Question:
Discuss about the Management of Engineering and Technology.
Latino Engineering is a midsize company that focuses on the design and development of machinery equipment for the oil and gas industry, for the utility industry and about 300 employees are working in Latino Engineering. Dominic Latino is the founder of this enterprise and with his expertise and brilliance, he conducted all the business operations so far. Now he has retired and handed over the enterprise to an investor group who are now in charge of the company (Sommer, Dukovska-Popovska and Steger-Jensen 2014). However, they fail to keep up the good remarks of the company and are struggling since one year. They think that probably a project methodology can come to the rescue and since PRINCE2 is the widely accepted project methodology it can solve all the issues and the complaints aroused (Refer to Appendix A). The essay will showcase PRINCE2 and it’s process model by which the business operations can be greatly embellished.
The company basically fails due to the inefficiency of the top level management. The management team from the start has not adopted any project methodology otherwise the severe loss of the company could have been avoided. The lack of coordination between the existing workforce and the new management body is the area of concern. However, the adoption of PRINCE2 can bring in real change by which the entire enterprise and the company’s clients can be satisfied and happy (Verzuh 2015). They must prepare an appropriate design plan for manufacturing the equipment for the oil and gas industry and for the utility industry. The management team of Latino Engineering must divide the responsibility among the employees of the company keeping in mind their expertise. The very first phase of PRINCE2 illustrates the procedures for initiation of the project, and this initiation of project associates the required design plan for the project (Nicholas and Steyn 2017). The initiation of the project also associates the division of tasks among the employees in a proper manner so that they can complete the tasks within stipulated deadline with greater efficiency. The next phase of PRINCE2 is the proper direction for the project. The management team and the employees must have proper coordination among themselves and they should work hand in hand. The entire task must be chosen at first and then it should be divided into multiple subtasks, then those subtasks must be performed and must be completed within deadline with full responsibility (Nicholas and Steyn 2017). Any kind of mishaps if incurs within the project, the project manager and his subordinates come forward altogether and must handle the situation and solve the queries evolved as soon as possible. In this way, the first complaint can be resolved.
The second complaint is the improper follow up with clients. It is the responsibility of the manager to communicate with the clients as it can enhance the relationship between both the clients and the manager. The partial submission of the project undertaken must be delivered and the feedback of the clients must be considered and should make any updating if required (Martinelli and Milosevic 2016). They must also consider if any products delivered found faulty, in this case, the management team must come into the picture and resolve those issues proactively according to the clients’ demands. The other kinds of similar issues may incur like the clients are not satisfied with the design they get and want the change, then also the management team will have to take the responsibility and should work upon if possible, the management team will have to reply them back within the next twenty-four hours and should come to a solution. In this scenario to enhance the clients’ service, they must appoint a customer service team for good. This can take off a huge load of pressure from the management team (Krysi?ski and Miller 2016). The issues and the alterations that have made must be documented in the form of hard copy or in the form of soft copy. The planning phase as well as the monitoring phase of the aforesaid project methodology deals with the feedbacks from the clients and also the current proceedings of the project. The planning phase of PRINCE2 deals with the working on projects as per the deliverables and the monitoring phase of PRINCE2 deals with the feedback received from the clients.
The third issue that aroused in Latino Engineering is the related to long turnaround time taken by the company to resolve the issue (Vardy 2015). It is the duty of the manager to reply back within twenty-four hours and that is with responsibility. The managers and his team must assess the query raised by the clients, they should work on it and make the rework in accordance with the clients’ wish. The rework then should be delivered to the clients sooner without any delay. Lastly, all these modifications and rework must be kept documented in digital or hard copy form as a sign of proof as well as for future use (Svejvig and Andersen 2015). In this way, the issue of the clients can be solved. PRINCE2 monitoring, initiating and the planning phase can solve all the third issue raised. The initiating phase deals with the initiation of the project as per the contracts, on the other hand, the planning phase deals with the fresh working or reworking as per the requirements of the clients.
The fourth issue that arises within the system is the non-responsive customer service team. Latino Engineering’s customer service team should take up the cloud technology, should take up the IT services, these can benefit them in the long run. The IT services can help them to cater services to the clients all day and night. The customer service should have the required skill and the knowledge to handle the clients with ease and if any difficult situation arises, only then the manager should take the charge (Srivannaboon and Munkongsujarit 2016). Thus the manager should stay connected with the customer service team all the time. The fifth issue that Latino Engineering faces is a shipment of wrong products that is completely unprofessional and is not acceptable at any cost. They should have appointed a courier service team to deliver the product to the clients appropriately, the courier should make a list of all the products that must be delivered and setting a proper schedule, the courier team must deliver all the products to the right clients and the clients should confirm back that they have got the right product by simply signing a paper (Karaman and Kurt 2015). The five problems have been highlighted in details in this essay and the solutions via which those problems can be diminished will be elaborated further.
Latino Engineering severely got suffered due to the manufacturing of faulty engineering equipment. They lack a right plan, lack right strategy while conducting the business activities so they fail as a whole unit. They fail to meet the expectations of the clients. According to them, PRINCE2 is the probable solution (Coppola, D’Ambrogio and Gianni 2016). The aforesaid project methodology can protect them from the disaster by giving the best solution, by giving the best plan and all these can help in the progress of the project. The pricing involved with the manufacturing of the machinery products must be discussed with the clients. Later on, the proposals and the detailed design of the machinery products must be well understood by the employees of Latino Engineering (Seymour and Hussein 2014). The employees after understanding all the requirements and the proposals of the project must send the deliverables to the clients, after that the employees should start working on the project.
They also fail miserably to keep up with the clients. The aforesaid project methodology can check the risks incurred within. The whole project must be dispersed into numerous subparts. Each subpart must be examined and then those must be checked by the clients, the positive response let Latino Engineering know that the project is progressing well and the project currently has no issue (Alvarez-Dionisi, Turner and Mittra 2016). Latino Engineering’s clients similarly can acknowledge that the project will be completed within due time with efficiency.
The other major issue they face is the deadline issue. The project assigned to the clients must be completed within the stipulated deadline and should not be delayed. The customers’ complaints must be listened to attentively and their queries should be given the priority. Previously there was a complaining that they were not heard of. Latino Engineering team must appoint an effective customer management team that can deliver the best to the clients, they must have the desired knowledge to serve the clients and thus they must be educated (Joslin and Müller 2015). They must record feedback of each and every client and should carry forward it to the higher authorities. The management team if found any problem critical to handle must come forward and solves the query of the clients. The management team must command the employees and should give the responsibility to the client who is capable to solve the query in quick times. The negative feedback can affect a lot and thus the management team should consider it as well, the management team should assess the negative feedback and should command his juniors to solve these issues, again if that issue is beyond control the management team should take the responsibility to handle the scenario. The clients must be informed that they are working on it and should send the rework as soon as possible. This ensures better customer service (Turner and Hartley 2016). On the other hand, the clients will be ensured that the queries are heard upon and their queries are given the priorities and they will get the quick resolution.
The clients also have the complaints that they have received dispute items and the items cannot be used in the industry. This kind of mishaps generally occurs when the project proposals are not discussed (Cicmil and Gaggiotti 2017). This kind of mishap occurs when the manager does not communicate with the clients and when the managers do not take the proper follow up of the project. This kind of problem occurs also when the project is submitted as a whole. That is why the partial submission is important. The task must be dispersed into various subtasks and each subtask must be sent as a partial submission to the clients and in this way the clients can get the opportunity to examine the progress of the entire task (Reynolds 2016). If the client is happy with the work they must provide with the feedback which ensures the two parties that everything is all right and Latino Engineering can proceed with the remaining. They must be ready with the negative feedback as well. Latino Engineering should give them proper training to the employees about the machinery parts; if the clients are dissatisfied the employees must be ready to modify the project according to the changes proposed by the clients (Dybå, Dingsøyr and Moe 2014). After finishing the alteration the rework must be delivered back to the clients, if they are now ok with the rework, Latino Engineering must focus on the reaming job to be finished.
The fifth issue that has been raised by the clients is the delivery of wrong items. Latino Engineering must assign a third party courier service that can give the clients of Latino Engineering fast and effective service (Basu 2014). The courier service team keep exact track of the products that must be delivered and then during the delivery, the clients are verified whether the right clients or not, then after the delivery the clients are given the facility to check whether all the project requirements are met and the mechanical parts are successfully delivered or not. Latino Engineering can even set up a courier service team for themselves for better services (Hughes et al. 2016).
PRINCE2 project methodology with its seven phases can cater the continuous improvement plan which can mitigate the problems raised and PRINCE2 can provide assurance that the problems will not get repeated ever in future (Refer to Appendix B). Latino Engineering must take up any project methodology of which PRINCE2 can prove to be best for them. The seven phases of PRINCE2 can give them the business edge that can benefit both the clients and the employees of Latino Engineering (Arnaut, Ferrari and e Souza 2016). The first phase of the methodology is the starting up the project. The starting up the project is associated with the manufacturing of the machinery parts for the oil and gas industry, for the utility industry according to the proposals given by the clients. The second phase deals with the direction of the project. The project task must be dispersed into various subtasks and then each subtask must be finished within the proposed deadline with maximum efficiency without compromising the quality (González-Marcos et al. 2016). The deadline must be met and should not be delayed at any cost. The initiation of the project signifies the project must be undertaken in accordance with the proposal made and the documents prepared. In the planning phase, the machinery parts manufactured must be thoroughly examined, the test result must be documented and the document must be sent to both the clients and the management body. The clients and the management body both must give a sign-off, the sign off will ensure that the project is going well and Latino Engineering can carry on their proceedings (Eskerod and Huemann 2013). It can be assured that the project is fine until now and the clients are fully satisfied. In the control phase, the documents must be created to keep track of daily operations; this can prove the efficiency of the ongoing project.
The monitoring phase can help to know that the project is going fine and both the clients and the management authority are happy with the work. The feedback from the clients is an absolute necessity for the business (Francis 2015). The positive feedback is absolutely fine and acceptable whereas the negative feedback is the matter of concern, the management and the employees must take immediate actions to resolve the queries. Lastly, the closing phase ensures that the project is complete and the client has accepted the complete project (Brones et al. 2014). This represents that the project has been done as per the requirements and the wish and demand of the clients and the clients have no queries thereafter. The clients have tested the complete product, they are happy are ready to accept the same.
It can be concluded from the above discourse that PRINCE2 can bring in immense benefits to the entire enterprise. The PRINCE2 is capable to change the course of the business activities by controlling the five major issues that have risen. The issues that have risen are manufacturing of defective or dispute parts. The clients have made complaints that the machinery parts they get are of poor design and of poor quality and the mechanical parts are not eligible to use. The complaints have been raised that the management team has not communicated with them and they were not aware of the proceedings. The customer service team was not responsive at times and along with that, some wrong items have been even delivered to the clients. These are unacceptable issues that can cause loss of clients’ base. The reputation and the goodwill can be endangered if these issues persist for long. Thus seeing the urgency, they take up the PRINCE2 which can reduce the threats and risks incurred and can provide them with the maximum productivity.
References
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