Skills That Improve Protability: The Relationship Between Project

Management,
IT Skills, and Small to Medium Enterprise Protability
Julien Pollack, Daniel Adler
CRITIQUE PAPER
CIS101 - Project Management
Joseph Conrado S. Jacer MIT - 11686901

OVERVIEW OF THE PAPER

The study was conducted in Australia using two longitudinal databases
taken from government surveys of small to medium enterprises with less
than 200 employees and with a simple organizational structure. The types of
skills used in the study were: engineering; scientific and research; IT
professionals; IT support technicians; trades; transport; plant and machinery
operation; marketing; project management; business management; and
financial.
The authors assumed that the ability to manage projects has direct
positive effect on the overall profitability of the company. They also
assumed that the increase in IT staff capability helps business to perform
well in the advent of ever changing technological environment. Likewise,
they cited various authors that justified their assumptions that managing
projects and better IT skills contributes business performance and
profitability.

PURPOSE OF THE PAPER

The authors maintained that these assumptions remains partially
explained. Citing that researchers on project management merely points on
ideas, models and methods. IT studies on the other hand, deals on impacts
and chances associated with a particular technology.
Thus, this study explores the basic assumptions on the practices that
questions whether project management and IT skills have bearing on the
companys financial standing.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
1. The surveyed businesses that use project management tends to show
increase in profitability and businesses tend to have three times higher
sales value.
 2. IT professional skills have significant impact on total sales.
3. Investment in project management and IT professional skills may have
significant influence on business over-all performance.

POINTS OF AGREEMENT
1. I agree with the authors assumption on the relevance of project
management in the increase of profitability. The delegation of a point person
to oversee projects gives any business an assurance that any projects is
properly monitored and executed.
As mentioned by Ronda Bowen (2011) in her article Importance of
Profit Management Series, project managers dont just assign tasks, they
also assign deadlines that get things done. She further points out that
confusion is avoided when it comes to allocation of resources and time
scheduling.
When projects in any department is handled by their respective
department representative, multiple problems will most likely arise as each
department will be competing from one another in terms of resources and
managements attention. With a single project manager, multiple projects
can be handled accordingly, based on priorities and significance to the over-
all business operation.
2. Skills, both project managing skills and IT specific skills, indeed
contributes productivity.
Juan Somarvia (2008), Director-General of International Labour
Conference, mentioned that skills development is an essential factor for
achieving the objectives of increasing the productivity and sustainability of
nay enterprise.
Skills, in general sense, allows employees to be better equipped in
handling workload pressures and eventually master their field of expertise.
In the event of critical problems, a skilled and experienced personnel can
handle problems with ease and resolve issues, thus preventing unforeseen
negative consequences.
3. The authors pointed out that investment in project management and IT
professional skills may have the greatest impact on business performance.
This recommendation form with the study on Skills and Innovation by
Aija Leiporen (2005). The study argued that firms benefit less from
innovation when employees have insufficient skills. Likewise, it is suggested
that investments in skills gives firms a competitive edge and guarantees
higher chances to innovate successfully.
In the school where I work, Pateros Catholic School and perhaps in
many other educational institutions as well, the administrators give higher
incentives and better compensation to those employees that strives to
update their skills through trainings and seminars, and education through
graduate studies.

POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT

1. The description and scope of Project Management in this study is not

clearly stated. It is simply implied the use of project management in the
business.
Project Management is a rather too broad in nature where there are
more specific skills of project managing that can be considered and
emphasized.
In the Journal of Management in Engineering, (Gushgari, Francis, and
Saklou, 1997), communication ranked as the most critical skill of project
managers. This is followed by Listening while project managing skills
ranked third.
While IT skills is identified against other core business skills, it would
have been better if project managing skills is identified against listening and
communication skills in the case of project management.
2. Project Success under emphasized.
The study presented values on sales as influenced by the presence of
project management. What is not mentioned is project success and how it is
defined. As this study is conducted in Australia, the factors of project
success may be difference in other regions.
One tool that may be of good use is Logical Framework Method (LFM)
in defining Project Success. The paper of David Baccarini (1987) suggests
LFM as a tool to provide a detailed frameworks for defining and
understanding project success. The tool identifies two distinct components,
Project Management Success and Product Success.
3. Another point being under emphasized is the use of Productivity Tools.
The presence of a project management alone do not guarantee
productivity and consequent business profit. Furthermore, it is not stated
what tools is used by what company. Likewise, a tool used in one company
may only best work on that company and may not be applicable to another
company.
Maura Thomas (2016) pointed out that productivity is a combination of
skills and tools. In the same manner, the software do not guarantee
productive employees unless they have certain level of knowledge in the use
of those tools.
REFERENCES

Baccarini, David (1999). The Logical Framework Method for Defining Project Success.
Project Management Journal January 1999. Curtin University (Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259268056_The_Logical_Framework_Met
hod_for_Defining_Project_Success )
Bowen, Ronda (2011) Importance of Profit Management Series. (Retrieved from:
http://www.brighthubpm.com/certification/16490-importance-of-project-
management-an-introduction/ )
Gushgari, Shakir, Francis, Peter A. and Saklou, Jamal H., (1997) Skills Critical to Long-
Term Profitability of Engineering Firms. Journal of Management in Engineering,
(Accessed online at: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)0742-
597X(1997)13%3A2(46) )
Leiporen, Aija (2005) Skills and Innovation. International Journal of Industrial
Organization Volume 23, Issues 56, June 2005, Pages 303323 (Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718705000688 )
Somarvia, Juan (2008) Director-General of International Labour Conference.
(Accessed online at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---
ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_103457.pdf )
Thomas, Maura (2016). Until You Have Productivity Skills, Productivity Tools Are
Useless. August 1, 2016. Harvard Business Review. (Accessed online at:
https://hbr.org/2016/08/until-you-have-productivity-skills-productivity-tools-are-
useless )