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- QUESTION
Winsome Manufacturing Company produces plastic storage containers and sells them to the home consumer through home sales events. At the company’s quarterly meeting, the head of marketing described a new product to be introduced in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, approximately 9 months from now. The product will be a room-sized plastic storage unit suitable to the outside of the home; it is similar to a competitor’s product but will have significantly more features. This product will open new markets for the sales channel, lay the foundation for add-on products, and generate new revenues. Management has only seen preliminary sketches of the potential product but are very excited by the new product.
The project will require participation from the design, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments. Winsome Manufacturing owns a line of suitable injection molds, so all manufacturing will be done in-house. The project manager for this project has not yet been selected, but that decision is expected to be made in the next week.
A preliminary project initiation meeting will result in the identification of the project sponsor, selection of a project manager, and creation of the project charter. A manager in the production department who knows you are taking a college project management course asks you to prepare a brief report to help him prepare for the meeting by answering the following questions:
Who are the project stakeholders? How will they be involved in the project?
Who should be the project sponsor? Why?
From which department should the project manager come? Why?
What skills and experience are likely needed by the project manager for each phase in the project life cycle, and how do they differ between the various phases?
What type of communication plan will likely be needed during the project?
What information should be shared with the project stakeholders?
What is the mechanism that could be used for each type of information?
What is the frequency with which information should be shared?
What should be done if project communications are not proving to be effective?
What technology could be used for project communications?
At what point could communication about the project become an ethical or legal issue?
What information should be included in the following elements of the project charter:
What is the problem the project proposes to address?
What business opportunity might project completion create?
What is the business case for undertaking the project?
What is the financial impact of the project?
What are the expected results of the project?
What value will the project add?
What are risks that might be involved with undertaking the project?
What is the potential impact to the company if the project is not undertaken?
Present your findings as a Word document of 4–5 pages (not including title and reference pages) formatted in APA style.
| Subject | Business | Pages | 7 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Project Execution at Winsome Manufacturing Company
- Who are the project stakeholders? How will they be involved in the project?
Russell (2011) describes a project stakeholder as any individual, organization or a group of people who affect or may be affected by the outcomes of any given project. In the case of Winsome Manufacturing Company, the identified project stakeholders include the project sponsor, project manager, and employees from the design, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments. The project sponsor is involved in the project by sharing in ownership rights. A project manager will be involved in the project by offering professional guidance during the implementation of the project. They are involved in planning and executing the project through various stages until completion. Employees in the identified department will offer support services and resources which will facilitate project implementation until completion.
- Who should be the project sponsor? Why?
The project sponsor should be someone who has a range of skills such as the appreciation for sustainable organizational growth and the formulation of corporate strategy. The sponsor should have the knowledge and ability to prepare cases while equally being competent in facilitating operations (Cattani et al 2011). A sponsor mush have interpersonal and communication skills which are important in facilitating effective partnership among stakeholder.
- From which department should the project manager come? Why?
Project manager can be identified from the sales and marketing department. Basically, this department understands consumer needs and changing preferences thus, they will add value to the product in order to meet customer needs.
- Skills and experience needed by project manager for each phase in the project life cycle, and how the skills differ between the various phases
The project entailing the production of plastic storage containers is considered a standard project which will have four phases; initiation, planning, implementation and closure. During the initiation phase, the manager has to be competent in phase management and project planning. During the planning phase, a manager has to possess control and planning skills. The control skills are passed onto to the implementation phase (Cattani et al 2011). In addition, during project implementation, a manager is required to be possess team management, procurement and communication skills. The closure phase requires skills and knowledge on project integration. The skills differ across the four phases in order to facilitate satisfactory undertaking of the tasks entailed in each phase.
- Communication plan needed during the project?
A communication plan facilitates communication across the organization when conducting a given project. A communication plan needs to compile various sections containing communication to various stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities in conducting the business. It contains sections directed at project audiences, management, team members, suppliers, team leaders, and project sponsor as well as project manager.
- What information should be shared with the project stakeholders?
Information to be shared with stakeholders is varied. Because of the variations in the roles and responsibilities of these stakeholders, the information communicated to them has to be selective. For instance, the project sponsor will be informed on the general progress of the project. The project manager will be informed on major aspects of the project such as financing, human resource, work plan and the general progress of the project from initiation to the completion phases. The other team members can constantly be briefed on the progress of the project.
- What is the mechanism that could be used for each type of information
This communications can be made by use of e-mails, memos, phone calls, and face to face communication system.
- What is the frequency with which information should be shared?
Depending on urgency, communications can be made daily inform of reports to the project manager. Weekly reports can be made to the project sponsor and monthly reports to the board of directors of the company.
- What should be done if project communications are not proving to be effective?
Alternative communication systems should be sought to increase the effectiveness of the communication process. Alternatively, communication can be effected by introducing a public relations and communications manager.
- What technology could be used for project communications?
Information and communication technologies such as e-mail among other electronic media for communication (Harold 2013).
- At what point could communication about the project become an ethical or legal issue?
Project management could fail because of ethical or legal issues. However, communication can be used to reduce the chances of such failure arising from legal or ethical issues. West (2010) identifies that a communication about a project can become unethical if the communication channels are unreliable. This implies that the firm loses its credibility for failing to communicate in a manner that is fiduciary, transparent, and with a fair degree of dignity.
- What is the problem the project proposes to address
The project proposes to address increasing competition experienced by the firm while equally, proposing to provide customers with a variety of valuable products.
- What business opportunity might project completion create?
The completion of the project will create diversification in the current product lines sold by the firm. In addition, the business will create opportunities for promotion of employees and managers who would have performed well during project implementation.
- What is the business case for undertaking the project?
The case seeks to identify the various roles played by stakeholders including identifying their skills and experiences. Additionally, the case documents the importance of communication and how it influences the credibility and productivity of the project.
- What is the financial impact of the project?
The project is capital intensive but since the organization uses its machinery to produce the water storage containers, the project will be sustainable. In the long run, the project will improve revenues gained by the firm.
- What are the expected results of the project?
It is expected that the project results into a sustainable product line that will compete against existing products.
- What value will the project add?
The project will add financial value to the organization. In addition, it will improve the net worth of Winsome Manufacturing Company.
- What are risks that might be involved with undertaking the project?
Risk of accidents and insufficient funding which might impact on timely completion of the project.
- What is the potential impact to the company if the project is not undertaken?
The company will fail to compete favorably if it failed to undertake the project. Basically, by virtue of competitors introducing new products, it means that Winsome has to introduce a new product with more features in order to compete.
References
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Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Frederiksen, L. & Florian, T. (2011). Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management. Advances in Strategic Management, 28, 9-19. Harold, K. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (8th Ed.). New York: Wiley. Russell, D. (2011). Accountability. In Succeeding in the project management jungle: How to manage the people side of projects. New York, NY: AMACOM. West, D. (2010). 'Project Sponsorship: An Essential Guide for Those Sponsoring Projects within Their Organizations'. Farnham: Gower Publishing.
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