Analysis of the UK Governments New Welfare Universal Credit Program - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Brief Background about the report 2 Project Role & Responsibilities 3 Project Governance 5 Recommendations & Conclusion 6 References 8 Introduction This report looks to analyze the “UK Government’s New Welfare Universal Credit Program” as the program is drawing negative publicity. The program is earning negative publicity due to poor project management policies. This has impacted the overall gains which are expected from the credit program. To evaluate the program the report will concentrate on two are i.e. project role and responsibilities and project governance. This will help to understand the different areas and facets where the program is lacking. Linking the same with different theories and models will help to understand the gaps in a better manner and will help to find out the gaps which the program has. This will provide an opportunity through which the gaps can be filled so that the gains which the program is expected to provide can be increased. This will help to improve the overall relevance of the program and will provide better results. Brief Background of the Project The UK government has rolled out a universal credit program where they look to attract more and more people to work by making changes in the tax credits so that the urge to work is raised. The program has been developed in such a manner that it look at estimating the tax based on the income level of the person along with the number of dependents and people working in the household. A formula has been developed using a process of agile technology so that correct tax credits and incentives can be provided so that more and more people work. The government has spent millions of funds in this direction but the benefits have been largely limited. This is due to the fact that the process is unclear and the project management team hasn’t been able to develop policies which can be implemented properly. The lack of proper corporate governance which includes transparency and accountability has impacted the project. The government hasn’t been able to put a cap on time and budget due to which the amount of fund spent is wasted and the project has hardly been able to be implemented. This has resulted in few people enrolling for the same and raises questions regarding the investment which has been made (Day, 2007). This is matched by the fact that people are regularly removed and transferred thereby not providing the opportunity of fixing roles and responsibilities. The overall aspect shows that the project management principles are not followed and the steps which the government has taken to improve the credit management process will not provide the same benefits unless the gaps are filled. This will require analyzing the different gaps and developing recommendations so that the gaps which is present can be removed. Project Role & Responsibilities The project implemented by the UK government shows the following issues related to roles and responsibilities Lack of fixation of duties: The project management team was inefficient in allocating the different task to different personnel. This thereby didn’t provide the direction which individual employees and person had to follow. Lack of clear roles and responsibilities resulted in regular transfers and removal as people didn’t know the areas they had to work and perform. This diluted the overall roles and made it difficult to follow a particular path (Fujimoto, Hartel & Azmat, 2013) Lack of time line and budgetary needs: The project management team was unable to chalk a time plan based on which the project implementation process will be carried out. Since, the project management team was unable to determine a time line it created gaps and delayed the project. This made it difficult for the business to find out whether the project will be able to complete on the allotted time. In addition to it the other issue which was identified that the organization exceeded the expected budgetary needs and after spending the required money it is seen that the money invested is wasted (Pye, 2005). This shows improper planning and highlights the manner in which the project was unable to deal with the required budgetary needs and requirements which impacted the overall relevance of the project and increased the risk for the project. Improper linkage between authority and responsibility: The project management team has been incapable of ensuring a linkage between authority and responsibility. This has resulted in a case where people work as they feel like and has resulted in wastage of resources. The improper linkage has further resulted in people using advantage of the gap which is present and the overall mechanism which has been adopted in decision making doesn’t provide the correct directives through which the goals will be achieved (Deci & Ryan, 2005). Lack of assessment of completed projects: The project planning department also shows that they are incapable of carrying out timely check to understand the progress of the project. This would have provided them the opportunity to make timely adjustments and would have ensured that the different resources which are used are not wasted (Buahene, 2013). The process would have also ensured that having timely checks would have provided the time and scope to make adjustments so that the business prospects and dimensions through which overall productivity will be increased could have taken place. Project Governance The other important aspect which the project lacks is policies on governance haven’t been developed or lacks the required dimensions through which benefits would be gained. Some of the issues which have been identified with respect to project governance is as follows Lack of transparency: The policies adopted by the project management team don’t show the required transparency which will help to improve the overall benefits for the business. The lack of measures to ensure that every aspect of the business is highlighted has resulted in impacting the degree of transparency. This has thereby created an opportunity where the funds which were allocated have already been exhausted and the project is still not complete. This shows that there was misappropriation of funds and it was used in direction which provided them personal gains. The lack of transparency also results in not making people accountable for different roles which were carried out by them. Lack of disclosure policies: The project shows improper disclosure regarding the manner in which the funds which were allocated for the project were used. The lack of policies which would have ensured proper disclosure is one of the prominent reasons which has made people conceal information and doesn’t provide complete information through which correct policies can be drafted (Akdere & Ross, 2005). Improper disclosure shows that the funds were used in an incorrect manner and reflects on the mechanism that the project management team was incapable of disclosing the manner in which the funds were used Lack of proper code of conduct: The practice which is prevalent in the project management team shows that no code of conduct has been developed. This thereby doesn’t bind the employees by providing them the direction and mechanism through which they have to work. This has resulted in creating differences and has made people work on their whims (Moxey & Priddy, 2008). This has caused the project to be delayed and has multiplied the overall complexities as the lack of conduct doesn’t ensure that the employees are able to carry out the different roles in a proper and guided manner. Recommendations & Conclusion The project management team based on the manner which they have worked and carried out with the project work needs to make the following amendments Develop a code of conduct which will be binding on each employee. This will help the employees and other to understand the different parameters based on which they will be evaluated. The process will also lead towards creation of boundaries within which the employees have to work and will ensure that the project will be evaluated on terms which has been determined previously (Mitton, 2001) Separation of role and responsibility is another aspect which has been ignored and needs to be laid stress on. Separating roles will help to fix accountability and will provide an opportunity through which the management will be able to determine the actions which will be taken to ensure that the project is completed on time (Barbosa & Cabral-Cardoso, 2007). Having policies in relation to disclosure and transparency will enable the management to provide every details regarding the manner in which business decisions are taken. This will help to understand the different direction in which the funds have been used and will reduce the chances of misappropriation of funds (Davis, 2008). The overall process will lead towards intensifying and strengthening the process of carrying out activities and will lead towards better use of resources Adhering time line and making regular checks so that the deviations can be found out and appropriate steps can be taken at the correct time. This will help to make timely adjustments and will provide the opportunities through which the project management team will be able to gain efficiency in the manner the resources are used (Pinto and Kharbanda, 2005). This will also help to bring a change in the manner decisions are taken and will maximize the gains from the business. The project management team thereby needs to work on different dimensions and need to bring a change in working style so that the overall gains for the business surpasses the cost associated with it. References Akdere, M. & Ross, A. 2005. Agency theory from the perspective of human resource development. International Journal of Human Resource Development & Management, Volume 5, Number 3, page 318-332 Barbosa, I & Cabral-Cardoso, C 2007 ‘Managing diversity in academic organizations: a challenge to organizational culture’, Women in Management Review, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 274-288. Buahene, A. 2013. Empowering Employees through Effective Delegation. Retrieved on March 14, 2014 from http://www.ngenperformance.com/blog/leadership-2/empowering-employees-through-effective-delegation Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R. 2005. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. Day, R 2007 ‘Developing the multi-cultural organisation: managing diversity or understanding differences?’, Industrial and Commercial Training, vo. 39, no. 4, pp. 214-217. Davis, K. 2008. Financial Regulation: Cost, benefit and process of regulatory change. Economic Society of US, High Beam Research Fujimoto, Y, Hartel, EJ & Azmat, F 2013 ‘Towards a diversity justice management model: integrating organization justice and diversity management’, Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 148-166. Mitton, T. 2001. A cross firm analysis of corporate governance on the East Asian Financial Crisis. Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier Science Moxey, P. & Priddy, S. 2008. Corporate governance and credit crunch. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Pye, A. 2005. ʻLeadership and organizing: sensemaking in actionʼ, Leadership, 1 (1), pp. 31–49 Pinto, J., and Kharbanda, O. 2005. Project management and conflict resolution. Proj. Mgmt. Journal, 26 (4), 45–54. Read More