UNIT 6 MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROJECT: The key challenges and obstacles facing different business sectors in terms of talent management

UNIT 6 MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROJECT

“The key challenges and obstacles facing different business sectors in terms of talent management”

Introduction

It is very essential to look after the business project in an effective manner. Here different processes and methodologies are used to achieve their aims and objectives. The director in the project is only responsible to look after the roles and responsibilities of project operations or functions. In this report, different skills will be used to manage or implement the project effectively. The theme selected here is talent management, which is the procedure through which organizations and businesses develop brilliant people who have a good & optimistic impact on the firm and the output of employees. This helps in motivating employees by providing them staff retention, training in an effective manner to achieve their organizational goals. The major challenges and issues faced by the manufacturing sector in terms of talent manager will be outlined.

The organization chosen is Unilever. The firm is the largest producer of soap and it is one of the multinational company and its products are available worldwide. The major three categories of Unilever company is Homecare, Personal Care & beauty and Food and & Beverages. Unilever was originated in the year 1929, and now company products are sold in all parts of the world (Nazarova, 2015).

Part 1: Project Plan and Execution

LO1

P1 Devise plan aims and objectives

Talent management in an organization is considered as the procedure which is constant and helps in retaining and attracting employees who have high qualities, ability to develop skills, and regularly motivates them to enhance their performance. The major purpose for talent management in an organization is that a motivated workforce can be created and the employees might stay in the firm for a long time period. However, in the manufacturing sector, enhancing talent management might become very difficult or challenging.

The aim of the research is to evaluate the major obstacles or challenges which are faced by the manufacturing sector related to talent management and the strategies by which it can be reduced effectively (Berger, 2020).

The objectives are as follows:

• To evaluate the issues or challenges related to talent management in Unilever.

• To look after the policies of talent management and adopt in Unilever.

• To analyze the importance of talent management and its key components beneficial for the company.

• To evaluate strategies that appeal and retain employees for the long term in the company.

P2 Project management plan

A project management plan simply provides the way to the director of the plan and evaluates the way to carry it out. It will help in outlining the project deliverables, budget, risk, resources, quality, time, and many more. Unilever Company sells its good to thousands of people and regularly looks for marketing managers, designers, and creative people to develop new ideas in business. The plan for the company looks like this:

• Project Scope: The scope of the research is based on its aims & objectives. The issues for talent management and ways to reduce them will be evaluated. The results of the plan will be received when it will be delivered. Training and effective recruiting practices should be there to retain the best employees for a long time period.

• Deliverables: The documents which are needed by project clients and stakeholders for looking after talent management project include WBS, Gantt chart, milestone, questionnaire, etc.

• Time: An effective timeframe is required to complete the research. Time will be considered until the issues or challenges related to talent management in the manufacturing sector are not outlined (Gido, Clements, and Clements, 2014). The time of 2 months will be required to complete the project.

• Quality: The project needs to be highly delivered with quality as it provides the chance to not get the research to fail. There is a need for employees to work in such a manner that quality does not get hinders.

• Communication: In the project plan, it is essential to have good quality communication. The plan will be communicated to employees and respondents of the project by sending email, conducting regular meeting, making effective communication plan and by many others ways.

• Risk: Risk is uncertain, and the risk can be raised when there is an ineffective recruiting process, change in employee attitude, and many more. The risk involved in this project is unavailability of resources, extension of project budget and times, high cost involved and many more.

• Resource: The resource for this research required is stationery, internet access, college teachers and friends support.

P3 Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion

Work Breakdown Structure or WBS is considered as the hierarchical tree that outlines the plan and breaks its activities into small parts for managing them effectively (Zecheru, and Olaru, 2016). Here the activities related to this research will be breakdown in the following manner:

Action Plan

It is considered as the list of tasks that need to be achieved to meet research aims and objectives.

Task	Start Date	End Date	No. of Weeks
Selecting of the project theme	15 Jan, 2021	22 Jan, 2021	1 Week
Setting objective & aims	23 Jan, 2021	30 Jan, 2021	1 weeks
Making a project plan	31 Jan, 2021	14 Feb, 2021	2 weeks
Analysing challenges related to TM	15 Feb, 2021	21 Feb, 2021	1 weeks
Collection of Data	22 Feb, 2021	8 March, 2021	2 weeks
Finding solution to Problem	9 March, 2021	16 March, 2021	1 week

Gantt Chart

This helps in illustrating the project schedule and is mainly used for making the project simple (Ong, Wang, and Zainon, 2016).

M1 Comprehensive project management plan, milestone schedule, and project schedule for monitoring and completing the aims and objectives of the project

The milestone schedule in the project is related to its purposes & objectives. The aim of this research is to reduce the challenges or issues faced by the manufacturing sector related to TM. Unilever Company takes a major initiative to enhance the talent of its employees and make sure that everyone is satisfied and happy. The issues in a firm arise when there is no effective leadership, ineffective firm culture, increase in turnover of employees and many other issues (Lipke, 2017). The project milestone is as follows:

Task	Start Date	End Date	Milestone
Selecting of the project theme	15 Jan, 2021	22 Jan, 2021	-
Setting objective & aims	23 Jan, 2021	5 Feb, 2021	1
Making project plan	6 Feb, 2021	26 Feb, 2021	2
Analysing challenges related to TM	27 Feb, 2021	12 March, 2021	3
Collection of Data	13 March, 2021	2 April, 2021	4
Finding solution to Problem	3 April, 2021	9 April, 2021	1 5

D1 Evaluate the project management process and methods applied for gathering information and data collection

The procedure for project management comprises of different activities that will help in achieving project objectives aims effectively. These include project time, deliverables, scope, risk, resources, and many more. The other methods applied for making project schedule were WBS, Gantt chart, for achieving the project on time. There are many issues that decrease talent management in the manufacturing company like rising employee turnover, no proper leadership and rules, huge compensation demands, and many more. The plan should be effectively followed to reach its aims and make sure Unilever Company adopt different measures to enhance TM in association and retain employees for a long time period (Salameh, 2014).

LO2

P4 Small-scale research applying primary and secondary methods appropriate for meeting project aims and objectives

In order to make sure that the project plan is effective or not, it is very essential for the project director to conduct small scale research. To achieve the project aim, a mixed methodology will be used, and both types of research methods like quantitative and qualitative will be applied. The primary research will help in looking after the challenges faced by Unilever Company related to the development of talent management and the strategies adopted by the managers to reduce raised issues. A questionnaire survey will be conducted to know what employees feel and want from the organization.

Qualitative research helps in collecting the data which is theory-based and also non-numerical. This helps in knowing the deep information about research and brings out new ideas for research. Here the comparison of data is not possible. A large area cannot be covered under this method and it includes an interview, observation, and many more techniques (Merriam, and Tisdell, 2015).

Quantitative Research helps in collecting numerical data, by using different statistical tools. With his method, a large area can be covered and a comparison with previous research can be easily made. It is not a costly method, but here the results might be manipulated and can be not appropriate.

Here the Qualitative data will be collected with the use of a secondary method i.e. Literature review. It will help in evaluating the view of other authors related to TM in the manufacturing sectors. The deep information related to the challenges faced by employees in such companies will be identified. For collecting the quantitative data, the primary method will be used, i.e. questionnaire survey. A sample of 100 employees will be taken of Unilever Company with the help of a random sampling method. It will help in knowing the current TM practices in the firm and the areas where they are lacking (Brown, 2015).

As per the view of Collings, Scullion and Vaiman (2015), Talent management helps in the implementation of combined strategies which are mainly designed to enhance the productivity of the workstation by developing an improved process for emerging, attracting, exploiting, and retaining employees with effective skills and aptitude to meet the organization upcoming and current demands. It is very important for the form to enhance the talent of its employees along with financial and non-financial terms. Such industries are facing uncertainties related to customer loyalty, change in technology, market forces, etc. Effective strategies should be adopted to leverage employee’s morale and enhance competition in the company efficiently.

Questionnaire:

Q1 Does effective training programs and other personnel training is provided to all employees in Unilever company?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Q2 Does Unilever has Good co-workers and a positive working environment?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Q3.Do all the employees are treated equally in Unilever Company?

Option	Respondents
Yes
NO

Q4. Does the company has talent management strategies for employee development?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Q5. Are all employees provided a chance to bring new or innovative ideas to solve organizational issues or a problem?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Q6. What are the effective talent management practices adopted in Unilever?

Q7. Does Unilever support specialization in company?

Q8. Does company take initiative to track employee’s engagement?

Q9. Are practices of Talent management help firm in retaining employees?

Q10. What issues or challenges are faced by Unilever in adopting TM practices?

M2 The accuracy and reliability of primary and secondary methods applied

After applying the research method it was evaluated that primary research data is more reliable as compared to secondary data. This is because the primary data is collected by doing research in an actual manner and in secondary research the data is collected by other members which might include some errors and information might be outdated. It is considered less reliable than the primary one. For collecting the primary data, the questionnaire survey was conducted and the participants of the survey were the employees of Unilever. The question related to Talent management practices adopted by the firm and issues faced by them were asked (Sonnenberg, van Zijderveld, and Brinks, 2014). The secondary data was collected with the help of a literature review, where the review of other authors was considered and was not effectively matching with this research aims and objectives.

Part 2: Project Report and Reflection

LO3

P5 Findings and data using appropriate tools and techniques.

Research in a project is conducted for the systematic search and to get the relevant information to achieve the project objective and goals. In the research, the talent management strategies will be evaluated for Unilever Company. The sample sizes of employees will be 100 and they are selected by a simple random sampling method. The strategies in the company will be adopted in relation to the responses of employees of the company. The findings of the research are as follows:

Questionnaire:

Q1 Does effective training programs and another personnel training is provided to all employees in Unilever company?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree	50
Agree	20
Neutral	10
Disagree	5
Strongly Disagree	15

Interpretation: From the above table, it can be seen that the Unilever company provided effective training to its employees as most of the employees agree with this statement and 20 of them were not satisfied (Karatop, Kubat, and Uygun, 2015)

Q2 Does Unilever has Good co-workers and a positive working environment?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree	40
Agree	20
Neutral	15
Disagree	15
Strongly Disagree	10

Interpretation: Out of 100 employees, 60 of them say that Unilever has good co-workers and provides an effective working environment to enhance the productivity of employees and meet the customer demands. The talent in the company can be enhanced only when there is the free working environment.

Q3.Do all the employees are treated equally in Unilever Company?

Option	Respondents
Yes	40
NO	60

Interpretation: 60 of the participant states that not the equal opportunity is provided to all employees. The company treats those employees who have good skills and knowledge and provide the initiative to take firm decisions. This might discourage employees and leave the company and find the better one where no discrimination among employees is done. It is necessary to enhance this to bring talent among workers (Sadri, et. al., 2015).

Q4. Does the company have talent management strategies for employee development?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree	30
Agree	20
Neutral	10
Disagree	30
Strongly Disagree	10

Interpretation: There is lack of other benefits in the Unilever Company. The employees in the company are not satisfied with the Unilever Talent management strategies as they are not giving effective outcome and the employees are not reaching their aims and goals due to this.

Q5. Are all employees provided a chance to bring new or innovative ideas to solve organizational issues or problems?

Option	Respondents
Strongly agree	50
Agree	10
Neutral	10
Disagree	10
Strongly Disagree	20

Interpretation: Most the employees are satisfied that Unilever provide chance to its employees to bring new for the business. This make employee feels that they are important for company.

Q6. What are the effective talent management practices adopted in Unilever?

The TM practices adopted by company that it set clear and effective organization goals, it allow team members to learn new skills and get motivated regularly, and have career development opportunity.

Q7. Does Unilever support specialization in company?

Yes sometimes, at the time of peak, the managers of the company prefer specialized workers and employees for completion of task.

Q8. Does company take initiative to track employee’s engagement?

Yes, the feedback from employees is take at the end of month and the issues and challenges fced by them are solved in effective manner.

Q9. Are practices of Talent management help firm in retaining employees?

No, the TM practices are not helping in retaining employees as they are not provided higher opportunity to grow.

Q10. What issues or challenges are faced by Unilever in adopting TM practices?

The issues arise due to firm poor hiring strategy, ineffective leadership and many more.

P6 Recommendations as a result of findings and data analysis

From the above research finding, it has been evaluated that that Unilever need to enhance some the areas to reduce the challenges and enhance the Talent management in the company. It was seen that appropriate training to employees is provided and this strategy help in enhancing skills of employees which also allow them to achieve their both personal and professional goals. Every employees or workers should be treated equally and chance to make decision for the company should be provided to all as this will retain employees and the competition in the market will be raised. New ideas or innovation will attract customers and their needs will be satisfied. Some the major recommendations provided to enhance Talent management in Unilever are as follows:

• The company should specify what skill they need in their employees according to its work culture.

• The recruiting manager should hire the right person who is fit for the job and have effective knowledge and skills about the work (Pobst, 2014).

• The company should regularly organize learning and development programs to boost employee’s morale and retention.

• Feedback to employees should be provided according to their performance and areas that they need to improve.

• There is the high need to resolve talent management issues in the Unilever company. This can be done by enhance the hiring strategy of company, encourage employees by adopting new technology and make their work easier, the practices of leadership and style should match with the business situation and needs.

• In the company, there should also be practices of zero tolerance and negative work behavior as this will make employees free to work according to their skills and knowledge.

M3 The selection of appropriate tools and techniques for accuracy and authenticity to support and justify recommendations

It was seen that the tools or method used for conducting research and meeting the aims and objectives were very effective. The primary data was collected by questionnaire survey which helped in finding out areas which should be enhanced by Unilever Company to have effective talent management in company. The employees for questionnaire were chosen with the help of simple random sampling where equal chance was provided to get selected. The recommendation provided is in relation to the survey results. Literature review was conducted to collect the secondary data. It helps in finding out the major issues behind lack of talent management in manufacturing company and these includes high employee turnover rate, poor strategies of leadership, etc. These both tools helps in meeting the aims & goals of the research effectively.

LO4

P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the project to meet stated objectives and own learning and performance.

There is high value for conducting the research as it helped me in knowing about the major challenges or issues which are faced for manufacturing sector to enhance talent management in the firm. Unilever is well known for its effective good quality and services. There is lack of talent in which is hindering it from bringing competition among its rival companies. The mixed methodology was used to meet project goals and objectives. Unilever is effectively working hard to reduce its employee’s turnover and provided them equal chance to make decision and bring new ideas to enhance competition and attract more and more buyers. From the questionnaire survey, it was seen that some of the improvement in organization and culture and decision making policy should be improved. Other than monetary benefits appreciation, social status, promotion, etc. should be provided to employees to boost their morale.

My personal learning and performance has been highly improved after conducting this research. I get to learn about the important of talent management in different sectors. My research skills have been enhanced and I am very sure that when I will conduct next research I will face no issues or problem related to it. I learned to make Work Breakdown structure and Gantt chart and learned the importance of them in research. I also prepared project management plan to know the project outcomes and time required to complete the research effectively. Other than the research skills, my knowledge for Talent management and its importance in company has been highly increased. I gained knowledge for challenges and issues that are faced by the companies and the way they can be enhanced in desired manner. I can use the research skills and knowledge for my future and try to make research relevant and reliable.

M4 The value of the project management process to meet stated objectives

It is very important to make the project management process at the beginning of the research. This is because it helps in providing direction to reach the project goals in desired manner. The procedure helps in delivering of project results in consistent manner; help in reducing its cost enhance efficiency and many more (Too, and Weaver, 2014). In order to meet the project aims and objective, I have analyzed the different articles to find out the major issue related to talent management in manufacturing firms. I effectively followed the project management plan which was made by me earlier before beginning of research. It provided me direction to take next step and meet project aims. I was in a position to provide recommendation to Unilever related to the survey results. The differnet skills required to provide vakue to project or research are as follows:

• Communication skills: I realized that it is very essential to have good communication skills while conducting research. I am not very confident at speaking, but this research allowed me to become confident and talk to any person without any hesitation. I was in a position to talk with every research participant and make them feel that they are safe and no personal question will be asked from them.

• Provide importance to employees: Employees are as important as customer in the company. It is very important to provide them maximum satisfaction and manager should make sure that they are happy. For enhancing talent among them, it is very important to provide them training related to all skills and allow them to speak and bring new ideas in company. Managers should appreciate their hard work and make them feel that they are important for organization.

Unilever organization has its presence in all over the world. It is very important for the firm to maintain talent management techniques and effective leadership to raise competition and defeat its rivals. This will help in raising profits and revenue in the company. Training and development will help in retaining employees and help in enhancing their morale to achieve firm goals and aims.

D2 Evaluate and reflect on the project outcomes, the decision-making process and changes or developments of the initial project management plan

The project aims and objectives are finally met with the help of research tools and techniques. After analyzing the survey results, there are some changes recommended that should be adopted by Unilever to enhance talent management in firm and bring competition in marketplace. The challenges and issues to talent management should be highly considered by the manager of Unilever company. In the project plan the changes should be highly made in its scope, objective and aims and make sure that the issues is resolved (Krishnan, and Scullion, 2017).

Conclusion

From the research, it has been concluded that, Talent management has the ability to enhance the performance of the company, but different sectors like manufacturing has to face many challenges to adopt them in effective manner. The research was conducted to analyze TM in Unilever Company and it was evaluated that there are only some initiative that should be taken by manager like providing equal status to employees, boosting their morale and many more to retain employees in company. The research aims and objectives were met in effective manner. The different issues and challenges that are faced companies in relation to development of talent management are evaluated.

References

Berger, L.A., 2020. Talent Management: Handbook. MGH.

Brown, J.D., 2015. Characteristics of sound quantitative research. Shiken, p.24.

Collings, D.G., Scullion, H. and Vaiman, V., 2015. Talent management: Progress and prospects.

Gido, J., Clements, J. and Clements, J., 2014. Successful project management. Nelson Education.

Karatop, B., Kubat, C. and Uygun, Ö., 2015. Talent management in manufacturing system using fuzzy logic approach. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 86, pp.127-136.

Krishnan, T.N. and Scullion, H., 2017. Talent management and dynamic view of talent in small and medium enterprises. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), pp.431-441.

Lipke, W., 2017. Forecasting schedule variance using earned schedule. PM World Journal, 6(2), pp.1-9.

Merriam, S.B. and Tisdell, E.J., 2015. Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.

Nazarova, V., 2015. An Analysis of the effectiveness of the M&A strategy of a diversified company (Unilever Group Case Study). International Business Management, 9(1), pp.41-53.

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Sadri, A., Pirouz, H., Sharifi, S. and Farhadi, M., 2015. Studying the impact of talent management on performance of staffs. International Academic Journal of Economics, 2(11), pp.50-59.

Salameh, H., 2014. What, when, why, and how? A comparison between agile project management and traditional project management methods. International Journal of Business and Management Review, 2(5), pp.52-74.

Sonnenberg, M., van Zijderveld, V. and Brinks, M., 2014. The role of talent-perception incongruence in effective talent management. Journal of World Business, 49(2), pp.272-280.

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Zecheru, V. and Olaru, B.G., 2016. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in Project Management. Review of International Comparative Management/Revista de Management Comparat International, 17(1).