. These families had children diagnosed with cancers such as brain tumors, leukemia’s, blastoma’s, sarcoma’s and many other types of cancers. We decided to form an organization from the National Candlelighter’s for Childhood Cancer Foundation in our community. During the next five years, we grew from 10 families to over 250 families that had children diagnosed with cancer in our area. Definition and Characteristics of a Project According to Grey and Larson (2008), projects have a defined objective, a defined endpoint and require the combined efforts of a variety of specialists working closely together under the guidance of a project manager to complete a project. A project is also nonroutine, has unique elements and is evaluated according to accomplishment, cost, and time spent. Our project had these characteristics. Our objective was to provide a support group to families that have a child or children with cancer with our endpoint being to help all families, not just a few. We were a determined group of parents, wanting to provide help to these families in the way of fund-raising to provide free airline flights to major medical centers for the families. We wanted to provide recreational activities for not just the diagnosed children, but also the often forgotten siblings. We wanted to make Christmas and other holidays special, especially for those families financially devastated by the diagnosis. We wanted to provide comfort to those families away at the hospital by paying their utilities, insurance payments, and house payments while the family was in crisis. Finally, we wanted to provide coupons for food at the various hospitals so the family could stay well nourished while caring for their sick child. Our project manager was an attorney with a recently diagnosed child willing to provide all the necessary legal help and expertise. We definitely had unique elements and we were successful beyond our dreams. Organizational structure “Strategic management is the process of assessing “what we are” and deciding and implementing “what we intend to be and how we are going to get there” (Grey and Larson, 2008). Strategic management involves responding to changes in the external environment and allocating scarce resources to improve its position (Grey and Larson, 2008). Structuring Candlelighter’s involved defining our mission, which was “To educate, support, serve, and advocate for families of children with cancer, and the professionals who care for them” Candlelighter’s of Nevada). Our long-range goals were to continue to provide support for all children in the Las Vegas area diagnosed with cancer and to ease the suffering of the families and the children. The type of matrix form was a weak matrix because we all had the same goals. Our strategies included intense fund-raising by contacting the hotels and residents of Las Vegas that had a connection with the community and the children with cancer in that community. We implemented our strategies through various fund-raising activities, parties for the children, connecting with travel agencies for ease in getting on the spot flights for families in need, and connecting with pediatricians in the community to get them to take on these high-risk patients in need of providers. We decided on a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. We also had to develop a board of trustees to include medical professionals, community leaders, and legal professionals. We had no difficulty in getting any of these professionals to donate their time. My position was as the vice-president of Candlelighter’s for Childhood Cancer, Las Vegas Chapter. We also contacted the local hospital for a donation of a room that we could use as an office. The hospital was more than willing to accommodate. Culture of the organization The culture of the organization was something that I had never experienced before. The goodness that came from others was wonderful. The community pulled together as our group grew. As Candlelighter’s grew, it only meant that more children were being diagnosed with cancer. Volunteers came from everywhere. The most wonderful discovery was that as our children either survived or past away, the new families that came into our organization as their children were diagnosed, took on the roles and responsibilities and “carried the torch” so to speak. Conclusion We used to say that Candlelighter’s was an exclusive club that no one wants to be a member of. Without Candlelighter’s and the community support and the wonderful people that put this project together, many families would have suffered much more than they did. This experience gave me a foundation to build on for project management. This project made me realize how teams can work together for the good of all. References Gray, C.F. & Larson, E.W. (2008). Project Management: The Managerial Process (4th ed). New York, McGraw-Hill