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Project Management Relocation

Management of Projects

Task 1

A Close look at the Corporate Relocation Project of a Northern University

This essay looks at a corporate relocation project featured in a Northern University; the essay will be featured into two main parts, the Project strategy and Team working elements of the project in hand. Here we have 3 main scenarios to chose from or create a new one while looking at the relocation angle. As Robert Buttrick puts forth in “The Project Workout” (2005), well managed projects will help you to react and adapt speedily to meet the challenges of your competitive environments, at the same time ensuring that you drive towards an attainable and visible corporate goal.

Project Strategy

Focus was given to the main issues initially, to understand and come to terms with why such relocation was important for the Northern University. My team which is project team two, focused on the strategic procedure of working in the business and at the same time working on the business. In some areas the existing processes where used to deliver products and services and in others prioritizing projects which were aimed at improving the current ways of designing and delivering services or products

(Morgan, Levitt, Malek, 2007). I felt that keeping a conscious effort on identifying the current issues being faced by the University and at the same time knowing our current situation has helped us as a team to set our vision and objectives in place. The strategy we wanted to bring about on was to a differential value system that will help us attain our objectives. Customer intimacy, product leadership and disruptive innovation can be pointed out as the choice strategic identity that helped us down stream our project (Morgan, Levitt, Malek, 2007).

Project Framework

The project frame work was based on a wide range of different factors which mainly is benefit driven, capitalization on skills and resources, manage risk, allow many activities to proceed in parallel and is used by people across the whole University. Through the framework stage we have been able to choose a scenario out of the given ones, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of all the scenarios the team reached a decision of the supposed framework.

The very process of defining goals and metrics both clarifies and refines the strategy, making communication much easier. The vision helps in setting up goals, formulating standards to meet them and devising ways to get to those goals. If we use defined project stages, it is possible to plan the next stage in detail, with the rest of the stages planned in summary (Buttrick, 2005).

In the presentation we had taken a leap from the idea to the business case in one small step, which by itself is a mistake that happens in most project frameworks, since it evidently shows that the project can start off easily without any problems, but we need to ensure that the project goes through a rigorous process in the investigation stage. As we know the project comprises both of the investigation and execution.

Scenario Check

The case study has an option of 3 scenarios, the team doing presentation one, went bang on telling us that their choice is the third scenario. They might have had discussions on why this scenario will prove fruitful, but the presentation has no mention about the strengths and weaknesses of the scenario. There is a lot of ambiguity around the scenario in presentation one. Whereas if we look into the scenario stage of presentation two, we can see a very clear and transparent, list of pros and cons to go ahead with the chosen scenario, which in their case is a mix of all the scenarios present but of a majority from scenario two.

The team has gone into a very detailed analysis keeping in view the scenarios, the current trends in the environment and the future impact that each movement can cause to the University. Both the team where keen on mentioning the risks and the issues related to the project at large. The decision taken by the project presentation team two can be justified due to many

factors. The ‘wow’ factor of the location is a huge advantage for the project and it has been highlighted rightly. Even during the relocation it was highly essential to maintain ones own core capabilities for the University to survive. Science and Engineering was the most promising of subjects to this University so it made sense to keep them together than split them apart. As said in the presentation the conferencing facilities need more space, so it would be more appropriate to build them up in the new location and thus making sure that there is room for their development.

The University is setting up such a facility for the first time, so it would be good to have it set up in the new location. One of the main risks faced by the project managers in this relocation process was to get the support of the stakeholders and make them to buy into the vision and the goals set up. If their support was not there, the project might go on, but the picture put forward in front of the general public would be very different. So to show unity in their thoughts and actions it was essential for the University’s well being that they cashed in on their stakeholder ’s support.

This point needed to be highlighted in presentation two, which was not. But still it was a part of the risks involved while going ahead with the project. Some other justified risks are the change in Govt. policy which can happen often, underestimated costs and an increase in student numbers that are not properly justified. Presentation team one was keen on looking at the leadership issue, this point was missed out by team two.

The responsibility and the accountability of the project had to be in strong hands, which could make the much needed decisions without hesitation. If the leadership was not dependable then the whole project will go beyond its time frame and might not even complete adding to huge losses. Another fact that the presentation team two missed and was there in the presentation team one was the knowledge gap, where identifying a communication strategy to keep all involved up to date with the process and informing passive stakeholders about the progress.

A transparent communication system can help the University deal with all the issues that can later pop up regarding misunderstandings through out the projects. Both the teams have shown great interest in the Education Faculty, their position towards this project is taken into consideration a lot.

Project Management Approach

This area holds significant influences on the risks taken while going ahead with the project. Risks are potential uncertainties that can affect timescale, costs, quality or benefits (Buttrick, 2005), even though all projects are prone to risks, the extent of it will vary considerably. Presentation team one has done a very detailed analysis of the risks that can be encountered in this project. They have made sure to have a clear picture of the cause, event, impact and how to manage such an incident. This helps them to be alert and tackle the situation will into the initial stage by causing less harm to the project.

Many of the predictable situations while pursuing such a project are taken into account and then found a solution already, even if these risks where to come in a different situation, the risk team will be able to handle it will in advance, due to the preparation. Presentation team one has just mentioned the risks that are possible to come.

So I would say that they have identified the risks during their initial investigation stage, which is very important. This is also necessary because when the project sponsor approves a project, he/she is well aware of the risks involved and in a way accepts the consequences should things go wrong.

In the process of identifying risks as a part of the project management approaches it is also important to think of risks in terms of projects risks and business risks. Project risks are those which impact delivery during the project and business risks impact the benefit realization (Buttrick, 2005). To be sure that one has covered most of the risks involved be it business or project, we need to brainstorm all possibilities, review, determine the risk (medium, high), take preventive methods and monitor them continuously. These features have helped presentation team one in getting to the core of risk management, than just identify risks as done by the presentation team two.

A break up of the departmental requirements concerned to the University has been given by the presentation team two, like mentioning that Engineering is going to be situated in one specific location that too the core of the business, this helps us stay in focus to the departmental needs as well. Presentation team one at that time pays immense detail to track down the stakeholders and understanding their role and standing in this project, helping them approach them with a clear idea about their standing.

This team also looks at internal stakeholder management and the procurement team, which is also missing in team two. Mapping out the stakeholders and the challenges involved with them, can help the project team be more aligned to all the opportunities and risks in place. Both the team have their own next step in place, the only common things in both is the confirmation of the position and scope of the Education Faculty merger.

This plays a very important role in the relocation project. This relocation project is one such project where there are a lot of activities going on, refurbishment of city campus, merging of the Educational Faculty and many more, it is important to be able to decide what not to do at present as it is equally important to decide on which all to invest now. So getting to know for certain, if the merger can happen now is very important.

Team two has a contingency plan also, though they have not provided with details into how it can be done and implemented at a situation. They have also set up a time line that clearly states at what point which of the major portions will be shifted and in how many years. It also has a reflection period which looks into the way the work is carried out, what all can be learned out of it, bringing in of more funds and also mapping down the details of the rest of the work to be carried out. Based on this reflection period further activities can only be carried out based on the real results achieved. This time line can help any project management team to have a very clear cut picture of what is to be achieved and when.

This is where the engagement imperative is in action, and this is one stage where the strategic execution fails or succeeds. It is important make project priority decisions before improving or enhancing an existing a department and even building a new one to support the transportation of the University. If decisions are not made fast, schedules will be slipping, resources will be wasted and the project can go hay wire.

Leadership should make sure that there is open communication between teams involved in the project, there by taking a very rational stand through out the process. Project presentation team one has through out the presentation, given great importance to such a fact. This team’s greatest flaw remains in not refurbishing the City location and shifting the entire departments in parts to the new location. While my team’s strategy stands strong since it is able to maintain the City centre attractiveness and at the same time being able to shift the departments and making sure they are not split in the process.

Summary

Through out the project strategy it is important to be sure of the process as well as of the people involved with it. The general tip can be to concentrate on the early stages of the project, then manage risks and above all manage everything you do. As mentioned above in the essay, there are a lot of things that my project team two could have kept in mind while going about the project. Making sure that the project is driven by benefits which support the vision and strategy is very important to keep in mind for any project manager/supervisor.

Task 2

Team Work

Team work has an underlying feature, a sense of co operation in which members work well together as a united team and in harmony and supportive relationships. Team members need to share aims and objectives, mutual trust and dependency, free flow of communications and information and the resolution of conflict.

Being a part of Project Presentation team two, helped in understanding interactive behaviour, conflict resolution and also delegation of responsibilities. I noticed team roles, it is described as a pattern of behaviour, and characteristic of the way one team member behaves with one another team member, whose performance can serve to facilitate the progress of the team as a whole. This is one definition put forward by Belbin (1993).

Based on the roles and description that Belbin (1993) put forward, it is easy to identify such roles when you see them in the team. One among us used to be a resource investigator, largely interested in looking out for opportunities. These roles might not be fixed but can change according to situations, normally in any project team members are chosen for functional roles on the basis of their experience and not on their personal attitudes.

The first day of the module, went in interacting with each other and looking into detail in the case study. We as a team put aside individual notes and probed into the case study more. There was not much team involvement in the first day. In the second day, we had interactive sessions with the client team, which was more of a team work. They told us how far they had reached in their discussions and their requirements as a client team.

One thing that was noticeable is that both the teams, the project team and the client team got together and discussed, making it participation for all. This session helped our team get a strong and detailed understanding of the project. On the last day of the module, we split in groups of two and divided the work between the internal groups.

As such we did not have a leader, but since most of our discussions were a lot interactive we were able to avoid many conflicts. A more logical and rational approach was taken into account when we had disagreements. Since the majority of the work was divided, each team came up with their part and there was coordination among us.

Looking at research by Bavelas (1948) and Leavitt (1951) we can see a design of a series of communication networks. The main types are wheel, circle, all channel, Y and chains. The all channel network is extremely apt for complex tasks, it is decentralised so information and communication flows all around the network.

This network holds everyone responsible for their actions and the outcome of the project, thus no one person becomes saturated. Decentralised networks are deemed superior on complex tasks, I could say that this was a type of communication method we had within our project team. Centralized network is very good with simple tasks.

The team process we had in place was a good strategy; all our team members were interactive and cooperative though we had our initial hiccups. Leadership is a very effective means to maintaining effective team work. The emphasis of leadership is on trust, clear communications, full participation and self management. The ability of a team leader is in motivating team members to have high standards of performance. In my team I did not see the need for a team leader, but I do feel n complex situations, team leaders will be able to bring out more from their members.

Teamwork is a very important factor in projects, this involves a reorganization of the way work is carried out. Teamwork can increase competitiveness by improving productivity, improving quality, improving employee motivation and commitment, and to take advantage of the diverse opportunities in front of us. Teamwork in today’s time is very crucial to an organization’s effort to perform better, faster and profitable.

Over all the team work in project team two, has been very effective, enabling all of us to make a contribution to the work in hand. Interdependence and collaboration play a very important role in team work. Teamwork can be used as a tool in project management, which is able to bring the project to its success or failure as and how it is used.

References

Task 1

Buttrick, R. 2005. The Project Workout. London: Pearson Educations Limited

Morgan, M. Levitt, R. Malek, W. 2007, Executing Your Strategy. Boston: Harvard business School Press

Maylor, H. 2005, Project Management 3^rd Edition. London: Pearson Educations

Meredith, J. Mantel, S 2000, Project Management A managerial Approach.

New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Task 2

Mullins, L. 2007, Management and Organisational Behaviour. London: Pearson Education Limited

Redman, T. Wilkinson, A.2006, Contemporary Human Resources Management, London: Pearson Education Limited

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