Resource Management Projects: Examples, Terminologies, Factors & Elements

Introduction 

Resource management is everywhere, whether it’s a reality TV show or a corporate environment. Professionals who want to raise their positions and qualifications in a corporate environment as managers or other senior roles must need to have a clear understanding of resource management and resource management projects.

Managing resources effectively is essential to grooming your professional career, especially with firms that run their enterprise by the project. An organization is known for how well they optimize and manage resources. It also determines how much revenue an organization can bring in per employee. The overall profitability of an organization relies on these resource management project factors. So, let us first understand what resource management projects are?

What is Resource Management Project?

Resource Management Project is the approach, functionality, and methodologies of assigning, identifying, and supervising the project’s resources and its requirements. The resource management is essential for the successful submission of a project and maintaining a satisfactory work culture within the organization. Resource management talks about how an organization can deal with the finite resources and prepare them so a team can successfully steer a project.

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Management programs, certifications, and courses can help you achieve this skillset and become a crucial member of your organization. Resource management is not only confined to managing projects but also managing those resources who are handling the projects – the employees.

Resource management especially involves creating plans and processes on how to take the limited resource and cultivate them to get a fruitful result. The role and responsibility of a resource manager are to accomplish all your resources appropriately throughout the project by managing the cost to complete it within the intended deadline.

Tools and applications like spreadsheets, project management apps, data analysis tools, information management software and documents take part in the process of managing resources. 

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Key Terminologies in Project Resource Management 

To understand the resource management project and its working mechanism, understanding the key terms associated with resource management is essential.

Resource Plan: As the name suggests, it is the primary aspect of project management, where the project manager has to schedule all the resources and start with a plan to initiate the project. It is considered the bedrock or foundation on which you will build your project management process.

Resource Breakdown Structure: Once all the resources you need for your project is in hand, you will have to sort them in order and group. Categorizing and grouping these resources in a hierarchical format can make it easy to understand. That is called the resource breakdown structure. These basic categories should include employees and optionally all other elements, in which the team will spend the project funds.

Resource Histogram: This is a tool that will provide you with visuals of all the resources a project needs to reside in the close loop. Histograms can quickly and easily help in visualizing the allocation of resources and heed attention, whether there are any over or under-allocated resources that need a gap to fill.

Resource Leveling: Leveling of resources is a complex task, whereby the resource management professional has to handle the availability of resources across a project or multiple projects as well. Resource levelling includes elements like arranging the start and end dates, based on the allocated supplies and human resources to accomplish the task.

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Factors for Efficient Resource Management Projects

Several factors can determine how adequately professional services, firms, and employees can manage the resources of an organization. These skill sets are essential in a managerial position of an organization. Freshers and professionals having these skills can easily climb the ladder of position and designation within an organization, along with management responsibilities. The upGrad Education courses can groom you with the learning of skills and tools to better professionally manage the resources within an organization. Let us now take a look at the different factors needed for effective resource management.

The resource management professional should have a thorough understanding of the plans and approaches an organization follows and the role he/she has to play.

Optimizing resources is also essential so that the other projects get managed effectively and completed successfully.

A resource schedule plan is also essential to develop out of the project plan.

Measuring utilization and realization of resources is also an integral responsibility.

The software also plays a significant role in adequately managing all project resources. So, resource management professionals should also have a sound idea of how to work with different applications and tools.

Elements of Resource Management Projects 

There are five different elements a project resource holds. These are:

Capital assets and resources: These are the foremost assets an organization utilizes for a project. Land or property, space, and accommodation, equipment, tools, and machinery are the leading resources that come under capital assets.

Intangible assets: These assets are abstract in form but play an essential role in carrying out a successful project. Methodologies, processes, procedures, systems, and even ideas come under intangible assets and resources.

Human resource: It is the most vital asset for an organization, and managing them with their skillset is an essential task, given to the managers and senior personnel of the organization. Effective communication, job satisfaction, proper and motivational incentives, group performance, appreciations, and rewards are some of the fundamental components required for effectively managing the human resource.

Monetary resource: This is perhaps the most essential of all and is usually called the master resource in resource management. It is said so because anyone can trade it against any of the above resources. Project Cost Management is the subject dedicated to understanding it in a better sense

Let us now understand some of the resource management projects and topics practised in an organization.

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Some Common Resource Management Projects

Here are some of the most prominent resource management cultures organizations leverage to meet better working potential in an organization.

Job Satisfaction: It is the level and unit contentment realized by an employee regarding his or her job. This realization and feeling come from a personal perspective and satisfaction. The various factors that can lead to job satisfaction are the ability to complete an assigned task, proper communication within an organization, less micro-management, and the way human resource management treats the employees.

In resource management, taking care of the job satisfaction of an employee also carries an important role to drive a project successfully. Research shows that challenges and achievements in a job also trigger an environmental factor for job satisfaction. The managers and top-level officials should know how to provide constructive criticism and appreciation to the employees.

Effective Communication: It is another significant tool a resource management professional must require for effectively conveying and exchanging thoughts, information, ideas, and knowledge to another individual. It is completely a presentation of views, and a slight mistake in the form of miscommunication can lead to a massive loss to the project or the resources. Therefore, employees need to set an effective communication approach to convey a message and accomplish the task as a team.

Motivational incentives and perks: These are another entity that plays a significant role in increasing productivity and motivation to employees. Proper incentives and perks can drive stimulus work and enhance commitment in an employee’s work performance. It is considered a psychological satisfaction element that shapes the response or outlook of subordinates towards a given task or project. Resource management professionals must know the essence of this factor and how to inculcate the enthusiasm and zeal of an employee towards the allotted work.

Impact of Software in Resource Management Projects

Professional product and service companies excel at resource management have two things in common-excellent leadership and proper software to manage resources. Transparency, agile modification, and a culture of perpetual growth are possible in an organization only if the management takes adequate care of human resources. Organizations that outshine at resource management, as well as project management, understand the need for information, and its organized management.

Organized resource handling is possible mostly using the latest tools and software available in the market, like spreadsheets, project management apps embedded with data analysis tools, information management software, and few other tools essential for managing resources. 

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Wrapping up

If you are keen on upgrading your career with a Management course, upGrad is offering upGrad’s Job Linked Management Program in collaboration with the PGP from IMT Ghaziabad with post-program placement opportunities.

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