Project Management Assignment Analysing Company Cash Flow Issue

Question

Task

Project Management Assignment Requirements
Read the following case study and write an answer to each of the following 4 questions.

Company Cash Flow Issue Affecting Design Review Pull- In

In the middle of an equipment design, build, and test project for an offshore oil platform, the company president came to my office and explained to me that the company had a shortage in cash flow during the coming months. He asked me if I could bring in the customer design review and design drawings approval phase of my project, which was due in eight weeks, by two weeks so that the company could get paid 10% of the total project funding two weeks earlier. I told the company president that I would work on his request with my team members and with the customer’s project manager and get back to him in three working days.

This was quite a challenge that was thrown in my lap on top of all my other project management responsibilities. The company president’s request went to the top of my action item list because the company’s cash flow health meant a lot to the morale of my team members and to myself. Another twist on this issue was the inner workings of our customer who was Finnish. This was our first project for them. I had no idea if the customer’s project manager and finance department would entertain such an earlier design review and phase 1 payment to us. My team had to design, check, and release close to 40 drawings, 15 calculations, a structural interface drawing approved by the customer, and the control panel software code before the design review meeting. We had to cut our task’s duration by 25%. The first step was to discuss the situation with my team members. I had a team meeting with them the next day. I explained to them the company president’s request to accelerate the first phase of our project by two weeks. I had six full time engineers working on the project. We went over every task, 140 of them, that had to be completed and over all the task interactions. The team members had good suggestions.

One of them was to bring into our project a senior engineer from the manufacturing department full time for six weeks to check the design calculations and drawings.

Another suggestion was to get two more workstations assigned by the IT department full time to our project for parallel finite element scenario runs.

The third suggestion was to put in an extra hour a day to complete all the tasks before the design review.

Source: (Atesmen, 2014, p.5).

Atesmen, M. K. (2014). Project Management Case Studies and Lessons Learned: Stakeholder, Scope, Knowledge, Schedule, Resource and Team Management. (1st ed..). https://doi.org/10.1201/b17754

Question 1: This case briefly identifies that a network of stakeholders is involved in this project. It also identifies some of the stakeholder management issues that the project manager needed to address.

Considering this case, identify four (4) stakeholders who bring different expertise to the project. Explain each stakeholder’s contribution to the project and the nature of their dependencies. Provide a recommendation as to how a project manager would manage each of these dependencies. You need to be critical, use relevant theory, reflect on the case, and provide examples to support your answer. Use APA referencing as required.

Question 2: This case identifies the risk associated with having a new client. The project manager says: “This was our first project for them. I had no idea if the customer’s project manager and finance department would entertain such an earlier design review and phase 1 payment to us”. From a project management perspective, it is important that “When a risk event is identified and assessed, a decision must be made concerning which response is appropriate for the specific event” (Gray & Larson, 2018, p. 216).

Explain what risks may need to be considered for a project with a new client. Identify, and discuss, what your risk response strategy would be for this risk, and why? You need to be critical, use relevant theory, reflect on the case, and provide examples to support your answer. Use APA referencing as required.

Gray, C. F., & Larson, E. W. (2018). Project management?: the managerial process (Seventh edition. International student edition..). McGraw-Hill Education.

Question 3: This case discusses the organisational need to reduce the delivery time on a key deliverable. This potentially has impacts throughout the project lifecycle.

Considering the potential impacts on the project, use the triple constraint and discuss how variations to time might affect the other aspects of scope and cost. Also consider, and discuss, how shortening the delivery time might affect the critical path. You need to be critical, use relevant theory, reflect on the case, and provide examples to support your answer. Use APA referencing as required.

Question 4: This case provides an indication of how the project manager has led this project. The textbook identifies eight (8) core traits and skills of an effective project manager. Select at least four (4) of these core traits and explain how the project manager uses these traits effectively to manage this project. You need to be critical, use relevant theory, reflect on the case and provide examples to support your answer. Use APA referencing as required.

Answer

Answer to question 1
There are four stakeholders associated with this particular project discussed herein project management assignment who is responsible for bringing in expertise in the domain of project management (Atesmen, 2014). The offshore oil platform company president is considered the first stakeholder who provides expertise in the fields of material and resource management, as he is the main person responsible for looking after the funding and planning aspects of the project. Asset management will serve a beneficial purpose in maintaining the financial records of the company. The various documentation regarding the credit and loan approvals, which is required by the company, is maintained by the president. The project manager is the second stakeholder that holds a sheer amount of importance for the company's operations. According to Graves (2019), he is the person responsible for the timely and accurate completion of the project that will serve the interests of the other stakeholders and investors of the company.

The customers are considered the company's third stakeholders as the company has provided them with the privilege of reviewing the designs that are to be implemented by the project management in construction. The team members of the project management are considered the fourth stakeholder because they have a key role in bringing expertise. They are the ones who have provided recommendations regarding the shortening of the task duration. The recommendations proved useful in cutting down the project approval and management time for the company. The client is dependent on the president as he is the one who will release the funds required for the ultimate design of the project. As per Graves (2019), the president is dependent on the project manager as he is capable of bringing down the running time of the project.

The project manager can manage this event based on the ideas and recommendations provided by the management team working under the project manager's leadership. The project management team must designate a senior engineer for advisories related to the timely completion of the project that would be beneficial for all the stakeholders, including the client, project manager, president, and team members. This suggestion can fulfill the requirements of all the stakeholders and bring out a positive aspect of the project. The Royal Bank of Scotland needed to establish a consistent and reliable data management plan for undertaking financial and resource decisions. They successfully developed tools and spreadsheets that helped in improving their transparency and significantly reduced their costs. According to McHale (2019), the stakeholder theory can be taken into consideration in this case that emphasizes the interconnection with the various people associated with the project.

Answer to question 2
Resource risk is an important factor in the case of a new client of project management. The acquisition of sufficient resources that are required for the timely completion of the project is required in the case of new clients for the company that is creating the project. The proper resources should be provided to the project management team so that they can ensure timely completion and delivery of the project to the client. The absence of appropriate resources may lead to delays in the project, and the new client can get deviated from the company in the future. This event can result in the loss of a potential customer for the project management company. Communication risks are also considered integral in the case of new clients because the time limit that the parent company provides to the client is of absolute importance for the company's goodwill. The lack of effective communications between the client and the company will result in the creation of misunderstandings that will harm the future of the project management company. According to Montgomery (2020), these are the two primary risk factors that can be associated with this case study.

These risks can pose a threat to the future market reputation of the company. To maintain sustainability and reputation, the project management company needs to implement some strategies for mitigating the risks. Maintaining clear and effective responsive communication with the client is the foremost criteria the project management company should follow to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts among them and efficiently reduce the company's communication risk. The company procurement division should also provide sufficient resources to the project management team so that they do not face any difficulty in performing their task smoothly and efficiently. This act can help in gaining the trust of the new clients and can make them favourable as future potential clients. As per Graves (2019), the agency theory associated with risk management can be applied in the case of this event as it is used to explain and resolve issues about the relation between the business principals and their agents. In this particular case study, the principal can be considered as the new client, and the agent may be considered as the project management company. Loss of the potential customer due to inadequate explanation regarding project schedule and incomplete design of the project can be considered as an example of determining factors for this project's risk management.

Answer to question 3
One of the hardest tasks in Project management is rescheduling or scheduling a project and taking all the constraints into account. The Triple Constraint theory of Project Management tries to set out a structure of the project constraints. From the theory perspective, the project is a restricted time endeavor intended at taking a company from one level of performance measurement to a higher level of performance measurement. In the given case, the theory of triple constraint can be applied to discuss the potential impact of time variation on other aspects of the project. For determining the achievement and impact of the project objective, a better measurement is necessary. There are three variables of Triple Constraint theory, and they are time, scope, and cost.

Figure 1: Triple Constraint

Sources: (Wilson, 2020)

According to this theory, one of the most significant elements which manager have is to tract the time. Time is a constraint, which is significant for each part related to the project development method (Trojanowska & Dostatni, 2017). Time scheduling by the manager or the stakeholders according to the project needs and the variation in time, as in the case study, can produce few issues. The scheduling of time for every task is done in the project planning stage. The cost constraint is the estimated amount of money needed for successful project completion. The major part of the costs is used by resources, and they are intangible and tangible assets like having services or including people on the project board. The scope is also the major part of the project as other planning, and assessment functions are carried after defining the scope of the project (Rugenyi & Bwisa, 2016). The scope of the project is to define the activities and task which are carried in the project development method.

As the company wants to reduce the delivery time in the case study, it can have a huge impact on the project. According to the Triple Constraint theory, the variation or change in time means changes in one or both of the other constraints. It means a change in one aspect can change the other two. Cost and Time constraints are consistent. Shorting the delivery time changes the scope and cost of the project (Barbalho, Carvalho, Silva, & Toledo, 2016). Naturally, the time duration needed to make deliverable shall be linked with the amount needed, which is the part of the end outcome that is scope with the number of resources allocated to the project that is cost. For the given case, shortening the delivery time can require extra resources and cost to complete the task in less time (Atesmen, 2014). If such cost increment is not possible, the scope has to be reduced to complete the project within reduced time and cost. As the company in a given case cannot increase its cost, thus the impact can be on the scope or quality of the project.

Answer to question 4
The task of a project manager is to perform the project from conception to finish while certifying the requirement of the client is attain and that the team is attaining its deadlines. It requires al huge planning and execution. Thus, the leadership theory can be applied to show the traits and skills of the project manager in the given case (Larson & Gray, 2018). There are several qualities which an effective project manager shares, which raises its overall success in managing and leading the team and project. Thus, the four core traits of the project manager for the given case study (Atesmen, 2014). The Transformational Leadership theory can help to describe the effectiveness of the project manager in the case study. Those traits or skill are as follows:

1. Optimism: It is one of the important traits of a good leader. The negative attitude strangles motivation and produces average work. Thus, the project manager having an optimistic attitude can help to inspire and motivate and the team to produce better results. Employees or team always wants to follow someone that motivates them to work and show them the right direction (Montequin, Nieto, Ortega, & Villanueva, 2015b). In the given case, the project manager has discussed with his team about the change in time and effectively inspired them to work for the project.
2. Effective time management: Time is the important rarest thing to preserve in project management. Thus, in the given case, as the manager has to reduce the time of delivery thus this trait is essential for the project manager. The project manager in the given case has effectively managed their time to collaborate with his team and budget the time to swift the task to manage their main concern.
3. Personal integrity: Integrity is the trait of dependability, uprightness, and honesty. The personal integrity trait is an act on one's promise and delivering it with that regard (Larson & Gray, 2018). The project manager who works with integrity trait performs assessment with honesty and directness in offering a response to this team. Thus, in the given case project manager had used this trait and used the inner strength to work effectively in the challenging time.
4. System thinking: System thinking in project management identifies the requirement for the team approach and certain behavior approach to the project, and it requires a huge level of variation to change. Adoption is founded on learning by creativity, action, and focus on the new task with challenges. Thus, in the given case, the project manager had used the knowledge and understanding for the task of prior time of delivering the project. The transformational leadership theory illustrates how the project manager of the case study effectively leads the team to work for change and to create a scope to guide the change by system thinking and knowledge (Korejan & Shahbazi, 2016).

References
Atesmen, M. K. (2014). Project Management Case Studies and Lessons Learned. https://doi.org/10.1201/b17754

Barbalho, S. C. M., Carvalho, V. G. de, Silva, G. L. da, & Toledo, J. C. de. (2016). Analyzing the impact of the functions of Project Management Offices on triple constraints performance of new product projects. Product Management & Development, 14(2), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.4322/pmd.2016.009

Graves, E. (2019, May 2). 8 Types of Risk and Risk Management Investment. Retrieved June 8, 2021, from www.playbookhq.co website: https://www.playbookhq.co/blog/types-project-risk

Korejan, M. M., & Shahbazi, H. (2016). (PDF) An analysis of the transformational leadership theory. Retrieved from ResearchGate website: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323732677_An_analysis_of_the_transformational_leadership_theory

Larson, E., & Gray, C. (2018). MANAGEMENT THE MANAGERIAL PROCESS 7E. Retrieved from website: http://projanco.com/Library/Project%20Management-%20The%20Managerial%20Process.pdf

Mc Abee, J. (2021, February 16). What is stakeholder theory? | Wrike. Retrieved June 8, 2021, from www.wrike.com website: https://www.wrike.com/blog/understanding-stakeholder-theory/

McHale, B. (2019, May 21). What Are The Different Types Of Risks In Project Management. Retrieved June 8, 2021, from Project Central website: https://www.projectcentral.com/blog/project-risk-management/

Montequin, V. R., Nieto, A. G., Ortega, F., & Villanueva, J. (2015b). Managerial Style Profiles of Successful Project Managers: A Survey. Procedia Computer Science, 64, 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.08.463

Montgomery, K. (2020, March 23). 8 Common Project Risks - and How to Minimize Them [Infographic]. Retrieved June 8, 2021, from Salesforce Ben website: https://www.salesforceben.com/8-common-project-risks-and-how-to-minimize-them-infographic/

Rugenyi, F., & Bwisa, H. (2016). EFFECTS OF TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PROJECTS IN NAIROBI: THE PROJECT MANAGERS’ PERSPECTIVE. Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 3(2). Retrieved from https://strategicjournals.com/index.php/journal/article/view/241

Sunindijo, R. Y. (2015). (PDF) Project manager skills for improving project performance. Retrieved from ResearchGate website: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281789499_Project_manager_skills_for_improving_project_performance

Trojanowska, J., & Dostatni, E. (2017). Application of the Theory of Constraints for Project Management. Management and Production Engineering Review, 8(3), 87–95. https://doi.org/10.1515/mper-2017-0031

Wilson, F. (2020, October 14). A Brief Explanation of the Triple Constraint in Project Management. Retrieved from nTask website: https://www.ntaskmanager.com/blog/triple-constraint-in-project-management/