The Benefits of Creating A Project Charter - Assignment Example

Planning Document Introduction The report is based on designing a plan for restructuring the compensation and benefit package of employees in a particular organization. The restructuring plan will be documented in a project charter which can also be called as project statement (Hayes, 1999). Project charter is an organizational document that consists of vision, goal and objectives of any restructuring program. It further emphasizes on the roles and responsibility of all the team members (Rouse, 2015). This statement also describes the communication plan to efficiently execute the project (Losito, 2013). Project charter is a short but well-structured document that assists management to design and communicate their future plans for any particular activity (Gilchrist, 2012). Project Charter Project background As the newly joined head of the human resource department, my main goal is to design a project charter which needs to be focused towards the restructuring of the compensation and benefit system of the employees. After joining my team, I have noticed that the workforce of the organization is not very satisfied with their pay structure and the turnover rate is higher than the usual. The benefit structure of the organization is also not designed as per the satisfactory level of the employees. The human resource policies are not focused towards providing direct compensation to the employees. This condition is affecting the productivity and performance of the efficient employees. The employee bonus plan of the organization is poorly structured. The project charter will closely examine all these problems and it will suggest required steps to eliminate all the negative effects. After designing the project, all the departments will be closely monitored in terms of the proper implementation of the guidelines (Losito, 2013). Project goal The main goal of this project charter is to assist the organization in revamping the compensation and benefit policies of the employees (Rouse, 2015). The new policy needs to focus on the performance and efficiencies of the employees. The major objectives of the project charter are- Creating a realistic, sustainable and consistent benefit and compensation plan which can be applied across all the departments of the organization. The plan needs to be structured in such a way that it can successfully create a positive and productive work environment. The feedbacks of employees need to be gathered to clearly understand their requirement in terms of their compensation and benefit packages. It should demonstrate the expected results and performance level after the implementation of the newly structured compensation and benefit plan. Project Scope The benefit and compensation plan will assure a strong linkage with all the major functions of the human resource department such as recruitment and selection program, reward and recognition programs, training programs and performance management. The plans will be subdivided into different tasks which will be allocated to different personnel of the human resource department. The team must analyze all the feedbacks of the employees and therefore handover the suitable recommendations to the management. They also need to recommend the proper resource allocation procedure to the management. The management will be responsible to monitor each and every step and activity of the team. They will arrange frequent meetings to provide support to the team. The plan will also include the suggestions of the labor union authorities. It will also provide the scope to other departments to provide their valuable recommendations. The compensation and benefit structure will provide on the job and off the job remuneration structure to the employees of the organization. The benefit structure will provide support to the all level of employees of the organization. The new compensation and benefit structure should include various health benefits and injury compensations which will help the management to minimize absenteeism and turnover rate. The proper execution of this plan will assist the organization to improve the employee performance. The project charter will also help the management to assess the requirement of employees. This will also help them to link these requirements to the organizational strategies. Process guidance and schedule The compensation and benefit system will strictly follow predetermined plans and guidance. All those instructions are as follows- The compensation plan will only consider the performance and competencies of the employees of all levels. It will eliminate all the effects of office politics. The structure will properly differentiate the performance and job posts of the employees. The system will strictly follow the guidance and specifications provided by the labor union authorities and it will assure the safety measurement for the employees. The management should conduct frequent meetings with the worker representatives to come up with effective labor policy agreement and legislative. The project will commence from 1st July 2015, after proper allocation of the resource and capabilities. Proper execution of the plan will require six months from the initiation. The team members must submit the reports and recommendations by the end of December 2015. The per month schedule- July 2015 August 2015 September- November 2015 December 2015 Project parameter and outcomes will be outlined by the charter. The board of directors will communicate the goals, objectives and benefits of this project with the entire organization. A project team will be created with selected member. Frequent meetings between the team members and management will be organized to review, restructure and adapt the plan. Team will organize self assessment tests to analyze the skills and competencies of the workforce. The results will be reviewed and compared with the existing compensation policies to find out the scope for changes. Feedback process will be carried out to gather the opinions of workforce and labor union. The team will submit the recommendations and results to the management. The board members will review the outcomes. Deliverables The deliverable of this plan will include- Structured plan and recommendation for the new compensation and benefit plan. A flexibly designed system as per the requirement of different departments. Benefit and compensation structure differentiation as per the employee hierarchy and employment status. Description of significant values as per the organizational core vision and mission statement. Team structure The team will be structured with all the managers of the human resource department. All the members need to possess different expertise of human resource management system. The team will include: Board members Head of human resource- Team manager Facilitator Career advancement specialist Payroll manager Health and safety specialist Information services manager HR consultant Recruitment specialist Communication plan Project communication is a coordinated effort by all levels of project members to ensure the proper delivery of all the required information through the team members (Steyn, 2004). Project communication system mainly follows few basic questions such as what information need to be circulated, who will receive the information, what media will be utilized for the communication and how frequently the communication need to be organized (Leonard, Graham & Bonacum, 2004). Communication within the project team- The team manager needs to conduct weekly meeting with the team members. This meeting will assist the entire team to communicate all the obstacles and challenges they are facing. The manager needs to communicate all the guidelines to the members through these meetings only. Each member of the team must be provided a printed discussion material prior to the meeting. This discussion material will assist them to prepare their report as per the norms of the meeting. The team management will conduct monthly meetings with the board of directors to communicate the results and progress of the project. These meetings will also help them to allocate financial resources to the restructuring plan. A monthly report need to be prepared by the team management which will properly demonstrate all the progresses of the project as well as the utilization of the finances. The board members must receive these reports prior to any meeting. Communication within the team and workforce- The project team needs to utilize different channels of communication to gather employee feedbacks and assessment results. The employee assessment will be done through an online test. The information system specialist will design an intranet which will simplify the communication procedure with the workforce. All the employees will be strictly instructed to attain this test. The HR consultants and recruitment specialist need to gather feedbacks from each employee through face to face interview process. Risks/ assumptions Compensation and benefit restructuring plan may face a number of challenges in their execution process. These risks include improper resource allocation, excessive cost to the organization and dissatisfaction of employees (FitzGerald, et al. 2010). Along with the compensation and benefit plan, the management needs to introduce some guidelines and parameters which will eliminate the risks. The resource allocation needs to be evaluated frequently. It should be compared with the results to analyze the success of the implementation. The final assumption of this plan is that the increase in the compensation, bonus and performance incentive will directly influence the productivity of employees. Recommended compensation and benefit plan by the team The compensation structures of the employees are divided into three parts such as direct compensation, benefits and time off payment. Direct compensation can be defined as an amount which can be directly paid to the workforce in return of their labor. It includes their salary, bonus and performance incentive (Mehran, 1995). Time off payment signifies the offering during the leave period. This amount may vary as per the employment status (Harvey & Shrieves, 2001). Direct compensation/ year Existing Recommended Base wages $19,000 $21,000 Special allowance $10,000 $12,000 HRA $4,000 $4,000 Bonus $3,000 $3,500 Performance incentive $5,000 $7,000 Overtime $0 $500 Total $41,000 $48,000 Time off payments Holidays $0 $0 Jury duty $0 $300 Bereavement $1,000 $2,500 Total $42,000 $50,800 Other benefits Transport allowance $750 $1,200 Entertainment $1,500 $2,000 Telephone $500 $500 Disability insurance $680 $750 Life insurance $500 $650 Social security $245 $245 401(K) $4,300 $4,300 Tax deduction $2,000 $1,600 Total $50,475 $58,845 Work Breakdown structure The work breakdown structure will provide the details of all the stages of this restructuring plan. Total project duration is 122 days excluding all the weekends and holidays. Duration Initiation of the project 1 Analysis of the situation 10 days 2 Determining the scope 4 days 3 Developing goals 9 days 4 Guidance and scheduling 12 days 5 Developing deliverable 10 days 6 Communication plan 12 days Project execution 1 Analysis stage 10 days 2 Design of execution 15 days 3 Validation Phase 12 days 4 Deployment phase 20 days 5 Completion Phase 7 days Closing the project 1 day Conclusion The study has demonstrated a well structured project charter for the organization. The project structure has evaluated the goals, objectives, scopes and communication plans of the HR personnel to successfully carry out the project. It has also recommended a new compensation structure as well as work breakdown structure to assist the management in their final decision making process. References FitzGerald, E. T., Grant, B. A., Freiman, J. L, Diggs, A. J. & Lutrin, J. (2010). Compensation-Related Risk and Compensation Consultants. Retrieved from https://www.conference-board.org/retrievefile.cfm?filename=DN-013-10.pdf&type=subsite. Gilchrist, P. (2012). The Importance of Having A Project Charter. Retrieved from http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/the-importance-of-having-a-project-charter.html. Harvey, K. D. & Shrieves, R. E. (2001). Executive compensation structure and corporate governance choices. Journal of Financial Research, 24(4), 495-512. Hayes, D. S. (1999). Evaluation and Application of a Project Charter Template to Improve the Project Planning Process. Retrieved from http://www.tryonassoc.com/pdffiles/diane%20hayes%20paper.pdf. Leonard, M., Graham, S., & Bonacum, D. (2004). The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(1), 85-90. Losito, S. (2013). The Benefits of Creating A Project Charter. Retrieved from http://www.the-program-manager.com/project-management/the-benefits-of-creating-a-project-charter/. Mehran, H. (1995). Executive compensation structure, ownership, and firm performance. Journal of financial economics, 38(2), 163-184. Rouse, M. (2015). Project Charter (PC). Retrieved from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/project-charter-PC. Steyn, B. (2004). From strategy to corporate communication strategy: A conceptualisation. Journal of Communication Management, 8(2), 168-183. Read More