Project Management Scenario - Essay Example

Project Management Essay As to the types of project communication that Janet Clark needs to implement, a responsibility matrix is a must during the Planning Phase of the project to ensure visibility regarding the individuals or groups responsible for specific deliverables (Pritchard, 2004). It would also be helpful if information can be provided regarding the levels of support for each deliverable. Additionally, it should be recalled that Pokorski and Downs were instructed to provide Janet everything she needs for the Huntsville project.

If Janet should require some of Pokorski and Down’s staff for the new project, there might be conflict with respect to job responsibilities, particularly, the tasks which will be left unattended by staff movement from Pokorski and Down’s side of the operations to Janet’s new project. The responsibility matrix, together with a resources plan, can help address any potential communication conflicts among Steve Pokorski, Joe Downs and Janet. Meanwhile, an issue management plan will also be handy so that Janet’s team can be prepared to contend with environmental, cultural, technical and project-specific concerns which have already been identified or are being expected to occur in the course of time.

This communication tool is very different from a risk management plan in the sense that risks may or may not occur (Pritchard, 2004). Finally, Janet should require each team or group in charge with one or more deliverables to submit status reports at the end of each week so that delays, time gained and other problems which surface in addition to those already identified and expected can be properly addressed, particularly those requiring mobilisation of resources, task redundancies or personnel conflicts.

On the other hand, the major risks being considered which may affect the success of the project include: (1) unexpected increase in the price of construction materials during the construction of the manufacturing plant; (2) is fluctuation in the price of raw materials for plastic containers and (3) breakdown of equipment. All three aforementioned risks will definitely affect the scope, cost and schedule of the project. In the case of increase in the price of raw materials for construction, or fluctuation in price of raw materials for manufacturing, including a statistically calculated amount for contingency in the estimation of construction and manufacturing costs can cushion the effect of any price increase.

With respect to breakdown of equipment especially in the first four months of operation, weekly maintenance efforts will help avoid costly repair and opportunity losses stemming from production downtime. Application of multi-variate statistical process control in the manufacturing process will also facilitate detection of irregularities in the production line to prevent damage to equipment and unacceptable production output (Mason & Young, 2002). Appropriations should be provided for an equipment maintenance and repair specialist from the equipment vendor, who will train in-house personnel on the proper handling of the equipment for longer economic life.

The likelihood of the aforementioned risks will affect Janet’s courses of action. There is a host of risk management options described in Vose (2008). If the chance of risk occurrence is minimal, Janet may opt for acceptance (the do nothing approach). Higher risk likelihood may motivate Janet to use other options such as: increase or decrease costs to manage risks, obtain more information, risk avoidance or elimination, risk reduction or mitigation, etc. ReferencesMason, R. L. and Young, J. C. (2002).

Multivariate statistical process control with industrial applications. Philadelphia, PA: American Statistical Association, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.Pritchard, C. (2004). The project management communications toolkit. Norwood, MA: Artech House.Vose, D. (2008). Risk analysis: a quantitative guide (3rd ed.). West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.