Project Management - Arms Dealing between Countries - Assignment Example

Your name Tutor Subject Submission date РRОJЕСT МАNАGЕMЕNT: АRMS DЕАLING BЕTWЕЕN СОUNTRIЕS Introduction The world military spending estimates that 1.5 trillion dollars are spent yearly on weapons in the world (Shah 2012). This accounts to around 2.7% of the world GDP, making it one of the highest global businesses. Weapon sale is the most “rampant” business out there. For an individual or an entrepreneur to succeed into this market you have to be very aggressive. The arms industry is involved in the manufactures of thousands of weapons, military technology and equipment. It requires a lot of research because every day different weapon companies develop different and more advanced weapons. Many governments have their own domestic weapon production sectors which produce weapons for the state military and security forces. Weapons contracts are given by the government so as a weapons dealer it would be of your best interest to be involved in the political activities of the country so as to be in the know how. The United States of America (USA) every year spends millions of dollars on its military weapons needs. Russia and the USA are the top dealers in weapon trade. They sell to the developing countries especially those who are rich and make billions of dollars from this sale. “From 2007 to 2010, the USA made nearly $72 billion in such agreements,” while “Russia made $37.1 billion,” (Congressional research Service,1). The Project will provide the project’s goals and objectives. Additionally, the project will serve as an agreement between the following parties: Project Funding, Implementation Committee, Staff/ management, and other personnel associated with and/or affected by the project. The project will consist of a set of components or sub-systems that work together to achieve a common purpose or objective. A system that makes weapons sold to countries easier will need to have certain key efficiencies built into it to ensure that trade is done on time and within budget. Such efficiencies will include strategic linkages within the producing country and the consuming country as well as between the producing country and the consuming country. The value chain and supply chain will need to be efficient for the production process to achieve the set objectives. Therefore, materials sourcing, research and development, communication planning and monitoring and evaluation will be important in ensuring the weapons production process runs smoothly. This will make sale of weapons between countries easier. Project statement of work Over the last years, many countries have not been able to buy weapons due to many reasons. Some of the reasons are related to prices which arise due to the complexity in the production of such weapons. The business’s need is to develop a system that will make the weapons in an easy way. The objective of the company is to reduce the costs related to the manufacturing of the weapons and to reduce the complexity in the production process. In the weapon manufacturing industry, many corporations have been struggling to develop a system that will embrace the technology and the recent innovations to reduce the cost of producing weapons. However, they lack the capabilities and requirements that are needed reach these business requirements. The assembling of data should be in a system that will make the process of production as easy as possible. The requirements of the business are to embrace technology, to reduce cost and meet the market demand of cheap weapons. On the other hand, the company must meet the legal requirements and regulatory demands in while producing the weapons. The legal demands are spelt in the manufacturing countries as well as the importing countries. While keeping in mind these business needs, the system should also be in line with the company objectives and corporate strategy. The scope of the weapons should also be described in the statement of work. The scope includes the key characteristics, features and functions of the weapons. The scope, in general, is the product itself. The system to be developed should meet the corporate objective which is to make weapons sold to other countries easier. Project priorities When developing the system, there are some issues that need to be monitored and evaluated carefully and closely to ensure that the overall system runs with minimum constraints and challenges (Kendrick 162). This will help to identify project criteria for the system being developed during project planning. The system is expected to be different from the other system that has been used in the earlier time in making the weapons. The set of priorities will support the weapons scope planning, price decision making, management of constraints and optimization of plans necessitating changes from the earlier production of weapons (Kendrick 164). The key priority is the integrated changes in the new system. Work Breakdown Structure The project will become fully functional if certain factors like funding withdrawal and natural disasters or acts of war do not harbor the project. The table included below (Table 1:1) outlines the work breakdown with the role and responsibility of every individual clearly outlined. Organization Breakdown Structure Figure 1 Breakdown structure The information contained within the Project will likely change as the project progresses. While change is both certain and required, it is important to note that any changes to the Project will impact at least one of three critical success factors: Available Time, Available Resources (Financial, Personnel), or Project Quality. Step 1: As soon as a change which impacts project scope, schedule, staffing or spending is identified, the Project Manager will document the issue and forward to the Implementation Step 2: Implementation Committee should reach a consensus opinion on whether to approve, reject or modify the request based upon the information contained within the project website, the Project Manager’s recommendation and their own judgment Step 4: If required under the decision matrix or due to a lack of consensus, the Project Sponsor shall review the issue(s) and render a final decision on the approval or denial of a change. For the project to be successful there is a need to have a good strategy which involves; Communication Planning Risk Assessment Cost/Time/Resource estimates Communication Planning A good communication system is very important in running an organization. The movement of information from the top person in the organization to the lowest person up to the customer is the key to running a successful business. Many government bodies and law enforcement agencies have very low level of communication that are not very reliable. A poor communication system means you will miss a lot of profitable opportunities which greatly reduces the worth of your business. A good communication system, “entails packaging a core message that reflects an agencies overall strategy, values, purpose and mission,” (Cris Hoover).In this technological world most people use the internet services to advertise themselves better in order to reach a wider network and the best thing about it is that the internet is cheap considering other sources of client customer communication systems. Most companies have created websites giving the customers all the necessary information that they need about any weapon they require. For example the SAAB 75 website gives all the information one needs to know about them and their weapons. They have contacts, videos and updates for their customers. They have listed all the weapons available and the number available from; warheads, ground based air defense missile systems, support weapons, vehicle weapons and laser range finder. They also have a record of an annual report on their website so clearly the customer only needs to read and ask questions and finally orders from anywhere in the world. For a company to make a good communication system they have to look at what they lack at the present system and if its giving them the service they are looking for and also compare themselves to their competitors. They then need to improve on their system to be even better than what is out there. Risk Assessment After developing a good communication plan, you need to assess the risk your weapons pose to the public out there. For example when you’re using the internet you get access to a wider network of people than other sources of communication and this gives different kinds of people apart from the government access to your website. As a responsible seller of weapons you have to make sure that you’re weapons do not fall into the wrong hands. You need to research on the target market their activities and how well they handle weapons. You need to know if you’re system will have a positive effect or a negative effect .For example does it reduce access of weapons to the wrong groups but also makes it easy for authorized customers to get access to you. As a business person you must first think about your business but yet again every business person or organization is required to have ethical values set aside that protects people. You should have moral values. Risk assessment can be done by doing a lot of research on your target market by using journals, data collected on them, reports written about them and analyzing them and also by doing your on primary research. As a weapons trader one needs to establish and prove that their organization does not pose or poses very little threat to the society. Cost/Time /Resource estimates After knowing you’re communication plan and its risk level, you now needs to know about the cost of establishing this whole system. This will involve a lot of research from the service providers to the material providers if any. You need to know different price quotation and service provision of different companies so you can decide on which service provider to go with. Who will give you the most reliable and long lasting system according to your budget? After knowing the cost, you need to know the time needed to establish this whole system. Will it will cost you money or not and if yes is it worth it or not? Most systems take a lot of time to establish and might cost the company money which will not be very good but if the system is good it will earn you double the money when it’s finally set up. These are all resources but you need to consider other forms of resources. PROJECT NETWORK/ (Gantt chart) A project network for the system that makes weapons project is a diagrammatic representation of interconnected activities which succeed each other apart from the start and finish of the project. From the start to end of the project, each stage in the project network succeeds each other-has a predecessor and the successor. Figure 1: project network and the sequence The project network will be represented using a dummy activity also known as a critical path. These are a useful tool when specific relationship between two activities on the arrows cannot be conceptualized through simple use of arrows going from one activity to another. Dummy activities should in no cases be allocated any time duration in planning or scheduling of the activities and components. These activities should be presented in dashed lines with arrows at the end or even a unique color. However, the main goal of the project network is to try and reflect all the relationship between the different project activities. This is achieved by ensuring that each activity is represented by only one arc and no particular activity can begin and end on the same two nodes with exceptions’ to cases of using dummy activities. On the diagram below, we show the sequence of the project in terms of the activity taking place while the joints indicate the end and start of another activity. The diagram also shows the use of the dummy activities where it is indicated by the letters. Figure 2: project network Gant chart BUDGET BASELINE The budget baseline is an extension of the budget which ties the budget to a time line. It is also an approved time phased plan that indicates a starting point from what to measure performance against. It measures how the project changes affect the schedule and the budget. The baseline is essentially used through the project time as a basis of ensuring a no deviation of the project from the budget both in terms of time and monetarily. The are many instances when the budget baseline may be changed which may include: Cases where the organization itself seeks for a re-estimation of all projects for corporate budgeting purposes and this may be due to the financial team’s request of an up to date estimates on the project even if the scope itself has not changed. The changes may also be in cases where there exists a significant gap in one or more tasks of the project. These changes must be however communicated to the project sponsors to warrant the re-setting of the baseline. Importantly in such a case, the original project baseline must be retained for historical information purposes. It is also important to document this change for the purpose of understanding the reason for change and before effecting any changes, they must be approved by the change control board. Developing a Budget Baseline There exist many elements of budgeting in a project which must be listed separately. The core variables to these include costs which are either direct or indirect, risks contingencies or the profits to the company owners. Direct costs and indirect costs dependent on the project location and scheduling, contingencies, risks and profits are dependent on the project owner’s own assessment of their perception of the project. Direct costs include labor and other sub-contracted costs for various tasks. These will also involve the assessment of the material costs based on either the market assessment or the budgetary costs from the suppliers. There also includes the equipment costs which are assessed separately through the evaluation of the lease of such equipment and the time period of the lease. This could however shift since the owners’ of the project may decide to purchase such equipment’s if it is within their financial requirements. Indirect costs include costs such as overheads for offices and staff which cannot be directly attributed to any particular task. It also includes charges such as municipal charges ,costs such as communication ,travel ,stationary etc. There must be a provision for taxes where may apply and also for inflation and costs increase in materials which may be foreseen. Most importantly, the assumptions used for arriving at the figures in the baseline budget must be listed for the purposes of comparison where variances may occur. PROJECT RESULTS  Results are positive experiences benefited by the beneficiaries after the implementation of the project activities. The results of a particular project can be easily attained when one thinks of the change of the project hence one can easily list the results of the project. The project results have to start with some vision or an idea of which the one in control of the project has no knowledge of how it will look like or end. For any particular project to attain its desired purpose the ultimate goals to the project have to be realistic, specific, and measurable. Attractive and time bound i.e. the set period has to be clear. For the goals to be well set, we need to have key people in the organization who are the stakeholders to be involved in the drafting of the goals. This is because they have an interest in the organization and are either directly or indirectly affected by the project itself. However, the stakeholders are represented in the project by the key managers of the project at all levels hence the managers are also involved but indirectly in the drafting of the project desired goals. Conclusion The core to the success of any business hinges on its ability to provide goods and services that are superbly suited for their purpose. Thus research of the weapons produced is a major factor in ensuring that arms that are fit for purpose. Arms trade is largely a government sourced business as they are the biggest buyers of the same. The contracting process involving the purchase of arms has clauses that stipulate the type and weapons capability. Arms dealers therefore are obliged to provide weapons that fit description in order for them to qualify under the sale agreements. In that respect the risk assessment would have been carried out in the research stage to establish the specifications and therefore be able to provide weapons that do not incur liability for defective goods. The UN has also played a significant role in ensuring that weapons are sold in an atmosphere that ensures safety and sustainability of world peace. Though the US legal system has not extended its jurisprudence on liability of actual damages attributed to that weapons manufactures. BAE case involving the Al-Yamanah and the subsequent fine of $400 million for deception, knowingly violating the law and duplicity would be a good case in point. The United Nations resolution 61/84 of 2007 noted the increasing proliferation of arms under the guise of sport and exhibit. It is then important for companies to critically access the regime in which they operate in, and the development as any conflict of provisions under international law or conventions would have legal binding aspects to them. Thus the production of arms in that sense poses the question on the liability from use arising from double use of the weapons supplied weapons. The weapons used for sport have a high similarity with those used for military action. In a business perspective the sale of the arms would be categorized under illegal trade but an ingenious way of circumventing the law by the arms dealers makes it possible for them to sell. Thus companies need to access information about the buyers of the weapons and therefore make informed decisions on whether to provide the same to them. It is therefore imperative that safety of the arms sold is paramount and fulfills all requirements that are incumbent on the safety of mankind. Production of arms in the world has been championed by the presence of a very large market. Most governments in the world spend more of their GDP on purchase of military equipment. The risk assessment in production is very critical as weapons are themselves categorized in respect of the harmfulness and effectiveness when used. Thus it’s important to critically access the sale and for what purpose the weapons are being sold for. Nuclear weapons have the likelihood of falling into the wrong hands; terrorism has increased this fear, making it extremely important to thoroughly assess the production of the same. The fact that the weapons are produced without a clear plan and risk assessment policy makes it highly likely that they can be accessed by terrorist groups which would turn disastrous for world peace in case of an attack. Service of the weapons lies with the manufactures. The level of service that they provide to those that have purchased their weapons needs to be very high. Service that is not credible or certified by the makes should not be employed in serving them. In terms of weapons that would have a great impact in case of malfunctioning like nuclear war heads, there should be clear laws that prohibit unauthorized service of the same. Thus the manufacturer owes a duty to the buyer to always provide the service of the weapons to ensure their continued sound functioning. Credible study of the risk of each weapon sold should be analyzed to ensure that the country that buys the weapons is capable of continually keeping it in a safe working condition. The categories of the weapons that fall under this segment are weapons that have nuclear elements in them such as warships, nuclear heads and any other military device using nuclear technology. The mere fact that a county or firm that buys arms is capable to service them should not override safety of the weapons from falling into wrong hands. The danger posed by nuclear weapons if in the wrong hands is sufficient to have a control over the availability of the same to some governments. Therefore most third world governments would being unable to service and maintain the weapons also enhances making them available to terrorist groups due to the high corruption rate. Critically accessed through this possibility, it would be inherently dangerous to human safety to make such kind of weapons available to such governments (Hiller & Wood 2003). This responsibility though leaning heavily on the international community places an obligation on the manufacturers of the same to be overly vigilant. The manufactures and buyers of arms need to have an easy business atmosphere. The project is functional if the above methodologies are put in place and certain factors like funding withdrawal and natural disasters or acts of war do not harbor the project. Work cited Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez. The focused Organization. Fundamentals of Project Management www.gunsamerica.com Debbie Hillier, Brian Wood (2003). "Shattered Lives – the case for tough international arms control" (PDF). Control Arms Campaign. p. 19. Retrieved 2012-12-09 Grimmett Richard. “Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2003-2010.” Congressional Research Service. Specialist in international security. (Accessed September 20, 2011). Haugan, Gregory T. Effective Work Breakdown Structures. Vienna, Va: Management Concepts, 2002. Print. Hoover Cris. “Special agent who is supervisor in DEA’s Sacramento, California, office.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Kendrick, Tom. The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right. New York: AMACOM American Management Association, 2010. Print. World Military Spending, Global Issues 9th Dec, http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending#WorldMilitarySpending . Retrieved on 2012-09-12 Richard F. Grimmett. “ Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2003-2010. 22 September 2011. http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/SALW/ Shah, Anup. “World Military Spending.” Global Issues. 06 May. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. . Read More