Coast Fields Highway Project - Case Study Example

Coast fields highway Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Executive summery The project I chose to research on is Coast fields project. Coast fields high project is a project for constructing a highway that connects between Allanson and Collie (Government of Australia 2011). The project was to increase the road width to ensure the lane is 3.5 meters in width to all directions and also improve the curves of the road. I chose this project because it is among the successfully completed projects in Australia in the recent years. This report analyses the coast fields projects into depth. The stakeholders of the project were the government, the community, the project team and the project managers. I also discussed how the project was started and ended considering the factors that contributed to the success of the project. The tools and strategies that led to successful implementation of the project discussed include careful planning, risk assessment, smart team and effective allocation of resources. Finally, have given the moral lesson have learnt from this research about coast fields road project. Introduction The purpose of this report is to discuss on the strategies of managing the project of coast fields. It takes into account various like stakeholder analysis, discussion on how the project is being managed and critical analysis of the outcome of the project (Stephen 2009). It applies modern technology and expertise to accomplish the task. The main objectives of the project include boosting the economy of Australia. Besides the gas being used by the Australian people, it will also be sold to other countries and this will earn foreign exchange for the country. The businesses in Australia like the construction companies will benefit because they will a warded tenders and contracting opportunities. This will create employment opportunities to the people who will in turn pay revenue to the government. The scope of the coast fields project is shown in appendix A1 below. Other objectives are I. Improve the efficiency and ease traffic II. Improve safety and reduce traffic congestion within the regional road network; III. Provide better access for residents and road users in the cities of the coast region IV. Improve easy access to the medical facilities on the coast by the residents V. Provide improved access to the Fremantle Inner Harbor VI. Help to reduce the number of accidents caused by the small width of the high of the highway VII. Need to increase sections of narrow lane width, unsealed shoulders and poor geometry VIII. Need to provide opportunities for road users to easily overtake slow vehicles Project stakeholder analysis Coast fields project has the following stakeholders, the project manager, the government, customers, the suppliers and the community (Bulcki 2007). Identification of stakeholders is important because it helps to determine the success of the project. The stakeholders of the project change with the project life cycle. For instance the government of Australia as a stakeholder encourages the project by providing financial aid to complete the project of coast fields. Also the community is a stakeholder in the project (Bulcki 2007). The community can influence the project either positively or negatively. Because the community is likely to benefit from the projects, they may offer some intangible or non intangible support to complete the project. On he other the community may view the project as that can interfere with the environment hence oppose the project. Finally, the most important stakeholder of the coast fields project is the project manager. He or she may determine the success of the project depending on his knowledge and knowhow. A well qualified and motivated project manager cal lead other stakeholders towards completing the project successfully. He provides both financial and non financial advice to the project team. The stakeholders of the coast fields project are summarized in appendix A2 below. Project management description The project manager of Coast fields high project used the following tools to manage the project; ganth charts which the manager used to design plans of the project and shared them with the project team (McManus & Wood 2000). This chart showed each section of involvement and how the tasks are allocated. The management of the project also used dashboard to see the progress of the project online (McManus & Wood 2000). This technology helped the managers to monitor the project effectively and correct any deviations from the project. The progress of the project can be compared with the set plans to see if it progresses successfully. Scheduling of the project was another tool that was used to manage the project. Scheduling set targets within which the project team worked on like what task should be completed at what time. If the task was not completed at the scheduled time then the deviation was corrected at an early stage. Another tool for managing the project was resource planning (McManus & Wood 2000). Resources like the finance and material resources were allocated to each task so that there could be no misuse of resources. Reports about the resource utilization were produced regularly to monitor how they were used. Finally, teamwork was encouraged among the project participants. There were open forums with which the project team met and discussed issues as well as exchanging ideas. These forums encouraged team work towards achieving the completion of the project. Strategies used to manage coast fields project First, there was extensive and intensive planning of the project before it started (Project management Institute 2000). The plans of action were addressed in advance so that any dangers that would threaten the project were tackled. The project managers clearly set out the approaches they with which to start the project. Secondly critical path and non-critical path were established (Shenhar 2001). This helped managers to decide on what course of actions to take. They identified the critical paths and provided working scenarios on how they could manage such delays hence they were prepared to tackle the delays. Finally, they managed the project and not the plan itself (Schaffer 1997). The project managers focused more on the project and not the delays or they did not tie themselves to the initial plan. They managed the project and later assessed the initial plan with the outcome and this gave time to find solution to the project problems. Benefits of careful planning of the project to the manager Firstly, it helps managers set clear objectives (Meredith & Mantel 2006). A clear objective drives and acts as a guideline to the manager to know his or her destination. It therefore helps managers prioritize the activities of the project. Secondly, planning helps managers to assess the risks involved in the project (Meredith & Mantel 2006). By assessing the risks involved in the project, the manager will be able to set measures which help him or her and the project team to avoid such loopholes. Thirdly, careful planning helps managers to allocate resources effectively. Planning enables managers to allocate resources to each section of the project after being able to prioritize tasks. Effective allocation of the resources contributes to better accomplish the project. Factors that contributed to the success of Coast fields’ project The project managers did plan smartly (Gidd & Clement 2003). They designed a comprehensive plan on how to start the project and with what operations. This helped the project to head towards the planned objectives. Secondly, the project comprised project team with qualified skills and knowledge (Gidd & Clement 2003). The stakeholders all contributed to the success of the project especially the project staff that were qualified and could offer their best skills through motivation and utilize resources effectively. Therefore, there was teamwork in the project which promoted skills among employees. There was open communication among the project team. This led to improvement in policies and procedures of the project. The project team did not give false promises hence they motivated the project staff. Finally, there was a careful assessment of the risks involved in the project (Gardner 2005). This enabled the project managers to avoid such occurrences hence the project progressed smoothly from one stage to another with fewer risks. However, there was a factor which was challenging for the project. Environmental concerns were raised among the community. They argued that with the construction of the road affected and polluted the environment which at first led to resistance from the community (Burke 2006). The misunderstanding between the community and the project was solved by explaining clear guidelines on how the environment was taken care off. Conclusion From this research, I have learnt that the success or failure of any project depends on the planning of the project manager. Failure to plan is planning to fail in project terms. Besides planning, the other factors that contribute to success or failure of projects are risk assessment, prioritizing of tasks, effective allocation of resources and the availability of skilled manpower to implement the plans (Burke 2006). Identifying and considering the stakeholders is also a key to success to many projects. Key stakeholders like the community, customers and the government should be considered before starting to implement a project. References Bucki, L. A 2007, The Microsoft Office Project 2007 Survival Guide, Boston MA, Thomson Burke, R 2006, Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques, 5edn, London, Burker. Gardiner, P 2005, Project Management: A Strategic Planning Approach, New York, Palgrave Macmillan. Gido, J & Clements, J 2003, Successful Project Management, 2edn. London, Thomson. Government of Western Australia 2011, main roads Western Australia, Available Online https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/AboutMainRoads/OurRoleRegions/SouthWest/proje cts/Pages/Coalfields.aspx Meredith, J & Mantel, S 2006, Project Management: a Managerial Approach, London, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. McManus, J & Wood, T 2003, Information systems Project Management Methods, Tools and techniques, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Project Management Institute, 2000, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Newtown Square, PA. Shenhar, A 2001, One Size Does Not Fit All Projects: Exploring Classical Contingency Domains, Management Science, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 234-523. Schaffer, R 1997, Make consulting pay off: its time for a new deal, Industrial Management, Vol. 39, No. 6, p. 1-5. Stephen, H 2009, Project Management, Principles, Processes and Practice, French Forest, NSW, Prentice Hall. Appendix Appendix A1: scope of coast fields project s Appendix A2: stakeholders of coast fields project Read More