MBIS5020 Project Management Report 2 Sample

MBIS5020 Project Management Report 2

Alignment with Unit and Course

Unit Learning Outcomes

ULO1: Describe the Project Management landscape to compare and understand business organisations in broad fields.

ULO2: Discuss the fundamentals and basic theory of Project Management and critically evaluate a range of applications for IS.

ULO3: Examine and design contemporary Project Management applications and methodologies.

ULO4: Investigate and explain the process for execution, verification and validation of Project Management and define specifications including technical, economical and operational feasibility.

ULO5: Evaluate Project Management related techniques required to ensure the reliability, availability and integrity of digital business processes and analyse.

Assessment Description

In this project, you will work in groups of 4-5 students. You have to do a critical analysis of the “Keflavik Paper Company” situation in the penultimate page of this guide. You were invited as consultant to provide analysis and solutions for the case.

• Assume that you are responsible for maintaining Keflavik’s project portfolio. Name the key criteria that should be used in evaluating all new projects before they are added to the current portfolio.

• If you were the project manager, what expertise would you like from the sponsor, stakeholders, or core team members to create a milestone schedule with acceptance criteria?

• Write pertinent risks. Assess them to determine which you believe are major risks and develop at least one response for each major risk.

• Who are the key stakeholders for this project and what is the interest of each? Which stakeholders have the most power?

• Which recommendation you suggest for higher performance achievement?

• What does this case demonstrate about the effect of poor project screening methods on a firm’s ability to manage its projects effectively?

Process, structure, and content:

The process of the project is the development a critical thinking report for Kimble College organisation. Students are advised to conduct an audition in this organisation. You will analyse the company and make recommendations including the strengths and weaknesses that were revealed.
The structure of the project is a 3000-word report, the contents of which are detailed below. It is the report that requires submitting as the finished piece of work. It is the report that will be marked. Ad hoc work in whatever form will not be marked if submitted.
The wordcount is 3000 words. The wordcount does not include the executive summary, the table of contents, the list of references or any appendices. However, please note that appendices should be used for supplementary information only: they will NOT to considered for marking.

The report content will comprise of the following sections:

Title page: this must contain the title of the report (e.g. ‘Project Plan for Acme Airlines’), names and student numbers of each group member, unit name, unit number and date of submission.

Table of contents (TOC): ideally, but not necessarily, constructed using the hyperlink functions in Word. Lists of figures and tables are not required.

Executive summary: an executive summary provides an overview of the ENTIRE report. It is NOT an introduction section. It is NOT a background section. The purpose of an executive summary is to provide an understanding of the Project plan without having to read the complete report. Ideally, half to on page in length (but no longer), the executive summary will contain a summary sentence or two on each section of the report; reporting on process (what the group did - e.g. a SWOT analysis), content (what the group found – e.g. ‘there were two major strengths and three major threats identified’ ) and outcomes (what the group determined should happen – e.g. ‘a new targeting strategy was recommended’). Do not use headings or titles in the executive summary; it should be written in essay narrative format and read seamlessly.
Introduction: the introduction informs the reader of the aims and methods the group will use in the project. It also defines the scope of the project (what is included and what is not). Whilst it may mention the chosen organisation by name, the introduction DOES NOT talk in detail about the chosen organisation or its industry.

Background and project situation: a background and Project situation section informs that reader of the context to the project. Here the organisation and its industry are described. Information about the organisation’s past and present project performance is presented along with any notes about major milestones in its Project history. It is easy to ‘go overboard’ with this section and consume much wordcount; one page is all that’s needed to set the scene for your Project plan project.
More, in this and other sections, too many students often over-rely on company websites. Most times, these websites present an organisation’s promotions (advertising) or opinions masquerading as facts. Because of the convenience and profusion of this type of information, it is too easy for students to ignore the authoritative sources of data that can be reached through AIH library databases: however, the use of AIH library databases is the way to higher marks!

SWOT analysis: Mapped out as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The SWOT analysis forms the basis for Project objectives and strategies.
Segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning: this section presents and justifies new or improved segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies.

Conclusions: through logical reasoning, this section should summarise how the Project objectives and subsequent strategies offer feasible, suitable and acceptable solutions to the Project issues generated by the analysis.

List of references: this should be formatted in Harvard style.

Solution

Introduction

Project management can be referred to as the application of specific skills, knowledge, techniques and tools for delivering something valuable by carrying out various activities to meet project requirements (PMI, 2023). The purpose of this report is to carry out a critical analysis of project management situation of the Keflavik Paper Company. This critical analysis is planning to understand and analyse the ongoing problems with project management process of the case study company. As per the MBA Assignment Expert, For this purpose, the entire report has been divided into different sections, beginning with background and project situation and ending with recommendations for performance improvement. In this regard, various models and tools such as SWOT analysis, risk management, stakeholder analysis and segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) strategy have been used. The report has further identified pertinent risks and responses, project objectives and strategies and effects of poor project screening. Based on the critical analysis, various recommendations for improving future project performance have also been provided.

Background and Project Situation

Keflavik is a medium-sized company manufacturing different types of paper products including both coated papers and specialty papers that are used in printing and photography industries. The firm has been experiencing steady annual sales despite economic downturns. It introduced a project-based approach for exploring new product opportunities around five years ago. The primary goal for introducing this approach was enhancing profitability and incurring more sales volume by developing new commercial products and catering to specific customer needs. However, Keflavik has been currently facing problems with its project management approach. Its project development record has not been impressive because of several commercial projects becoming delayed and over budget. This has further resulted in inconsistent product performance. While some projects have generated good returns for the company, others have led to losing money. It has been found out that inappropriate selection methods of projects have been causing these ongoing problems. Project managers have been selecting new projects based only on their expected return instead of evaluating how they fit with the current projects, resources, budget and time. This has resulted in a family of unrelated projects, thereby making it difficult for the project managers to finish new projects on time and within budget as they are required to acquire new skills and relearn processes for every project. Thus, this has made it essential for carrying out a critical analysis of the project management processes and methods undertaken in Keflavik Paper Company and provide suitable recommendations for improvement.

Critical Analysis

Criteria For Evaluating New Projects

Project selection is required for evaluating new projects based on some criteria for ensuring that they run in accordance with strategic objectives of the organisation alongside delivering maximum performance (Gido, Clements and Baker, 2018). This can help in choosing projects based on priorities of the specific organisation. Keflavik need to use some general criteria at first for project selection process, which includes business priority, customer impact, availability of resources, appropriate timing, savings potential, availability of data and probability of success (Meredith, Shafer and Mantel Jr, 2017). Apart from these general criteria, Keflavik can measure benefits of the projects through different methods. These are cost-benefit analysis, payback period, discounted cash flow analysis, net present value, opportunity cost, internal rate of return, economic value added, scoring models and other non-financial considerations (Gido, Clements and Baker, 2018). It is essential for Keflavik to focus on non-financial factors as key criteria, which the company has been ignoring in its current project selection process. These non-financial considerations help in focusing on environmental impact, customer and social impact and adherence of the project to company goals and values (Meredith, Shafer and Mantel Jr, 2017). While it might be difficult for the project managers in weighing these criteria against financial factors, they should be taken under consideration alongside the benefits measurement of the projects.

Expertise Of Sponsors, Stakeholders or Core Team Members

Milestone schedule acceptance criteria is essential for ensuring timely delivery of projects in desired format in Keflavik Paper Company. These criteria enable project managers in achieving the desired objectives and purposes of the project through detailed information, effective communication, streamlining tasks and tasks evaluation (O’Connor, Choi and Winkler, 2016). Different expertise and skills of sponsors, stakeholders and core team members are required for creating this milestone schedule with acceptance criteria. Here, project sponsor involves any senior manager providing high-level support and adequate resources for a project’s successful completion (Too and Weaver, 2014). These sponsors maintain communication between project manager and executive team. Expertise required from them will be decision-making ability, approving budget increase and schedule adjustments, regular communication and information sharing and conflict resolution skills. Furthermore, project stakeholders are anyone working for the project or affected by its end result, where the project success is highly dependent on their satisfaction (Davis, 2014). They need to possess expertise of identifying project constraints, offering personal skills and knowledge, determining project risks and providing valuable feedback. Besides, team members are core personnel working either part-time or full-time in the project for successfully delivering it within time and allocated budget (Young, 2016). These members should possess expertise of achieving overall objectives, completing work on time, establishing business needs, documenting the process and using their industry-specific skills and knowledge.

Pertinent Risks and Responses

Project risks are some uncertain events or outcomes influencing the successful completion and expected outcomes of a project. It comprises of all individual project risks that the project might be subjected to along with their likelihood of occurrence and potential impact (Harrison and Lock, 2017). These mainly include scope risk, performance risk, schedule risk, financial risk, operational risk and resource risk.

Table 1: Categories of Project Risks

Key Stakeholders

Fig 1: Stakeholder Mapping

Stakeholders like project clients, customers, shareholders, investors and company owners have both high power and interest in the project, who need to be managed closely (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016). This is the most important stakeholder group for Keflavik Paper Company. Furthermore, the firm needs to keep another stakeholder group satisfied having high power but low interest, which include sponsors, team members, management and functional departments. They generate significant influence on the project success and completion, thus, needs to be kept satisfied (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016). Besides, media and government are stakeholder groups have high interest but low power in influencing the project. However, they must be kept informed about the project deliverables and outcomes for satisfying their interest. Lastly, competitors, vendors and community vendors possess both low power and low interest, but they must be monitored during the project execution (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016).

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis can be carried out for evaluating strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities facing Keflavik Paper Company regarding its project management process (Benzaghta, et al., 2021). This model has been used for analysing both internal and external environments of the firm, which has further been beneficial for developing new project objectives and strategies.

Strengths

Keflavik has strong brand reputation in the market for manufacturing a wide variety of paper products. The company has always been focused on leveraging new product opportunities in the market. This has enabled it to cater to the changing consumer behaviour by meeting their specific needs. Over the years, Keflavik has been experiencing slow but steady revenues and profits. These revenues have been utilised further for undertaking and investing in new projects. It has also been using a systematic project management approach, which has helped it to improve profitability and generate more sales. The company has also been successful in expanding into various product categories, such as, photographic products, coated papers, packaging and shipping materials and other product lines. It has also been using discounted cash flow models and net present value for selecting projects, which has helped in ensuring profitable revenue streams for the company.

Weaknesses

Keflavik has been currently facing various project management issues because of its faulty project selection methods. The company rarely measured its new projects against mission and values neither were the availability of technical resources checked. Several new projects did not fit in with the ongoing projects in the current portfolio, thus, creating a family of unrelated projects in the firm. This made it difficult for the project managers as they had to relearn things, gain new technical expertise and engage in organisational learning, thus, increasing training costs for the company. Such portfolio of diverse and mismatched projects also led to the failure of scheduled project completion and cost overruns because of exceeding the expected budgets. The project managers also faced difficulties in applying learnings and lessons learnt from one project to the next as such skills were non-transferable. Thus, product performance has become inconsistent in an overall format with some projects generating good returns while others losing money.

Opportunities

Paper consumption is endless in the consumer market, which leads to constant worldwide growth of the paper industry. Keflavik can acquire new possibilities of changing consumer tastes and preferences in this industry by catering to their demands (World Paper Mill, 2022). It can use the opportunity of anti-plastic sentiment enhancing the need for biodegradable pulp and paper alternatives. Technological advancements also offer huge scope to the paper companies. Recycling of plastic packaging is another significant opportunity that can be used soon (World Paper Mill, 2022). There is also an increasing trend of online market in the US and China because of online shopping. It can also be utilised by Keflavik for catering to this increasing demand for paper packaging, corrugated boxes and raw materials. The firm can further leverage benefits of Big Data for identifying trends and requirements in the paper industry for improving its production, marketing and sales (World Paper Mill, 2022). In addition, such digital revolution and advanced technologies can enable Keflavik to stay ahead of its competitors.

Threats

Paper and pulp industry has been facing ongoing trade restrictions because of tariff barriers. Subsidies for competitive products are also present (Hammond Paper, 2023). These are generating an uneven field for conducting business operations for the paper companies. Such everchanging taxes and export duties are also causing uncertainties in the industry (Hammond Paper, 2023). One of the major challenges arising from digitalisation has been reduced consumption of graphic paper. Besides, increasing consumption of digital and online media has also led to decrease in graphic grades in the recent years (Hammond Paper, 2023). In addition, using paper as ecofriendly resource and achieving manufacturing process efficiency are also other threats to the paper industry.

Project Objectives and Strategies

• To improve project selection methods by undertaking both financial and non-financial factors for evaluation
• To focus on introducing similar new projects in the project portfolio,
• To utilise skills and expertise of project managers for completing various similar projects
• To use advanced technologies for predicting market trends and consumer needs
• To use its products for ecofriendly services, packaging and other uses

Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation and Positioning

Segmentation

Market segmentation can be beneficial for dividing the target market into various approachable groups by creating subsets based on needs, common interests, demographics, priorities and other criteria for understanding these target audience (Gichuru and Limiri, 2017). The five different steps of segmentation that Keflavik must follow are defining target market, segmenting market, understanding market, creating customer segments and testing marketing strategy. Here, segmentation can be done using three criteria, namely, demographic, firmographic and psychographic (Camilleri and Camilleri, 2018). Demographic segmentation should be performed based on individual attributes of the different projects available. Firmographic segmentation can be undertaken for classifying projects based on various organisational attributes like mission, vision, resources, values, core purpose and strategic objectives (Camilleri and Camilleri, 2018). In addition, behavioural segmentation can be done based on behaviours like product usage, skills of personnel and technology laggard.

Targeting

Furthermore, Keflavik can undertake differentiated strategy for targeting its market segments based on their specific needs and preferences. This involves developing an initial product or service offering to eventually creating separate marketing plans for each segment (Camilleri and Camilleri, 2018). Here, the firm can engage in carrying out thorough market research for understanding how each of these target market segments can be satisfied. However, this strategy can generate more costs for the company, thus, Keflavik should ascertain most critical and important services or strategies for each chosen segment (Camilleri and Camilleri, 2018). Thus, differentiated targeting can be beneficial in catering to the specific needs of customers in the market.

Differentiation

Differentiation strategy can be helpful for Keflavik Paper Company for reducing price competition, creating unique products, gain better profit margins, enhance consumer brand loyalty and reduce perceived substitutes (Baker, 2017). In this regard, considering a broad differentiation strategy can be useful for targeting a wide range of customers in the specific target market segments. This will enable Keflavik in covering a large market possessing similar needs to offer them with similar products (Baker, 2017). However, the firm should focus on upgrading its existing products with enhanced features for ensuring success of this broad differentiation strategy.

Positioning

Keflavik needs to undertake several steps for improving its positioning strategy in the market. This involves establishing current market position, studying about competitors and their offerings, determining its value proposition and unique selling point, writing a positioning statement, developing tagline and lastly, testing and monitoring (Iyer, et al., 2019). Keflavik can use product use and application positioning strategy for its wide range of paper products that can be utilised for various purposes. It can associate its products with specific uses and applications for the target market segments that can be practical for the consumers.

Effects of Poor Project Screening

Keflavik Paper Company has faced various negative consequences because of its poor project screening methods. One of the most crucial consequences has been cost overruns and exceeding allocated budget in various projects (Kerzner, 2017). Furthermore, it has also resulted in delays in projects where many of them could not be completed on time. Such cost overruns and project delays have further affected consistency of product performance of the company. Besides, failure to properly complete projects and handling diverse or unrelated projects have resulted in demotivation of project team members and managers (Kerzner, 2017). They have been unable to utilise skills learnt from one project in the next one because they are diverse and require specific skills and expertise with proper training facilities. This has led to the losing of focus from work and reduced productivity and enthusiasm amongst the project team members and managers. Another irreplaceable possible consequence arising from poor project screening leading to cost overruns, incompletion and delay is bad reputation of the firm in the marketplace (Kerzner, 2017). It sends negative messages to the project clients, shareholders and investors when the firm becomes unable to complete projects on time and within budget. It can discourage clients from providing new projects, investors might not be willing to invest and sponsors might be lost. This can also lead to potential difficulties in acquiring new clients or work in the future (Kerzner, 2017). Thus, there can be breakdown in relationships with the clients and loss of trust by both employees and customers. Moreover, quality issues can also arise, which has been evident in the case of Keflavik. Handling and completing diverse or mismatched projects have led to cost overruns and project delays (Kerzner, 2017). This has further resulted in the inconsistency in quality of the products manufactured by the company.

Recommendations for Higher Performance

Keflavik should first engage in proper project selection process by considering both financial and non-financial factors while screening new projects. This will involve not only carrying out cost-benefit analysis but also determining whether the new project is fitting with existing ones, adhering to company purpose and values and availability of resources. Furthermore, proper cost planning and developing realistic cost baseline are essential with presence of technical skills in the project managers for overcoming the problem of cost overrun in the company. Besides, careful estimation of project schedule and proper information exchange between clients and project managers are required to prevent any possible delays. The firm should further ensure developed clearly defined project direction and goals for enabling team members and employees in aligning their efforts with the same. Here, mentoring, guiding and supporting the employees can be beneficial for motivating them during the project execution. Moreover, training should be provided to the project managers in becoming more trustworthy, decision-makers and reputable for leading and managing the project teams. They should also learn to maintain company reputation and improve their leadership, business acumen and technical skills.

Conclusion

The report aimed at critically analysing the ongoing project management problems in the case study company Keflavik Paper Company. It pointed out effective criteria for evaluating new projects, expected expertise of sponsors and stakeholders, identified pertinent risks and possible responses and determining key stakeholders for the firm. SWOT analysis was carried out for evaluating external and internal environments, based on which project objectives and strategies were developed. Here, strategies for improving segmentation, differentiation, targeting and positioning were also provided. Lastly, the report discussed about the effects of poor project selection and provided recommendations for achieving higher performance to Keflavik.

References

Baker, M.J., 2017. Marketing strategy and management. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Benzaghta, M.A., Elwalda, A., Mousa, M.M., Erkan, I. and Rahman, M., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), pp.55-73.

Camilleri, M.A. and Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Strategic planning and the marketing effectiveness audit (pp. 117-135). Springer International Publishing.

Davis, K., 2014. Different stakeholder groups and their perceptions of project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.189-201.

Eskerod, P. and Jepsen, A.L., 2016. Project stakeholder management. Routledge.

Gichuru, M.J. and Limiri, E.K., 2017. Market segmentation as a strategy for customer satisfaction and retention. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 5(12), pp.544-553.

Gido, J., Clements, J. and Baker, R., 2018. Successful project management. Cengage Learning.

Hammond Paper, 2023. Challenges and Opportunities for the Paper and Pulp Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.hammondpaper.com/blog/post/challenges-and-opportunities-for-the-paper-and-pulp-industry (Accessed 27 October 2023)

Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge.

Iyer, P., Davari, A., Zolfagharian, M. and Paswan, A., 2019. Market orientation, positioning strategy and brand performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, pp.16-29.

Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S.M. and Mantel Jr, S.J., 2017. Project management: a strategic managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons.

O’Connor, J.T., Choi, J.O. and Winkler, M., 2016. Critical success factors for commissioning and start-up of capital projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(11), p.04016060.

PMI, 2023. What is Project Management? [online] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management (Accessed 27 October 2023)

Too, E.G. and Weaver, P., 2014. The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance. International journal of project management, 32(8), pp.1382-1394.

World Paper Mill, 2022. Business opportunities in Pulp and Paper industry by 2023. [online] Available at: https://worldpapermill.com/pulp-and-paper-2023 (Accessed 27 October 2023)

Young, T.L., 2016. Successful project management. Kogan Page Publishers.