Project Management of Johnsons - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Project Management 2 Design Capa 2 Effective Capa 2 Actual output 2 Utilization 2 Efficiency 2 HR manager 3 Departments, Scheduling and Specialized Workforce 3 Performance appraisal 3 Project Management Plan 4 Scope Management 4 Quality Management 5 Risk Management 6 Communication Strategy 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Johnsons Project Management Johnsons is a prominent industry in the UK dry cleaning industry it has the capacity to deal with 20,000 kg of laundry it prefers to work at 80% of the capacity however currently working at just 60% often capacity shows the weakness of management and lack of efficiency. Proper management is required in order to increase the productivity thus the following terms of project management must be understood: Design Capacity When a product or project is designed the maximum capacity at which it can work or the output it would provide is assessed thus it is the maximum obtainable output under ideal conditions. The design capacity of Johnsons is 20,000 kg. Effective Capacity Effective capacity is usually less than the design capacity due to different condition or the circumstances like break, staff turnover or breaks, defects in machinery, scheduling issues, operation management etc… It is the rate at which the output is effectively being generated from a plant or the project. Johnsons have an effective capacity of 16,000 kg. Actual output It is the amount of the output that facility is actually producing against or compare to the design capacity or theoretical capacity. Actual output can be more than the designed capacity if redundancies and bottle necks are removed. The actual output of Johnsons is 12,000 kg right now that has gone below their effective capacity. Utilization It is the rate at which the potential output levels are being met. Utilization is the primary method by which the asset performance is measured and success of business determined it highlights the optimum use of the resources and is a direct scale or measure it can be shown in percentage. Capacity utilization rate of Johnsons is (12000/20000) 60%. Efficiency It is the level of performance that describes a process that uses the lowest amount of inputs to create the greatest or it can be defined as the ability to produce the output without wastage of material or time (Sarba, 2011 ). Therefore it relates to the usage of all the resources for generating an output including personal time and energy. HR manager The conditions currently prevailing in the Johnsons shows that they are not working optimally and definitely the efficiency level is quite low. They have been lagging behind not only design capacity but also the effective capacity that is to be achieved as per the policy of the company. It is the management issue that is prevailing the capacity and the output of the Johnsons can be improved. If they move to the new capacity with current style of management it would not be beneficial for the company. As a manager following options are available in order to improve the operations of the company: Departments, Scheduling and Specialized Workforce The whole process of the laundry and cleaning should be described or broken into different steps. It would be better for the company if different departments are made that would handle their respective activity and are just concerned with their contribution in the whole process (Montana, et al., 1993). Along with distributing the whole process in to departments a schedule should be given to each department and workforce made to work in teams. Schedules would give them an exact idea regarding the timing and their exact steps to be followed and expected time to clear single unit. Each department would be having only such workforce that are specialized to their allotted task of the whole process of laundry cleaning. With specialized workforce and proper scheduling time management would be ensured and efficiency along with the productivity could be increased. Every department would know that the succeeding department is expecting a certain amount of output thus they would be efficient in order to be not located as the bottleneck in the whole process. Under the economic concept the utilization of the resources has to be optimum as they are scarce thus with the specialized workforce performing their same task again and again would be showing greater output with quality. Performance appraisal Rather than appraising the whole company departments would be appraised. They would be given a schedule that they have to meet and objectives or outputs expected of them. Thus the performance of the department could be evaluated at regular intervals and the bottle necks in the while process can be easily recognized. The whole process is designed as a chain if one department lags behind in achieving its required tasks it would affect the output of whole company. Thus it is to be made sure that appraisal is taken at regular intervals after splitting into departments even daily performance appraisal can be made. With the greater utilization of resources, enhanced efficiency bottlenecks can be removed, redundancies reduced and hence the actual output can be increased. Project Management Plan Project management plan requires analysis of the complete project capturing it from end-to-end covering all the phases and aspect of the project from initiation through planning, implementation and conclusion of the project. Thus all the factors had to be monitored and evaluated thus giving the idea whether it would be feasible to carry out the project or not. Along with the monitory costs that would be bared opportunity costs are also included in the analysis. Returns are sometimes high and thus make the project look lucrative however the project management plan would highlight the associated risks and threats. The important aspect of the project management is that gives the idea for the strategic plan that the management of the company must adopt for the project to be successful. It is the management responsibility to ensure the utilization of the resource keep a check whether the targets are being met or not. Thus they would have to devise a strategy that ensures the optimum utilization of the resources, keep the workforce motivated so as to get the maximum output possible and increase their productivity. Hiring and recruitment are one of the most important responsibilities of management thus they have to make sure that they assign the right job to the right person otherwise weak links or the redundancies would appear in the whole process. Scope Management There are two aspect soft e scope management one deals with the scope of the ultimate output, product or the service that would be offered and the scope of the project. Scope of product is what is being offered whether the product holds the demand in the market it would also focus on the characteristics or features of the product or service. In the case of Johnsons they are in the dry cleaning industry thus they have the ample market available thus it would be the management responsibility to ensure that they maintain the quality of their service (Luiz, et al., 2011). Currently they are at just 60% of utilization rate thus the efficiency is low if they are to work with the same efficiency the new facility that would increase the capacity by 50% would be of not much use as the demand that they would be serving could be covered in the current facility. The second aspect of the scope management is much important for the Johnsons as they undertake a new project of extending their facility they would have to be committed to the fact that how they would be utilizing the new extended capacity at its optimum. The purpose of the new facility is to increase the capacity and the actual output not more than the designed capacity but at least close to it. Scope requires there to be proper scheduling of the process it would be feasible that each step of the process is assigned to different department making them work in the teams and ensuring the results from the team lead therefore assigning the responsibility to one of the workforce would increase the efficiency and actual output that they expect to be. Quality Management The definition and perception about the quality is different in every industry however it can be said rather surely that it is more focused in services industry as it is the direct contact with the customer. The phenomenon of total quality management (TQM) is prevailing in the business world right now and competition is upgrade the service or products that are being provided in order to get the satisfaction of the customers that would ensure their loyalty and hence enable the company to establish long-term sustainable relations (Alexandre & João, 2008). In the case of Johnsons they are operating in dry cleaning industry thus they are handling the clothes of their customers thus it can be said that rather delicacy is involved in the nature of their services. It is the industry that is not much price elastic it is the quality of the service that influences the decision of the customers. Currently Johnsons are not utilizing their facility at its maximum potential however it is probable that in order to maintain the desired quality there productivity is low thus this signifies that they are not efficient enough. Efficiency implies optimum or maximum output with low wastage and high quality therefore in order to increase the facility it is important to schedule the whole process thus once the process is completely detailed and organized every department would be responsible for ensuring the quality of tasks assigned to them. With the delicacy involved the focus on quality has to be higher and performance appraisal would not only be monitoring the volume of output but also the quality that is being provided. Risk Management It is a business expansion idea that Johnsons are working on. The extension of the facility would increase the capacity by 50%. It is the purpose of the project to extend the abilities of the company and increase the customer base with the revenues. Thus it is not that easy the extension of the facility would mean increased risks for the company thus the risk management holds the double importance for the Johnsons both keeping in view the nature of their business and the decision of extension that is being undertaken. There are associated costs and investments would be required therefore in order to make the optimum decision company is required to analyze the uncertainties involves that would give an idea whether to undergo with the project or not. Prior analysis of the risks would allow the management to make strategies for avoidance of uncertainties as they reduce the efficiency (Luiz, et al., 2011). One of the risk for the management is underutilization of the facility in such a case it is probable that only costs would increase rather than the output. Damage to the goods or clothes of the customers and delays in deliveries are big risks that come along with nature of business it would increase the costs and anti the perception and satisfaction of the customers. It can lead to negative marketing therefore it is scheduling and organization of the dry cleaning process that can mitigate the risks and ensure increased actual output with high quality and on time deliveries. Scheduling would thus ensure the quality as the organized process would be followed and on time delivery would be assured (Therese, 1994). Communication Strategy It is important for the success and sustainable development of any organization that they have swift communication process throughout. With the less barriers in communication the management decisions along with job structures, schedules, tasks, objectives and job responsibilities would be clearly understood by the departments and their workforce. Johnsons has to be persistent in maintaining free flow communication the process to be split into different departments has to be communicated of their nature of jobs and the schedule that they are required to meet. It is probable that the schedules and tasks might change as per the demand that they are facing thus they have to be communicated. Thus it has to be the strategy of the management to design the schedules as per the requirements of the department and make sure that they are communicated to the workforce by their team lead taking the feedback from his subordinates. It is the free flow communication that would ensure the resources are optimally utilized and workforce are not working in the wrong direction and their efficiencies are not wasted (Mary, et al., 2010). Conclusion Johnsons is going for the extension in their facility that would increase the capacity by 50% however currently they are underutilizing their current capacity thus this shows that management has not been efficient with available resources they are not getting the optimum output. In order to start the new facility they must strategize enhance the management of their resources especially the workforce, divide the whole organizations in to different segments or departments with each having their own schedule and tasks to meet. The step by step process and free flow of communication would ensure that delicacy is maintained and there is no or little damage to the clothes of customers. References Alexandre, P. & João, M. C., 2008. The Impact of Quality Management on Profitability: An Empirical Study. THE FlAgSHIP RESEARCH JOuRNAl OF INTERNATIONAl CONFERENCE OF THE PROduCTION ANd OPERATIONS MANAgEMENT SOCIETy, 1(1), pp. 66-77. Luiz, C. D. S., Luciel, H. d. O. & Luiz, M. S. S., 2011. Organizational Risk Management – A Case Study in Companies that have won the Brazilian Quatity Award Prize. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 6(2), pp. 230-243. Mary, O. A., Comfort, W. A. & Edith, O. O., 2010. The Impact of Communication on Community Development. J Communication, 1(2), pp. : 101-105. Montana, P., C. & B, 1993. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES: CONCEPTS AND F0RMATS. Management: A Streamlined Course for Students and Business People, 1(1), pp. 155-169. Sarba, P. R., 2011 . Measuring Capacity Utilization and Evaluating the Impact of Liberalization on Capacity Utilization of the Indian Drug and Pharmaceutical Industry. Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets, 3(1), pp. 1-22. Therese, H., 1994. Time Management: Test of a Process Model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(3), pp. , 381-391. Read More