Project Management Assignment: Case Analysis of Company Cash Flow Issue

Question

Task: 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 1
Stakeholder management is one of the most important parts of getting a project done as per the requirements. In this provided case of project management assignment, there is an urgency of work as there is a lack of cash flow in the project management organisation. Therefore, design review and approval are needed to be completed earlier than the planned schedule. Thus, this work becomes challenging for a project manager (Atesmen, 2014). In this case, there are different stakeholders who are influenced by or influencing the project directly or indirectly. Managing these stakeholders properly will help the project to get 10% of the total fund two weeks earlier. This will help to maintain the cash flow of the project. Stakeholder management has different parts (Oppong, Chan & Dansoh,2017). The first part is identifying the stakeholders. In this case, four of the stakeholders, who have the most impact on the project, are identified.

According to the stakeholder management theory, the stakeholders can be managed with the help of a power-interest matrix. The power and interest of the stakeholders are identified and marked and High or Low (Gray& Larson, 2018). Based on this, the management process is determined. The power, interest matrix is provided below.

Figure 1: Power-interest matrix
(Source: mindtools.com, 2021)

Answer 2
In this part of this paper, the risk management for this urgent phase of the mentioned project is discussed and highlighted. As the answer to this question, the risks of a project for a new client are highlighted. Also, a proper risk response strategy for this current risk of insufficient cash flow is discussed here. There are many risks working with a new client. According to Chou & Chiu, (2021), project Scope Risk is one of the most common and possible risks that can take place while working with a new client. Lack of understanding of the requirements, timeline, cost and other project details can result in a scope risk to the project. Similarly, there can be a lack of communication that may harm the project. This current project is being done for a new client. Thus, lack of communication can be there that is considered as a project risk. Time of delivery is needed to be cleared properly. This can be another risk while working with new clients.

Now, according to Gray& Larson, (2018), there are four primary response strategies to deal with the project risks. The response strategies are Avoid, Accept, Transfer and Mitigate. Avoiding the risk if it has no impact on the project is a common practice here. Risk is accepted sometimes with little impact. According to Francis, (2019), in some cases, the cost of mitigation is higher than the cost of the risk impact. In these cases, the risks are accepted or compromised. Risk transfer is also a strategy where the risk is transferred to other individuals or organisational bodies. Risk mitigation helps to mitigate the risks with suitable and effective strategies.

In this part of this paper, the current risk is analysed. The risk is about the lack of cash flow in the project management organisation. This risk has a huge impact on the overall process of project management. Lack of cash flow will stop many activities, and thus, several phases of this project. This can cause a delay to the project. Also, the project team can feel demotivated by this situation. Thus, the quality of the project can be compromised. The project manager needs to deal with this risk with a proper Risk Response Strategy. In this case, this risk cannot be accepted or avoided by the company. Also, there is no other stakeholder body on which this risk can be transferred. Mitigating the risk is the best choice for this case. The early submission of the customer's design and approval of those can help in managing this situation by getting the 10% of the total fund earlier in the project.

Answer 3
In the answer to this question, the triple constraint of project management is under consideration. According to the concept of triple constraint, Scope, Time and Cost are the three constraints that are important for project quality. In this project, the primary deliverable is to design, develop and test the required equipment for the offshore oil platform (Barbalho, da Silva & de Toledo, 2017). The cost of the project is fixed, so is the time.

Figure 2: Triple constraint of project management
(Source: Prakash, 2017)

Now, the project is going through a tough stage where a lack of cash flow is being observed. This can have a negative impact on the overall project. Thus, the urgent situation is needed to be managed properly. The time for design drawing and having the approval has been shortened to deal with this risk. This will allow the project management company to have 10% of the total budget (Chou & Chiu,2021). Thus, the cash flow can be maintained. Now, as per the concept of triple constraint, change in time can have an impact on the other two constraints. The scope of the project will remain unchanged in this case. The deliverables will be maintained accurately at the end of this project. However, this will have an impact on the total cost of the project. To do this mitigation activity, extra working hours are needed. Also, experts from other departments are needed to be added to the project team. The human resource cost of the project will increase thus. It is therefore vital to look after every dangerous situation and need essential steps.

According to Jaleel, Daim&Giadedi, (2019), the critical path of a project is the connection and network formed between the activities of the project. This path is maintained to maintain the timeline of the project and to have better time efficiency. For this change, the activities are coming before other activities of the path as per the project plan. This will rearrange the critical path network thus. The project president is managing the project with the project management team. Thus, the manager has a high influence on this project. Therefore, there is a huge impact on the critical path of the project due to the change in time constraint. The triple constraint concept, thus, helps the project manager to have a clear evaluation of the project system properly.

Answer 4
In the answer to this question, four skills and traits that are important for managing a project effectively are highlighted and discussed aligning with this provided project case. This will help to understand how the project manager can manage this project using these four skills.

- Leadership- This is one of the most important skills for project managers. According to Al Saadi&Zakuan, (2020), a manager needs to lead the team properly to have the desired outcomes. In this case, the project manager can lead this project with the help of situational leadership and democratic leadership approach. According to democratic leadership, the team members can participate in the decision-making process of the project. The thoughts of the team members are valued in this case. The project manager has listened to the suggestions of the team members to make the project successful. Situational leadership helps to deal with this type of urgent situations in project management.

- Communication- Proper communication is key to the success of a project. The project manager can use transparent communication to maintain the flow of information. This can satisfy the client and make the team members clear about the project (Amalnik&Ravasan, 2018). Thus, the quality of the project can be maintained by the project manager. As the manager use democratic leadership, two-way communication is allowed in the project process. The project manager should monitor the team to avoid unnecessary delay in the process.

- Problem Solving- Problem-solving skill is another important skill for a project manager. There are several problems that arise in a project management process. The manager, with the skill of problem-solving, can handle the situations effectively. For example, in this project, the project manager is taking the challenge of developing the drawing within two weeks (Al Saadi&Zakuan, 2020). For this, he developed proper plans and strategies. This is helpful for the overall project outcome. According to the power-influence matrix, the client should be managed closely. Proper information flow is needed to bemaintained. Also, clear communication and good relationship can help in this case

- Enthusiasm- This quality of project manager helps to make the team members confident and comfortable with the works. This also helps to motivate the team members. Thus, the project manager can maintain the efficiency of the project team properly. These traits are highly beneficial for a project manager to manage different projects comfortably and successfully. ?

References
Al Saadi, N. S., &Zakuan, M. D. N. B. (2020).The Impact of Soft Skills of Project Managers in Construction Project Performance as the Mediation Role of a Conceptual Project Risk Management. Asia Proceedings of Social Sciences, 6(1), 16-19.https://readersinsight.net/APSS/article/download/1219/926

Amalnik, M. S., &Ravasan, A. Z. (2018). An investigation and classification of ERP project managers' required skills. International Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 9(1), 10-23.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ahad_Zareravasan/publication/322179272_An_Investigation_and_ Classification_of_ERP_Project_Managers%27_Required_Skills/links/5a819cca458515cd5f00ab3d/An- Investigation-and-Classification-of-ERP-Project-Managers-Required-Skills.pdf 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

Barbalho, S. C. M., da Silva, G. L., & de Toledo, J. C. (2017).The impact analysis of functions of Project Management Office on the performance of triple constraint of new-product development projects.Dirección y Organisación, (61), 19-31.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sanderson_Barbalho/publication/318982767_The_impact_ analysis_of_functions_of_Project_Management_Office_on_perfor-mance_of_triple_constraint_of_new-product_development_projects/links/598962550f7e9b6c8541f3ad/The-impact-analysis-of-functions-of-Project-Management-Office-on-perfor-mance-of-triple-constraint-of-new-product-development-projects.pdf

Chou, J. S., & Chiu, Y. C. (2021).Identifying critical risk factors and responses of river dredging projects for knowledge management within organisation. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 14(1), e12690.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfr3.12690

de Oliveira, G. F., &RabechiniJr, R. (2019). Stakeholder management influence on trust in a project: A quantitative study. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), 131-144.https://fardapaper.ir/mohavaha/uploads/2018/12/Fardapaper-Stakeholder-management-influence-on-trust-in-a-project-A-quantitative-study.pdf

Francis, G. (2019). Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): Key Risks, Responses and Applications.https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/essays-monographs/2019-erm-symposium/mono-2019-erm-francis.pdf Gray, C. F., & Larson, E. W. (2018). Project management?: the managerial process (Seventh edition. International student edition..). McGraw-Hill Education.

Jaleel, F., Daim, T., &Giadedi, A. (2019).Exploring the impact of knowledge management (KM) best practices for project management maturity models on the project management capability of organisations. International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management, 14(1), 47-52.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Farrokh_Jaleel/publication/326434189_Exploring_the_impact_of_ knowledge_management_KM_best_practices_for_project_management_maturity_models_on_the_project_ management_capability_of_organisations/links/5c7983d492851c69504c1b57/Exploring-the-impact-of- knowledge-management-KM-best-practices-for-project-management-maturity-models-on-the-project- management-capability-of-organisations.pdf Oppong, G. D., Chan, A. P., &Dansoh, A. (2017). A review of stakeholder management performance attributes in construction projects. International journal of project management, 35(6), 1037-1051.http://www.projcp.com/Readings/180329%20Stakeholders%202.pdf

Prakash, V. (2017).Balancing the triple constraints triangle - pmwares. Retrieved 11 June 2021, from https://www.pmwares.com/blog/balancing-triple-constraints-triangle/ Stakeholder Analysis: Winning Support for Your Projects. (2021). Retrieved 11 June 2021, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm