4.1 Introduction Managing a project provides considerable opportunities for self-development, but these can be lost if you become too immersed in delivering the project to remember that you will move on to other work once it concludes. For many managers, taking responsibility for a project is a time-bounded task with clear objectives and a fixed budget. A project usually involves managing staff, finance, operations and information across the boundaries of departments and functions, with complicated interactio
3.8 Following up the report The evaluation report will often contain recommendations for further actions and these may lead to new project ideas. Recommendations may relate to processes and procedures within the organisation. Project evaluation and debriefing can be a learning experience for the organisation as a whole, as well as for individuals. For example, British Petroleum gathers the lessons learnt from post-project appraisals in a series of booklets that are then used as guidance for writing project proposals. In
3.7 Analysing and reporting the results When planning what data to use in the evaluation it is helpful to consider how the data will be analysed. Usually, there are a lot of data, perhaps in several different forms. If you have set clear objectives, it should be possible to identify the data that are relevant to each issue. It is usual to follow the steps below: consider numbers, for example how much has been achieved at what cost; consider quality, whether appropriate and
Planning an evaluation The evaluation should have clear aims and objectives. It is also helpful to decide where its boundaries should lie – how much or how little is to be evaluated? 3.4 Evaluation at the end of a project Different types of evaluation may take place at the end of a project. A common one is determining the extent to which the project outcomes have been achieved. This is often done in a meeting of the sponsor, key stakeholders and project team leaders, and sometimes informed by reports from key perspectives. An evaluation of this nature may be the final stage of the project, and the main purpose might be to ensure that the project has met all of the contracted expectations and can be ‘signed o 3.3 Evaluation during implementation of a project At this stage the project activities are monitored to determine how their timing, quality and cost match the plan. The results of this monitoring are reviewed to see whether the plan needs to be modified. New environmental conditions may indicate the need to change the organisation's strategic direction. It might be necessary in that case to re-align the project, so that the outcomes relate to the new direction. In some cases it may be necessary to abort the project, if it is no longer approp Closure checklists It is helpful to consider closure as, in effect, a mini-project, and to plan for it as a distinct set of activities. We have seen that, once the project has been recognised as successful and all of the key milestones have been achieved, reaching the final milestone – closing the project – can seem an anticlimax. One way to focus attention on the work that still needs to be done is to prepare a detailed checklist. 1.3 Delivering with style You can deliver the outcomes agreed with the minimum of fuss or celebration – or you can deliver with style. A project that is delivered so that it meets the outcome requirements exactly and is on time and within the budget allowed will usually be well received. In many projects the moment of final delivery may not be clearly defined, as different elements may have different times and modes of delivery. However, each delivery offers an opportunity to please the client by making the pr 1.1 Formal handover The outputs of a project should be defined at the planning stage, including any conditions that will be required for a smooth transfer. Each outcome should be formally handed over to the sponsor who should confirm their delivery (‘sign them off’) so that there is no dispute about whether outcomes have been completed. A closure list is likely to have sections to include the following groups of tasks, but each project will have different features to consider. A list of suggested areas 1 Why people management matters to the successful delivery of projects The importance of budget, time and quality to the success of projects means that they are often managed as technical systems rather than behavioural systems. Yet mismanagement of the ‘people’ aspects of projects is as likely to contribute to their failure as neglect of the ‘hard’ dimensions of project management. This is because the successful implementation of any kind of project requires the effective deployment of human as well as material resources. Indeed, without people, no proj The law and social work in Scotland Managing care Social Care: Past and Present Social work learning practice Introduction In this first course, you will be hearing and reading about the issues faced by people living in poverty in Britain in 2000. This is intended to give you an understanding of what poverty is like from the perspective of the people themselves, both in terms of the experience of living on a very low income, and some of the effects this has had on their lives. One of the biggest problems facing people living on a very low income is how to afford adequate heating. A particular aspect of pove Introduction This course helps you to explore the extent to which death and dying in western societies are medical events and what aspects of death and dying might be neglected as a consequence. The course covers the way that such things as medicine provide the context of the experiences associated with the end of life. This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course : Author(s): An introduction to social work in Wales 1.8.2 Summary A variety of factors will decide the future of Europe, including the success or otherwise of EMU, the results of expansion, and the evolving global situation. 1.3.1 Europe and the EU Is there a Europe beyond the EU? This is a question that becomes more and more difficult to answer. It is quite common for example to hear of such or such a country wishing to ‘join Europe’, when what is meant is that they wish to apply to join the EU. The criteria for joining the EU were laid down in the summit of Copenhagen, 21 and 22 June 1993. Candidates must have reached an institutional stability that guarantees democracy, legality, human rights, and the respect and protection Introduction The problem of who, or what, are ‘Europeans’ is at the centre of many of the most acute political and social issues confronting contemporary Europe. Can a genuine European identity be constructed within Europe, and if so on what basis? This question is of even greater importance as the European Union expands and becomes ever more multicultural in character. This unit examines the ways in which European identities are – or are not – being forged across Europe. It assesses the various
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This album tackles the complex relationships social workers experience in the wide spectrum of their work, from those with families affected by social deprivation to those with judges, lawyers and other members of the legal system. The tracks analyse the role of the family in Scottish life in relation to the many voluntary bodies that exist to assist and inform them, and the legal obligations of social workers. Participants from single mothers to solicitors presented their perspectives in a ser
In the arenas of health and social work, management is a crucial part of ensuring quality of service and care for users and staff, and the development of services and standards into the future. The discussions and interviews in this album focus on the importance of management strategies and techniques and garner the opinions and insights of staff at all levels, as well as those in care. These in-depth and frank audio tracks give a real-life sense of the managerial experience, including starting
Issues surrounding care and welfare affect people in many different ways - it may depend on individual circumstances or on the location and nature of the community. The tracks on this album look at welfare issues faced by different communities across the UK, focusing mainly on care of the elderly, and people with physical or mental disabilities. The album also explores how care and welfare in the community has changed over the years. This material was part of The Open University course K202 C
This free audio course, Social work learning practice, focuses on the importance of people's backgrounds and experiences in the field of social work. It identifies the diverse ways in which service users and social workers define themselves, helping you to understand how the two groups perceive each other and relate successfully to each other.
An understanding of how people make sense of their experiences will help you to define yourself, and your own place within the process.Author(s):
Respecting the individuality of each person is a central value of social work but, as the term suggests, social work is not only about individual perspectives: it also takes place in a social context. Society, demography, geography, national legislation, national policy, and language all play an important part, both in the lives of service users and carers and in the practice of social work practitioners. This free course, An introduction to social work in Wales, will introduce you to the import
