Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) is a technique adopted by organizations to analyze and represent the activity in a
project, and to illustrate the flow of events in a project. PERT is a method to evaluate and estimate the time required to complete a
task within deadlines. PERT serves as an management tool to analyze, define and integrate events. PERT also illustrates the activities
and interdependencies in a project. The main goal of PERT is to reduce the cost and time needed to complete a project.
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
PERT was developed in 1950 by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War and is intended for large projects, which are:
 Complex
 Require a series of sequential tasks
 Performed in parallel with other projects
PERT planning usually involves the following steps:
 Identifying Tasks and Milestones: Every project involves a series of required tasks. These tasks are listed in a table allowing
additional information on sequence and timing to be added later.
 Placing the Tasks in a Proper Sequence: The tasks are analyzed and placed in a sequence to get the desired results.
 Network Diagramming: A network diagram is drawn using the activity sequence data showing the sequence of serial and parallel
activities.
 Time Estimating: This is the time required to carry out each activity, in three parts:
1. Optimistic timing: The shortest time to complete an activity
2. Most likely timing: The completion time having the highest probability
3. Pessimistic timing: The longest time to complete an activity
 Critical Path Estimating: This determines the total time required to complete a project.
PERT not only determines the time to complete a specific software development activity, but also determines the cost.
Advantages of PERT:
PERT technique offers the following advantages:
1. It determines the expected time required for completing each activity.
2. It helps complete the project within a given period of time.
3. It helps management uncertainties involved in the project and thus, reduce the risk element in the project.
4. It enables management to make optimum allocation of limited resources.
5. It presses for the right action, at the right point and at the right time in the organization.
Limitations of PERT:
PERT also suffers from the following limitations:
1. PERT network is mainly based on time estimates required for each activity. On account of wrong time estimates, the network is
bound to become highly unrealistic.
2. This technique also does not consider the resources required at different stages of the project.
3. For effective control of a project by using PERT technique requires frequent updating and revising the PERT calculations. But, this
proves quite a costly affair for the organization.
Characteristics of Good Supervisor
 Great communication skills: As a supervisor one must communicate clearly and correctly to avoid misunderstandings and
frustrations. When receiving information from a subordinate, she should be sure to receive it correctly – There is no harm in
asking again if necessary.
 Adapt to the changes: World is changing at a fast pace. The efficient supervisors ought to keep up with it. Do not just blindly follow
the age old norms and rules. Think out of the box if required. Adjust to the needs of the organization.
 Value the employees: The people are any supervisor’s real asset. They are ones running the business and the work. A good
supervisor understands their worth and treats them accordingly.
 A coacher/mentor: Share your experience. A good supervisor shares her wisdom, knowledge and experience with the employees.
She helps them perform better. This also strengthens the bond and the trust between them.
 Disciplined: If a supervisor is disciplined then only can she expect the people to be so. The boss is an example – Come on time,
meet the time-lines, set a behavioral code if necessary.
 Feedback/incentives: Promotions, feedback, raises and accolades should be showered on the deserving people.
 Be an example: Be hands on – Do not just always delegate. At times the boss should take on projects too. She may try picking up
something less attractive or uninteresting and complete it wonderfully. This sets an example to all the team about taking up
challenges and about how any work is important.
 Be approachable: The employees should not hesitate in approaching the supervisor with their concerns and problems. An
efficient supervisor will make sure that there is enough trust and openness between her and the employees for the latter to come
to her with their grievances.
 Be considerate: People are not just employees. They have families, friends and a life beyond work. Unless there is something
urgent, do not make them work beyond the usual hours. Let them have their weekends and vacations. Be practical when setting
the time-lines. This all will in turn improve the efficiency and the productivity of the employees.
 Positive attitude: Be polite. Wish employees good mornings and be generous in thanking them. Inquire after about their families
off and on.
 Criticize constructively: When mistakes happen a good supervisor tries and understands the reasons behind the mishap. She
criticizes or assesses the employee in proportion to the mistake. And it is always better to not to scream or scold in front of the
others. Give constructive feedback; show them the right way to do things.
What is time management?
It is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools and systems that help you use your time to accomplish what you want. “Time
management shouldn’t take your time, but rather make extra time for you.”
Importance of Time management
Administrators think the importance of time management and the usefulness of a time management system lies in allowing people to
accomplish more things faster. Time management teaches people how to manage their lives and time effectively. Here are some
reasons why it is important to manage time advantageously:
Time is limited: Time is a very special resource in that you cannot store it or save it. Everybody gets the same amount of time each
day, but if you don’t use your time profitably and wisely, you may end up loosing all the number of man hours for the day. Time is
limited to 24 hours a day. So we must plan our life wisely.
Time Helps to accomplish more work with less effort: When Senior Members become more productive using improved time
management skills and tools, they can accomplish more with less effort. Reducing wasted time and effort gives us even more
productive time throughout the day. Time Keeps us on track: Whether it is a daily work list, or a long-term career, plan-time
management keeps us on track. With our goals stated and time allocated, the likelihood of us staying within the boundaries we have
given our self is higher. Efficient Time management involves setting up targets and pushing oneself to do it within a period. What it
does is make you more efficient. You will not only find yourself completing your tasks well within the allotted time, but will also find
yourself with more than enough time on your hands for other activities. You will also find yourself without the need to procrastinate
every small task that you know for sure will multiply over time. Stress-Free You must be familiar with that feeling of burden that you
feel every time you fail to complete your work within the allotted time. Having to handle the pressure of pending works and your
present assignments often gets to you and you find your performance dropping. Time management allows you to be free of all this
stress and actually increases your output and performance. Sense Of Achievement There is nothing that spurs the confidence of a
person than the feeling that they have achieved something. You feel a sense of achievement that is sure to improve your self-
confidence manifold. Improves quality of life: Effective time management improves the quality of life. By managing the time, some of
the most common problems such as stress and lack of time for personal interests, can be solved very effortlessly.
Reduces frustration: Time is the only tool that can make or break you. This is applicable, especially when you have to create a balance
between your professional and personal life in your hectic and tiresome routine. To serve the purpose, you would have to find time to
do everything that your heart desires. By managing our time in a proper manner, we will get rid of all frustration.
Gives peace of mind: A peace of mind is required to lead a healthy and disease free life. Restless and stress are the root cause for the
lack of peace. Stress causes us to think and perform work undesirably, and this leads to chains of emotion which adversely affect
people around us. By managing the time wisely, we will be able to give ourselves and our loved ones the much desired time and
attention. Since the social ties between the administrator and the people around us are strong, there is the need to manage time
effectively. Increases energy level: Effective time management increases the energy level of administrators to a great extent. This is
because proper time management gets a cluttered mind organized. By proper time management, the unhandled jobs and unfinished
business can be done within the deadline. By managing time correctly will boost up ones energy level than the past. This, in turn
enables us to concentrate on the task at hand, without bothering about the pending ones.
More Opportunities – Being on top of your time and work produces more opportunities. The early bird always has more options. As
well, luck favors the prepared.
Benefits of Decision Making 6. Facilitate Innovation Rational decisions facilitate innovation.
1. Better Utilisation of Resources Decision making helps to This is because it helps to develop new ideas, new products,
utilise the available resources for achieving the objectives of the new process, etc. This results in innovation. Innovation gives a
organisation. The available resources are the 6 Ms, i.e. Men, competitive advantage to the organisation.
Money, Materials, Machines, Methods and Markets. The 7. Motivates Employees Rational decision results in motivation
manager has to make correct decisions for all the 6 Ms. This will for the employees. This is because the employees are motivated
result in better utilisation of these resources. to implement rational decisions. When the rational decisions
2. Facing Problems and Challenges Decision making helps the are implemented the organisation makes high profits.
organisation to face and tackle new problems and challenges. Therefore, it can give financial and non-financial benefits to the
Quick and correct decisions help to solve problems and to employees.
accept new challenges. 8. Generate More Alternatives: Groups have a greater amount
3. Business Growth Quick and correct decision making results in and diversity of information than an individual. Hence, they are
better utilisation of the resources. It helps the organisation to able to generate more alternatives that reflect their diverse
face new problems and challenges. It also helps to achieve its perspectives.
objectives. All this results in quick business growth. However, 9. Increase Legitimacy: The group decision making process is
wrong, slow or no decisions can result in losses and industrial consistent with democratic ideals, and decisions made by
sickness. groups may be perceived as more legitimate than decisions
4. Achieving Objectives Rational decisions help the organisation made unilaterally by one person.
to achieve all its objectives quickly. This is because rational 10. Increase Acceptance and Commitment: Group decision
decisions are made after analysing and evaluating all the making is helpful in gaining acceptance and commitment.
alternatives. Participation increases acceptance and satisfaction. People who
5. Increases Efficiency Rational decisions help to increase participate in making a decision will often be more committed
efficiency. Efficiency is the relation between returns and cost. If to the implementation.
the returns are high and the cost is low, then there is efficiency
and vice versa. Rational decisions result in higher returns at low
cost.
Manpower planning is the strategy for the acquisition, utilization, improvement, and preservation of an enterprise’s human
resources. It relates to establishing job specifications or the quantitative requirement of jobs determining the number of personnel
required and developing source of manpower.” ( G. stainer)
IMPORTANCE OF HRP
1.)Future personnel needs:- Planning is significant as it helps determine future personnel needs. Surplus or deficiency in staff
strength is the result of the absence of a defective planning. The problem of excess staff has become so heavy that many units are
restoring to VRS to remove the excess staff.
2) Coping with change :- HRP enables an enterprise to cope with changes in competitive forces, markets, technology, products
and government regulations. Such changes generate changes in job content, skill demands, and number and type of personnel.
Shortage of people may be induced in some areas while surplus in other areas may occur.
3) Creating highly talented personnel :- As was mentioned earlier, jobs are becoming highly intellectual and incumbents are
getting vastly professionalized. L & T, an engineering giant, has MBA’S, engineers, technicians who collectively constitute 70% of the
total employee strength of 20,000 the HR manager must use his \ her ingenuity to attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel.
4) Protection of weaker sections :- Sc \ ST candidates, physically handicapped, children of socially and physically oppressed &
backward-class citizens enjoy a given % of jobs not withstanding the constitutional provision which guarantees equal opportunities
all.
5) International strategies :- HRP all will grow increasingly important as the process of meeting staff needs from foreign countries
and the attendant cultural, language and developmental considerations grow complex.
6) Foundation for personnel functions :- Manpower planning provides essential information for designing and implementing
personnel functions, such as recruitment, selection, personnel movement and training and development.
7) Increasing investments in human resources :- Another compelling reason for HRP is an investment an organization makes in its
human resources. Human assets, as opposed to physical assets, can increase in value. An employee who gradually develops his \ her
skills and abilities becomes a more valuable resource.
8) Resistance to change and move :- There is a growing resistance among employees to change and move. There is also a growing
emphasis on self-evaluation and on evaluation of loyalty and dedication to the organization. All these changes are making it more
difficult for the organization to assume that it can move its employees around anywhere and anytime it wants, thus increasing the
importance and necessity of planning ahead.
9) Other benefits :-
• Upper management has better view of the HRP dimensions of business decisions.
• Personnel costs may be less because the management can anticipate imbalances before they become unmanageable and
expensive.
• More time is provided to locate source talent.
• Better planning of assignments to develop managers can be done.
• Major and successful demands on labour markets can be made.
10) Part of strategic planning :- HR management must become an integral part of strategic management process. All activities of HRM-
planning, hiring, training, remunerating and maintaining-must be merged with strategic management.
HR planning can become part of strategic planning at two ends. At the beginning of strategic planning, HRP provides a set of inputs
into the strategic formulation process in terms of deciding whether the types and numbers of people are available to pursue a given
strategy.
Institutional Planning According to Prof. M.B.Buch (1968) an
institutional plan is a programme of development by an
educational institution on the basis of its felt needs and the
resource available or likely to be available with a view to
improving the school programme and school practices. It is
based in the principal of optimum utilization of the resources
available in the school and the community. The plan may be for a
longer duration or a shorter duration.
Objectives of institutional planning
 To bring improvement in the structure of educational
institution
 To give proper direction to functioning of educational
institutions
 To give adequate freedom to teachers think to innovative
and creative ideas for the improvement of institution and
other programmes in the institution.
 To impart realism and concreteness to educational planning
 To create democratic environment to enable every teacher,
administrator, parent and students to take part in the
formulation and implementation of the plan.
Nature and characteristics of an institutional plan
1. Need Based, 2. Specificity, 3. Optimum Utilization
4. Augmentating Human Efforts, 5. Goal – Oriented
6. Cooperative In Nature, 7. Long And Short Term Plans
8. Flexibility
Self-evaluation is a procedure to systematically observe,
analyze and value your own professional action and its results
in order to stabilize or improve it. This can take place on an
individual or on an organizational level. To self-evaluate
means that people explore and evaluate their own
professional work.
Planning steps for conducting a self evaluation
1. “Describe the teaching context:
2. Identify stakeholders and their needs
3. Determine the assessment purpose using central questions:
4. Identify how you will use the assessment results
5. Create an assessment plan
Methods for Evaluating Your Teaching
“Self-monitoring:
Teachers should monitor their own performance themselves
while teaching. After each teaching session, teachers should
ask themselves on whether they have met their determined
goals and objectives
Personal biases and misinterpretations of students' reactions
may interfere with the effectiveness of the evaluation.
Teachers can keep a log to track their own progress and
improvement over time.
However, self-monitoring involves self-judgment.
Need And Importance Of Institutional Planning
1. For Betterment And Improvement
2. To Give Proper Direction To Educational Objectives
3. For Maximum Utilization Of Resources
4. For National Development
5. To Encourage Initiative Of Individual Teacher
6. For Democratization Of Planning
Institutional Planning—Steps
1. Analysis, 2. Survey, 3. Improvement, 4. Implementation
5. Evaluation
Benefits of an institutional planning
 it is more realistic because I it is based on the data
available from then stakeholders namely students a,
teachers and parents
 it avoids wastage as it is founded on knowledge about real
needs of the students and the community
 it is more scientific , rational , effective and efficient rather
than trial and error methods or traditional approach
development.
 it is goal based and there fire is more efficient
 it reduced emphasis on expenditure orientation and
enhances goal orientation it provides ample opportunities
for creativity, innovations, initiative , freedom and
experimentation to those who are involved in preparing
and implementing the plans
2. Audio and video recording: Teachers can audio- or video-tape
their teaching sessions, which allows them to keep record of and
investigate their actual teaching performance in detail. Teachers
can review the records with other colleagues to discuss the areas
for improvements.
3. Students’ feedback on teaching: students perceive and
experience in class directly determines how effectively they are
learning. Collecting students' perception of teaching should be
carried out several times in the semester. Two common methods
to collect information about students' perception towards
teaching are questionnaires and interviews.
Questionnaires: Standardized questions on the questionnaires
collect information about students' background, general opinions
about the course and an overall evaluation on the effectiveness of
the course and the teacher
Some general open-ended questions are also included in the
questionnaires.
Interviews: Focus-group interviews with students can be
conducted by the teachers themselves or an outside person
Teachers can set the questions that they are interested in
advance, and probe more detailed information and clarifications
from students during the interview.
One minute paper, Quiz, Mid term survey