Unit 6 Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Solution

Unit 6 Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Solution

Introduction

This is the report of AZZ constructions that are planning to expand their job area for accommodating more work force as their quality services has  created a huge demand among the customers hence, bringing in more and more of business which is being tough to handle with a limited resources. Therefore, a project has been allotted that need to be started in October and ended by December. This report consists of a brief description about the project management process and the different tools and mechanism to create an estimate of project.

Task 1

1.1 Describe the Background and Principles of Project Management

Project managementis the application of skills, process, method information & knowledge, and experiences to achieve the objectives of the project. The tools and techniques of project management were systematically implemented by the organisation from the year 1950’s.  Generally a project scope depends on three things time, cost and quality. In the given scenario AZZ construction wants to expand the business area so that they can accommodate more project staffs for the upcoming projects (Kerzner, 2011 ). So they have been asked to start the project from 10th October, 2016 to 12^th December 2016. There are 6 basic principles of AZZ constructions which helps them in successful completion of the project.

• Vision and Mission- To successfully initiate a project the vision and mission should be crystal clear to everyone so that they have a better understanding about the task. It helps to clarify the expected outcome or desired state and the process to accomplish it.
• Business objectives- After setting the vision and mission of the project it is important to set up the business objectives or business goals.
• Standards of engagement- It clearly states the members who will participating in the projects, the name of the project leader, the frequency of the meetings, the agenda to be discussed, the meeting minutes etc (Storbacka, 2011. P.700).
• Intervention and execution strategy- It is considered to be the meet of the project and consists of gap analysis for determining the best intervention process to resolve the issue in the work place. There various quality management techniques like root cause analysis, asking why five times etc. that can be used. Once the intervention technique is decided then the execution strategy needs to settle down.
• Organisational Ailment- For proper organisational ailment all the project team members should be present so that small team hurdles can be conducted in which everyone will provided a training or emails or e-learning modules which should contain the WIFM ( what’s in it for me) to engage the interest of the stakeholder to get the best out of them.
• Measure and accountability- The team leader, team members and employees should be engaged and updated by using just a simple technique and i.e. using of score card where each members performances will be measure and will show their accountability. The best performer will be rewarded (Cavalcanteet al, 2011 p.1327).

1.2 Appraise the Viability of Projects, developing Success/Fail Criteria

For the purpose of ascertaining the viability of the project the net present value method and the payback period method has been employed. The net present value method takes into consideration the cash flows associated with the project and discounts the same to arrive at the net present value. Both the projects have a positive net present value. However Project A has a higher NPV and lower payback period and hence should be chosen over project B.

Project A

Project B

1.3 Explain the Principles behind Project Management Systems and Procedures

As it is known that project management is a concept that revolves round planning, organising, leading, and controlling which helps to produce an innovative and unique product that is acceptable to users. So understanding the concept, AZZ construction follows the project management system for easy management of it (Muzioet al, 2011 p.445).

It is an integrated and collective system of process and procedures which includes Project information support.

It also consists of incorporation and implementation of human resources and material resources to complete the project perfectly (Söderlund, 2011 p.163).

The principles of project management system that helps a project achieve the target it wanted. AZZ construction follows the given principles and procedures of project management system which has been proven effective and efficient in the other projects and can help the project team to achieve their targets.

Infrastructure management- The main purpose of it is to provide the correct format of sequences at the correct time with correct number of people and sequential arrangement. A good infrastructure management mean to burn up the effort to synchronise the arrangement and cover up the deficiency (Woodcock et al, 2011 P.55). This process further helps in initiating the project and structuring a proper plan.

Completion- Completion comprises of four things with the help of communication management (Flyvbjerg and Budzier, 2011 p.602). First it requires identification in which they need to know to segregate the information into common and to be distributed in other divisions. Next is the coverage where the information are brought together and prepared. The third step is the allocation where the information’s are allocated to required areas so that the communication is clear (Del  and  Cruz, 2011 p.475). Lastly, a weekly status report proves to be good to understand the weekly status of the usage of the information that speaks the progress of the project.

Quality management- The purpose of the quality management is to ensure the processes are followed correctly which further ensures the quality completion of the project in coming future.

Implementation- On proper implementation of the quality management process helps the organisation to confirm quality work and completion of all the steps which helps them to declare the perfect closing of the project (Shi, 2011 p.299).

1.4 Explain the Key Elements involved in terminating projects and conducting Post Project Appraisals.

The final phase of the project closure is the closing down the project or terminating it. The key elements that factor in closure process that AZZ construction follows are discussed below:

• Well a project can be terminated if it completes before the schedule time and handed to the sponsors (Welchet al, 2011 p.745).
• It might also happen that due to technical errors the project required to abundant before the completion
• Sudden publication made by other groups on the same core area.
• The principal leader or investigators quits suddenly
• If the company faces unanticipated loss of human, finance and other valuable resources.
• A review suggests that the project has no benefit to the firm.

These are the possible criteria for termination but as per the scenario the termination is related to the closure of the project after its completion where the project has a natural termination after meeting the project objectives After the project is completed it is reviewed and the customer contract is then closed (Tadeuet al., 2011 p.132).

• There are several methods that AZZ construction can follow for post project appraisal and they are discussed below.
• Net present Value- In this method the projects net annual cash flow is summed up and the discounted at the project cost capital along with deducting the projects initial outlay.
• Payback method- Ever organisation chooses the number year to recover the original investment. Hence, this method is useful for estimating the payback period.
• Internal rate of return-In this method company compares their internal rate of return with the predetermined required rate of return (Kapsali, 2011 p.400).
• Profitability index-It is a ration between the present values of project cash inflow with the present value of cash inflow.

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Task 2:

2.1 Identify the most appropriate organisational structure, roles and responsibilities of participants within a project.

There are different kinds of organisational structures that are being evaluated for AZZ construction. The following types of organisational structure are as follows

Functional organisations- In this type of structure small groups are formedwith specialised skills in specific functional areasSuch as forming separate departments like marketing, finance and funding, engineering etc. 

Project organisation structure – In this structure the organisation considers the project as a temporary assignment so they form the programs and portfolios which are implemented in the project (Aubry and Hobbs, 2011 p.4). Hence, the project manager assigned is the person who is liable for the successful completion of the 

Matrix organisations-In the organisation sets up a reporting relationship in the form of grids and matrix is followed rather than following traditional hierarchy (Hanisch and Wald, 2011 p.20). Hence, it follows a dual reporting format i.e. reporting to both functional and product managers.

As per the study, the best organisational structure that AZZ constructions should follow is the Project organisational structure as the team directly reports to the project manager there follows clarity in hierarchy which eliminates the communication gap and saves lots of time of the project (Marques et al., 2011 p.1055). Moreover the team members become flexible and versatile in performing different works. For this kind of structure the company will require civil engineers, Finance manager, HR, surveyor, labours or workers, Project manager, site planner etc. If the team consist of these members then there are more chances of the success of the project. According to the team format the major role is played by the project manager who is liable for the project’s success, the civil engineer who will make the plan of constructing the building, HR will provide with workforce, Finance manager will chalk out the budget of the project and segregated in different phases (vomBrocke. and Sinnl, 2011 p.360). Site planner will evaluate the site a structure a report with the requirements of the infrastructural material; the labours are the core worker who will carry on the construction work as per building plan.

2.2 Control and Coordinate a Project

A projects success always requires creation of a proper project execution and a suitable schedule plan and then communicating the plan to all the members of the team for properly executing the plan right from the initialisation of the plan (Arttoet al, 2011 p.410). The construct project of AZZ is owned by the project managers who have to combine the project participants and consult the other stakeholder to plan out the project properly. 

The execution plan should contain the required details like the report of the project status and the key indicators along with perfect allocation of resources and budgets for various activities in the project’s work breakdown structure (McHugh and Hogan, 2011. P.638). Another major element that should be included in the report is the all-time availability of the resources. All this will be only effective if the resources and techniques are controlled properly by coordinating with all the level of employees as control and coordination work parallel to each other (Turban et al, 2011). Hence, proper communication should be done to create a proper synchronisation and co-ordination of the people of different divisions of the project. Only then the project will be considered to be successful.

2.3 Assess Project Leadership requirements and qualities

To manage a project the leader should have some particular skills to manage the project efficiently and effectively.

• Communication
• Sharing vision
• Positive attitude
• Integrity
• Competence
• Cool, calm and collected
• Problem solver
• Team builder
• Delegator
• Decision maker

A project leader should possess the qualities to become a good project leader

• Develop structure
• Clearly communicate
• Lead by examples
• Encourage trust
• Provide motivation
• Be reliable

Combination of the requirements and quality helps to make a perfect leader who along with leading the team but can motivates the team members to outperform in their area. He is solely responsible for successful project completion (Söderlund, 2011). In given scenario AZZ construction requires to appoint a leader with the following characteristics so that the construction project gets successfully completed within the stipulated time.

2.4 Plan and Specify Human resources and requirements for a project.

AZZ construction should frame their human resource planning for estimating the work force. It will actually help the organisation to estimate the human resource needs in every stage of the project. The human resource of a project follows a particular process such as

• Human resource planning- Identifying the proper roles and responsibility and reporting relationship of team members in a project (Hodgson and Muzio, 2011).
• Acquiring the project team- requires to get the required personnel for the assigned task to work on the project.
• Developing the project team- In this it helps to enhance the skills and abilities of the individual and in group.
• Managing the project team- It helps in tracking team member performances which further helps in motivating and training to enhance the performances (Reiser and Dempsey, 2011). This helps in giving immediate feedback to the team members on the work done. It helps to create a proper communication channel which helps in better co-ordination among the team members.

Task 3:

3.1 Prepare Project Plans and establish the Project Organisation

The structure that AZZ constructions needs to implement in the project is in the following manner

According to the chart project coordinator is the head of the project that has the full authority and is liable to complete the project successfully. After the project manager the responsibility is distributed among the two project implementation leader who implements different strategy to make the project work successfully. They further divide the work among the project team, research team and financial administrative staff. Project team distributes the work among the financial issue specialists, monitoring specialist and promotion specialist. The research team divides the work among the research workers and technical personnel. The financial administrative staffs allocate the work to the supplies and public orders specialist, human resource accounting specialist and auxiliary staffs (Dunne and Dunne, 2011). The organisational structure makes the project run smoothly as the team is aware of their roles and responsibilities and ensure to finish the work within the given deadline. It is a successful technique of human resource planning as different departments can give the exact number of people required in the future for completing the work. They also give a proper specifications of the skills required in the personnel’s for the required position. A strategic planning can ultimately frame proper estimates of human resource and the budget required for the project.

3.2 Apply Project Scheduling, Estimating and Cost Control techniques

To apply the project scheduling activities AZZ has to follow the steps such as

• Define the schedule activities – According to the work breakdown structure the work packages should be decomposed into further schedule activities. Each work package needs to consider deciding the activities required to create the packages (Laudon and Laudon, 2011).
• Sequence the activities- The activities should be arranged in a sequential and orderly manner according to their time of occurrence.
• Estimating the resource needed for the activities- In this step it required to estimate the resources that are needed for the project. Estimating the duration of the activities.
• Estimating the duration of each activities- Under this method coup-le of steps needs to be followed and those are
• Expert judgement
• Analogous estimating
• Parametric estimating
• Three point estimation
• Hence these are few effective tools which if implemented can give a wonderful results.
• Schedule development- The step includes sequence activities, resource needed, and duration of the activities are all used to optimise the projects overall schedule.
• Monitoring and controlling the schedule- This the final step in which the schedule will be monitored and controlled properly throughout the life of the project (Bredin and Söderlund, 2011). This ensures the quality of the work and properly utilizing the tools, resources and techniques.

AZZ has to follow a four stage estimating the project such as

• Initiation of the project- in this step analogous estimates are based on the past projects estimates in order to magnitude the estimates of the project.
• Early in planning- In this step analogous estimates, 3 point estimates needs to present. Here the company has to use the published estimating data and the parametric estimating techniques.
• Final project plan- It includes the bottom up estimation of the deliverables from the team members (Kerzner, 2013. ).
• Weekly status- In this project the estimates are rolled on a weekly basis till the project gets completed.

AZZ should follow a proper frame of cost control techniques so they should start with

• Estimates and project budgets- it is the basic of the project where proper estimates and a robust project budget should be prepared to make the assignment successful (Merrow, 2011).
• Earned value management or analysis- it is a mathematical method with the help of which the company can measure the actual performance of the project. It helps to monitor the project in terms of schedules and cost (Kerzner, 2011.).
• Forecasting- On the basis of the calculation made by earned value management the organisation can forecast the project performance in the future.
• To- complete performance index- If the project is delayed or over budgeted for some external or internal factors then this method helps to determine the project performance which is required to complete the project within the estimated budget.
• Variance analysis- It is method in which the expected project performance is compared with the actual cost performance. It helps to determine the reason behind the variance if there exists any.
• Performance review- It helps to review the performance of the project during its life time which helps to keep constant check on the project health (Anupindiet al, 2011).

3.3 Analyse the methods used to measure project performance

It has been noted that AZZ constructions follow effective methods of measuring the project performances which consist 6 effective methods.

• Units complete- In this method used for tracking tasks that are done repeatedly where each stage can easily kept track of. Generally the task is performed repeatedly tends to consume the same amount of time, resources and effort which helps in tracking the units in a proper way.
• Incremental milestone- It is also known as steps method. It is generally related to the cost accounts that consist of other subtasks which need to be completed in orderly manner.
• Start finish- It only considers the starting point and the ending point of the project and nothing comes in between. It is best for the tasks that are made for short duration. Often they use the 50-50 rule where both the sides are marked equally but there are also other techniques like 20/80 or 0/100 (Wysocki, 2011. ).
• Cost ratio- it is designed to measure the performance of the task that are designed for long duration or the entire project. This cost is often used for overhead costs.
• Experience or opinion- Unlike the method instead of following a determined data track it depends on the experience and subjectivity of the project manager. This method is used for tasks like dewatering or frost removal (Saunders, 2011).
• Weighted or equivalent units- It extends to a wider range of data where the best techniques in the text are highlighted along with the task that needs more effort.

3.4 Explain Project Change Control Procedures, evaluate the completed project 

Project change control is a process of reviewing all change requested by approving the changes and maintaining the changes to the deliverables project documented and the project plan. It is conducted right from the initiation stage continuing all through the project as every project requires some changes at least once in its life cycle (Larson and Gray, 2011.).  These changes are beneficial for the external uses and for the problems arising within the organisation. The four main reasons of changes are

• Environmental- These are the changes that occur due to changes in the government policy, legislation or business strategy.
• Organisational- In this the high level decisions are changed because change in the basic terms of the references of the project.
• End- user-It occurs due to the changes in the customer requirements. It can also occur while testing of the product or reeving of the product (Meredith and Mantel, 2011).
• Technical- Because of the advancement in the technologies, it might be found that it gives more positive or resourceful inputs than the original plans. In other case it might also happen that due to technical faults there have been some changes made in the project.

Conclusion

AZZ is Construction Company whose project analysis has been given here with different methods of calculations like NPV method, pay back method etc. The complete process of the project has been discussed here with the project team members along with their roles and responsibilities. It also discusses the elements that play an important role in planning and executing the project properly.

Reference list:

Books:

Meredith, J.R. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2011. Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F., 2011. Project management: The managerial process.
Wysocki, R.K., 2011. Effective project management: traditional, agile, extreme. John Wiley & Sons.
Anupindi, R., Chopra, S., Deshmukh, S.D., Van Mieghem, J.A. and Zemel, E., 2011. Managing business process flows
Kerzner, H.R., 2011. Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for project management.John Wiley & Sons.
Merrow, E.W., 2011. Industrial megaprojects: concepts, strategies, and practices for success. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Bredin, K. and Söderlund, J., 2011. Human resource management in project-based organizations: the HR quadriad framework
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2011. Management information systems(Vol. 8). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Dunne, K.J. and Dunne, E.S. eds., 2011. Translation and localization project management: the art of the possible. John Benjamins Publishing.
Jackson, S., Schuler, R. and Werner, S., 2011. Managing human resources.Cengage Learning.
Reiser, R.A. and Dempsey, J.V., 2011. Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ