Questions And Answers On Management Case Study

Question 1. Organisations are regularly faced with the dilemma of what is a project and what is a change that can be handled as a “business as usual” activity. Discuss the differences and identify the key criteria that an organisation might use to decide if a piece of change needs to be managed as a project.

Answer 1.  To manage the organizational dilemma we must identify the characteristics of a project and business as usual. A project can be explained as an activity that is undertaken to create or modify a specific product, service or result. A project can be limited to a department or can include other organizations or skilled vendors to achieve the desired goal. A project is complex which requires special skill which should be treated as a one-time effort of non-routine business activity within a constrained budget with limited resources and time to attain the purpose of the project. The project life cycle has concurrent stages that are dependent on the management and requires extensive monitoring to obtain the needs of the organisation. The first stage is to define a project where specs, objectives, teams and their roles are assigned, following the first stage comes the planning stage where timelines, quality, budget, and beneficiaries are identified. Execution is followed by planning as the third stage where it is monitored, the closing stage is the final stage where the project is delivered and reviewed. The unique nature of the product, service or result sets the project apart where the business, as usual, is focused on repeated production of product, service or results. Business as usual can be defined as the standard implementation within the framework of normal operating processes which provides a potential comparison with projects and systems that could contribute to modification. Working practices are systematic during business as usual activities to ensure consistency, with the goal of continuous enhancement of tasks. Some key differences are: 

• Business as usual reproduces the same product, service or result whereas, project is one-off.
• Business as usual is dealing with repetitive activity which does not hold any risk as compared to project which has high risks.
• Projects are time bound whereas business as usual is the day-to-day business operations.
• Projects have short term deliverables whereas, business as usual has long term goals. 
• The project has limited resources and business as usual has more resources allocated in comparison.
• Team efficiency cannot be created in projects due to time constraints whereas business as usual can have efficient teams due to more training, trust, satisfaction and team-building activities. 
• Management of a project can differ from business as usual as it requires project management skills.

Change is focused on projects, which may be partly procedural, but fundamentally involve new operating practices (e.g., changes control procedures). The key criteria is that any change in the operational activity which will revamp the operations of business as usual should be treated as a project after achieving the objective it will become business as usual.  

Question 2. Benjamin Franklin is credited with observing that “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Discuss how important the Planning phase is for a project and identify 3 key outputs from that phase that would contribute to the success of a project.

Answer 2. Planning means formalizing decision-making by decomposition, articulation, and rationalization. Pre-project planning in construction is defined as a phase after business planning when a contract is concluded and before project implementation takes place. Planning is a process to determine the path forward and asks some questions on why, how and when to take the action. It is generally considered an administrative strategy that uses the ability to anticipate the essence of transition, affect it and regulate it. Planning requires time and effort from the organization there are several reasons as to why an organization will skip the planning phase, unrealistic deliverables can push the project manager to skip or rush the planning phase. It is essential to understand the importance of planning in a project it has several strengths. This first step in the project process allows for a reliable and realistic time-scale to be created. Ensuring that the costing calculation is accurate and that the goals and results are recorded explicitly should improve so much as the project progresses. Planning also involved by creating a detailed workflow where all members clearly understand their roles and responsibilities in a project. A detailed project identifies and acts as a warning system all asset specifications. If work slippage is at risk, a warning system gives clear details about what to do. Planning allows an organization to regularly consider future risks in order to develop contingency plans. The systematic plan will help the company to remain competitive with new products, new markets and new forms of operation. The key outputs from planning which will contribute towards the success are:

• Deliverable– When and how the project is to be delivered 
• Resources – How much resources are allocated and what standards and methods of development are to be used to achieve the objective of the project.
• Risk – Planning seeks to identify and quantify project threats and to mitigate those risks in order to reduce impacts on the project.