Managing Budget Predicament and Communication in Project Management

MS Project Team Leadership

Team members

Budget situation

A budget predicament has marred the implementation of the employee compensation and benefits package project. This is because it has been noticed that the project's budget has been depleted at a faster rate than it was expected. Some of the key reasons include underestimation of some of the project's activities. As a result, fewer amounts of funds were allocated. In addition, failure to meet the required deadlines by some of the key members is another cause. Evidently, some of the activities take a longer time than expected, resulting in the consumption of additional funds. Poor planning has also resulted in budget depletion. This is because of the incompetence of some members. In this case, wrong figures were attached to the various project activities.

Ways to improve an underperforming team member

An underperforming team member might cause many challenges to the project. This is because he or she is not focused towards achieving the set goals or objectives for the project. In this case, the project managers and other key stakeholders must ensure that the member's focus is back on track. There are two crucial ways of doing this (Mehta, 2007).

Communication and education

In this step, the project manager should take after identifying an underperforming team member. He or she should be confronted with immediate effect. Through this, the manager will identify and deal with the challenges that are affecting the member. In this case, the project manager will also identify the cause of the member's underperformance. The project manager must educate the members after communicating with them. This is essential because of the following reasons. First, education will enable the member to identify the purpose of the project and its benefits. The member will also familiarize himself or herself with the project's objectives. This is necessary because the member will join the other members in pushing the project towards the right objective. In addition, the member will be able to know the importance of teamwork.

Boosting morale

This is one of the crucial ways of dealing with an underperforming team member. Besides, managers have the duty of maintaining the morale of the team members at satisfactory and high levels. Through this, the members are focused towards the project aims under all circumstances. In this case, the manager should consider the thoughts and the views of the project members, especially when making critical decisions concerning the project. This will ensure that the members are part and active in the execution of the project (Mehta, 2007).

A plan to redress the project

It is necessary to ensure that the project is reinvented to be in line with the set goals. The following is an action plan of setting the project back to track

Reallocation of resources

This is one of the most pertinent steps of saving a crumbling project. In this case, the project manager must clearly understand those activities that are most vital for the project's success. Besides understanding the project's critical path, the manager should try to move the resources from other activities so that the project can be completed within the stipulated deadline (Mehta, 2007).

Dependencies double-checking