1. What and who is the culprit of
the G-World’s situation?
Reading on the case I can say that the
culprit behind the G-World’s situation is the G-World itself. There were a
number of reasons that has caused their situation. These reasons can be
considered capable enough to cause the G-World’s problems.
There is a possibility of G-World
giving too much compensation to the workers. Giving as much compensation to the
workers is good. It is a good practice in keeping workers and as a large
company this is common. Also, having focus on the compensation for the workers
will cause the trust of the workers to the company to be strong. That would
also help the workers to do their job well since the company has been well
observant to their needs. This would also mean that the company doesn’t let
their workers to be left working for nothing. So, I definitely agree to the
G-World giving compensation to the workers. But, too much compensation will
cause problems to the company. This problem might cause the downfall of the
company.
This would involve the law of supply
and demand in economics. Which is demand remains
unchanged and supply increases, a surplus occurs, leading to a lower
equilibrium price. For example the demand is the workers, the supply is the
compensation and the equilibrium is the operation. So to say supplying too much
to the workers even though there isn’t a change in their demand might affect
the equilibrium of the operation. This sample can be related to the case. The
mistake of the G-World for having no equilibrium to their compensation for the
workers and their operational cost has been a miscalculation to their part.
There was unbalance costing for
workers and their operations cost. Having unbalanced costing between the
workers and their operations cost has affected the company greatly. Since, the
G-World has been paying too much attention to the compensation to the workers
they have taken their mind away from the operations of the company. This
problem has amounted to the miscalculation to the operation cost.
A great possibility of having low
quality products sold. Having the unbalance between the workers and their
operations has caused this problem. Selling low quality product has been the
result of over compensation. The G-World might have ended up selling low quality
products since the G-World was giving more attention to the compensation of the
workers. This has also been the reason for the Client X being a seldom
customer.
Also, another problem was the
expansion of their business as an educational center. Due to lack of project
management skills they failed to do the phases with regards the managing of
their projects. To prevent such situations they should consider the project management
phases.
Organizational
and Planning – To be able to have a project progress there should be
coordination. Being organized is needed since projects are required to be
refined and detailed. When the level of organization is lacking project teams
have a high risk of getting out of hand. And when there is imbalance the
project can be possibly weighed down by unnecessary inefficiencies.
Leadership
and Governance – With proper leadership skills they can make things happen.
Someone who can lead his/her people can lead something into succession. But
with ineffective leadership and insufficient governance process management control
there will be failure in the management.
Underestimation
and Analysis – Projects should be carefully analyzed and studied to discover
complexities on an earlier stage. Projects shouldn’t be taken lightly because
projects can be complex activities, complexities which sometimes are not yet
evident on initial stages. Such complexities should be reviewed and understood
before any commitments to schedules and the budget are confirmed. Projects fail
when there are underestimations to complexities and under analysis are made. Thus,
before committing to a project, complexities should be identified and there
should be a counteraction prepared.
Quality –
Projects are expected to work when they reached a certain deadline. However,
quality is the dimension which is mostly getting too little attention. When
quality is overlooked and there is insufficiency in testing there will be
loopholes and flaws in the project which can possibly cause difficulties once
the deliverables are deployed.
Risk –
Projects involve risks and projects are visions of the future which involves
predicting and forecasting trends that might arise which is quiet risky because
it involves investment. A project is way too open for risks however predicting
and forecasting possible risks for the said project can prevent any
difficulties. Anticipating risks is the key to prevent the project from failing
or even the whole organization.
Skills,
Knowledge and Competency – Having skills can be helpful; having
knowledge is the key however having competency on handling projects will lead
the way to succession. With this expertise there will be a project success. Lacking
in knowledge and skills the quality levels and productivity are getting lower,
also the risk of serious errors or omissions arise fast.
Engagement,
Teamwork and Communications – Project are made by people and most
projects are made for the people. When a project fails to identify who their
stakeholders are, or fails to engage and communicate with them, the project is
working in a vacuum. Likewise, when the team has no collaboration, individuals
would end up working in silos in which they prevent communications from flowing
effectively.
Managing
project risks. By simply identifying the possible risk factors is definitely
not enough. Evaluating relative threats each one poses will help you to focus
your risk management energy where it will do the most good. Risk exposure is a
combination of the probability that a specific risk could possibly materialize
into a difficulty and other consequences. Select mitigation actions to manage
risk and reduce the probability or impact. Contingency plans should also be
identified that will serve as the back-up when risk control activities are
ineffective.
Planning
time for process improvement. Allocate some time from the project
schedule, because software project activities should include the making of
process changes which will help future projects more successful. There should
be proper time allocation for the team members, members shouldn’t focus 100% of
their available time to project tasks. Other process changes can somehow begin
to pay off immediately, however there are no guarantees there will be a full
return of investment in other improvements until the next project. Visualize
process improvement as a strategic investment in the maintained effectiveness
of the development organization.
Lack
of change management. The end result is always mare than expected
when the scope creep will happen. Problem: The unplanned changes which are
added to the project results to taking longer to finish, having costing more
than what is planned and there are not records as to why. Cause: Unrecognized
changes. Solution: Documentation of change management process which is to be
used and will be followed by educating and evaluating the project team to
recognize changes or deviation from the plan following the change management
processes.
G-world's extending business is one of
the key components that drive their circumstance today and there sure are
things that are expected to be considered before growing a business:
Initially, are there economies of
scale that will advantage such extended operation? As your business increments
in size, costs per unit fall, bringing about lower costs or higher benefit - or
both. You ought to just grow if economies of scale will permit your business
either to offer your items or administrations at lower costs or to take more
profit per item. How would you accomplish economies of scale? By developing
your business, you may have the capacity to purchase more. As opposed to
purchasing for a solitary store, you are currently purchasing for a few stores.
Such high-volume buys will permit you to get lower costs for everything from
crude materials to transportation, and stockroom space - even cleaning
services. You might likewise be in a superior position to protect your business
against value cutting by your rivals. As you branch out to different markets,
you may have the capacity to offer more and build your deals. Bigger
deals volume will permit you to balance lower per unit benefit. Your business
might likewise profit from having more assets, as far as greater and better
premises, expanded promoting assets and included item offers that give more
esteem to clients. Your authoritative expenses per unit ought to additionally
descend, as the expenses like publicizing; obtaining and different capacities
are spread among all your areas and items.
Second, are your rivals expanding?
Market insights ought to have key influence in your choice to extend your
business. You may have the capacity to get clues about the business sector, and
some sign about your rival's circumstance. Getting data about your rivals can
provide for you the main edge, as it can reveal to you courses in which your
organization advantage the client and be special. In the event that your rivals
are expanding their operations, it may imply that they have seen new,
undiscovered open doors in the business. Your rivals may have discovered a
decent thought. On the off chance that this is the situation, you can do two
things: lie low how the contender does, or take after the contender's lead. By
sitting tight for the aftereffects of a contender's wander into another
territory, you can confirm for yourself whether request truly exists and the
profits exceed the dangers. Taking after your rival's lead does not so much
imply that you need to copy precisely what they are doing. Rather, you can
utilize their thoughts to invigorate your own reasoning. On the off chance that
your rival's development turned out to be a mix-up, then you can be grateful
that it was not your business that was blazed in an immoderate misjudgment.
Third, would you be able to back the
extension internally? Before choosing, you have to study carefully the money
related profits of such a development, and whether your money stream can help
the extra venture. It is critical to figure out where and how you will get the
cash to pay for the extra stock, new offices or gear. The perfect circumstance
would be to grow just when you have demonstrated that request exists for your
items or administrations, as demonstrated by your fat primary concern. In the
event that you require extra capital, whether an advance from the bank or a
value imbuement, make beyond any doubt that the new wander will be sufficiently
productive to permit you to procure cash
and reimburse the advances. Numerous little organizations met untimely
deaths with their forceful development method, where they would end up filing
for bankruptcy or liquidate assets. Much the same as different business
choices, we must create just when the danger is justified regardless of the
take, however it may not generally be attractive. Development of an
organization, huge or little, needs time to study the components that may upset
their improvement, however gradual, still is considered as development.
Poor
communication. Insufficient resources such as lacking enough people who will
work on the project, the right skill tests, or even lacking of commitment by
the team or team members to the project. Requirements are poorly defined where
it does show or have the same requirements asked however it is not the same as
how it is or was expected and/or supposed to be. Having poor management where
there was no proper planning with regards to the possible risk in which the
project would encounter and possible contingency plans for the possible risks.
Incorrect estimates as to how large the project will be or how much the
project’s cost will be. Badly defined deliverables wherein requirements of the
project are unclear or are not clarified. Over optimism where there was no
proper planning even before the deciding whether the project is feasible or
not. Projects require a great span of time to be studied and analyzed before it
is even implemented, it is reviewed many times whether it is feasible or not,
and learning of the risks, advantages or disadvantages in implementing such a
project is very important. Thus, without proper balance in the G-World
Company’s planning and decision making it has created an imbalance resulting to
its current situation.
2. What was Client’s X problem of
not choosing Project One of G-World Company?
In speculating what are the
reasons behind the Client X’s reluctance into choosing the Project 1 of the
G-World there are a few basis that can be listed. The cause or the reasons
behind the Client X for not choosing Project 1 of G-World are the following:
They might have studied that the
Project 2 will do better that Project 1, thus disregarding thoughts of choosing
Project 1 over Project 2. The thought of returning to Project 1 is very
risk-taking especially when in the midst of handling Project 2. Considering the
fact of going back to Project 1 will definitely leave the Project 2 in a rough
situation, it can be unstable and uncontrollable. With the risks, there are no
guarantee that Project 1 will progress the same as Project 2, and so deciding
on to working Project 2 into a success and leaving behind Project 1.
The Client X might be thinking
that the project implementation is ineffective and have the vision that it
might not do well. There might have a problem in negotiation and association
with the client’s explicit desire. If the Client X ended up into thinking that
the project might not do well, then scenarios of leaving and dropping the idea
of buying products in G-World. When client’s are starting to have second
thoughts then that would be a rough situation for the company since they will
have problem with sales considering that the Client X won’t be continuing business
with them.
Considering the reluctance of
Client X they might have messy or low quality products. Having low quality
products would definitely affect the cost of sales for the company. The Client
X might have been waiting for a new company to rise so that they can buy their
products there. That could possibly be the cause for the Client X not to choose
Project 1 of the G-World. The G-World is the only company that can supply the
products that they needed before but now that the Universe Corporation has rise
the Client X has been buying their supplies there.
Project 1 can also be considered
as a problem, when the only committed party is the client while the developer
and the team aren’t. Considering the fact that the Client X is committed enough
to the project, they might have noticed that the team and the project manager
have difficulties, troubles or miscommunication resulting or concluding to the
reason of the projects ineffectiveness.
Given a scenario:
When going to or watching a
basketball match audience will be anywhere in the vicinity. And, you as a
vendor how would you effectively sell goods when you are in a stand?
Considering that the audience wouldn’t want to miss even a single happening in
the match. Definitely, they will just be sitting the whole match or even wait
for the half-time before going out and buy drinks or food. As sellers you will
have to attend to customers and by effectively attending you will gain profit.
So, you will end up selling food and/or drinks inside the court, walking in the
sideline. Even with unruly customers you will have to know how to deal with
them.
And so, if I were to be the
client in all probability I will be monitoring for updates and the products
specifications: the design and/or the right specifications, which mean attending
to my causes. However in all possibility of finding any problems with the
product then I would end up declining and will not buy their products any
further. Even with picking the right bets and discounts for the product but
with the reluctance of the clients then that would really be a big problem.
Communication can also be
considered as a factor in selling a product. If there was miscommunication
resulting to misunderstanding between the client and the project manager there
could be a product drop which can cause a real big problem to the G-World
Company. Without enough ideas regarding the situation one can only speculate,
thus there is also a possibility of having problems with updating between the
client and G-World. When clients aren’t updated regularly or informed gradually
regarding the product, then, definitely they will have an issue regarding the
information which can arise into a bigger problem with the G-World.
The CEO of Vendio, a multichannel
Ecommerce Solution, Mike Effle, knows a thing or two about offering great
customer service. He offers 10 tips on how to turn a bad customer service
situation into an opportunity to improve your business.
First
and foremost - listen. Do not try to talk over the customer or argue with them. Let the
customer have their say, even if you know what they are going to say next, and
even if they may not have all the information or be mistaken. As you listen,
take the opportunity to build rapport with the customer.
Build
rapport through empathy. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. Echo back the source of
their frustration and show that you understand their position and situation. If
you can identify with a customer's issue, it will help calm them down. If you
verbally "nod" during the call, the customer will feel better
understood.
Lower
your voice. If the customer gets louder, start speaking more slowly and in a
lower t1. Your calm demeanor will reflect on them and will help them to settle
down. As you approach the situation with a calm, clear mind, unaffected by the
customer's t1 or volume, anger will generally dissipate.
Assume
all your customers are watching.
Pretend you are not talking only to the customer but to an audience that is
watching the interaction. This shift in perspective can provide an emotional buffer
if the customer is being verbally abusive and will allow you to think more
clearly when responding. Since an unruly customer can be a negative referral,
assuming they'll repeat the conversation to other potential customers can help
ensure you've d1 your best to address their concerns in a calming way.
Know
when to give in. If not satisfying the customer is going to take 2 hours and a
bottle of aspirin and risk negative referrals, it is probably better to draw a
compromise a bit more in their favor to give you more time to nurture your more
productive customer relationships. Keep in mind that the interaction is not
typical of most customers, and that you're dealing with an exception.
Never
get angry or upset. If the customer is swearing or being verbally abusive, take a deep
breath and continue as if you didn't hear them. Responding in kind will not
solve anything, and it will usually escalate the situation in a negative
direction. Instead, remind the customer that you are there to help them and
their best immediate chance of resolving the situation - often this simple
statement will help defuse the situation.
Never
take it personally. Always speak to the issue at hand and do not get personal, even if
the customer does. Remember that the customer doesn't know you and they're just
venting frustration at you as a representative of your company. Gently guide
the conversation back to the issue and how you intend to resolve it, and try to
ignore personal comments.
Remember
that you're interacting with a human. Everyone has bad days. Maybe they had a fight with their spouse,
got a traffic ticket that morning or have had a run of bad luck. We've all been
there, to some degree. Try to help make their day better by being a pleasant,
calming voice – it'll make you feel good too.
If
you promise a callback - call back! Even if you promised an update that you don't have yet, call the
customer at the scheduled time anyway. The customer will be reassured to know
that you were not trying to dodge them and will appreciate the follow-up.
Summarize
the next steps. At the end of the call, let the customer know exactly what to
expect and then be sure to follow through on your promises. Document the call
to ensure you’re well prepared for the next interaction.
Involvement of the Client X with
regards to the project should also be considered or put into mind. Perhaps the
Client X was not glad with their approach in terms of the information, the
operations, the guidelines, especially the updates that would really be a
problem. Terms between the client and the company should always be considered
since that is where they have provided what provisions they require. The
operation of the company must be accompanied by informing the client if they
have already started the products creation. The guidelines should be discussed
between the client and the company since it involves both parties. Updating the
client regarding the product is essential however the information that is being
passed between the parties can be discussed while completing their own set of
guidelines and terms. If they have come up with an agreement then both parties
are tied up into continuing the production of a product for better or worst.
However, when certain problems arise then that would require either of the
parties to compromise. In this case G-World has compromised their Project 1
thinking that Client X has chosen Project 2 over it.
Since the problem is focusing on
the Client X’s choosing Project 2 over Project 1. There are certain conclusions
that can be thought up including the probability that the impact of the product
or the project is not effective, which resulted to Client X being unimpressed
in the performance stability of the Project 1. There can also be a prospect
that Client X hadn’t chosen the G-World product because of thinking they
weren’t involved with the project since the project manager did not approach
them. When clients ended up thinking that the project manager is not interested
with them that would start complications. Clients might conclude that they will
not be able to produce the product they have requested or designed. And, if the
clients’ unwillingness to buy the product was the result of the project
managers’ uninterested approach then the product would be wasted and problems
of the production will come up.
Feedbacks can also be a source of
a problem. When a developer made an update the client should be informed and
also clients gives feedbacks whether the update was useful of not. However, if
the feedbacks given by the client wasn’t noted and recognized by the developer
there will be a repetition of work, since the client would address why the
problem why the next updates are lacking. And, if the feedbacks and other
opinions given by the clients aren’t implemented then that will cause problems.
The Universe Corporation might
have better products. There are few reasons why clients go to other producers
one of those are better products coming from others. When clients change
producers it would only mean that they are not satisfied with the previous
product. People would always look for things that will satisfy their needs it
is part of our nature. And thus, it also applies in businesses where consumers
would go for better products, of course who would want low quality products?
So, this factor might also have an effect as to why Client X did not choose
Project 1 of the G-World Company.
The Universe Corporation may have
offered better packages or they have low discount rate and big sales or
bargain. With competition comes a great competition in discount rates and
bargain. The possibility of Universe Corporation offering better exchange than
of the G-World Company should also be observed since it can also be a factor.
When having transaction with other producers, consumers would expect great bargain
thus producers would give great packages so that consumers will buy their
product. In this case there is a big chance that the Universe Corporation has a
way better offer than of the G-World because a partnership between clients and
a company, which is established for a very long time, can’t easily break just
because of a new company rising. There are no other ways to explain it but this
is also a possibility.
3. How are they going to manage
the sudden drop off of Project 2?
A drop off of Project 2 would
definitely be a reason for the rise of new dilemmas, however choosing Project 2
over Project 1 is definitely a better decision. If ever they choose to continue
the operations of Project 1 and then there was a sudden drop off of Project 2
the company would have to handle both dilemmas at the same time, and there is a
big possibility of Project 1 having a drop off way faster than Project 2.
Taking risks without observing or considering the time will be your greatest
leap of faith.
The sudden drop off might be
because of the sponsors; the project design; the project supply chain
management; inadequate skills and incompetence of the: project manager, project
team; external factors such as politics and government policies in the area;
economic factors such as interest rate inflation, currency exchange rates,
variation, fluctuation and etc.; social issues such as human resources
management, workforce diversity, cultural difference, language barrier and
etc.; technology and information management; legal issues pertaining to
statutory requirements of the project, the physical site, health and safety,
security issues concerning materials, money, machines and workforce on site.
Wasted time, effort and money can
longer be tolerated especially in these cases. Failing of projects are a great
risk to business operations. The following are reasons why projects fail:
- ·
Poor sponsor involvement, passive involvement of
senior management, not enough commitment ate executive level, poor guidelines
from senior management, poor management of executive level involvement;
- ·
Poor end user involvement, poor
business involvement throughout the project, poor management of user
involvement by the project; Poor on-going planning, not enough time and
effort on planning, poor contingency planning;
- ·
Poor time management, time
needed, time allowed, unrealistic timescales;
- ·
Resources being taken off
projects, poor resource management in multi project environment;
- ·
Scope change, specifications
change over time because of poor scoping; Lack of leadership, too much
focus on method and not on behaviour, too little interpersonal skills;
- ·
Poor project management
discipline, poor project management practices and method, poor tooling, poor
change management, poor risk management;
- ·
Poor requirements specification,
client uncommunicative; Wrong resources allocated (skills); Too
internally focused, not enough alignment to changing business goals, not enough
regulatory checks;
- ·
Poor prioritization of
projects, continual checking of business case, changing goals & demands of
business; Unclear roles and responsibilities, role confusion, no
accountability;
- ·
Poor financial & costs
management, poor checking of return on project investment, poor
budgeting; Poor definition of outcomes, business case, how project
supports business goals; Poor scope definitions; Poor knowledge capture,
evaluation success and failure, learning from mistakes; Unmanaged expectations,
unrealistic expectations;
- ·
Poor quality management;
Project managers without authority; Poor testing; Not enough focus on people,
managing stakeholders, expectations, leadership; Too many projects in
portfolio; Project results thrown over the wall.
Identifying them is one thing,
but how to address them? Initially, meet everyone and speak with them the
reasons, make them change for the better and improve themselves. There is no
need of showing them the list however speak to them about the complications and
are ways to solve these. It means to have them experience fails factors making
them see and feel the consequences. The next step is to define and test
solutions and make them experience the results. However, it shouldn’t be done
in a live project environment. One, it is too costly. Secondly, it is too
risky. Third, it takes too much time and effort to manage the learning process.
This is why people are turning towards into business simulations as an
instrument for learning-by-doing. Placing people into a simulated environment
where they can experience the failure factors and more importantly the success
factors all in a day. It will be no risk nor wasted costs.
To manage the sudden drop of
Project 2 which is now considered as failure, here are a few suggestions as to
how place it again on the right track:
Refocus the Scope. Begin by going back to the defining documents
including your Charter, Statement of Work and approved Change Requests. Figure
out what you have committed to accomplish. Conversely, document all of the
things that were unofficially added to the project. What you are trying to
obtain is a clear understanding of the commitments and the expectations of
others. With these lists in hand, meet with the project sponsor or similar key
stakeholders and agree on what should be part of the current effort.
Draw
up the Schedule. Based on the remaining effort and current resources,
recalculate the schedule. Forget the deadlines placed on the project at this
point. Given the amount of work and people available, determine a realistic
timeframe to complete the revised scope.
Determine
the Cost. Find out what the budget is and how much has already been spent.
After calculating the difference between the two amounts (hopefully it isn't
negative) compare it to what remains to be done based on your revised schedule
run the numbers to determine a reasonable estimate to complete.
Review
Lessons Learned. Meet with the team and other stakeholders to determine
where the project went wrong. Develop a list of steps to take in order to avoid
the same thing happening next time.
Develop
Alternatives. Using the scope, schedule and cost information review the
options available based on the Project Triangle that pits scope, time and cost
against each other, consider the impact of each of your options on those
factors.
In
some extreme cases the right decision will be to cancel the project. Although
an unpopular choice, some projects need to be dropped. Reduce the testing phase
is usually the popular option, but I don't recommend it. Admit
Reality. Once you have drawn up a couple of viable alternatives, present
them to the management team. Begin with a healthy dose of reality. Management
does not like going through the failed project dance. If they have to do it
twice things get ugly. Lay out the situation, preferably without playing the
blame game. Then present your plans for getting back on track. Let them help
you talk through the options and make suggestions.
Start
Fresh. Issue a revised scope statement, obtain the funding, reset the
schedule and obtain appropriate approvals. You have been given a new lease on
your project. Work the plan and make sure to incorporate the lessons learned
from your first attempt.
Project
Triangle: Picture a triangle where each of the three sides represents
scope (or functionality), time and cost. If you change one side it impacts the
other two. Reducing the size of the scope side will allow you to reduce the
time and/or cost side. It is the same for the other sides as well. This is a
standard and effective way to communicate the struggle between the
three. Read between the lines. Once you start getting wind of problems
such as schedule, quality, cost, resource conflicts or late status reports,
then I’d recommend a one-on-one review with the applicable project manager as
soon as possible to determine the project’s true status.
Recognize
what went wrong. Try and assess what the reasons were for the project failing
in the first place. It’s no use simply blaming people. If the failure was due
to bad estimation or planning, then efforts need to be put into place to
correct any future projects following the same path.
Determine
what to do. Should you cancel a bad project or try and bring it back on track?
Organizations faced with bad projects should first try and salvage their poor
performers rather than cancelling them. Educate your project staff.
Training and education really go a long way to correcting bad project
practices.
Create
plans that will make your project even stronger. Initiate and plan the
right project. Most projects fail from the initiation and planning stage. It is
therefore, very important that the right project must be initiated and planned.
Project initiation and planning can be categorized under two forms, Achievable
and Speculative. Achievable projects are the traditional (common) projects like
manufacturing a bottle, building a house etc., and uncommon projects like going
to the moon, separating conjoined twins, beating a great team in competition
etc.
Projects
must be SMART (SPECIFIC in term of description, MEASURABLE in term of
performance, ACHIEVABLE in term of scope, and TIMELY in tem of schedule). Bogus
and over-ambitious projects are likely to fail. Select quality team
members. Though the overall performance of a project team does not solely
depends on the individual qualities of the project team members, quality team
members have impact and can easily blend in a team to achieve team
cohesiveness. Powerful team managers are fond of selecting those professionals
that they have worked with and found capable of achieving results. The scope of
work, cost, time and quality of project will determine the type of team members
to be selected for a team. Strategize for the task ahead with all
stakeholders. Failure may be perception of some stakeholders who believe
products would have been produced in a better way if they were involved.
Project manager should strategized using the stakeholders in a project
development. The project manager should organize regular stakeholders' meetings
where the project brief will be developed. The stakeholders, which include the
project sponsor (owners), the project team members, end-users and statutory
authorities and government/s or and their/its agents who give approval for
project development, should be involved before execution stage.
There isn’t anything easy when
handling a business; business owners take risks all the time. No matter how
hard they’d try there are always problems to be solved and fires to put out.
The sudden drop off of Project 2 means there was failure in the management. And
the company must consider the following in managing the drop off:
Organizational
policy - the company has not adopted a formal policy for managing
projects. Consequently, informal and inconsistent approaches to project
management are used with mixed results. This is a much more common occurrence
than finding a company devoid of knowledge in project management.
Enforcement
of policy and procedures - even though a policy has been
established, it is not enforced. As a result, inconsistent results emerge. If a
standard and consistent approach to project management is devised by a company,
it must be routinely policed in order to assure accuracy and uniform results.
It is one thing to enact legislation, quite another to enforce it.
Ultimately, project management
represents discipline, organization, and accountability; which are three areas
people seem to have a natural aversion to these days.
Discipline - In the western world, people tend to resist discipline because
some believe it inhibits creativity and personal freedom. As a result, teamwork
is often sacrificed in favor of rugged individualism.
Organization - Pursuant to discipline is the problem of organization. Again, in
the western world, people prefer to maintain their own identity and organize
themselves to meet their needs as opposed to the needs of the organization.
Accountability - This is an area people tend to rebel against the most. The
approach to project management, as advocated by "PRIDE," ultimately
represents visibility and responsibility to produce according to plan.
Unfortunately, some people shun commitments and, instead, prefer to hide their
activity; thereby they cannot be measured and evaluated. This is typically the
reaction of people who are insecure. People who are confident in their
abilities have no problem with the accountability issue.
- ·
Identify the potential causes and types of
problems that your business is suffering
- ·
Analyze your income statements, cash flows and
balance sheets to characterize your business’s financial performance
- ·
Acquire the appropriate information critical
to creating an economic forecast.
- ·
Create a budget and use it
- ·
Establish financial goals and embed them into
your forecasting budget
- ·
Restructure debt-length terms or reduce your interest
rate to improve cash flow
- ·
Sell certain assets to reduce your debt
- ·
Improve your business’s marketing
- ·
Use advisory services
- ·
Deal with the facts – don’t delude yourself!
Many
people fail to make strong enough plans that they believe in. They try to get
their energy back up, but they can’t because they are still reeling from the
first failure. Once again go back to step 1 and don’t move on until you are
ready. When you have created a plan that you can get behind your action should
come naturally. You shouldn’t have to force yourself to be motivated.
4. Is selling Project Two can
satisfy what G-World is expecting?
No, Selling the Project 2 cannot
satisfy the G-World Company expectation to come back and be again in paramount
of the IT business specifically in selling IT products and IT services, because
the company (G-World Company) needs to adjust and start again what the company
has been doing before Project 2 was created. No one will be convinced on
buying Project 2, if they try to sell it, with lesser number of people handling
the whole project, in which sooner or later would probably result to an
unrecoverable failure. As a suggestion, they should set aside Project 2 and
take whatever may happen to Project 1. The company particularly the
project should focus on Project 1 which gave them the output of their company’s
main objective and the company’s main line of work which is selling IT products
and IT services so that the company can recover and regain their integrity
which the company already has before the company was devastated by Project 2.
Because Project 2 affects the company’s main project which is the Project 1.
Though there was a conflict in
between Project 1 and Project 2, and was clearly unexpected the company didn’t
really want that the Project 2 to be sacrificed. G-World Company should accept
the fact that they have to let go of Project 2. Even though the introduction of
Project 2 is for the growth and betterment of the company it is also to make sure that their sales production will be
continuous, and for some reasons, it is to have a supplementary and subsidiary
business. Their employees were provided or given with the most
compensation benefits, because if the company would just let the Project 2 and
let the company’s problem in the conflicts of the projects, the company would
probably fall and will have to file for bankruptcy.
The worst problem of all is the
financial instability that comes with business. Paying all the bills on time
and making payroll, when the income just isn’t sufficient, is probably not the
thing that lured you into business ownership. Financial stress can come in the
form of cash deficiencies, lack of profitability, insolvency or a combination
of these. That is why starting a new
project is not just that simple because it can affect the whole company and it
could cause sudden rise or a heartbreaking fall or bankrupt to the company.
Different
financial problems often require rather different strategies. Management
decisions, technical difficulties and family problems can contribute in complex
ways to greeting undesired financial outcomes. In many cases, a clear course of
action to resolve the financial difficulties is not easily determined. A
business that is experiencing financial difficulties is often in that
predicament for several reasons. It is extremely rare to find a situation where
a single management problem or decision is the sole cause of poor financial
performance. The consequences of financial difficulties will be low
profitability, liquidity or solvency. The underlying cause will generally be
associated with one or more factors – efficiency, scale and debt structure. The
problem areas most closely related to business cycles are sales, financing and
employment.
During
a recession sales and financing generally increase in problem severity while
employment issues generally become less of a problem. The pattern is reversed
during times of economic expansion. Sales and employment problems illustrate
these patterns more clearly than financing. Problems related to financing have
generally eased over time as lending have become more standardized with the
advent of credit scoring and financial services deregulation, and the cost of
borrowing has decreased sharply.
Managing
software projects is difficult under the best circumstances. The project
manager must balance competing stakeholder interests against the constraints of
limited resources and time, ever-changing technologies, and unachievable
demands from unreasonable people. Project management is people management,
technology management, business management, risk management, and expectation
management. It's a juggling act, with too many balls in the air at once.
Unfortunately, many new project managers receive little training in how to do
the job. Anyone can learn to draw a Gantt Chart, but effective project managers
also rely on the savvy that comes from painful experience, coaching and
survival tips from people who have already done their tour of duty in the
project management can save you from learning lessons the hard way.
These
business goals should imply specific project success criteria, which should
again be measurable and track able. They could include achieving schedule and
budget targets, delivering committed functionality in a form that satisfies
customer acceptance tests, complying with industry standards or government
regulations, or achieving specific technological milestones. Remember that not
all of these defined success criteria can be your top priority. You'll have to
make some thoughtful trade-off decisions to ensure that you satisfy your most
important priorities. If you don't define clear priorities for success, team
members can wind up working at cross-purposes, leading to frustration, stress,
and reduced teamwork effectiveness. Also, keep your eye on team member
job satisfaction, sometimes indicated by staff turnover rate and the
willingness of team members to do what it takes to make the project succeed.
The
business objectives define the overarching goal, though. It doesn't matter if
you deliver to the specification on schedule and budget if those factors don't
clearly align with business success. Needs are essential to one’s survival,
while wants merely express a desire for something which could over time, help
to satisfy a need. As societies become more complex, and as human begins take
on more sophisticated lifestyles, their needs and wants increase. Therefore a
variety of needs and wants are expected to be satisfied.
Every
project must balance its functionality, staffing, cost, schedule, and quality
objectives. Define each of these five project dimensions as either a constraint
within which you must operate, a driver strongly aligned with project success,
or a degree of freedom you can adjust within some stated bounds. There's bad
news: not all factors can be constraints and not all can be drivers. The
project manager must have some flexibility to react to schedule slips, demands
for increased functionality, staff turnover, and other realities.
Since
I consider this as a project failure, let’s first discuss how to bring back the
project through project recovery and if selling Project Two can really satisfy
what G-World is expecting. These are the common steps in achieving project
recovery process.
Common
Recovery Theme. Remember the TV series
M*A*S*H? Whenever they had an influx of injuries, the first thing they did was
"triage," which by definition from Encarta states that it is
"the process of prioritizing sick or injured people for treatment
according to the seriousness of the condition or injury." In effect, they
didn't rush in and try to heal the first injury they saw - they did an overall
assessment of how serious each casualty was then worked on the most serious
problem first, working down the priority list until everything had been
treated. In project implementation terms, there may be all sorts of things
going wrong, such as being behind schedule, over budget, under resourced, or
having poor quality deliverables leading to non-acceptance. So how do you
recover from this imminent project failure?
Preventing
Project Failure. The first thing in project
recovery is to evaluate the overall project - an audit or project review using
a series of standard questions should identify the key problems and the
severity of each one. This will allow you to prioritize project recovery
planning and activity so that you tackle the most serious problems first, and
then work down the list. During the review, you might find some areas where you
can stop the bleeding - for instance, if scope is unstable and forever
changing, the introduction of a strict change control process should at least
help to firm up and stabilize the scope. The degree of project planning for
project recovery will vary from project to project - some projects may need a
full anesthetic (stop all work) to allow an operation to be performed
(redefining scope or even another round of project planning). Some may need a
plaster cast to immobilize a broken part (to prevent any more changes to scope
until the project is stabilized), some areas may need a bandage (some
corrective measures that may restrict progress but not stop the project), some
only need a sticking plaster (minor corrective measures that have minimal
impact on overall progress), and some just need some TLC (smooth out minor
issues).
Recognize
When Project Failure is Unrecoverable.
After evaluation of the troubled project you may determine that there is no
good business case for project recovery so we may need to cut our losses and
move on rather than waste time and money on project recovery planning. In this
case, of project failure, we need to plan euthanasia - let the project die as
painlessly and with as much dignity as possible. A failing project needs the
help of a well-trained project planning professional, also called a recovery
Project Manager to minimize recovery time, cost, and residual damage if the
project can be saved, or to recognize when euthanasia is the recommended
option.
Selling
the Recovery Plan and Motivating the Stakeholders. Once the project planning professional has
performed triage and avoided project failure, he has to be able to create and
"sell" a prioritized recovery plan to all stakeholders. Communication
is critical on any project, but it is particularly vital during project recovery
where there may be a demoralized team, furious customer, nervous management,
and unhappy bean counters to satisfy. When the plan is accepted and project
recovery is under way, the project planning professional must be able to
motivate the team to reach for success, pacify customers and give them
confidence in eventual success, and provide the bean counters with a realistic
plan that can be regularly measured and reported on. Progress must be carefully
monitored, controlled, and reported throughout the recovery and responses to
unplanned events (risks) should be decisive, quick, and effective or we could
be facing further project failure. Finally, during the recovery period, it is
important to keep your team positive - build in milestones to allow you to
publicize and praise even small achievements. Build a momentum based on
success, so that the team and other stakeholders perceive it as
"normal" to meet milestones, and in contrast, missing a milestone is
unusual and stands out amongst all the other successes.
In
general, the only way that others will accept project management is if they see
the value that it provides. These four strategies are directed at demonstrating
the value of project management to others:
Use the Credibility of Others. I don't know why this happens, but people
will believe something they read in a newspaper, magazine or Web site over what
a colleague tells them. This doesn't make sense, but if this is the case, then
let's use it to our advantage. Find articles in popular publications that
support the use of project management and use them to sell the ideas
internally.
Start Simple. If you try to implement an entire project
management process all at once it will be too overwhelming and will end in
failure. Two of the common problems in projects are team member being unclear
of what they are responsible for and the team not being clear on what the
project needs to deliver. By starting with a definition of each role and the
related responsibilities, we can help team members better understand the unique
contribution they will make to the team.
Use Common Language. It is easier for people to see value in
things that they understand. If the terminology and language that you use is
too technical or unfamiliar, people will have a hard time seeing the value in
project management. Make sure you use words and phrases that are familiar to
those you wish to reach.
Get Referrals. Some people will trust the judgment of their
peers, so one way to reach them is to have a referral from a satisfied client.
When you do good work on a project for a client (internal or external), ask if
they know any other projects that might benefit from some of the steps that you
followed. If they can give you a referral, it is the highest form of compliment
because they are willing to put their own reputation on the line for you.
I
can conclude in business you should be a good decision-maker. What will happen
next will be up to the choice you have decided. However, even with good
decision-making skills there will always be problems. Addressing the problems,
conflicts or even complications of the projects is never been easy. It is hard
to accept particularly with large companies, but addressing the problems of the
projects would be the best answer or decision especially when a company
experiences this kind of conflict. It will be a matter of knowing when to
continue a project and when to stop a certain project.
References: PMBOK
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/law-of-supply-demand.asp
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2864-customer-service-tips.html