For this blog, we were asked to reflect on a recent project that we were involved in. Initially, I struggled with this as where I work, the educators are not entirely involved in the project management process but rather in the operation (Watt et al., 2014). When a change is being implemented, the ideas are brought by the daycare’s director to the educators and the board of directors. After an idea is approved, the change/project can begin. The person in charge of the project is usually the daycare’s director, and throughout the process, they inform the board of directors and educators on how the project is progressing. Thus, as I mentioned above, I am not part of managing a project but rather an operation.
An example of a project the director headed was creating a website for the daycare. Initially, the daycare needed an online presence; it took much work for potential parents or employees to find information about the daycare. The director decided we needed a website for a better online presence. The creation of the website was the project, and the maintenance of the site and the backend was the operation, as it is ongoing and repetitive (Knolscape, 2013). The website aimed for parents to access important documents, like schedules, lunch menus and photos of special events. The goal for potential employees is to look at the website to gain information on our philosophy and mission.
Once the website was created, it was up to the director to maintain it by continuously inputting the documents or photos. Because it is time-consuming to input these documents or images, I was appointed to be the person to do so. There were some barriers to the website as some parents were apprehensive about putting the children’s images online, making this barrier a cultural norm issue (Conway et al., 2017), as this website was new and parents were unsure of how it worked. Parents were given an account with a password to access these images to ensure this issue was resolved. Moreover, the parents are asked to sign a permission slip; if they still do not want their child on the site, we make sure not to use their photos. Implementing these accounts and permission slips made the parents feel more comfortable with the website. Another barrier is that I was initially the only one who could input these images or documents (causing a delay in updating if I was unable to input the new photos or documents), which would be a tame problem (Conway et al., 2017), as it had a simple linear solution: to train someone else to use the website. This specific barrier could have been avoided if more than one person had been trained at the outset.
To conclude, while I was not part of the project management, I am involved in the operation and maintenance of this website. Some methods I would use in my practices would be to continue to have ideas for implementing more digital resources for both teachers and students. Before initiating these ideas, I would communicate them with the director, staff, and board of directors to understand organizational readiness and apprehensions before beginning the project.
References
Conway, R., Masters, J., & Thorold, J. (2017). From design thinking to systems change. How to invest in innovation for social impact. RSA Action and Research Centre. https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/rsa_from-design-thinking-to-system-change-report.pdf
Knolskape. (2013, June 18). Introduction to project management. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOU1YP5NZVA
Watt, A. (2014). Project management. BCcampus Open Education Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/front-matter/introduction-2/
Hi Catherine, nice blog post!
You bring up an issue I see too often in my place of employment as well, which is not including all stakeholders in the change management process. In your case, as the employee tasked with the ongoing operations, your input should have been considered from a planning perspective, which could have caught the issues you mentioned (such as contingency for when you aren’t available). As noted by Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015, p. 242) “long-term change can be challenging to an organization and requires strong leadership that actively involves employees throughout the change process”, which indicates that long term success of the web page should have included you being apart of the process throughout vs. only at the end stage.
I hope that is a lesson learned that your management takes away for the next project!
Reference
Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of organizational change management, 28(2), 234-262. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOCM-11-2013-0215/full/html
Hi Jessica,
Thank you so much for your comments! You made a good point about the importance of all stakeholders and their involvement in the change management process. This process was a lesson learned on my part, and I’m sure when a new change arises, all stakeholders will be involved.
Yours was quite an insightful post, Catherine, and I’m glad you’re being given the opportunity now to be involved with the organizational management of the website. Will your role in doing this allow you to make any suggestions for future improvement? I hope so. One item from this unit’s readings which has stuck out to me was from Watt (2014) stating that educators are often good project managers: “The soft skills that project managers exercise can be seen in teachers who encourage collaboration in solving problems by having students work in groups to discuss and solve problems as a team” (p. 5). From what you’ve said above I’m sure you would do well in this role and bring some innovative ideas to your organization!
References
Watt, A. (2014). Project Management – 2nd Edition. BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for your comment. I too hope that as my role evolves I will have the opportunity to provide input and suggestions concerning the website or general additions of digital tools that can be used to help the educators. I quite enjoyed that quote from Watt, thank you so much for reminding me of it and for your encouraging words!