Integrated Management Project - Literature review Example

Integrated Management Project Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 4 Lack of strategic planning 5 Lack strategic leadership 7 Lack of human resources management 10 Conclusion 13 References 15 Introduction Port of Duqm is one of the major ports of Oman. It is situated on the south eastern side of Sultanate of Oman on the shores of Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The port is growing at a rapid pace and has become one of the major ports for exports and imports in the country and also in the Middle East regions. This port has lead in rapid transformation of the overall maritime landscape in overall Middle East. By 2013 the port got a growth rate of 3.1% and it is estimated that by 2018 the growth rate would be 6.1% (Duqm, 2014, pp. 5-7). The port is located at one of the Special Economic Zone or SEZ in the country and has large facilities of dry dock which are been operated by the ODC i.e. Oman Dry dock Company. There are future plans of building up an airport and also a wet and dry port which would be completely under the supervision of the Duqm Port Corporation. The overall area under the port is 135.0 square km in which land area is about 50.0 square Km and the Sea area is in a total of 85.0 square Km (Oman Observer, 2014). The total amounts spend for this product is RO 20 million, for completing the entire SEZ and also for the development of the city. It included a lot of things for construction of 150 housing units and 1 mosque apart from other internal roads and infrastructure for the growth of the place (Port of Duqm, 2014). The project to be completed on time and also within the allocated budget does need a lot of things to be taken care of. The project manager should make sure that the project management is been done in an effective and efficient way to make sure that the resources are been utilised in the best possible manner (Oxford Business group, 2014). The company has been facing continuous problems because of few reasons which are been analysed using the soft system approach to understand the entire approach of the project and the problems that are been caused resulting in the slow running of the project. In this report the problem related to the project is been analysed using the soft system approach and based on this the solution for the respective problem is been found by using various scholarly sources. Based on the researches that are been done earlier the solutions to the respective problem is been achieved which can help the company to have a good growth in their projects. Discussion The soft system approach has basically seven stages which are been used in this case to analyse the problems and find the solutions for Port of Duqm. The seven stages are been listed below. Entering the situation of the problem. Expressing the situation of the problem. Making the root definitions for the relevant systems. Building a Conceptual Model for the overall Human Activity Systems. Comparing the selected model with real world. Defining the changes that are feasible and desirable to solve the problem. Implementing the changes to solve the situation. Using this concept the main three problems that are been formed are the lack of strategic planning, leadership and the lack of human resource management (Puccio, Mance and Murdock, 2010, pp. 23-29). The solutions for these respective problems are been obtained by using the scholarly sources and earlier researches which are been done over the same topic. Lack of strategic planning According to Kerzner, 2002, the administration of the company is only responsible for the overall direction for implementation of the strategic plan whereas the planning team consists of the board members of the stakeholders who are involved in realizing and forming the vision. In this case for port of Duqm the stakeholders include the employees and other members who work together for achieving the goal and are also a part of the entire plan been made (Kerzner, 2002, pp. 56-64). As per Kozami in 2002, for successful completion of any project it is very important that the efficient planning that is been done for the project and it should be seen that the resources are been utilised in the most optimum way. Cook also said in 1988 that the overall planning team must be one-third to one-half of the total administrators so as to make sure that the right plan is been made and designed keeping all aspects in consideration (Kozami, 2002, pp. 45-47). There are few basic steps for proper planning for going along with a particular project which include finding the scope for the project, collection of the data, planning of the process, implementation of the process and then evaluating the particular process. According to Abraham 2012, proper strategic planning includes various steps which are done to decide upon the requirement of the resources, the time frame required for completion of the project, manpower required for the particular project etc. He also said in 1994 that proper allocation of the resources and making a proper plan for the process in which the project is to be done is very much essential as it will help in a huge way in knowing which work is to be done after which (Abraham, 2012, pp. 67-75). It also helps in knowing which resource is to be used at what time and in what amount so that there is no wastage of resources. In Steiner, 2010 did explain that having an effective communication in the project team is a very important and crucial factor in the strategic planning process. It helps in building a good team work and also the message across to all the members is very clear. Having a proper communication among the team member helps in clear understanding of the exact roles that are been allocated to each individual member. In this case of Port of Duqm the project manager should make sure that there is good communication being build between all the members and the roles of each members are been explained to them easily. This will help in reduction of confusion and also wastage of time. Proper strategic plan also includes proper explanation of the entire plan to all the members so that they have a clear idea about the objective and the goal for which they are working (Steiner, 2010, pp. 23-28). Strategic planning includes proper planning for the workforce in terms of the way the manpower is to be utilised for the particular project. The effective utilisation of man hours will help in completing the project within time and also in making the employees work efficiently. It will help in increasing the productivity of the employees by a huge margin. The project manager of port of Duqm must make sure that the manpower in the site is been utilised in the most optimum way so as to make sure that the employees don’t waste their time and also there is no utilisation of the manpower. It should be made sure that the employees are been made to work efficiently and also have a good productivity for each of the employees. The entire team must have a good co-ordination and a good communication level should be maintained among the members to clearly explain them their roles and responsibilities so that they can get the best out of each of them without any confusion been created in the job role (Rossiter, Facts on File and Inc. Staff, 2004, pp. 78-86). In 2006, Barksdale and Lund did say that there must be a good method for collection of data in strategic planning process so as to know the exact method of going along with the process of making the plan. In this case the data collected should be based on the type of project that is been done in the port of Duqm and it should be collected very carefully making sure that there are no gaps (Barksdale and Lund, 2006, pp. 123-125). These collected data are very useful for the analysis of the present situation and the way the plan is to be made for going about with the project. Facts on File and Incorporated, 2009 said that the data collected creates a huge impact in making the proper plan as it helps in proper understanding of the requirements and the way the resources are to be used. Thus it is very necessary for the project manager in port of Duqm to make sure that he/she gets the exact data and does analyse the data in a very effective and efficient way to make sure that the required amount of sources is been well known and also that the resources are been utilised in a proper way (Facts On File and Incorporated, 2009, pp. 34-38). Simerson, 2011 said that the data must be collected by using all the possible methods so as to get the accurate data which can be useful for having a good project. Thus for port of Duqm a qualitative method must be used for data collection which will enable the company to get the most accurate data for the analysis (Simerson, 2011, pp. 23-25). Lack strategic leadership The second problem that is been detected for the slow growth of the project by using the soft system approach model is the lack of good and efficient leadership in the company which does affect in a huge way. The leader is the person who motivates the employees and also other members in the team to work efficiently for the company. He is the person who sets the goals and the objectives and also finds the defects and does solve them too. Leader is the person who takes crucial decision at the right time which helps a lot in the completion of the project in time and within the stipulated amount and also for a good running of the project (Stone, 2008, pp. 34-37). In case of port of Duqm it is very important to have a good leader and the solution to the lack of effective problem can be analysed using the scholarly sources and the reports of the research been done earlier by the researchers. In Malphurs, 2013 said that leaders need to be aware of the fact that how the actions and the decisions taken by them are been perceived by the other team members. This will allow in getting a good understanding of the way the team thinks about the leader and the perception that the team have about the particular leader (Malphurs, 2013, pp. 36-43).. According to Yaeger and Sorensen, 2009, when the leader continuously demonstrates good positive behaviour which is very much meaningful for the team members, then the team members are very much motivated and they follow the instructions given by the leader (Yaeger and Sorensen, 2009, pp. 23-28). In the same line for Port of Duqm the leader must behave in a good and inspirational way with all the team members to make sure that the team members are been highly influenced by the leader and the decisions that are been made by the leader is been followed by the members without any confusion or resistance from any of the member. In Abrams and Abrams, 2003 that the leader is very much responsible for making the strategic plans (Abrams and Abrams, 2003, pp. 56-65). The leader does makes crucial decisions about the resources and the requirement which are very important for strategic planning and after the plan is been made it becomes an important guide for the leader. The leader then can follow the strategic plans to go about with the project. In case of Port of Duqm the project manager must make sure that he/she do follow the strategic plan as a guide to run the project and it should be made sure that the operations that are been executed in the project must be done as per the plan without any deviations. According to Adair, 2013, the leaders have to make innovative and creative ideas to make sure that they are able to execute the plans and that the team members also follow the steps which are been implemented for the project. The leader must have a good control over the project and also over the team members so that the project is not deviated from the plan at any point (Adair, 2013, pp. 34-39). The project manager in Port of Duqm should make sure that he makes innovative and creative steps for the members to follow for the particular project as per the strategic plan been made. He should have a good control over the steps been implemented and also over the employees and members to make sure that they don’t deviate from the set direction and the team is able to achieve the set objectives and goals on time and within the stipulated amount by using the manpower efficiently and in most effective manner. As per Leatherman, 2008, the leader is the person who needs to make sure that the members in the team are been involved to the overall process and thus there is no resistance to the changes that can come based on the situations. The involvement of the employees will help in getting more innovative and creative ideas and the work environment in the company will also be very good as the entire team will work as a single unit (Leatherman, 2008, pp. 87-95). In case of Port of Duqm the leader should make sure that the team members are involved with the entire process so as to make sure that there is no resistance to change at all and they are able to adapt to the changing situation very easily thus making the work more efficient and effective. This will also help the project to get better and innovate creative ideas for doing a particular task. It will help them in increasing the productivity and also in utilisation of the resources in most optimum way. Johansen, 2012 said that the leader should make sure that the man machine utilisation percentage is pretty high so as to reduce the wastage of time by waiting and thus the resources are been utilised in the best way. The project manager of the port of Duqm must make sure that the man machine utilisation is very high so that the machines and equipments are not been left waiting thus there is maximum utilisation of the equipments and the machines and also the team member allocation is proper to make sure that they get good output from each member. The leader must allocate the cost of the project by taking all the factors in mind so that there is no wastage of additional cost in the project (Johansen, 2012, pp. 98-104). In the same way the project manager should make sure that the estimated cost for completion of the project must be enough to make sure that the entire project can be completed within the estimated cost and there is no over requirement of money or even wastage of money. Thus the budget that is been made for the project should be done very carefully taking the strategic plan as a guide. Lack of human resources management As indicated by the work of Bratton and Gild (2012), human resource management is essential in all types of industries across the globe because the human resource base of an organization is considered to be the most valuable asset within an organization (Bratton and Gild, 2012). This is also applicable to the management of large infrastructural and operational bases like ports. According to Snell and Bothlander (2012), human resource management is especially required in an organization operating in the industry of construction, ports etc. because the activities of a port are highly dependent on the people operating and functioning in the port (Snell and Bothlander, 2012). Also, different aspects of human resource management like workforce planning, workforce management, performance evaluation, training and development etc. are critical for implementation in the operations of a port. Human resource management is an essential part of the overall management of a port. This may be applicable to the Port of Duqm Company (PDC) as well. A lack of proper human resource management in a port can lead to several functioning issues within the operations and activities of a port. The Port of Duqm is a large port with a variety of operations and functionality. The company looks after the operations of the port along with being involved in other business operations. The Port of Duqm is built in an important special economic zone of Oman. The Port of Duqm (PDC) is built in partnership with the Port of Antwerp which is one of targets players in the industry of ports and related activities. The Port of Duqm is also an important revenue generator for the country as well as helps to bring in huge inflows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. The Port of Duqm Company (PDC) was formed as a joint venture between the Consortium of Antwerp Port., Belgium and the Government of the Sultanate of Oman with the aim of investing, operating and managing the port as well as other near located industrial zones. As such, the government of Qatar has a high incentive to promote the success and sustainability of the company for the ultimate benefit of the country. Promoting the sustainability of a company is highly dependent on the workforce management of the company. Therefore, the lack of a proper human resource management can be identified to be a major hindrance in the operability and sustainability of the Port of Duqm Company (PDC). The Port of Duqm has an established human resource department with basic functionalities like recruitment, selection, training and development and overall management of the workforce. However, the lack of a robust and fully functional human resource management system is identified in the Port of Duqm Company (PDC). Immediate steps should be taken to resolve the issues in the Port of Duqm Company (PDC) because any future problems arising in the human resources of the company may lead to a halt in the business operations. According to the work of Beardwell and Claydon (2012), the human resource management practices should be aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of the workers, the performance of the workers as well as improving the supporting functions of the human resource management in the organization (Beardwell and Claydon, 2012). The human resource management functions should also encompass the creation and development of a suitable business contingency plan which can be applied during any unforeseen issue or crisis arising in the business. A business contingency plan aiming at proper management of the workforce during the crises would help the company to ensure that the back-up of the set base of employees is maintained during any contingency period. Suitable evaluation of the workforce, performance appraisal and performance evaluation is necessary to create and retain a capable and well trained workforce within the organization. Marchington and Wilkinson (2008) have identified that the human resource management is extremely crucial in an organization which involves high investment and risks (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2008). The Port of Duqm Company (PDC) operates in an industry which involves high capital investments and capital expenditures. Therefore continuous support from the human resource personnel is highly required in the company. The Port of Duqm Company (PDC) is already a big employer in Oman and is also expected to open up more than 176000 job positions in the year 2014. The human resource management will become more critical because of the increasing number of personnel working in the company. The necessity of human resource management is more felt when the number of workers is huge. According to Huselid and Becker (2012), the human resource management should encompass suitable training and development processes, evaluation and appraisal processes, and supervision of the work performances in each department as well as encompass establishing a support system to provide assistance to the employees (Huselid and Becker, 2012). The Port of Duqm Company (PDC) strives to employ and retain talented people in the organization. According to the work of Youndt, Snell, Dean and Lepak (1996), the attrition of employees may be a serious loss for a company, especially when the employees have incurred high expense of training and are well aware of the functionality in the business (Youndt, Snell, Dean and Lepak, 1996). The human resource management should be employed to create motivation and enthusiasm among the employees which will help to reduce the attrition rate in the organization. There may be several challenges faced by the Port of Duqm Company (PDC) in establishing a robust Human Resource Management (HRM) system. The main challenge for the human resource management system would be the integration and streamlining of the huge number of employees working in various departments and various business units of the Port of Duqm Company (PDC). According to the work of Evans, Pucik and Barsoux (2002), the complexity in the business processes is another major challenge faced by the company with respect to human resource management (Evans, Pucik and Barsoux, 2002). The company can set up a fully functional base of human resource practitioners recruited on the basis of suitable expertise and experience of managing workforces in this industry. According to the work of Wilton (2013), a human resource management department would help to create a positive brand image for the company as well as help to filter the employees recruited by the company (Wilton, 2013). This would ensure that the company is enabled to maintain a highly skilled and well performing employee base. A suitable human resource management can be deployed by setting up a dedicated and functional department to supervise mange, monitor and control the workforce performances and activities of the company to ensure quality and performance in the Port of Duqm Company (PDC) as well as it will help to speed up the growth of the project. Conclusion The identified problem of the project of Port of Duqm Company (PDC) is the sluggish growth of the project. A soft system methodology is used to identify the problems associated with the project. This approach is useful for project management, risk management and evaluation of complex situations which can be used to detect issues in the project. The use of this approach identifies the slow growth of the projects to be a main problem which is driven by three main factors. The main factors identified for the slow growth of the project are the lack of strategic planning, strategic leadership and a proper human resource management system. According to the work of Gilbert, Morabio and Stohr (2012), strategic planning is identified to be crucial for speeding up the growth of a project as well as ensuring short term and long term success of a project (Gilbert, Morabio and Stohr, 2012). The strategic planning should encompass suitable planning and subsequent implementation of the strategic plans. Also, the strategic plans should be evaluated on a periodic basis to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans in the business. Strategic leadership is critical for the management of the workforce of an organization. The establishment of strategic leadership in a company would ensure that the strategic direction of the organization is adequately decided. It would also help the employees to align their work objectives with the organizational goals and objectives. As per the work of Guest (2007), the issues with the human resource management systems can be solved by setting up a robust and efficient human resource management department (Guest, 2007). This will help to monitor as well as align the overall operations of the workforce in the company. The different concepts of strategic leadership, strategic management and human resource management can be used to employ these into the Port of Duqm Company (PCD). This will help the company to become more strategy oriented and well managed. References Abraham, S. C. 2012. Strategic Planning: A Practical Guide for Competitive Success. London: Emerald Group Publishing. 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