Project Management and Leadership Styles - Coursework Example

Project Management University black burn Namesalahaldhaheri Task 1 Attitude always determines altitude, and hence a manager has to maintain a positive attitude towards a given project for one to influence the participants of the project to believe in its viability and importance to the organization, government or the public. Being positive in what one is doing is a key aspect that acts as a motivator to achieve. This also applies in the case of project management. How or what you think about the project will determine the success of the project. This has been seen where, in most cases, one can only succeed in doing something that one loves. As a result, people who hate their jobs always possess a negative attitude towards the job and hence low performance that is caused by absenteeism and job dissatisfaction. They are not motivated to perform, and hence their productivity is low. In many cases, a project’s success is determined by the influence of the leader in the project. A project manager who is slow and insecure is likely to trickle that aspect to the participants hence creating obstacles for the failure of the project. Project planning is a key element or rather determinant of the success of the project. A mistake made by many project managers is getting to do the work itself after foregoing project planning. Some of them do not understand that the success of a project is, in the first place, determined by the structure and planned activities of the project(Haughey, 2013). Project planning is a key element of a successful project. In addition, a manager must believe in the worthiness of the project. He must see the need for conducting the project. In other words, he should be able to see the value of the project for him or her to convince his subordinates that there is a need to carry the project effectively and efficiently. The key benefits of project planning are time saving, reduction of flaws and efficient utilization of resources including money (Haughey, 2013). Therefore, the concern of the researcher in this research is to portray and validate his approach in project planning with regard to his or her believe in project management. It is important as a project manager is to state down the objectives and goals of the project at hand. With respect to this, the needs of the stakeholders must be fulfilled. For instance, a stakeholder in avehicle manufacturing factory should be motivated to ensure that there is minimum waste. That is why there is a need for production planning and control. A project designed to produce cars should ensure that all the resources are utilized properly in order to minimize waste. This is where the project manager should be concerned of the issues of lean management and production planning. Production planning and control relates to regulating the inputs (raw materials) and transformation processes by linking daily planning tasks with short-term and long-term planning tasks (Bowers etal, 1993). Regulation of inputs involves ensuring minimal waste. Raw materials should not be used in excessive units that may result in overproduction, and some materials being disposed away as waste when the needed quantity has been used. For instance, when using cement as raw materials, regulation of quantity used helps to prevent throwing away of the remaining little cement that cannot be utilized. Utilization of resources must be well observed in controlling production. In addition, production planning and control is necessary in making decisions concerning utilization, acquisition, and allocation of resources in production processes with the objective of satisfying customer needs effectively and efficiently. A clear analysis of the major objective of lean management shows that production planning and lean management have a relationship based on the common objective of proper utilization of resources through avoiding waste. Lean management aims at producing more value products but with fewer resources. Lean’s basic focus is minimizing waste and maximizing value through ensuring that everything is in its right size, prevent the white space between activities (pick where you left), prevent information blizzard and know that moving an object one inch is also transport (Flinchbaugh, 2005)). A clear analysis of the major objective of lean management shows that production planning and lean management have a relationship based on the common objective of proper utilization of resources through avoiding waste. Similarly, Lean management involves a way of managing and organizing all aspects of a production entity, and process through principles, tools and practices that are aimed at production of high quality products and services with few or no defects. Production planning challenges start with specification of client’s demand that must be met by the production plan. It is not easy to predict the exact future demand and thus sometimes future demand is not known (Graves, 1999). Therefore, the firm relies on forecasting to predict the future demand. It is important for a company to formulate a plan that caters for demand uncertainty. ITO is where a business firm outsources services of computer technology from a third party. When outsourcing IT, a great care should be taken when analyzing the considerations of risk allocation and limitation of liability involved in the contract. BPO encompasses HRO relating to outsourcing of customer care call centers services from a third party instead of the company doing it on its own. BPO impacts the technical and the organization’s social systems (Duening, 2005). Stakeholders usually include, the project sponsor, those who will put into use the outputs, the project team and the customers or consumers who will consume thefinal product. Therefore, it is important to incorporate the stakeholder’s need with the goals of the project so that it can be useful to the m in the long run. Interviews can be conducted in order to gather information on the needs of the stakeholders, and thus to gauge the importance of the project to the stakeholders. Administering questionnaires can also be another means of gathering information. The second step is determining what the project should deliver in the long run as a way of meeting its listed goals. In this plan, one must specify on the time for delivery, and how to deliver the item. The third stage involves creation of a list of tasks in delivering the items named in step two. A schedule is formulated or rather developed in this stage. The hours of performing the tasks are specified in this stage. The hours represent the effort required in performing a given task. At this stage, the resources are also put on the schedule. This concerns the number of staff to be deployed in the project. It also concerns the tools and inventory required in completion of the project. The equipment must also be named at this stage. There are also electronic systems and software packages that would be required in completion of tasks. Cash may also be required for buying miscellaneous products and items that might be needed. At this stage, one is likely to make a mistake of making a schedule in accordance to the wish and expectation of the sponsor. Then the schedule would end up being unrealistic. Therefore, it would be important to renegotiate the delivery deadline if it is not realistic. Additionally, if the cost is large then it would be important to add resources. It would also be reasonable to reduce the coverage of the project delivery (Haughey, 2013). The fourth step is meant for creating and structuring the support plans of the project. The contingency plan could also be formulated at this level. The human resources to be deployed are named at this level. Their responsibilities and roles must be outlined at this stage. Secondly, the communication structure should be formulated at this stage. Formal communications are well recognized by the company officially. Information and instructions are passed either from up downwards or down upwards along the channels of formal communication (Kandloussi, 2010). It usually follows the formal hierarchy of the organization. Sufficient formal communication results to better performance, hence productivity, reduces conflict, job satisfaction, reduces bad impact of rumours or grapevine and reinforces trust in the organization (Kandloussietal, 2010). A team leader is also supposed to sensitize the goal of the team. The team leader has a challenge of ensuring that each team member subordinates his or her personal agenda to the goal of the team (Gadeken, 2012). It is very important for the team leader to ensure that each team member embraces the objectives, goals and targets of the team. A team leader is in charge of ensuring that there is open communication between the team members. In addition, the team leader is expected to develop, recruit and retain team members to maintain high level skill in the team (Gadeken, 2012). Individual’s tasks or responsibility in an organization form the basis of evaluation of the employee. The job description is the basis of the parameters that will be used in evaluating the individual’s competence, and to evaluate whether that position is suitable for that employee. On the other hand, the evaluator of a team usually uses the team’s goals and objectives to assess the performance of the team. In other words, general performance of the whole group is the indicator of member contribution effort (Wicks, 2012). Communication is an important success key that helps in human resource management. It is important that open communications are kept between an organization’s management and its staff. Communication helps where changes and their impact on the business/company are quickly shared. Instructions, laws and regulations can only be communicated first and understood before they are implemented. Listening to the staff is an important factor which offers an opportunity to workers in participating in decision making. Democracy is the common business leadership style employed in the organizations today. Dictatorship is a traditional leadership style that does not give employees the opportunity to participate in decision making. A democratic leader uses democratic leadership style where the leader usually allows his or her employees to participate in making of the decisions of the project. This usually gives guidance to staff and team members on how they can go about on doing things. However, this leader is the final call in making essential decisions after lengthy discussion and sharing with the employees. This leader is often sympathetic and recognized for compensating the employees fairly. These leaders are always mindful of the welfare of the employees and their families (Palestine, 2011). They always pay them an income equivalent to the value of the work they did. They do not look down upon their employees. This leadership style is usually the most productive leadership style, and it is typically used in companies that are performing well. People prefer using democratic leadership style because it always makes people feel motivated and important in the organization. Autocratic leadership style is the second leadership style used by leaders. They usually give advice to people on what should be done and how it is usually done. They always have an eager of being consulted and sometimes their confidence borders arrogance. They usually have little influence from their followers. This leadership style is not as effective as the democratic leadership style in producing good results. The third leadership style is laissez-fair. In this style, leaders give no guidance to their employees (Blanchard, 1984). At times, they give little guidance, and they leave the employees to work independently. All the decisions are made by the teams and groups that are organized by the workers. This style is worth in projects that have been doing well and people know what they are supposed to do. However, some individuals, especially young workers are unable to work independently and guidance and supervision is essential. The leader has little contact with the employees and hence little influence. References Blanchard, K., and Lorber, R. 1984Putting the One Minute Manager to Work. London: Fontana Boyd, S. D. 1998. Using active listening. Nursing Management, 29(7), 55-55. [online] Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/231436330?accountid=45049 Bowers, M. R., &Agarwal, A. 1993. Hierarchical production planning: Scheduling in the apparel industry. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 5(3), 36-36. Duening N. and Click L. 2005. Business Process Outsourcing. London: John Wileys and Sons, Inc. Flinchbaugh, J. 2005. Lean material management. Material Handling Management, 60(4), 34-35. Haughey D. 2013. Project planning. [online] Retrieved from: www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-step-by-step.html Palestine R. 2011. Going Back to the Future: A Leadership Journeyfor Educators. R&L Education. Pp 82 Kandlousi, N. S. A. E., Ali, A. J., &Abdollahi, A. 2010. Organizational citizenship behavior in concern of communication satisfaction: The role of the formal and informal communication. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(10), 51-61. [online] Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/821297357?accountid=45049 Task 2 Introduction This is a project initial document that sums all the strategies and systems that will be put in place in a fire and rescue services project. It shows the major goals of the project complemented by the benefits of the project to all of its stakeholders. The major stakeholders of this project include the staff or rather human resource involved, the consumers of our services in the United Kingdom and the sponsors of this project who have a vision of ensuring that losses caused by fire in United Kingdom are ceased. Aims of the project To improve communication systems and infrastructure based on new technology and telecommunication system in order to ease relay of communication in the event of fire break outs in United Kingdom. This will support server based monitoring of the cities and estates to promote immediate reaction in the event of fires. It will also support message queue management where fire messages can be prioritized with regard to urgency of the problem. To educate the public on the usefulness of fire protection gadgets like fire extinguishers, fire alarms in building and emergency doors. Training civil servants on how to react to fire events is important to minimize the number of deaths that are caused by fire. To work with government institutions, and willing private institutions in determining fire and risk assessment, and partly helping them to comply with safety requirements in order to minimize risk. To identify areas that are highly vulnerable to fire as part of the strategy for protection of these areas from anticipated fire outbreaks. To partner with the authorities at local levels with the objective of aligning our administrative structures with those of the authorities, especially, in the deployingof the fire fighters in various regions. Benefits of the project It will ensure timely response to fire outbreaks in all parts of United Kingdom. Major losses and deaths or injuries happen as a result of delays to response in case of a fire outbreak. Reduce the losses and deaths that are a result of fire outbreaks in United Kingdom. The losses will be reduced by 98% because the installed monitory and communication systems can send signal immediately the fire breaks off. The project intends to build fire stations near highly affected areas, and hence in case of any fire break outs the fire fighting vehicles can reach the affected premises immediately. In correspondence, our activities will save 98% of the cost that would have been incurred in replacing buildings and damaged facilities. It will also educate the public on the ways of responding to fire whenever there is an event of a disaster. The learners are trained how to use fire extinguishers, and the various types of fire and their corresponding extinguishers. The learners will also be trained on the various signs of fire, and what to do whenever there is a fire. The project will ensure there are enough fire infrastructure, ambulance and tools for fire fighting ready for provision of fire and rescue services. Communication will be made easier using new technology for message queuing and message prioritization. Therefore, people will not perish as a result of miscommunication or misinterpretation or lack of communication. It will relieve the local authorities in the United Kingdom on the load or rather burden of responding to various fire events in different areas with the limited resources. Costs Building and equipping four fire stations $ 200,000 Procurement of cement, raw materials in general and fittings $100,000 Paying workers and construction managers $ 100,000 Software installations and communication infrastructure $20,000 Purchasing of software and related hardware = $10,000 Installation services and installation of satellites and communication cables = $10,000 Installation of fire alarms and equipment $ 10,000 Procurement of alarms and extinguishers = $4000 Procurement of installation services = $6000 Training and educating of the public = $ 5000 Transport cost = $1000 Booking venue= $2500 Training tools and materials = $500 Hired guests fee = $1000 Business Case Communication infrastructure will be upgraded through installation of satellite devices. The servers will be installed for the sake of transmission of messages through the internet through the log-in messengers. Messages will be prioritized in a queue as mentioned earlier. In addition, virtual network telephones will be installed in major shopping malls, supermarkets, chain stores, conference buildings and business centres in the city. Additionally, software for monitoring various cities and their activities will be installed for ensuring that a fire signal has been transmitted to the fire rescuers in the event of a fire. These communication systems are meant for ensuring that stakeholders’ needs are met by customer satisfaction. Thus, the clients will receive quality services that are free from delays, and no losses and deaths will be experienced. The infrastructure will make our response to be immediate. Those hurt will be send ambulances on time and hence treated on time. The project will also distribute fire extinguishers, install fire alarms, and install fire signs in different parts of building. These include the fire exit signs. Additionally, extinguisher pipes will be installed all over the major cities of unique for the purpose of extinguishing fires that occur. This will ensure there are no deaths and losses in case of a fire outbreak. Fire stations will be deployed in various corners of cities with enough ambulances, fire equipments and tools and enough human resources will also be deployed. This is meant for ensuring timely response through reduction of time taken in reaching the place attacked by fire. This is after realizations that most fire stations are few and far away from some place, and hence it is not easy to send ambulances and fire rescuers on time in the event of a fire. Activities The major activities include; Various fire stations will be built in various corners of the cities for accurate and timely response to fire events. There will be installation of servers and software for enhancing communication additionally, there will be constant training and development of the staff to ensure they are updated with information on various types of fire and new methods of fighting fire and rescuing people. Sending staff to different institutions to train the public on the basic fire fighting education in case of minor fires. Training them is also important in order to prepare them for proper reaction in case of a fire. Milestones To build four fire stations in the cities within six months. Development of a building plan relying on architectural services from experienced architectural officers. Procurement of raw materials- fittings, bricks, electric gadgets, doors and windows Hiring of supervisors, construction managers and foremen to work at the site Putting up foundation for each of the building To update the communication system that is the servers, satellites and software’s within six months. Procurement of satellites, software applications, hardware, cables and wires Hiring of professionals in the field of software installation and wiring services Training of the staff on the area of maintenance and use of the updated communication systems To install fire alarms, extinguishers and fire alarms in all public institutions within six months. Purchasing of extinguishers, alarms and fitting Installation of these alarms in the institutions chosen To go round all these institutions conducting training sessions to the staff in order to educate them on issues concerning fire, and how they should respond and react to fire attacks in six months. Staffing Every fire station shall hire 20 staff, and their roles and responsibilities will be properly outlined. In addition, training and development plans will be implemented after every five months. Democratic leadership which is subordinate-staff-cantered will be encouraged in the fire stations. A democratic leader uses democratic leadership style where the leader usually allows his or her team members to participate in making of the decisions of the organization (Shuffler etal, 2010). This usually gives guidance to team members on how they can go about on doing things. However, this leader is the final call in making essential decisions after lengthy discussion and sharing with the employees. A team leader is also supposed to sensitize the goal of the team. The team leader has a challenge of ensuring that each team member subordinates his or her personal agenda to the goal of the team (Gadeken, 2012). It is very important for the team leader to ensure that each team member embraces the objectives, goals and targets of the team. A team leader is in charge of ensuring that there is open communication between the team members. In addition, the team leader is expected to develop, recruit and retain team members to maintain high level skill in the team (Gadeken, 2012). Individual’s tasks or responsibility in an organization form the basis of evaluation of the employee. The job description is the basis of the parameters that will be used in evaluating the individual’s competence, and to evaluate whether that position is suitable for that employee. On the other hand, the evaluator of a team usually uses the team’s goals and objectives to assess the performance of the team. In other words, general performance of the whole group is the indicator of member contribution effort (Wicks, 2012). In individual evaluation, an employee takes full accountability of performance achieved. However, in team evaluation, some members of the team who are uncooperative can slow down those who are very hardworking and competent. Individual evaluation is usually connected to rewards, compensation, salary increment and promotion (Hersey, 2001). On the other hand, on team assessment compensation becomes difficult because some members of the team will end up feeling wasted and dissatisfied hence resulting to post blame on others who they feel have not contributed fully to help the team achieve better than it did (Wicks, 2012). Risk Management Plan A risk assessment exercise shall be conducted in order to identify the nature of threats involved with the project and fire fighting. Risk evaluation shall also be conducted in order to investigate the likelihood of the risk to happen (Scholes, 1993). Finally, risk management practices shall be incorporated in the operations. Risk of injury shall be controlled through training, protective equipment and clothing and experience. There will also be avoidance of risks that will be perceived as unnecessary. Appropriate strategies and tactics shall also be enforced in the operations of the project. This project is faced by the risk of fire fighters being injured or dying in the process of saving the victims and while fighting fire. There is also the risk of labourers being injured while building the fire stations as a result of falling off from above or being injured by sharp objects in the site. It is also possible for one to be hurt while operating drilling machines or any other machine. Insurance covers shall be administered to the fire fighters so that they can be able to access health facilities whenever they are injured. In addition, safety measures should be in put in place with the objective of ensuring that the fire fighters are not working in disastrous risks. This can be done through buying protective clothing and helmets to avoid burns. In addition, the new staff must be trained on how to operate drilling machines and other dangerous machines. In addition, there are risks of the budget varying from the actual amounts which might lead to discrepancies, and hence affecting the period in which the project should be complete. In this case, accounting professionals will be hired to carry out auditing procedures meant for ensuring that the budget is accurately designed and discrepancies are minimized. There is also the risk of the procurement procedure taking longer than expected due to the Procurement Act and regulations that demands for following of the correct procedures of procurement. It will be advisable for hiring procurement officers with vast experience on procurement matters especially on the procurement regulations in order to ensure that the procurement procedures are well adhered. In addition, it will be very vital for the warehouse managers to liaise with the procurement officers in forecasting the lead times to ensure that needs are communicated on time to allow for the procurement procedures to take place. Additionally, it is also vital for stock to be kept in the stores in order to ensure that there is work in progress all the time. There is also the risk of theft of operating machines like communication software and hackers could also hack into the system and illegally access important information that should be relied upon by the staff. In regard to this, monitory procedures on our systems will be conducted on a daily basis by experts who can detect any illegal activities of the hackers who would be intending to tamper with our communication systems. Our databases will also be protected by security keys and passwords only known by the staff. It will cost the project $ 5000 for risk management based on the following forecast on risk costs. Safety tools equipment and protective clothing = $ 900 Continuous monitory and auditing services of communication infrastructure = $ 2100 Buffer stock to prevent delays = $ 1000 Insurance cover for 10 employees =$ 10000 Documents management plan The project shall primarily rely on server based databases for each department ranging from the procurement department to the human resource department. In addition, all the information and files stored will be accessed through a centralized security key that will be issued to authorized staff. Moreover, all reverences can be made through internet and intranet tools with the use of a website or a software package for accessing the databases. Gantt chart months Task Duration 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 Building fire stations 6 Procure equipment 6 Build communication infrastructure 6 Install alarms 6 Training sessions 6 References Gadeken, O. 2012.Building the Program Office Team. DefenseAT&L, 41(1), 42. Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. 2001.Management of Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall Shuffler, M. L., Wiese, C. W., Salas, E., & Burke, C. (2010). Leading One Another Across Time and Space: Exploring Shared Leadership Functions in Virtual Teams. Revista De PsicologiaDel Trabajo Y De Las Organizaciones, 26(1), 3-17. Scholes, K., and Johnson, G. 1993.Exploring Corporate Strategy. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall Wicks D. 2012. Difference between Individual and team performance evaluation.[online] Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/differences-between-individual-team-performance-evaluations-24907.html[accessed on 8th March 2013] Read More