Introduction
The importance of project management cannot be underestimated when it comes to completing tasks that are comprised of multiple units and require serious team efforts. The development of PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) became a revelation because it affected how project managers saw their specialty and tried to create more space for possible improvements (Barghi, 2020; Wang et al., 2018). The current paper dwells on existing PMBOK knowledge areas, takes on the PMBOK process groups, and outlines the key ideas related to the implementation of PMBOK within an agile business environment. The value of this research paper is in the fact that the readers get acquainted with the essential elements of project management and also gain crucial insight into the process of risk management. The work also features several biblical integrations connected to the area of project management to strengthen the existing argument.
PMBOK Knowledge Area
The one knowledge area that the researcher picked for the current paper is risk management. Even though it often remains underrated, the influence of potential risks on businesses cannot go unnoticed. Managers have to adjust their operations to the changes occurring within the environment to have a better understanding of all recurrent variables that could either damage or benefit the organization (Wang et al., 2018). The key reason to view risk management as one of the essential knowledge areas included in the PMBOK is the inability to identify major risks on the run. This also means that stakeholders often remain unprepared to different obstacles that could have been foreseen with the help of risk management. Project stakeholders should be interested in making sure that their initiatives go in line with the organizational vision while also creating a change-positive environment where transformations would not be viewed as something unorthodox.
Accordingly, it may be concluded that risk management should be a scheduled activity intended to help the management review every segment of the organization and develop a list of potential risks and their strength. The likelihood and the probable impact of risks shall never be underestimated because a wrongful classification or a complete failure to recognize at least some of the risks would turn into a nightmare for the management team in the future (Barghi, 2020; Wang et al., 2018). Risk management activities should be based on quantitative evidence and the levels of priority established to help the management analyze the required budget and schedule. On the other hand, there is a need to deploy several risk responses to help the team remain aware of the potential issues and solutions to those. Occasionally, the management might need to monitor risks and inspect the approaches to risk management that could be perceived as outdated to a certain extent.
PMBOK Process Groups
Five essential PMBOK process groups are going to be reviewed within the framework of the current paper. The first is the group of process initiation, with the management being responsible for coming up with processes that could help the organization when building a new project phase or a complete project. The second group relates to the planning process, as the management has to define the project and schedule a variety of activities expected to help the administration implement their design. The third process group is execution. Throughout this stage, the management is involved in different project activities that are completed to fulfill the scope of the proposed project. The fourth process group supervises the processes of monitoring and controlling. In other words, management unit representatives track and report on the progress of their plan while also collecting evidence regarding project performance. The last process group relates to the procedure of closing the project or a project phase and making relevant conclusions regarding organizational activity.
Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Methodologies
The most important thing to be considered before applying PMBOK to agile methodologies is that it requires the management to work closely with every stakeholder and capitalize on the co-creative process. The rationale behind this activity is that it provides a high level of transparency and establishes the possible ways of achieving organizational objectives with the least amount of resources being spent (Barghi, 2020). Another crucial concept to consider with adaptive methodologies is the decision-making process that requires project managers to work together with employees and reach collective verdicts that require full support from the team. An agile lifecycle would also require employees to discuss all of their doubts with the management, as inattentiveness would lead to adverse outcomes in the future (Wang et al., 2018). Depending on the strength of the capability to prioritize, the team should either define and validate the scope or collect all the requirements at first. Risk management is crucial here because the agile lifecycle can be unpredictable and create additional obstacles for the team that had not been discussed previously.
Biblical Integration
As per Platt (2017), we should “let us not love in word or talk but deed and truth.” This quote from Bible, when associated with project management, means that discussions are not as important as real actions aimed at the process of improving or revising any of the operations that the organization had run in the past. Proper collaboration may only be developed in the case where employees and managers support each other by completing their tasks before the preset deadlines and establishing realistic objectives, respectively. The fact is, when the team implements something and then discusses it in the process, it has more chances to achieve positive outcomes than in the case where the team converses the project before the implementation (Barghi, 2020). In addition, no information should be covered in the process because it would come out later and spoil the team’s plans unexpectedly. Relationships within the team should be truthful and trusting if it expects to achieve positive outcomes and unlock its full potential.
Another quote can be found in Porter’s (2013) book, where he mentions that one should “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” The meaning of this biblical quote perfectly aligns with project management because every executive should serve as a role model for their employees. In this perfect case scenario, the team would have more chances to achieve common objectives and perform conjoint tasks with a higher success rate. Even though this approach requires managers to spend their time educating the team, it is going to pay off in the future when every employee would have a clear understanding of why project management is necessary and what their responsibilities are (Barghi, 2020). With an organizational culture like this, the team will educate consequent generations of employees that are committed to their ultimate objective.
The last biblical quote that can be integrated into the current paper has been mentioned by Keefer (2020), who claimed that “a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” The rationale behind including this quotation in the current paper is that no employee or manager should be ever caught slacking, as it would mean that they were not interested in achieving lucrative outcomes for the organization. Hard work and perseverance lead the way and create improvement opportunities for those who are willing to advance (Wang et al., 2018). On a bigger scale, it may be proposed that project management would be nonexistent without diligence at all. The lesson that this quote teaches the readers is that the one who works both hard and smart will always achieve what they want with no exception.
Conclusion
The current paper dwelled on the key aspects of risk management within the PMBOK framework. The author researched the essential knowledge areas and process groups related to PMBOK and also took on the possible considerations for agile and adaptive project management capabilities. To expand the argument, the researcher integrated several quotes from the Bible into the research and connected those quotations to the field of project management to prove that rectitude is rather important for those who strive for greatness and demand constant change. The readers became acquainted with the essence of risk management and gained more knowledge about how the PMBOK framework creates room for adequate risk management and strengthens the organization.
References
Barghi, B. (2020). Qualitative and quantitative project risk assessment using a hybrid PMBOK model developed under uncertainty conditions. Heliyon, 6(1), 1-22.
Keefer, A. J. (2020). The book of proverbs and virtue ethics: Integrating the biblical and philosophical traditions. Cambridge University Press.
Platt, D. (2017). Counter culture: Following Christ in an anti-Christian age. Tyndale House Publishers.
Porter, J. (2013). Beyond the blind. WestBow Press.
Wang, J. J., Sasanipoor, N., & Wang, M. M. (2018). How PMBOK standard and partnership quality influence IT outsourcing success: An investigation of the mediated moderation effects. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 21(4), 282-300.