International business management report - Essay Example

The involvement of cross functional teams and different stakeholders therefore require project management to be governed in effective manner. This report will also include evidence from the various reports of National Audit Office on the success of implementing Shared Services in UK and will take practical insights from the same. ManCo’s decision to implement a shared service to manage certain business processes will require a systematic approach towards understanding how the overall dynamics of project management work besides how leadership can effectively contribute towards the success of the project.

More collaboration needs to be on the development of agile systems which are not overly complex as well as fulfill the requirements of the internal customers of the project. This report will provide analysis and insights into how ManCo can manage the overall project of initiating the required changes in the processes. This report will further discuss about critical issues and principles related with the successful project management. Key Principles of Project Management One of the key principles a project follows is the clear definition of what project is and how much the project manager is actually responsible for.

In order to successfully launch the project of managing the shared services across different locations, it is important first to actually define what this project is and what it intends to achieve. Practically, however, project managers fail to clearly define the projects and determine the accountabilities for this. Various reports by National Audit Office (NAO) suggest that failure to clearly identify the purpose of project and who will own it can increase the cost for project managers. Definition of the roles and accountabilities is also another key principle ManCo must first determine.

The people involved in the overall project, how cross functional teams will be formed and what will be the role of each member must be defined initially in order to avoid conflicts at the later stage. In order to successfully manage all the stakeholders, it is critical therefore that the roles and responsibilities of people to be involved in the overall project.( Brewer,& Strahorn, 2012) Another important and critical principle is the preparation of plan and the discussion of the same with that of the managers.

As a project manager, I would therefore focus more on discussing the project and its deliverables and justifying various activities which will be undertaken in order to centralize HR, Finance, Payroll and other activities across different locations. Dissemination of information and properly communicating to all stakeholders is another important principle which needs to be followed. Not informing all the stakeholders involved may create further conflicts of interests and hence the overall governance of the project may become difficult to achieve.

National Audit Office in its one of recent reports has suggested that there is a need to have in-house capability along with the business and technical expertise to manage shared services. As such, the project management principles for shared services require that in-house capabilities must be developed rather than outsourcing the shared services. Focus should be on improving the in-house efficiency and to leverage the same with tha