Managing a Successful Business Project Assignment Sample

Managing a Successful Business Project

Introduction

The business organisation is always under the influence of the factors related to the market and business environment. Globalisation is one of those factors that affect the internal as well as external operations of an organisation. In this report, the positive cultural, economic, and ethical impacts of globalisation on the business tasks of Marks and Spencer are discussed thoroughly. Research is being conducted on the same for which qualitative and quantitative methods are brought into use. The operations that get affected by globalisation are HR, operations, and accounting. The following report discusses the project management plan, timelines of conducting research, and the data collection methodology along with the data analysis part. In addition to this, a small reflection of the overall learning from the report is given.

LO1

P1 Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario.

The main aim of carrying out this research is to determine the positive cultural, economic, and ethical impacts of globalisation on HR and marketing operations of Marks and Spencer.

The objective of the projects are:-

• To determine the influence of globalisation in the business world in general
• To carry out primary research to understand the stakeholders perspective on the impacts of globalisation on business entity
• To recommend certain suggestions to Marks and Spencer in carrying out HR and Marketing operationsin the global market.

P2. Produce a project management plan

It is important to understand the project management in order to develop a well-efficient plan. It is characterised by the application of methods, processes, skills, knowledge, and experience in order to accomplish the project goals and objectives. The project management plan comprises defining the need for carrying out the project (Glavina, 2015). In addition to this, it is all about estimating project requirement, budget, resources, and timescales. Another purpose of carrying out this project is determining and managing risks associated with the project.

Project scope

Looking into the objectives of the project, the scope of this project is to determine the impact of the phenomenon called globalisation on the HR and marketing operations of Marks and Spencer. The main functions of HR that will be covered in the project are employee satisfaction, employee efficiency, employee-manager relationship, ethical considerations, etc. In addition to this, the marketing aspects of the Marks and Spencer are profitability, investment channel in the global market(Giddens, 2018). For this purpose, the qualitative and quantitative research methods will be employed. The research will make use of primary data collection method like survey and questionnaire to collect primary data of the stakeholders. Once the data is collected, the same will be analysed by making use of data analysis tools, such as MS Excel.

Project cost

There are many tasks that might require external assistance and needs some amount of funds. The project cost allocation is required in order to carry out things that might consume more resources and funds.

Project Time

The project is needed to be completed well on time otherwise, it will consume more resources and funds of the organisation. The project time is from December 2, 2018, to February 20, 2019. All the activities associated with the team needs to be done between these two dates mentioned above.

Project Communication

The well-established communication channel is an important aspect for carrying out a successful project. Since different teams are associated with this project, the manager at Marks and Spencer should take care of the communication plan that clearly mentions the concerning authority and the contact number and other information (Nobleand Smith, 2015). In addition to this, it should clearly mention the meeting schedule, date, the topic of discussion, and outcomes.

Project Risk

The risk associated with this research project is:-

• The exceeding cost due to price escalation making the project hard to carry out.
• Changing the scope of the project with time due to natural and man-made factors.
• The poor performance of employees in carrying out primary research
• Data biases are other risks.

P3. Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion.

The complete project is carried out in small parts and that too phase-wise. These phases are clearly enlisted in the Work Breakdown Structure as shown below:-

Gantt chart

The purpose of formulating the research Gantt chart is to understand the activities’ order and the time consumed by them. A Gantt chart is shown below:-

M1: Produce a comprehensive milestone schedule

The project milestone is provided to make sure that all the activities associated with the project are on the right track and are getting completed within the stipulated time. In addition to this, this would help in monitoring the project (Tavakoland Sandars, 2014).

LO 2

P4. Carry out small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods.

For this project, the qualitative and quantitative methods are used. The reason for which is that the project requires both qualitative and quantitative data. For instance, marketing data will be quantitative. In addition to this, HR-related data is more or less qualitative. The plan of action of Marks and Spencer uses the best and proper measurable strategy (which is reasonable for the company) for leading the project. The qualitative technique for research is discovered to be the best and productive strategy for HR operation and impact of globalisation on them as in light of the fact that it portrays about the "profound bits of knowledge" of the business plan of the company. Both the strategies for research are between related &inter-connected. For the effective completion of the project, the plan of action of Marks and Spencer is directed by making use ofthe questionnaire. The quantitative strategy for research incorporates the perception of the employees and consumers of the company. The correct method of survey is being exhibited before all the potential members and the potential clients. This is the widely utilized technique for gathering the fitting information and data.

Under the technique for observation, a legitimate perception is being completed by the business association, in understanding the frame of mind and conduct of the potential individuals. With the assistance of straightforward perceptions, quantitative information and viable data can be accumulated. The meeting strategy incorporates the productive verbal correspondence among every one of the members and compelling surveyors. The business organisation can either go for the organized type of meeting or the unstructured structure, as indicated by its reasonableness. The records technique for research empowers the organization to gather the factual and likewise the numerical type of information either from the auxiliary wellsprings of with the assistance of essential sources, that is, the records of the business association from the web sources.

A questionnaire is provided below for primary data collection for this research. This would help in determining the positive impacts of globalisation on HR and marketing operations of the company.

Questionnaire

1. Do you think globalisation can affect the culture of Marks and Spencer?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t Know

2. What could be the primary characteristics of the culture of an organisation?

• Flexibility
• Customer Orientation
• Employee satisfaction

3. Can globalisation impact the ethical environment within an organisation?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t Know

4. Can globalisation impact the working relationship between managers and staff?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t Know

5. What do you think globalisation do to an organisation?

• It increases profitability
• It decreases profitability
• It has no effect on profitability

6. Do you think globalisation impact upon the policies and regulations within an organisation?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t Know

7. Do you think globalisation has impacted the decision-making of Marks and Spencer?

• Yes
• No
• No Idea

8. Globalisation impacts the team-work within an organisation. Is it True or False?
9. In what way globalisation has affected Marks and Spencer?

• It has increased efficiency
• It has increased innovation
• It has decreased efficiency
• It has decreased innovation

10.What is the best way for the company to invest in the global market?

• Online
• Offline

M2. Evaluate the accuracy and reliability of different research methods applied

Once the data is collected by making use of both qualitative and quantitative method, the data will be analysed. However, prior to the data analysis, it is important to determine the data accuracy and reliability. Many a time it has been seen that data collected by various means might have some sort of biases. This might affect the research outcomes and hence, it is important for Marks and Spencer to carry out data accuracy check and data reliability. For data accuracy, it is important for the company to simulate the data again and again and keep rechecking it. Hence, this will ensure the accuracy of the data (Glavina, 2015). Talking about the reliability of the data, the company should make use of MS Excel and R-Commander software. This way the data can be checked for data reliability. In addition to this, graphs and pie charts can be used in order to determine any unusualness in the data.

D1. Critically evaluate the project management process and appropriate research methodologies applied

The research methods that are used in this report are quantitative and qualitative methods. Each of them is very useful in conducting research. In addition to this, they have their own downsides. The first advantage of both research method is that they can be made into use by anyone easily as they are research-friendly and can be applied in any research for collecting the primary data. The quantitative method is used to maintain accuracy in the research by employing stakeholders’ perception (Gozzi, et.al, 2015). But, on the other hand, they require expertise and precision. Talking about the qualitative method, they require a lesser number of respondent for better data accuracy and can bring about qualitative data of the respondents. The negative side of this method is that the respondent can change their perception in the controlled environment. This might induce biases in the data.

LO3

LO4

Conclusion

References

• Giddens, A., 2018. Globalization. In Sociology of Globalization(pp. 19-26). Routledge.
• Glavina, S., 2015. Influence of Globalization on the Regional Capital Markets and Consequences; Evidence from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. European Research Studies, 18(2), p.117.
• Gozzi, J.C., Levine, R., Peria, M.S.M. and Schmukler, S.L., 2015. How firms use corporate bond markets under financial globalization. Journal of Banking & Finance, 58, pp.532-551.
• Noble, H., and Smith, J., 2015. Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. [Online] Ebn.bmj. Available at: https://ebn.bmj.com/content/18/2/34 [Accessed on 27 December 2018]
• Oduola, M. O. and Yakubu, A. M. 2017.The Challenges of New Product Development in a Developing Economy.Advances in Research.10(4).
• PETERMAN, R., 2018. What is Project Management? [Online] Project-management. Available at: https://project-management.com/what-is-project-management/ [Accessed 27 December 2018]
• Schimmoeller, L. J. 2012. Success Factors of NPD.Advances in Production Enginnering&Management.5(1).
• SurveyMonkey, 2018. Understand Qualitative vs Quantitative Research. [Online] SurveyMonkey. Available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research/[Accessed on 27 December 2018]
• Tavakol, M., and Sandars, J., 2014. Quantitative and quantitative methods in medical education research: AMEE Guide No 90: Part 1. Med Teach. 36(9). pp 746-756
• Venkatesh, V., Brown, S., and Bala, H., 2013. Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Quarterly. 37(1). pp 21-54

Appendices

Project Log Book:

Performance Review