Project Motorcycles

1. Select one (1) of the types of project organization that would suit the development of the larger touring class motorcycles. Outline the process steps that your company would take in order to develop the motorcycle. Provide a rationale for the response.

I believe the Matrix organization will be suited for this 5 year project. The Matrix organization will maximize the impact of expert managers, while maintaining the company’s staffing under control. A matrix management structure is an organizational structure where people report to multiple managers and have different roles. Since this is long term, the project must be completed without disrupting the ongoing business of the company and other existing or upcoming projects to be performed. As an executive I would first assign a functional manager who can give direction on who is assigned to a project, and how the work is to be done. This manager must be able to provide expertise in the larger touring class motorcycle development and technology. He must also be able to transfer knowledge to others. A project manager will be assigned to manage across functional and organizational lines by bringing together activities needed to accomplish the objectives of the project.

He will have the overall responsibility for the successful planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of a project. The functional manager and program manager, assuming they both have the expertise in the larger touring class motorcycle development and technology, will select applicable team members. Once the project team is formed a kickoff meeting will be held to provide a methodology for uniformity for project planning. The level of risk will dictate the manner in which methodologies are used for each phase of the project lifecycle. This meeting will address the project life cycle, participant roles, administrative policies, operating procedures and notification to managers who staff has been assigned to project team. Finally, develop a plan that identifies all efforts to be expended, assign responsibilities, and establish schedules and budgets for accomplishment of tasks.

Throughout the project life cycle performance, compliance and best practices audits will be performed to ensure the inefficient and ineffective use of time and resources. In addition to, the project office will continuously monitor the integration of activities, internal and external communication, effective control and scheduling with risk and uncertainty. 2. Recommend one (1) strategy to the senior executives that the organization might use to balance short- and long-term needs. Specify the crucial resources that you would need as a project manager to run the existing business interests at the same time that the business changes to the production of touring class motorcycles

Senior executives of the organization might use monitoring and controlling to balance short- and long-term needs. The monitoring and controlling process manages all the tasks, processes and resources required to guarantee the project is within scope, on time, and on budget to minimize risks and control resources. This consists of measuring performance with planned performance and taking action to achieve desired goal or minimize risks.

As a project manager, crucial resources that I would need to run the existing business interests at the same time that the business changes to the production of touring class motorcycles are team members with the desired expertise for the development of the new product and understand the processes of project management. Having the right people, with the needed expertise and the proper tools and amount of man power is needed to plan objectives, tasks and time lines. A project schedule showing all tasks and time needed to complete project will assist in managing, time and cost in the production of the middleweight class motorcycles and the larger motorcycles. The project manger must formulate the impact of removing staff from the old project and placing them on the new project. 3. Suggest the project management leadership style that is most conducive to overseeing the operation of the business growth plan.

The most conducive project management leadership style that will oversee the operations of the business growth plan is the democratic management style which targets team building. Due to Executives at the company now interested in motorcycles with larger motors and would eventually like to produce motorcycles in the touring class, specifically designed to excel at covering long distances with motors larger than 1100 cc, adequate training, role definitions and a revision of the companies methodology for developing the new motorcycle is required. Since the company will continue to manufacture the middleweight cruisers to serve its existing clientele, there will be concurrent manufacturing at the company. This will cause changes to the company in terms of people, process and culture which requires more details developed.

As specific changes are implemented in advance of the preparation for the final product of the project, all staff must be informed of the anticipated timing of the project and to give managers enough time to prepare and participate as needed. In order to for project managers to be conducive to the operation of the business growth plan, project managers must be actively involved in the change effort, and to proactively manage communications with the assigned project team members and other staff about specific changes in job duties, staff reductions or increases, and any changes in the organizational structure due to the transitions to manufacturing the new motorcycle. The business processes affected by the implementation of the new cruisers project, and the development of procedures, must be managed in coordination with product development. The development of the new processes and training for the new product must be incorporated with the product and companies methodology with new activities and processes for the new product and targeted market which consists of males between the ages of 35 and 60 in global markets.

Culture is a set of stated and unstated, explicit and implicit beliefs and assumptions that are shared by a group of people. Organization culture is relatively stable beliefs, attitudes and values that exist within the organization that that should stay flexible for innovation and creativity. Project managers should create productive project cultures for support. In some cases, it’s not due to problems with senior management for negative outcomes for projects. It’s the project manager’s responsibility to train their sponsors and senior management in what their expectations are from the company and executive staff which will guarantee project success. Sponsors priority is following the project plan and not the actual duties of each project team member and doesn’t see the full detail of managing the project staff.

This would be only the project manager’s role. Sponsors should participate in some of the project management workshops to get educated on the project managers processes and maybe develop and understanding of the project managers needs such as time, cost, tools and resources. This will assist in getting more support and at the same time, educate the sponsor. By getting full support from upper management and a project with efficient planning and successful outcomes, teams should be awarded. This creates a productive project cultures allowing the team member to have a rewarding experience which will make them more willing to serve the next time they are asked to be on a project team.

The project manager can implement plans to increase the organizations readiness and ability to transition to the changes to the new project. This will consist of education, training and providing information about the changes prior to implementation, so stakeholders can address their concerns. There should be a kickoff meeting to present the new product and how it supports business growth and established norms for performance to set the culture. 4. Recommend at least three (3) risk mitigation strategies to address project plan details that might be forgotten or overlooked. Justify the selection.

Risk mitigation strategies are action plans you theoretically make after evaluating all possible threats and hazards that can negatively affect a project plan. By creating risk mitigation strategies to address project plan details that might be forgotten or overlooked, it is possible to lessen or reduce, if not totally eliminate the negative impacts of the known or perceived risks before any damage or disaster takes place.

A project manager for a medium-sized manufacturer of motorcycle cruisers has company executives interested in motorcycles with larger motors and would eventually like to produce motorcycles in the touring class. During the proposed changeover, the company will continue to manufacture the middleweight cruisers to serve its existing clientele. Risk mitigation strategies that should be considered for this project that might be over looked are cost, performance/quality and schedule. The company has staff for maintaining the manufacturing and distribution to efficiently service their existing customers causing a risk for over working staff or not hiring enough staff. Depending on what direction the company chooses to accommodate the manpower for the new project team cost/salary may not be forgotten in the risk mitigation. People don’t really multitask but instead, they only switch fast from task to task.

Once a person is done with the second task they may receive a third task, and if they are lucky they can remember everything with the original task. This can be very difficult for a 5 year project. It’s like reading a book, placing it down, and return to it days later in an attempt to find where you left off. It may be more feasible for the company to hire full time staff for the new project and shorten the 5 year plan to save cost and to maximize the flow of their current production. It is best to commit staff to just one project so team members and project managers won’t have to disrupt another project.

The project schedule communicates the work that needs to be performed, resources and the timeframes in that the work needs to be done. Having a full and complete schedule, the project manager may probably still be unable to communicate the deliverables of the project. Assuming that the project team members will be assigned from existing employees in the company, performance/quality may be impacted for each project. During the projects 5 year duration, staff may be promoted to higher or different positions within the company which requires them to be removed from the team and report to their new responsibilities. Another cause could be staff resigning or being terminated leaving the project manager the task of reassigning that person’s function. This can be time consuming and impact the project schedule because the new person taking on the task has to be up to date with the current project status. Maintaining team members requires maintaining the right work environment, and paying attention to signs of change.

A risk mitigation strategy should be put in place for these circumstances. Project managers should monitor trends in employee’s work ethics and behavior to handle problems such as resignations and find solutions to keep team members. In addition to, it would be profitable to explain the setbacks to other team members so they could prepare to minimize the impact on the project. Cross training may also be overlook for critical and technical tasks. Cross training staff improves proficiency levels in roles outside their current duties. This will allow all of the team members learn how to perform the production processes throughout the life cycle of the project and learn new skills.

It also enables current employees who are already engaged with the company’s scope to step in and pick up the tasks of departing team members. Program managers can avoid the setbacks due to employees who are out sick, on a leave of absence or taking a vacation and maybe save the company the costs of hiring outside the company to complete the tasks. Bringing temp workers to the project can be very costly and time consuming because they have to be brought up to speed to fulfill the task and being a new employee, requires time to transition to the companies culture. Knowing if a team member will be a part of the team for the life cycle of the project is a guessing game. It is best to have a risk mitigation based on what might be going on which will give the program manager opportunity to adjust to the changes of responsibility.

References
California State Department (2010), CA.GOV, Best Practices, Monitoring and Controlling, Retrieved on October 24, 2014 from: (http://www.bestpractices.osi.ca.gov/project_management/monitoring.shtml Kenneth Darter (2014), Projectsmart. CO.UK, Teaching Your Team to Deal With Deadlines, Retrieved on October 24, 2014 from: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/teaching-your-team-to-deal-with-deadlines.php Brad Egeland (2009), Project Management Tips, Defining Risk Management – Part 6: Risk Response, Retrieved on October 24, 2014 from: http://pmtips.net/defining-risk-management-part-6-risk-response/ Michael Stanleigh (2014), (BIA) Business Improvement Architects, Optimize Organization Performance, Creating Productive Project Cultures, Retrieved on October 26, 2014 from:
http://www.bia.ca/articles/CreatingProductiveProjectCultures.htm Allen B. Ury (2014), Evererest College, 7 Essential Strategies of Successful Project

Management, Retrieved on October 26, 2014 from: http://business.everestcollege.edu/articles/7-essential-strategies-of-successful-project-management