Introduction
Mensa and Mensa Aviation Ltd, a reputable firm currently operating in the United Kingdom and North America, has entered into a joint venture with Abu Atal Ltd, a private developer based in the United Arab Emirates to construct a hotel in the city of Dubai. A project whose cost is estimated to be £18 million, the partners have agreed on how to contribute towards this project. The location for the hotel has been identified, and a date has been provided when the project is expected to be complete. The relevant stakeholders now have to find effective ways of ensuring that all the scheduled activities are done on time and in the required manner in order to achieve expected results.
Under normal circumstances, Abu Atal Ltd would be expected to manage this mega construction process as a local partner in the project. However, this firm lacks experience in the management of such a mega hotel project. It is for this reason that the two firms agreed to get a consultant to work in this project. In this report, the consultant seeks to develop a complete project execution strategy that is suitable for the project. In the report, the consultant will clearly conduct a critical appraisal of the project, identify risks and constraints, determine procurement route, and define the programme, project control and procedures. In the report, the consultancy firm will also explain services that it can offer to enhance success in this construction project.
Project Execution Strategy
Project execution is one of the most complex tasks in any project management process. According to Portny (2013), project execution refers to the process of implementing the strategies in order to achieve the intended project aim. The scholar notes that sometimes it may be very challenging to put into practice, policies that are still in a paper. One common challenge that project managers meet while implementing policies is the inapplicability of the major assumptions made in project planning. If the assumptions fail to hold during execution as they were held during the project planning stage, then it may not be easy to achieve the set objectives under the set plan. It may be necessary to make major adjustments to ensure that the new realities are taken into consideration. At the heart of the project, execution is three important forces which include people, operations, and the strategy.
People
Project execution entails planning the workforce in a given way to ensure that they can work as a team to achieve the intended goals. According to Friedlein (2001), project managers have the primary responsibility of ensuring that employees are aligned to the tasks which are available. In this project, the focus is to ensure that the construction of the hotel is complete before the set deadline. The project manager will have to start by identifying individuals with the right skills and experience to work in various areas of the project. Architects will be needed to design the hotel as per the needs of the clients. Civil and construction engineers will also be needed to execute the plan that will be developed by the architects. The project manager must be careful to ensure that the architects and the engineers involved in this project are highly experienced. This is specifically so because of the delicate nature of the site where the project will take place.
As previously explained, the water table at the site of construction is relatively high, given that it is in the coastal region. These experts will need to come up with a construction plan that will overcome this challenge. Interior designers, electrical engineers, painters, carpenters, masons, and other skilled and semi-skilled experts will also be needed in this project. Majority of the employees will be semi-skilled. The project manager will need to find a way of coordinating these people and meeting their needs to ensure that they deliver quality work. The project manager will also need to ensure that the entire team of employees’ remains motivated as a way of enhancing the quality of their output. The project sponsors will be visiting the site from time to time. Their input will be integrated into the process of executing this project. As Berkun (2008) puts it, achieving success in project execution requires a unique capacity to manage people involved in project management.
Strategy
According to Portny (2013), the strategy is also at the heart of the project execution process. There is always a strategic plan developed by the stakeholders detailing how the project should be executed. Such strategic plans explain the quality of work expected, the number of units required, and the time within which such a project is expected to be complete. Once a project manager receives such a strategic plan, he or she will need to come up with an execution strategy that clearly explains how the desired outcome shall be achieved. The strategy explains how the materials shall be obtained, how individual employees will be assigned different tasks, and how the review will be conducted to ensure that the focus is not lost. The strategy for this mega project will be elaborately discussed in the sections below.
Operations
Operations are the specific activities that are undertaken by the project members as per the defined strategy in order to achieve the set objectives. According to Heldman (2011), a successful project manager must find a way of linking project strategies to operations in order to achieve competitive advantage. This means that as a project manager, it is critical to ensure that all the operational activities follow the predetermined strategies closely without going astray. This will make the process of reviewing the project simple. The operations that will be involved in this mega project are also discussed in the coming sections of the paper.
Critical appraisal
4 G Consultant Group has come up with a strategy plan that explains how this project shall be executed. In this strategy, the consultants have explained all the activities that will be conducted, from the feasibility study, to the stage of handing over the completed project to the sponsors. The suggested work breakdown structure is shown below. The accompanying Gantt chart showing timeframe for each activity is further given at the appendix.
It is evident that 4 G Consultant Group has understood the task at hand. The team has developed a clear structure of activities that systematically explains how this project will be undertaken. This makes it easy to assign different individuals different tasks based on their skills and experience. The timeframe, as provided for in the Gantt chart is also realistic. The team did a wonderful job in developing a blue print of how various activities shall be done, but the budget provided will need to be re-evaluated. Berkun (2008) advises that when developing a budget, it is always prudent to allocate finances to various activities.
The current budget has classified various activities into one group, making it difficult to determine the cost of every activity in the project. Such a move may be disastrous because the team will not know the right allocations for various activities. Overspending in one area, which makes it difficult to achieve success in another area, can easily be witnessed in such scenarios. The budget has also failed to provide for miscellaneous expenses. According to Smith (2002), when planning the budget for a project, it is important to appreciate that some unforeseen forces may create a need to spend more in a given project. It is, therefore, always advisable to have a small budget for such possible eventualities in a given project.
Project risks and constraints
In project execution, a number of risks and constraints may arise that may jeopardise ability of the stakeholders to achieve the intended objectives as stated in the plan. In this construction project, there are some risks and constraints which are worth noting in order to come up with measures that can be used to overcome them. The main risk in this project is a possible collapse due to the delicate nature of the location. The site provided by the clients has a very high water table. It means that a small excavation would result into flow of water in the entire site. If care is not taken, the building can easily collapse under simple forces of nature such as earthquakes. That was the reason why it was important to have the experts who will find a way of overcoming this challenge.
The value of the local currency keeps on fluctuating. The sponsors have already committed to specific amounts of money that they will contribute towards this project which is expected to be complete in 2020. In such a long period, the currency can either depreciate or appreciate in value. This may have direct impact on the project. There is also the fear of a possible inflation within the period of project execution. Such inflation will increase the entire cost of completing the project. The cost of hiring employees and purchasing the materials needed for the project may increase. 4 G Consultant Group will need to discuss these issues with the sponsors and inform them that they should be ready to deal with these unforeseen forces that may jeopardise the ability of the consultant to complete the project within the specified time.
Procurement route
According to Goodpasture (2010), when developing a project execution strategy, it is critical to define the procurement route that will be taken to access the needed raw materials. In a construction project such as this one which involves construction of a hotel, it is important to note that cost of materials will account for almost over half of the entire cost of the project. As such, it is very critical to come up with effective route of procuring these raw materials in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. In this project, 4 G Consultant Group has clearly stated that raw materials will be obtained through tendering. Specific individuals and companies will be selected to supply all the materials needed for the project. The selected suppliers will be selected in a tendering process based on their capacity to deliver the needed materials in the right quality and at the least possible price. Most of the materials that will be used in this project will be sourced locally within the United Arab Emirates. However, some materials needed for finishing will come from Japan and China because they are not available locally. 4 G Consultant Group will get such materials directly from the manufacturers in Japan or China instead of using brokers who always inflate the cost. The strategy will ensure that raw materials are obtained at the least possible price.
Programme
The consultant has developed an elaborate programme that will be used in the execution of this strategy. The programme defines various activities that will be taken chronologically to ensure that the intended objective is achieved. The first activity will be the feasibility study. The location has already been identified and it is clear that nature of this area may create a need to have extra expenses to overcome the identified challenges. The initial feasibility study shows that if things run as per the plan, then the full cost of this project can be recovered within the next four years. During the feasibility study, all the expected challenges will be identified and measures that will be used to overcome them defined
After the feasibility study, the next activity in the programme will be to develop a basic design. The architects will listen to the needs of the two clients and come up with an initial design that incorporates all the specifications of the clients. The basic design will then be reviewed and changes suggested. The architects, alongside the engineers, will then develop a final design that will have to be approved by the two clients. When the clients are satisfied with the design, the next programme will be the tendering process.
All the potential suppliers will be informed to present their tender based on the request placed for all the materials that will be needed for the project. The project manager and his team of experts will then evaluate the tenders and identify suppliers whose terms are most appropriate for this project. A background check on these firms will be conducted before the selection process to ensure that the selected suppliers are indeed capable of providing the needed materials and that their reputation is above board.
After identifying the suppliers, the next programme will be site mobilisation and the building process. This is the core of this project. All the experts will be assigned various tasks within the site and the construction process shall begin. As previously mentioned, there are different experts who will be responsible for various tasks within the site. Each of the areas of expertise will have the skilled experts, semiskilled experts, and unskilled workforce if that will be necessary. The teams involved in various tasks will need to coordinate very closely to ensure that the planned tasks are completed within the scheduled time. This is specifically necessary because some tasks will be sequential. This means that one group can only start working after another group has completed their tasks. For instance, the designers can only start working after the building has been erected.
The next programme will involve inspection of the facility by the project owners in preparation for the handover. The two clients will come and inspect the completed project to determine if their expectations are met. It is important to note that the clients will be involved in this project to ensure that their inputs are taken into consideration at all stages of development. The final inspection will only involve ensuring that the image of the hotel they had in mind is what has been presented to them. The project manager will then hand over the project to the clients after approval has been made. The next few weeks will involve clearance and closing the project.
Project control
The project manager will develop a system that will be used to gather, manage, and analyse data to help in predicting, understanding, and constructively influencing time and cost outcomes of this project. The consultant is keen to ensure that there is effective management and decision making in the entire process of executing the project. This can only be done by having the right information at the right time and communicating it to all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the desired response is obtained.
Procedures
This mega projects will need a clear procedure of how specific tasks will be conducted to ensure that the intended outcome is achieved. The procedure that will be used will be based on four areas of research, development, planning, and strategy. This simply means that before a strategy is developed, a research will be conducted, developmental needs defined, and a plan of what should be achieved prepared. The procedure defies who will undertake what activity, how and why the activity will be undertaken, when it will be undertaken, and how the outcome should be. Details of the procedure are given in the figure below.
Services 4 G Consultant Group Can Offer To Enhance Success in the Project
4 G Consultant Group can offer various services that can help in enhancing success in this project based on the needs of the client. First, this organisation will offer appropriate advice to the project sponsors before commencement of the project. The advisory role will involve conducting a feasibility study and informing the sponsors about what to expect in the project. The firm will inform the sponsors whether or not the budget they have set aside for the project is capable of meeting the cost of the project they desire.
By informing the clients about when they should expect to recover their investment into the project, 4 G Consultant Group empowers the sponsors by making them aware of what they should expect. This organisation can offer a detailed plan on the specific activities that will need to be undertaken in the project and the strategy that should be used in the execution process. The firm has already developed a programme needed for the project and a strategy that can be used to execute it. This firm, if approved by the clients, can conduct all the projects activities from design development to the actual construction of the hotel, including all the tasks of designs and decorations.
Organisation structure
4 G Consultant Group will need a clear organisational structure if it is approved as the firm that will implement this project as desired by the client. The following organisational design will be useful.
The project manager will be at the helm of leadership in this project. He will be assisted in the management process by a team of experts in various areas. The head of design will be an architect who will be responsible for drawing the plan and ensuring that the final image of the hotel meets the needs of the clients. The head of construction will be a civil engineer who will be responsible for the construction activities. Head of finance will coordinate with the project manager and the other two departmental heads to ensure that all activities run as per the financial plan. It is important to note that the clients occupies a special position in this project that allows them to supervise the project at any time and issue their advice to departmental heads on any adjustments that may be necessary.
Communication links and mode between key members
According to Emond and Steins (2011), communication is of critical importance when undertaking any project. 4 G Consultant Group will need to have a clear communication links and more that will ensure that all the stakeholders are involved at all the stages in the project. First, the project manager will have to ensure that there is a clear communication system that facilitates sharing of knowledge and information among all the internal stakeholders, including the clients. The next step will be to develop a close communication system with the relevant external stakeholders, especially the government agencies, to avoid any disruption during project implementation process.
The consultant
As a consultant, I have set clear systems that will enable my firm to meet the expectations of the partners in this joint venture. My firm has the needed team of highly skilled employees in various fields as discussed in the paper. My team has clearly understood the needs of the clients in this project and is ready to undertake the project.
Appendices
Gantt Chart
Proposed Budget
List of References
Berkun, S 2008, Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management, O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol.
Emond, J & Steins, C 2011, Pro Web Project Management, Apress, Berkeley.
Friedlein, A 2001, A Guide to Web Project Management: How to Deliver Successful Commercial Web Sites, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco.
Goodpasture, J 2010, Project Management the Agile Way: Making It Work in the Enterprise, J. Ross Publishers, Ft. Lauderdale.
Heldman, K 2011, Project Management Jumpstart, Wiley, Hoboken.
Portny, S 2013, Project Management for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.
Smith, N 2002, Engineering Project Management, Blackwell Science, New York.