Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Sample

Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Sample

Digitalization is a global phenomenon and businesses are majorly hit by it. If we go back in time, we might see how businesses were operated manually. Digital technology has changed the traditional way of conducting business activities and how the customers can be engaged in them. Things, such as connectivity, cloud computing, customer segmentation, big data, downtime, etc., have profoundly made the business operations easier. In this report, effect of digital technology and their positive and negative impacts have been discussed thoroughly. It includes the clear aims and objectives proposed by the business project. Here, the project management plan along with the management process is discussed for the Wm Morrisons Supermarkets Plc. in detail. It is one of the largest chains of supermarket in the UK. This organization has redefined the digital technology as it has developed, scaled, and innovated it traditional style of operating business across the UK. In this report, the impact assessment of digital technology on various quintessential business activities of the aforementioned organization, namely operations, marketing, accounting, HR, etc., have been done. This task completely is based on the research that is done on important project aspects like resources, scope, time, cost, risks, quality, etc. The project is explained with the help of the Gantt Chart with a breakdown structure for the organization, various project management skills, qualitative and quantitative approaches, and data analysing techniques.

Project Management Plan

The project management plan designs the projects and helps in its planning, execution and monitoring. Projection of ideas for every business is more or less same and depends on the management and its decisions. Project management helps in controlling and coordinating the complex situations for the business and organized for their successful completion despite the risks (Cleden, 2017). The aims and objectives are discussed in this section of this task for Morrisons project management. The main objective for this project is to focus on the risks and develop the measures for reducing the risks and dangers in this project. The project management aims and objectives of Morrison Supermarket are discussed below:-

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Aim: “To provide all their customers with the very best value for money on their weekly shopping, wherever they live.”

Objectives for Morrisons Supermarket Plc. are very specifically designed and tabulated to achieve the aims or goal of the company. Objectives are the steps that are required for the company to meet in order to achieve the goals or the aims of the company. In this case, the objectives are as follows:

The objectives of the Morrisons Supermarket Plc. includes:

• Social Progress
• Innovation
• Customer Satisfaction
• Employee Satisfaction

The project management plan is an approved document where the procedure of project management is detailed with its execution, monitoring and controlling. It is an application of skills and techniques that are used by the management in completing the given tasks (Bryman and Bell, 2015). The management of the task with its requirements and identifying the objectives so that they can be achieved. The elements that should be covered for a project management plan includes:

• Costs: After the budgeting is done by the management, the cost gets approved and all the expenses and incomes are projected. The project funds are very important part and they should be managed so that at last the shortage of the funds do not occur and is balanced.
• Scope and Time: Scope plays very important role as it is the reason for which the work is done and involves the process of getting the project outcome. The time period within which the allocated work needs to be done is the time of the project which is very important as finishing work on time requires proper control from the management.
• Quality and Communication: The standards that should be maintained throughout the project work is the quality. The quality can be defined as combination of criteria and standards that are required while getting the work done which can be achieved with good communication. The communication system should be very good and be managed properly.
• Risk: Risks are to be taken by the businesses to get the success in the project. If the risks taken by the management or the businessmen can be affected from external or internal environments. It affects the project negatively or positively. The risks should be identified and rectified if they tend to affect negatively on the business.
• Resources: Anything is required or is capable of completing a given task comes under resources. They can be human resources, financial resources, equipments, facilities, etc.

The organization prepares the work break down structure in order to implement different steps included in planning, organizing, executing and implementing the plans for the process of managing a successful business project. This project helps in dividing the work within the employees and getting the work done by them efficiently and effectively.

Gantt Chart

Gantt chart can assist the manager in tracking the progress of a task or a project against the deadlines. In simple words, it is planning tool that shows the beginning and ending dates of a particular tasks through a horizontal bar graphs. Managers can easily notice the progress of a project and set priorities. Team members can also see which task is running delayed and the chart can be altered accordingly to balance it. In addition to this, using the chart, managers can compare the projected and the real progress.

Literature Reviews

According to Piccinini, E., Hanelt, A., Gregory, R. and Kolbe, L., 2015. Transforming industrial business: the impact of digital transformation on automotive organizations.

Three key themes have been discussed in this paper: - 1.) The radicalization of businesses that are IT-enabled and are undergoing transformation beyond certain intra-organizational issues, (2) The metamorphosing of different industrial businesses through digital transformation, and (3) the existence of physical–digital conflicts.

One of the findings of this paper suggests that to save the existences and thrive in the wave of digitalization, incumbent organizations must develop some ambidexterity abilities to identify the wide potentials of digital modernization.

1. Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O., Pavlou, P. and Venkatraman, N., 2013. Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights.

In this paper, the authors identify four crucial factors that drive modern digital business strategies. Those factors are: (1) The scope (2) The scale (3) The speed of digitalized business strategies (4) the business value sources.

2. Lindh, C., Dahlin, P. and Hadjikhani, A., 2008. How Does Information Technology Impact on Business Relationships? The Need for Personal Meetings. In 24th IMP-conference, Uppsala, Sweden.

In this paper, author has raised a question on how IT affects the social exchange relationships. The study investigate the alterations in social interaction patterns caused by the involvement of IT in all business relationships. For that purpose, one particular aspect of interactions among business relationships i.e., the effect of IT over the desire of personal meetings. The penetration of IT in business relationships is checked by the extent of its use and the level of influence over desires of personal meetings.

3. Prepletaný, D., 2013. The Impact of Digital Technologies on Innovations in Retail Business Models. Aalborg University.

In this paper, the author discusses how technology plays an important role for retailers who aim to fulfil the desires of their loyal customers and looking to increase the customer base. For that purpose, he discussed some of the case studies and one of them was the case of Burberry, a legacy fashion retailer that witnessed a great success since its establishment in 1856. Burberry kept its quality as its mainstream goal and didn’t hesitate in keeping a pace with emerging technology.

 

4. Fitzgerald, M., Kruschwitz, N., Bonnet, D. and Welch, M., 2014. Embracing digital technology: A new strategic imperative. MIT sloan management review, 55(2), p.1.

This paper is based on the survey carried out to figure out the impact of digital transformation on major business improvements. And, the key findings are:- 1.) Implementing the digital technology will be crucial for almost every organization. 2.) The pace of implementation of technology in businesses is very slow. 3.) According to some top managers, “lack of urgency” is the main reason for such a slower rate of including digital technology in businesses. 4.) 93% of employees working in studied organizations feel that digital technology in business operations is the right step every business must think of in order to survive the global competition.

 

5. Muratovski, G., 2015. Paradigm shift: Report on the new role of design in business and society. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 1(2), pp.118-139.

This paper strictly talks about the changing paradigm of design processes. The author has concluded his paper by giving some key findings, such as: 1.) to tackle the services of digital business transformation, new methods and approaches are needed if a company wants to capture a great portion of the market. 2.) Business consulting agencies must ponder on including traditional linear methods to their business models, otherwise they will lose the market share. 3.) For a sustainable relationship with clients and to increase the share in market, an organization’s digital business transformation should lead with business model innovation.

6. Jaguszewski, J. and Williams, K., 2013. New roles for new times: Transforming liaison roles in research libraries.

This paper talks about the changing role of project manager in the era of digitalization. The traditional roles of managers are been transformed to lead the organization’s digital programs. It’s no denying fact that project managers are the best executioners and know very well about how to match the pace of organization with the change in technology. By making use of certain framework for digital transformation, leaders can make sure that the functioning of processes are tilting more towards the digital future swiftly.

Research Methods and Methodology (D1)

Small-scale project management for the Morrisons Supermarket company is carried out in this task which covers the research related queries for the Morrisons supermarket company (Martinelli and Milosevic, 2016). As every small or big company has an aim and an objective to achieve, Morrisons also have the aims that are to be achieved which can be done with the help of quantitative and qualitative research methods for meeting these aims and objectives.

Quantitative Research Method:

The quantity of data helps in getting more number of data and getting number of choices that will help in achieving the best quality in getting the work done (Brannen, 2017). It involves the group discussions and results are analysed and interpreted which are based on the original plans. The quantitative research method relies on the collection of the data in the numeric in the form of charts and graphs. The accuracy of the data is achieved and the objectives are fulfilled.

The main characteristics of the quantitative research method are as follows the control and the operational definition.

• Control: Control is needed in order to identify necessary answers and eliminate so that the cause of effect can be isolated.
• Structured: Data is gathered using the structured research instruments and all study aspects are designed carefully.
• Operational definition: Operational definition is related to a particular activity. Detailed definition defines a specific way in which the concepts and labels are measured.
• Use of tools: Use of tools like questionnaires for collecting numerical data, etc.

Qualitative Research Method:

This type of research is very wide in its aspect and is wider than the quantitative aspect of the research method. Here the information is collected and analysed and here the data is not in the numeric form (Davies and Hughes, 2014). Through this method, the research is finished sooner than the quantitative research method as well as in the efficient way and it involves the straight questions.

The characteristics of qualitative research method include:

• It helps in understanding the unified experiences.
• Nothing is taken for granted and is predefined.
• The time and cost are considered as an important aspect.
• It helps in promotion of a more diverse reaction from the surveyors.
• It is an interactive process.

The qualitative and quantitative researches which include the researches through the data collection and analysing methods have both advantages and disadvantages (Serra and Kunc, 2015). The advantages of qualitative research are that strictness is followed and it gives freedom to the researches. Disadvantages for qualitative researches are that the researchers interpret the research according to their own views and there it takes more time to get the task completed. The quantitative research advantages and disadvantages are that it requires a lot of data to measure the data and accuracy is achieved. Lot of data with large sample are studied with graphical representations and therefore it does not explain the exact meaning and the experiments are ignored.

With the conducting of the research part successfully, now it is the time for the data analysis and interpretation. Data analysis and interpretation helps in finding the outcomes of the research which are beneficial for the management and the company (Acaps, 2012). There is a need to analyse the data as it help in solving the problem statement of the business easily. The Big 4 retailers of the UK are as follows:

The research questions play a great role in defining the path for the research. The data which is collected for the analysis and interpretation focuses on the research questions only. These are the problematic or the concerned areas which the business is trying to resolve. Morrison, being the smallest share holder in the Big 4 retailers of the UK. The data can be analysed and interpreted on the basis of the following research questions:

Research questions for the data analysis and interpretation

1. Importance of technology in the business organisation?
2. Impact of the use of technology on employee?
3. Impact of the use of technology on business?
4. Use of technology in the sustainability of the business?
5. Impact of technology on the employees of the organisation?
6. Impact of technology on the business?

The data and information have been collected with the help of primary research that has been done through questionnaire method have to be analysed by the researchers so that the actual needs and requirement of the organisation’s performance can be determined.

The sampling of the population has been done with the help of random sampling method where the people are randomly selected and has been asked the question from respondents randomly.

Analysis 1: The use of technology is very essential for the business sustainability.

(Figure 4: Respondents agreeing or disagreeing on the role of technology in business sustainability)

(Source: By Author)

From the above graph, it has been analysed that majority of the respondents have stated that there is a necessity of technology in the business so that the organisation can be able to carry out its operations and activities in an effective and appropriate manner. Respondents have agreed to the situation whereas some have denied and said technology is creating a critical situation for the employees to perform the work. It can be said that with the help of use of technology Morrison can sustain in the market.

Analysis 2: Morrison is having good opportunities for the growth in the market.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology in business growth)

(Source: By Author)

With the help of above mentioned graph, it can be analysed that the respondents are very happy that the company is using the technologies in an effective and appropriate manner. As the company is having the lowest market share with comparison to the top three retailers, it can be said that Morrison holds a great area for growth and development. The company can take corrective measures to improve the reputation and its market share in UK.

Analysis 3: Adopting the new technology is a messy process for the company.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology in cost cutting)

(Source: By Author)

The above mentioned graph shows that, Morrison is facing a number of issues and problems at the time of implementation of the technology in its operations and activities. It can be said that the awareness and level of information of the respondents is not up to date and they are not familiar with the use of technology.

Analysis 4: The impact of use of technology is positive for Morrison.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology as positive attempt for business)

(Source: By Author)

The data presented in the graph shows that the company is having a positive impact on the use of technology in its operations and activities. With the use of technology in the business, the company can overcome the issue of low market share and exploit the use of technology in the business operations and its activities.

Analysis 5: Effective use of digitalization can help in enhancing company’s present situation.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology in improving business current situation)

(Source: By Author)

With the help of above-mentioned graph, it has been analysed that the company can be able to attain the state of development in the market with the help of using digital technology.

Analysis 6: Technology is important for the business.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology in business operations)

(Source: By Author)

The above mentioned graph shows the data analysis of the sixth research question that is importance of technology in the business organisation;

Analysis 7: the use of technology had a negative impact on the employees.

(Figure 5: Respondents on the role of technology as a negative aspect in business)

(Source: By Author)

The mentioned graph shows the data analysis of the second research question that is impact of the use of technology on the employees.

Analysis 8: the use of technology has a positive impact on the organisation.

 

(Figure 5: Respondents on the use of technology have a positive impact on business growth)

(Source: By Author)

The above mentioned graph depicts the data analysis for the eight research question that is the impact of the use of technology on the business. It can be said that with the use of technology in Morrison, the operations and the other business activities are conducted with more accuracy and efficiency.

Results

From the primary research carried out to measure the performance of Morrison Supermarket Plc., many facts were discovered that give an overview of the organization:-

1. 60% respondents have stated that the organisation can be able to grow in the competitive market with the use of technology in an appropriate way (see analysis 2).
2. But there are 40%respondents who have stated that complexity gets higher and the company will not get the growth opportunity (see analysis 2).
3. 40% respondents out of 100% stated that the company is facing issues which are related to adopting of the techniques (see analysis 3).
4. 35% has stated that cost is getting increased due to the implementation of technology (see analysis 3).
5. 30% have also said that employees are afraid of losing their job; therefore, they are not accepting the changes (see analysis 3).
6. 60% out of 100% said that company is getting benefit from the use of technology (see analysis 4).
7. 30% said the negative impact is also there which affects the business (see analysis 4).
8. 10% have not bothered to reply (see analysis 4).
9. 60% of the respondents are agreed that with the help of effective use of technology the company can improve its present situation (see analysis 5).
10. 40% have also said that the using all the available resources in an effective manner can also be helpful for the company to get enhanced (see analysis 5).
11. From the data given in analysis 6, it is quite clear that most of the employees are of the view that technology is very important for the business. It can be said that the technology have a positive impact and readiness of employees to change. It can be said and analysed that the use of technology is very effective for Morrison.
12. From the analysis 7 interpretation, it is clear that technology had a negative impact on the employees. It shows that they are not happy with the use of technology in the organisation. It may have certain reasons like lack of awareness, insecurity, inability to use the technology etc. It is depicting that the employees are not happy with the use of technology in Morrison.
13. From the data collected it is clear that 70% of the company exhibits the positive response towards the use of the technology in the organisation (see analysis 8).

Discussion

From the primary research, we figured it out that people working in Morrison have a contradicting views about the implementation of the digital technology in different domains, such as operation, marketing, accounting, HR, etc. From the result obtained from the questionnaire survey, nearly 40% of employee working at Morrison Supermarket Plc., believe that digital technology has a negative impact on the organization. The reason behind their negative feedback can be the lack of knowledge about the use of technology, or low level of interest, or risk of displacement. On the other hand, the positive feedback comes from those who believe that digitalization can lead to improvised accuracy and efficiency. At present, Morrison is the fourth largest supermarket in the UK and is seeking to increase its market share. And for that purpose, digital technology can be the most suitable arrow in the quiver. Based on the research analysis results, certain improvement and recommendations are given below:-

• As the employees shows a negative approach towards the use of the technology, it is necessary to know the reasons behind it.
• For this purpose workshops and seminars can be conducted.
• The company can rely on the use of technology which depicts that they can go for the expansion of the business.
• The company must focus on the aspects of strategies and its policies. It must improvise it as per the need.
• The technologies have to be implemented in the appropriate manner so that the management can be able to use them effectively (Schwalbe, 2015).
• The training has to be provided to the each and every employee of the company so that they can be able to operate the technologies implemented in the required manner without any mistakes or errors.
• The cost and other required resources have to be used effectively to manage the wastages.

Conclusions

While carrying out the research work, different techniques and tools for the research were used that help in getting a better understanding. It can be said that with the help of this research work, Morrison is now able to take crucial decisions regarding the use and impact of the technology on Morrison. From the overall research work done on Morrison Supermarket Plc., different scenarios and perspectives were noticed regarding the implementation of digital technology in organizational tasks. In spite of having some negative feedback, major proportion of workforce thinks that digitalization would have a bright future in running business effectively. From the overall report, it was concluded that the use of technology had a positive impact on the business and can serve as an instrument to increase the market share of a business. It can help in minimising the cost and increasing the profit. It can be said that technology is important for carrying on business operations effectively. It shows that technology had a negative impact on the employees of the organisation. The use of technology is very important for the sustainability of the organisation. Before ending on a higher note, it is concluded that the growth opportunities are high for Morrison in the market.

1. Accuracy and reliability of different research methods applied

The accuracy and reliability of qualitative research method and the quantitative research method applied helps to determine that if the research is reliable and the outcomes are desired then the methods used are always considered appropriate. The qualitative and quantitative research methods are very important as one helps in finding out the researches through the data collection method or by analysing the data numerically and the other clearly relies on the quality.

• Reliability of qualitative method. The qualitative method relies on the appropriateness of the different tools and data interpreted. It relies greatly on consistency and provides logical data with rich and different ambience. Also if the research questions that are asked during the researches give the desired outcomes that are satisfactory then those questions are considered appropriate (The American international institute, 2018). This proves the reliability of qualitative method.
• Reliability of quantitative method. This method relies on the graphs and charts like the Gantt chart and the organizational breakdown structure. However, the reliability of the quantitative method depends on the data reliability and accuracy. The stability of the process or the project is considered reliable with respect to time taken to complete the project and data collected.

Limitation of the Research and Areas of Further Consideration

A lot of limitations were noticed while carrying out the research work. But, the time of completing the research work and documentation was limited, the scope of the work missed certain crucial points. Those points are given below:-

1. The research had used only questionnaire method which might or might not give the relevant result as respondent under consideration might have faked his/her opinion.
2. Selection of sample population might have some biasedness.
3. The historic data is not considered or studied prior to carrying out a research.
4. Only the positive feedbacks have been considered, whereas the negative feedbacks and figuring out the reasons and impacts caused by them have been ignored.
5. Some self-reported data has been provided in the report that are collected from secondary sources and its relevancy can be questioned by the inspector.

Future Scope of the Research Work

1. The digital technology can be used to compare the strategies followed by the top competitors of Morrison.
2. Figuring out ways to turn the negative feedbacks of digital technology into positive.
3. Carrying out the same research by applying other realistic methods.
4. Analysing the different aspects of project management using different methods.

3. Reflection

The research study that has been carried out has analysed various aspects that needs to be considered by the management and Morrison. The scope of the research is very wide and helps in attaining the set aims and standards of the company. Implementing the standards and plans in the required manner would help Morrison in attaining sustainability in the market. This helps in assessing the requirement for different wellsprings of web-based social networking with the general population which helps Morrison in advancing its items and administrations online with the goal that it can make individuals pulled in towards it. It would help in empowering and accomplishing the targets with the utilization of different wellsprings of computerized development (Sharon and Dori, 2015). The fundamental target of Morrison is to accomplish the benefits in the market and meets the upper hand objectives easily.

By the use of multiple method and approaches, it becomes easy to eliminate the chances of the failure of the project and the research. The benefit of the quantitative and qualitative research methods is that it will help the researchers to attain the data and information in the required and reliable manner along with that the company will also be able to attain the effectiveness in the research study (Sharon and Dori, 2015). As everything has a positive as well as a negative impact the methods are also having a negative impact, using this will take lots of time along with that the surety of the accuracy may get fluctuated many a time. It can be said that, it becomes easy to analyse and rectify the data. As the complete data is collected by the researcher himself, it ensures the reliability and authenticity of the data used and compared in the research.

Morrison is facing and which can be easily resolved by the proper use of management plan. Morrison would be able to analyse the future problematic situation that is to be determined and sorted. Morrison is having the golden chance to adopt the cloud computing system which is very effective and useful for increasing the effectiveness of the operations and activities (Schwalbe, 2015). Adoption of the latest techniques would assist Morrison to compete in the competitive market along with that the management will be able to get growth opportunities (Brannen, 2017).

References

1. Acaps, 2012. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Techniques for Humanitarian Needs Assessment.
2. Brannen, J., 2017. Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. Routledge.
3. Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015. Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.
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12. Schwalbe, K., 2015.Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
13. Serra, C.E.M. and Kunc, M., 2015. Benefits realisation management and its influence on project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.53-66.
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