Understanding the roles of key stakeholders - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about theUnderstanding the roles of key stakeholders. Answer: Introduction Project management is considered one of the most important management techniques due to its importance and advantages to a business organization. Every organization is dependent on its various resources for its operation like human resources, financial resources etc. These resources are available to an organization in limited amount and number. Starting a new project requires a lot of such resources and project management helps in the management of these resources while implementation of the new project. Project management also helps in timely completion of given task within given financial and human resources (Kerzner, 2013). This project is prepared to use project management technique to effectively and efficiently complete the task given to Max Lionel Reality. Currently, Max Lionel reality (MLR) is evaluating its relationship with its customers. For the development of a better relationship with the customers, MLR is preparing a program to inform the agents of the company in relati on to legal and ethical obligation and standard of coded followed by the organization. Being the representative of the company, agents should follow these policies of the company to give better customer services to its customers. These MLRs policies will be developed in form of documentation and make available to clients, agents and potential tenants of the company. In this project management process, human resource department of the company will play a very essential and significant role. Project objective The objective of this project is to enable clients, customers, and agents about the ethical standards, legal standards, and code of conduct of the company. This will help to maintain a better relationship with the customers as agents of the company will be required to follow these standards. With the help of following these standards, the agents will be able to provide better services to the company which will increase the degree of customer loyalty toward the company. The main standards include work health and Safety and anti-discrimination legislation applicable to the company. Following these standards are essential as a violation of these standards can result in reputational as well as a financial loss for the company in form of a lawsuit (Burke, 2013). Background of the company Max Lionel realty is a real estate company providing services of construction and housing to its customers. The company has been in this for a long period of time and has gained a brand name in the market. Hence it is important to the company to maintain this reputation and it is trying to do so with this project. Project Scope The guidelines and procedures of the company will be applicable to the construction projects are undertaken by the company. These guidelines are developed and informed to the agents of the company to increase the quality of services provided by them to customers on behalf of the company. A project team will be decided which will help in developing the program and implement this program on agents of the company. This team will also be responsible for informing clients, agent and prospective tenants about these standard guidelines. The project undertaken by the company expects construction projects are not within the scope of the project. The budgets and time allotted to this project are limited. The resources available to this project are also predefined (Larson and Gray, 2013). These resources, time limit and budget of the project can be extended with the prior approval of the CEO of the company. This extension will be available if the CEO and top management of the company things tha t such extension is essential and has occurred due to extreme circumstances. Stakeholder analysis Stakeholders of a project are the people who have direct or indirect interest in the project under development. Involvement of these stakeholders is very important for successful completion of the project as they will be the users of the project. The developed program will be of no use if such project is not developed as per the needs and requirements these stakeholders. Needs and requirements of each and every of such stakeholder are different and the project team is responsible to take care of these requirements. Here are some of the stakeholders with their requirement and manner in which project team can satisfy their needs. Management Management of the company has a direct interest in the project under development as it is the responsibility of management for completing this project within given time and budget. Management of the company is responsible for conducting all the activities involved in this process. The whole management of the company is not required to participate in this process as it will result in a delay of the project and inefficient use of manpower (Doloi, 2012). Therefore this responsibility of project management is assigned to a particular team. Employees The actual implementation of project and fieldwork will be conducted by the employees who are part of the project management team. Employees will have a direct interest in this project as their bonus and performance-based incentives will be based on their performance. Employees of the company will be kept in the project management procedures by conducting regular meetings with other employees of the project management team. Customers It is very important to keep the point of view of customers in project management process as the main objective of this project is to develop an interactive and better relationship with the customers. The customers can be involved in the project management process by conducting an online survey in relation to customer complaints and feedbacks regarding services provided by the company (Ackermann and Eden, 2011). Agents Agents of the company are also important stakeholders as these programs are being developed for these agents. These agents are the people who are representing the company and they are interacting with the customers. In simple words, it can be said that these agents are the face of the company. These agents can be involved in the project management process by making a regular appointment with these agents during project development process. Government The laws in relation to work health and Safety and anti-discrimination are prepared by the government. These laws will form the base for a program developed by us. Hence project management team should conduct the literature and reports published by the government in relation to these laws and regulations (Meredith and Mantel, 2011). Communication plan Creating an effective and efficient plan for communication in a project management is very important for the success of project management plan. The only identification of stakeholders is not enough as it is of no use if they are provided with timely and relevant information. The main objective of communication plan in project management process is to provide relevant information for each and every stakeholder so that activities of project development can be conducted smoothly and efficiently (DiSanza and Legge, 2016). Communication methodologies Kick-off meeting Before starting any project management activity, management of the company should conduct a kick-off meeting. This meeting will help to assign roles and give direction to each member of the team. This meeting will involve various audiences such as project sponsor, project management team and members of top management of the company. This meeting will be conducted face to face and deliverable of this project would be agenda of project and minutes of the meeting. The project will be introduced in this meeting with its objective, scope, review process and other items raised during the meeting. Distribution of project kick-off report The tasks and decisions taken in the kick-off meeting will be properly documented in a formal format. This report will be distributed to each member of the project management and each member of the company will be required to follow this report. Any deviation from the activities and decision mentioned in this project can lead to off tracking of the project under development. Project team meeting Unlike kick-off meeting project team meetings will be conducted at regular intervals. In the case of Max Lionel realty, project team meetings will be conducted on weekly basis. The frequency of the meetings might change as per the status of the project changes. These meetings will also be conducted face to face but in case of emergencies, it can be conducted on a conference call. The main objective of these meetings would be to review the status of the project on regular basis (Adler et.al, 2012). Status report These are the form of communication to facilitate communication between project management team and other stakeholders of the company. This status report will be prepared at regular intervals and distributed to the interested stakeholders. The contents of the status report will be first discussed in the project team meeting and before distribution, this report will require the approval of team leader and one of the members of top management of the company. Roles and responsibility Assigning roles and responsibility to each member of the team is essential for smooth operation of activities of the project management plan. This helps in avoiding any conflict and confusion in the management process and also helps in assigning accountability in case of failure of any activity (Belbin, 2012). The project team of Max Lionel Realty consist of 6 members and their roles and responsibility is as follows- David Miller Role- Team leader Responsibility It is the primary responsibility of team leader to direct all team members toward project goal and objective. And to ensure that project is completed within given time and budget. Sam Lee Role- Resource manager Responsibility- Resource manager is required to ensure that there is the optimum and efficient use of resources and there is no wastage of resources. Pat Sweeney Role- Quality assurance Responsibility- It is the responsibility of a quality assurance manager to ensure that all the process and standards developed in the project management process are in accordance with rules and regulations implemented by the government. Peter Smith Role- External manager (From Ace consultants) Responsibility- It is his responsibility to oversee that project management is being conducted with efficiency from an external point of view Kim Gould Role- Project team member Responsibility- It is the responsibility of project team members to guide the project under development to guide project toward right path and complete it in given time and budget. David Malone Role- Project team member Responsibility- It is the responsibility of project team members to guide the project under development to guide project toward right path and complete it in given time and budget. Project snapshot Project snapshot can be defined as a summarised version of project plan describing its objective, scope, risks, stakeholders, team and other relevant factors. Timeframe The program under development should be delivered by project management team within 3 months of its initiation. Budget $15000 Resources required Room, 3 computers, project planning software, office supplies and other basic needs like electricity connection and water supply. Project team members David Miller Sam Lee Pat Sweeney Peter Smith Kim Gould David Malone Project risks 1. Limited budget 2. Limited time allotted to complete project 3. Technological changes can affect the development of the project. 4. Limited time and budget can affect the quality of the programme under development. Criteria for success The project will be evaluated after six months of its completion. A personal survey will be conducted by the clients who have received services after completion of the project. Success and failure of the project will be decided on the basis of ratings and feedback given by these clients. (Wysocki, 2011) Risk assessment plan Risk Description Level Strategy Strategic risk Risk of selecting the wrong strategy for project management Low The strategy should be reviewed at regular interval of time. Cost risk Risk of escalation of project cost due to increase is the cost of resources required. Medium Contract with the suppliers and vendors should be agreed at a fixed price. Performance risk Risk of project results not being similar to the target results. High Project team members should be kept motivated by the team leader to direct them in the right direction. Schedule risk Risk of project exceeding the predetermined time allocated to it. Medium Management techniques such as planning, scheduling and work breakdown structure should be used. (Pinto et.al, 2011) Budget The resource required to complete this budget is already been decided in the project snapshot. The allocated budget for these resources is $ 15000. The cost budget for the proposed project is as follows- Particular Cost ($) 3 computers 7900 Project planning software 3000 Office supplies 1000 Miscellaneous 500 Total cost 12400 Given budget is $15000. At the end of the project development process, we will conduct a cost budget variance analysis (Lock, 2017). Record of agreement with roles and responsibility Record of the agreement is a statement on which signature of the team members is required to be obtained. By signing this document a team member is acknowledging his or her roles and responsibilities. Name Role Responsibility Signature David Miller Team leader To guide the entire team members toward project goal and objective. And to ensure that project is completed within given time and budget. Sam Lee Resource manager The resource manager is required to ensure that there is the optimum and efficient use of resources and there is no wastage of resources. Pat Sweeney Quality assurance It is the responsibility of a quality assurance manager to ensure that all the process and standards developed in the project management process are in accordance with rules and regulations implemented by the government. Peter Smith External manager (From Ace consultants) It is his responsibility to oversee that project management is being conducted with efficiency from an external point of view Kim Gould Project team member It is the responsibility of project team members to guide the project under development to guide project toward right path and complete it in given time and budget. David Malone Project team member Status report Project status report 1- Department Project development department Name of project Customer relationship development Percentage of completion 25% Time taken 20 days Within time limit Yes Cost incurred $13000 Remarks The cost of the project has exceeded the expected cost but still, it is within the budget allocated to the project. Project status report Department Project development department Name of project Customer relationship development Percentage of completion 50% Time taken 40 days Within time limit Yes Cost incurred $13500 Remarks Extra $500 has been incurred on miscellaneous expenditure but the overall budget is still under control. Project status report Department Project development department Name of project Customer relationship development Percentage of completion 75% Time taken 67 days Within time limit Yes Cost incurred $15200 Remarks There was a requirement for an additional laptop which is purchased at cost of $1700. This will be used in normal business once the project is completed. Risk management report Change request Department Project management department Name of project Customer relationship development Change request number 1 Change description Extension of the allocated budget of the project under development. Change reason There is a requirement of an additional laptop to complete the project within an allocated period of 90 days. Impact of change The total budget will increase by $ 200 but this laptop can be used in normal business after completion of the project. Change request status Under review/ Approved/ Rejected (Verzuh, 2015) Final Project deliverable Activity Responsibility Start date End date Duration Estimation of requirement of programme Team leader 15-01-2018 22-01-2018 8 Understanding the laws in relation to health, safety, and discrimination Quality assurance 23-01-2018 03-02-2018 12 Comparison of these regulation with policies of companies External consultant 04-02-2018 18-02-2018 15 Making relevant changes in policies of companies Team members 19-02-2018 16-03-2018 26 Preparation and finalisation of policy document Team members 17-03-2018 01-04-2018 16 Conducting a meeting to convey these policies to agents of the company Team leader 02-04-2018 14-04-2018 13 Total time required 90 (Maylor et.al, 2008) Budget variance report Particular Expected Cost ($) Actual cost ($) Variance ($) Remarks 3 computers 7900 9600 1700 Additional cost of one laptop costing $1700. Project planning software 3000 3000 0 Office supplies 1000 1600 600 Miscellaneous 500 1000 500 Total cost 12400 15200 2800 Signature (CEO) Signature (Project Management Team Leader) (Lanen, 2016) New role description signoff Name Responsibility Signature David Miller To prepare a post-implementation review report to explain the overall performance of the project and recommending in relation to improvements in future projects. Sam Lee To evaluate the total resource consumption in the process of project development. Giving the recommendation to project team as per their performance. Pat Sweeney Analysing performance of individual project members and overall performance of project from a third-party perspective. Peter Smith Evaluating the quality of the developed programme for agents of Max Lionel Realty. Kim Gould Writing down the cost incurred during the whole project management process and comparing this cost to the budgeted cost prepared at the initiation of the project. David Malone Post-project project review report To The management Max Lionel realty Australia Subject: post-implementation review report The main objective of the programme developed under the project development process was to make agents of the company aware of the policies adopted by the company in relation to discrimination, health, and safety. The process of project development was effectively and efficiently managed by the project development team. The project was developed within the allotted time period but the budget of the project exceeded by $200. This amount was used to purchase an additional laptop which is now used in normal business processes. The overall impact of the performance of the program is being evaluated with the help of online and personal interviews. These interviews are conducted from the clients who have taken services from clients of the company after training of developed program was given to them. 85% of the clients are happy with the services provided by the agents. This is a significant improvement as compared to the pre-implementation phase where only 55% of the clients were satisfie d with the services provided by the agents. These interviews will be conducted on regular basis from the clients for the purpose of performance analysis. Conclusion Project management process is very important to effective implementation and successfully completes the project under consideration. In the given project of Max Lionel Realty, various project management techniques were used for efficient working. Due to adopting the concept of project management, we were able to complete the given project within given time period and with negligible variation in the overall budget of the project. 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