Introduction
This project status report organized by a project management consultant at ProCon services Australia identifies the progress of the Fit out project undertaken by the Vella IT office Fit outs led by Tony Faultier as a project manager. It also consists of the description of the required corrective actions as well as the advice for the replacement of the project manager. The report also covers the findings of the performance of the different team members. These findings are reported to the board of Vella IT office Fit-outs. It consists of the brief summary of the present status of the project, consisting of schedule and cost variance. It also describes the leadership behaviors during the project using the Zoo model so as to describe the behaviors of the project manager. It also describes the team environment existing while carrying out the project along with the recommendations for this work policies and processes.
Project Progress Summary
According to the Project Schedule, the allocated total fit-out cost for the overall project is $1.2 million and the total completion time allocated to the project is four months and by the end of May 1, the first floor and second would be completed while the ground floor should be completed and top floor not commenced. The project is not progressing as expected, On May 1, the ground floor is 75% complete, the second floor and first floors are both 25% complete. The top floor is also 50% complete and this was not expected. The cost for the project so far is $675K out of the $1.2million for the general project. It’s sad that the project manager Tony Faultier left the company abruptly, he went and took other position within a different company. Therefore it unfortunate that the project has not taken the course as it was planned. There were complaints by the Vella office Fit outs staff that the Staff of the contract used was not adequate because they never received adequate training on how to apply specialized data cabling; therefore there was reworking on the cables and this became costly. Cost variance refers to the difference between the planned or budgeted amount and the actual cost amount. Therefore the cost variance for the project is expected to be higher at the end of the project. This is because almost three-quarters of the cost of the implementation of the project were spent on the project not even halfway. Schedule variance also refers to a situation where the schedule of the project is lagging or leading compared to the actual plan. The schedule variance for the project is calculated as a difference in cost of Budgeted work scheduled (BCWS) and cost of budgeted work performed (BCWP) (Legace 2008).
Rating the work carried out by the team members on a scale of 100 to 1000, the completion of ground floor by 1 May would be given a score of 640, the completion of first and second floor compared to the schedule would be allocated a score of 600 while the top floor a score of 600. The average grade for the overall project is 620 (Lawrie & Cobbold 2004). Therefore the overall grade of the project will be average.
Figure 1: Scorecard to grade the project
The four Key elements in the report
The four key elements in the report to be discussed in the report are explained as below. They include the following, additional information required by the new project manager, the risk register, Leadership behaviors on the Project and lastly the existing team environment. They are further discussed in the details as per the following sections.
Additional Information that is needed by the new Project Manager
Additional information to the new project manager is very vital, it will help him to understand how possibly he could as the manager carryout the project in order to avoid the same problems and challenges that could cause fail of the project. The needed information to the project manager is illustrated below;
The New project manager should be in a position to understand the different risks that are rising during the course of the project and also find the different ways of resolving these risks and issues (Kim 2005). They should also be in a position to find the impact of these risks and issues on the overall project (Tom 2003). Some of the risks that could possibly happen include: A team member leaving abruptly (David 2007). The initial stage in the start of any project is just similar to starting an organization. It is important for the leader of the project to come up with the necessary project infrastructure. The infrastructure is an important aspect of the project design as well as its overall execution. It is also important that the project administration team must come up with an alignment strategy to bind all the stakeholders’ together (Tom 2003). This alignment should include all the people that have a given interest in share within the project. It is always important for the project manager to consider conducting a number of meetings in the course of project implementation. There is also need to schedule alignment sessions to get various parties to the project on the same wavelength. Such efforts would lead to the development of a strong cohesion as well as team efficiency over the project period.
When starting up, the project management team should take up the responsibility of refining the project scope. Undertaking the refinement of the project scope forms the basis upon which preliminary project schedule, as well as the conceptual budget, can be developed (Kijpokin 2016). The team is tasked with coming up with a plan for the execution of the project and this should be based on the profile of the project. It is also important for the project manager to figure out a plan to use for the development and tracking of a clear and appropriately detailed schedule. The manager should also come up a definite procurement plan and the related costs. It is also important for the manager to develop plans for information and communication technology. The communication plans should include plans for tracking satisfaction of the client. It is also important for the manager and the entire project team to identify tools necessary for the development of Flowcharts, diagrams as well as responsibility milieus. These tools would be useful in the capturing of the work processes associated with the execution of the project plan.
Risk register
The risk register contains the key risks that may affect the overall project.
|
Id. |
Description |
Mitigation plan (what can be done to avoid the risk) |
A contingency plan (what can be done in case the risk occurs) |
Likelihood of it occurring |
Potential effect (dollar / schedule / quality etc.) |
|
1 |
Relevant team member leaving the team |
Motivating the team members. |
Replacing him/her immediately. |
High |
Causes project delays and time lag |
|
2 |
High cost than expected or allocated. |
Allocate the high amount of money in miscellaneous. |
Allocate more financial resources. |
Low |
Affects the budget |
The new project manager should be in the position of knowing the different milestones within the project. Milestones are the major phases of the project. They are very important in breaking up larger projects into digestible parts. Therefore the new project manager should be in a position to meet these milestones as were suggested. The milestone of this project was using the allocated fit-out cost of $1.2 million and on May 1, there should be the completion of the ground floor as well as the first and second floor should be 50% complete. This was not met by the existing team due to poor management. The new project manager should be in a position to denote the different project metrics (Mark 2008). These metrics include scope, Time, and scope of the project. These are very helpful in measuring the progress of the project, it will be useful for the new project manager to report the project as its progressing (Douglas 2007). The project is to be completed within a period of four months.
The overview of Leadership behaviors on the Project
This section describes the analysis of the leadership environment during the carrying out of the project having Tony Faultier as the project manager. It gives thorough explanation and analysis of Tony.
The performance of Tony Faultier and the new preferred leadership behavior were analyzed using the Zoo model (Verzuh 2008). The Zoo philosophy defines organizations like Zoos where individuals are compared to bees, ants, and other creatures.
Figure 1: illustration of the Zoo philosophy.
This is very helpful in recognizing the weaknesses and strengths of each animal and compares it to workers within the organization (Bach 2010). Tony Faultier a former Project manager was as belligerent as a cape buffalo or an African Hippo, even bullying as a wild boar (Bouckaert & Peters 2004). He treated his subordinates as little swine by being intolerant and impatient yet he was as lazy as an Opossum. He was unwilling to listen from advice from other team members and also quite autocratic, for example some members of the team where quite aware that there should not be commencement of work on the top floor as suggested by the project schedule but instead he continued with the work which caused a delay (Vittal 2015). Therefore a new project manager to be used by the company should be honest and humble as a dove, social like an ant and also dedicated to the work to produce the best out of it (Marly & Roque 2017). This is because a humble leader will be in the position of portraying all the qualities of a good project manager which include the ability to delegate tasks, integrity, competence, empathy, good communicator, a good listener and respectful, as well as being cool when under pressure. It is also notable that given that fast-paced nature of the tech world, changes are always inevitable. These changes cut across in various sections including the processes, the standards as well as technologies. It is therefore critical that the project managers and team engage in early planning. There is also need for the team members to develop flexible mindsets in preparation for changes that are constantly taking place. Members should be equipped with a special ability for quickly changing when the situation at hand absolutely demands a change of course for project success (Marly & Roque 2017).
The existing team environment
The different existing team environments before and after the departure of tony Faultier as the project manager is characterized by a number of aspects as described below;
The existing team environment is not favorable for the better commencement of the project. Before the abrupt quitting of the project manager, it was characterized by improper and inadequate team management where the team manager never obtained advice from the subordinates. The existing environment is characterized by poor communication among themselves, there is no balanced participation among the team members, there is no effective decision making among the team members because of a poor leadership, the goals and roles of each member of the team are not effectively defined, there is no a positive atmosphere for better commencing of the project, also the leadership is not participative (Ana et al. 2017). The goals and roles of each member on the team may be effectively stated so that each team member is in position to understand his vision and purpose on the team but because of poor team management, there is a failure of team members to meet their roles and goals (David et al. 2015). Therefore to create a conducive team environment, the following activities should be considered; there should be a balance of participation among the different team members, similarly, the new project manager should support clear and open communication (Kijpokin 2016). The organization should support participative leadership when conducting the project such that failure of one leader would not affect the entire team. A positive and conducive environment that inspires and encourages the team members should be established so as to facilitate project development.
Conclusion
The report covered the progress status of the project carried out by the Vella IT office Fit-outs and the performance of the team members. It was analyzed that the new project manager needs information of the different milestones within the project, the project metrics, and the different risks while carrying out the project. Tony Faultier leadership was characterized with belligerency, bullies, laziness, and at the same time intolerance and impatience to subordinates. This created a team environment which was unfavorable for both the team members and commencement of the project. This led to the time lagging of the project and also high costs thus not meeting the expected schedule. Therefore care should be taken when making choice of a project manager. The classification of project accomplishment is often dependent on the completion of the project within the specified time frame. The development, as well as management of the schedule of the project, is the primary responsibility of the project manager. It is therefore important the project manager understand that the completion and development of a project schedule requires a realistic plan. It also requires a management plan which is effective enough. For an effective project schedule to be developed, it is important for the proper analysis of the project scope, the contract as well as other information critical for the team to perform the project deliverables.
Recommendation(s)
The team led by Tony Faultier lagged the project, they never worked as they were expected. Currently, the project is late and has used a lot of resources. Some of the team members are not competent and lack skills. Therefore, these are some of the recommendations for better carrying out the project;
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