Project Management for Business: Wembley National Stadium - Case Study Example

Project Management for Business: Wembley National Stadium Task 1.1 Principles of project management: Wembley Stadium A project is usually undertaken under the guidance of the principles of scope, time, quality and cost (Lester 1). For the project of constructing the new Wembley Stadium, these principles were used to guide all the activities that were carried out in the course of the project. The scope of a project refers to the extent to which specific things are supposed to be done as part of the project. Good projects have specific boundaries in terms of what is supposed to be done and the type of results that are expected at the end of the life of the project. For this specific project, the scope was to develop a new state-of-the-art national stadium that would be used for a number of sporting activities in England. The scope involved specific technical and architectural details that the new stadium was supposed to have. The principle of time in a project refers to the period within which the activities of the project are required to be carried out. Since a project can not go on forever, there is always the beginning and the end of a project. For the case of construction of the new Wembley Stadium, the project was scheduled to commence back in 2001 and end shortly therafter. Quality refers to the specific standards that the new stadium was supposed to meet. There were specific technical standards that were expected of the new stadium. Finally, in terms of cost, the project for constuction of the new Wembley Stadium was carried out under a specific allocation of funds. Task 1.2 Outline the need for the project to be carried out, and identify the success/failure criteria. Also, appraise the viability of the project, was it realistic or overambitious? The need for construction of the new Wembley Stadium can be understood in terms of commerical and strategic purposes. For commercial pusposes, building an iconic stadium was seen as an investment by the Football Association and its subsidiary that was supposed to run the stadium, Wembley National Stadium Limited. From the evaluations done, the project was expected to turn into a commercial successs after its completion. The second need for the project was to build a unique and iconic stadium that would attract the best sporting events in the country, most notably soccer, rugby and athletics. The criteria for the success or failure of the new Wembley Stadium project was to be determined based on several factors. First, the success of the project was to be evaluated in terms of the time that it took. Second, the success or failure of the project was to be evaluated in terms of the quality of the new stadium to be constructed. The initial intention of the project was to create a stadium that would be unique and iconic. The last criteria for success of the project was its overall cost. From the initial plans, the project was viable. Its viability was seen in terms of the specific details that were developed as the scope of the project. Furthermore, the financing structure of the project, which included private and public funding, meant tht the project could be easily financed. Task 1.3 Explain the four phases of project management, including to what extent your chosen project was managed in accordance with the four phases Project management is usually carried out in four distinct phases which are initiation, planning, execution and closure. The project of construction of the new Wembley Stadium was managed in accordance with the phases of the project management cycle. For example, the initiation of the project followed the basic principles of this stage of the project which include the following: identification of the problem that needs to be solved, defining the most appropriate solution to the problem, formulation of the project and identification of the project management team (Westland 5). The aim of project planning is to ensure that all the activities that are to be carried out are properly sequenced, resourced and adequately managed throughout the process (Westland 9). For the construction of the new Wembley Stadium, several activities were undertaken by the project management team to achieve this objective. Some of the activities involved creating comprehensive plans that covered the financial, quality, and resource requirements for the project. Project execution entails the actual implementation and control of all the activities of the project. For this partcualr project,the project team coordinated all the diverse activities that were undertaken as part of the project of constructing the new Wembley Stadium. In the processs of executing the project, the team sought to evaluate every deliverable and control costs, schedules and other aspects of the project. Project closure occurred after all the deliverables of the project were judged to have been achieved. At this stage, the new stadium was handed over to the client who was the Football Association and the Wembley National Stadium Limited. The formal closure of the project was carried out in 2010 after all the activities of the project had been carried out. Task 1.4 Explain how the successs or failure of the project was decided and discuss to what extent post-project appraisal was carried out The success or failure of the project was decided based on the original criteria that was developed for this specific purpose. To start with, although the original intention of the client was to have a high quality stadium in terms of the availability of corporate hospitality facilities and high level communication systems, these terms were not completely clear to the different contractors who were involved in the project (Basu 3). This therefore translated to the development of a project whose quality could not be determined with certainty whether or not it had met the original standards. Also, the unclear nature of the quality requirements of the project resulted into a number of court cases in the course of the project. The second aspect of determining the success of the project relates to the time that was allocated for all the activities to be carried out as part of the project. It is obvious that the project delayed not only in commencement but also in the time that it took for all the activities to be succesfully carried out. Therfore, in terms of time, the project failed because of the long delays in commencement and failure to adhere to the set time frame. Thirdly, the project was not completed within the initial budget. Although initial budget projections were set at about 300 million pounds, the final product exceeded this by far, totalling to about 700 million pounds. Task 2.1 Outline the overall culture and structure of your chosen organization and the project team. Identify the key people involved in your chosen project – in particular, the project manager (if there was one), and the stakeholders. Were the structure, roles and responsibilities appropriate for the project undertaken? Capita Symonds Limited is the organization that carried out project management for the new Wembley Stadium. This is an organization that has developed specialty in managing different types of projects that vary in terms of size, scope and purpose. For this particular project, the company developed a special project team of six individuals to work on it. The team was based at the Wembley National Stadium Limited offices and was involved in the actual life cycle of the project. Because of the complex nature and size of the project, several stakeholders were involved. The first one was the Football Association which, through the Wembley National Stadium Limited, was the client for the project. The second stakeholder to the project was the public in general. Because the project was partly funded by public finances, the public was a special stakeholder to the project. The third group of stakeholders included all the contractors that were involved in the project. Different activities of the project were done by different organizations. Although Multiplex was the main contractor, other firms such as Capita Symonds, SVE Franklin and Andrews and other consultancies played a part in the entire process. The appropriateness of the roles and responsibilities that were carried out during the project can be understood in terms of the approach that was taken for the project. The project was divided into two aspects: design and the actual construction. Different organizations were given specific contracts to perform specific tasks. Since this approach is beneficial in reducing the overall cost of a project (Aritua, Bower and Turner 59), it was appropriate for this project. Task 2.2 Describe the main methods of project control and coordination utilized by the project team, including diagrams where appropriate. Briefly assess whether it could have been controlled and coordinated in a better way. Due to its complex nature, control and coordination of the project was carried out in the form of different organizations that were required to carry out specific responsibilities. The most important of them was Sport England. This institution was tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the course of the project from the beginning to the end. As the body charged with the responsibility of monitoring the execution of the project, Sport England played an important role in ensuring that important decisions that were made in the course of the activities of the project reflected the best interests of the public and other stakeholders. On its part, the project management team used a number of approaches to control and coordinate all the activities that were carried out as part of the project. For instance, the team ensured that the project was undertaken to achieve specific objectives. One of the objectives was to refine the design of the study and secure other benefits. Hence, the team coordinated the activities of different stakeholders who were directly involved in the project to achieve this objective. Also, because of the many changes that were introduced into the project well after commencement, the project team was in charge of coordinating all the financial and personnel resources as a way of integrating the changes into the project successfully. Task 2.3 Outline the theoretical leadership requirements and qualities of a typical project manager and assess the extent to which your chosen project was managed in accordance with the theory Theoretically, a good project manager should have a number of qualities that make it possible for the project to be carried out in a professional and efficient manner. For example, the project manager should have good motivational skills as a way of ensuring that all the individuals who are involved in the project are sufficiently motivated (Lewis 22). Also, a good project manager is required to have a good understanding of all the technical details of the project. This is a very important quality since many projects are technical in nature and for them to be fully undertaken, a good degree of all the knowledge about them is necessary. Furthermore, a good project manager should have well-developed leadership skills. This is because the project manager will be required to carry out important leadership roles for the whole team during the course of the project. Good leadership and communication skills are necessary to ensure that the whole team is well managed during the project. To a great degree, the construction of the new Wembley Stadium was managed in accordance with these qualities. The organization that was required to manage the project had a technical understanding of such projects. Therefore, the organization was able to handle the project. Further, there was good communication, commitment and leadership of the team that was tasked with the responsibility of initiating, planning, executing and closing the project. Task 2.4 How were the project team project selected for your chosen project? Discuss how the selection of the team could have been improved. According to information provided by Capita Symonds, the members of the team were selected based on the need at the time which was to develop a small team of individuals with highly specialized skills who would handle a small part of the whole project for some time (n.pag). This decision was taken by the client because of two main reasons. The first one was the general approach that was taken in handling the project, which involved a number of organizations being assigned specific duties in the process. The second one was that the client wanted to have the right organizations managing the project, therefore taking time to get a small team that would be assigned small tasks first before getting the major project. Because of this, the six members of the team were selected based on their technical skills. This was the most important factor that determined their selection into the project team. Furthermore, their availability and willingness to work on the project were considered. Based on the outcome of the project, it can be said that the team for the project was actually selected in the right manner. However, there are several things about the process that could have been improved. The most important one of them is the role that the project leader is supposed to play in the process of team selection. In theory, the project leader should play a leading role in the team selection process (Gido and Clements 357). Although this was not the case in this project, it is an approach that should have been considered. Works Cited Aritua, Bernard, Denise Bower and Matthew Turner. “Managing the Delivery of Iconic Football Stadiums in England.” Management, Procurement and Law, 161, issue no. MP2, pp. 55-60. 9 December 2014. Basu, Ron. “Managing Quality in Projects.” 9 Dec. 2014. Capita Symonds. “Wembley National Stadium.” 9 Dec. 2014. Gido, Jack and James Clements. Successful Project Management. Hoboken: Cengage Learning, 2014. Lester, Albert. Project Management, Planning and Control: Managing Engineering, Construction and Manufacturing Projects to PMI, API and BSI standards. London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013. Lewis, P. James. Team-Based Project Management. New York: Beard Books, 2004. Westland, Jason. Project Management Life Cycle: A Complete Step by Step Methodology for Initiating, Planning, Executing and Closing a Project Successfully. New York: Kogan Page, 2007. Read More