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Contents
Contents................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction............................................................................................................... 3 Discussion................................................................................................................. 3 Project Plan & Project Management.............................................................................. 3 Objective setting for Project Management and Task Management ......................................... 5 Resource Management and Task Management Plan........................................................... 6 Time Management and Task Management Plan................................................................ 7 Non-Technical Problems and Project implementation........................................................ 7 Mentoring and Coaching Leadership Styles Vs. non-technical problems ................................. 8 Effective communication........................................................................................... 9 Challenges to effective communication between ABC LTD & Consultanc y Firm...................... 9 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 9 List of References..................................................................................................... 10

Introduction In todays globally changing and innovate business environment, new laws, firms desire to expanded, internal and external management relationships are factors which cause firms to go through a change to achieve their goals and gain competitive advantages. (Heller & Handle, 2008). Initiate, monitor and complete any required change is appeared as a big challenge for managers and consultants. It is considered that only one thing never changes and that is change. In the current research scenario ABC ltd is a service providing legal and financial firm. Firm is being run through a board consist of shareholders and paid employees, firm has traditional leadership and management style with personal and social controls. Its large firm operates in 5 cities and many internal and external factors has urges the firm to transform to retain clients and excel in its field. That requires a detail implementable and action able plan with less chances of failure. Before drawing such plan for ABC ltd its important to understand the import aspects of project planning and task planning and factors impacts on them positively and negatively. Discussion Project Plan & Project Management A project is a temporary and short term assignment to achieve certain goals with a specific start and end planning (Meredith, 2011). Whereas project management is a process (consists of many other sub processes) of organising, designing, formulating and managing a plan which involves the monitoring and appropriate use of resources leadership and managerial styles and with suitable controls, to achieve certain and specific goals expected from such project. Project management is defined as a process managing a project during its life cycle and such process consists of five sub process or process group covering nine knowledge areas (factors affect the project) (Horntein, 2012: p30). These 5 process groups of project life cycle are as follows: i) Initiating Process

In this phase a process was ignited with some main aims and objectives to achieve. ii) Planning Process

Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar (2009) identified 10 sub plans involved required to plan a project to manage, these are as follows;

Project Plan Resource Plan Financial Plan Quality Plan Risk Plan Acceptance Plan Communication Plan Procurement Plan Contracting (suppliers) Plan (outsourcing plan) Phase wise Review of Project Plan

iii)

Executing process

According to Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar (2009) involves management process which are as follows (or management of following elements); Time Management Cost Management Quality Management Change Management Risk Management Issue Management Procurement Management Acceptance Management Communication Management Review Management

iv)

Monitoring and controlling process

It involves the establishment and monitoring of controls for the measurement of progress of project and its each task or activity. v) Finishing or closing process

It involves two process 1) Project closure and 2) Reviewing of project completion. Whereas nine knowledge areas are integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communication, risk and procurement management. In other works project management is a combination of five sub process which is effected by nine factors recognised as the knowledge areas, where as human resource factor also represents the change management and leadership style (Horntein, 2012: p30).

According to Horntein (2012) project management is linked with organisations change management to excel and factors such as how to change employees for change resulting due to project, effective change management and suitable leadership style impacts the project management as Kotler (2010) thinks that a good leadership can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of change management process. A good project management model must include good risk management strategies (Enterprise, 2012). Objective setting for Project Management and Task Management As it discussed earlier the aim of a project is to achieve certain and specific goals set for that project. In short overall project planning, use of resources for project, selection of leadership style and setting up the disciple which that project will follow, all based upon the goals and objectives of the project (Meredith, 2011). At ABC ltd the purpose of hiring the consultant is to have a plan to transform the firm from present shape to new shape to meet current market demands, fulfil customers needs and redesigning the organisational management structure and organisational controls to avoid conflict of interests among members of management team and run the firms operations more effectively. To achieve such goals the project manager face many challenges, in the current scenario the parties involved in the project are members of the management, customers, employees and firms advisors. The required change is wished to bring change in organisational structure to improve inter and intra firm relationships, change the technological structure to answer customers needs, and suggestion of suitable leadership style to run such a large firm and continue expanding the firm.

Some other risks such as communication (inter and intra communication, horizontal and vertical communication) barriers could affect the project management of above mentioned project. Resource Management and Task Management Plan According to Heldman (2005) tasks are the activities involved in project management. Fredrick Taylor called task management as premium management. According to Heldman (2005) tasks and activity are same thing in project management. According to Taylor (2008) Task Management is a process of life cycle (with start and end time frame) with clear cut undoubtable directions to follow for people to complete tasks given by management involve in it, to manage different tasks of project, such tasks are designed to achieve the goals of the project. Taylor (2008) thinks that the factor of time management is vital to any task management and this factor is entirely remains in control of management. A task management involves three stage such as planning tasks, initiating tasks and finishing tasks. In simple words project tasks are activates of a project management process and it is the management of activities requires for project management over a time life cycle, which involves three stages. So time management plays vital role in project management and task management and the on the basis of time management tasks can be categorised in many categories. According to Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar (2009:pp312-314) each activity of a task management or project requires an allocation of resources to complete such activity, and objective of resource allocation is rescheduling the project activities. Whereas resource management involves the estimate allocation of each resource or set of each resources required to task activities and each process and sub process of project management over a certain time period, with the continues monitoring and comparison of actual consumed resources with estimated value. This mean if estimate is too low that cause delay or failure to task management and so to the project management. And if the estimate is too high that can result in the waste of resources which increases cost stress of a project and create deficiency for resources required to other factors or process of a project or required for other activates of task management, which also result in failure. At ABC ltd a detailed list of all the activates require to perform the project will be made with a life cycle determination, the time frame of such life cycle will be decided after effective communication with the ABC Ltd.s management and list of task will be based on the aims and objective to be achieved by the project.

Time Management and Task Management Plan The time management of a project is recognised as a process or set of process which are used to make sure the timely completion of a project (Schwalb, 2006:p109). Every project have a schedule of start and end and each task involve or each activity process involve I such process has a time schedule to finish and end. On the base of time scheduled for each task or activity process needed for project management has a start time and finish time. Such activities includes, activity or task of resource estimation or management, estimation of required time for each activity or process of project management and schedule development (Schwalb, 2006:p109). So it can be said that time management is vital to any project and its management. It involves the estimating, scheduling and managing the time required for each process and activity involved in task management and project management. Each required activity or task is scheduled and monitored. Time management is vital to task management and so the project management. Precisely and careful time scheduling and its continue monitoring determines the life cycle of each task or task process and each process or sub process of project management. According to Schwalb (2006:p109) in time management process the list of each attribute or tasks are generated according to the time allocation. At ABC ltd after a detailed and through communication and discussion with its management the life cycle of project will be discussed and on the basis of estimated time required for each task to achieve the goals of this project the life cycle of project will be fixed and so the estimate of time and resource allocation for each activity is finalised. Non-Technical Problems and Project implementation According to Lau (2004:pp.242-244) a project implementation may face technical issue, financial issues or non-technical issues. And according to Davenport (1998) cited by Lau (2004:p242) often managers of a project neglect the non-technical challenges or problems linked a project. According to Johnson & Tengstrom (2010: pp.185-192) there are four types of issues which create barriers in the effective implementation of a project and its tasks Political: examples of such problems are political will of governments expressed in the form of set polices designed as per the requirement of government. For example government policy of ban on any form of mergers etc.

Politically related: any change in political scenario could bring any extra challenge for project to implement. Economic: change in economic situation such has change in currency value could increase the cost for project and can stress resources allocation. Social: Social problems could be among people implanting the project, linked with the people outside the firm but being affected by the project. Cause of such problems could be many factors such as communication barrier, leadership style of project managers and groups associated with project. Mentoring and Coaching Leadership Styles Vs. non-technical problems According to Armstrong (2004) Lear is one who socially influence the behaviour of an individual or group or groups of people in a certain direction to achieve some certain and specific goals and objectives. According to Johnson & Tengstrom the non-technical barrier which was discussed by the Desmon Brown impact negatively on the implementation of a project. And any social barrier can be cured by choosing suitable and effective leadership by the managers implementing the project. According Hairman (2003) there are many Leadership styles which a leader uses to achievement of the goals e.g. Authoritative, Goal oriented or Democratic, Free rein and Toxic leadership. And if a Leader is a manger than a leader can have personal and positional power to exercise its authority. As discussed earlier the completion of projects always brings a change, and Kotler (2010:1979) states that 70% of change efforts fails. They are many factors which impacts change but most important is the resistance to change. To bring an effective and successful change and to implement the project activates a suitable Leadership style can play a vital role in the implementation and success of a project e.g. its the leadership who will turn people involved in project implementation into a team to successful and timely finish the project and Its leaders who bring change in the behaviour of people (by motivating and enhancing their commitment) to the level required for the successful implementation of a project. So leadership style plays a vital role in the successful project implementation.

Effective communication According to Horntein (2012: pp30-60) a project plan should have a good communication plan with possible answers to the communication barriers which may impact negatively on the implementation of a project. Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar (2009) considers that a communication plan to have correct, efficient, clear, concise and timely communication between related individuals and parties at different levels and in required directions must be developed and implemented for the successful implantation of a project implementation. Challenges to effective communication between ABC LTD & Consultancy Firm At ABC ltd directors are just looking for a change to answer customers needs, they have some conflict of interest among them on the use of firms resources and they are managing a large firm without any formal corporate organisational structure. In this situation it is very important for Project Planner to discuss the objectives of project, process, and resources require, change and its impact on each person and on firm after the change associated with the project. It is also important to communicate and decide the required dedication, motivation and commitment from the management for the project plan and its implementation. In short all aspects of , project plan, and impacts of pre and post plan should be discussed with management and understood by consultant and management specially the requirement of plan and each persons is duties before, during and after the implementation of proposed plan. Conclusion According to Reiss (2007:p14) almost every project have following characteristics; a) Clear aim and objectives b) A fixed time cycle c) People (a team) d) No time for prototype testing e) Change So at ABC ltd the aims and objectives of plan are restructuring the organisation, bringing technological change as per customers needs and redesigning in the roles of management.

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According to Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar (2009) in project management managers try to avoid the problems, and non-technical problems has significant impact on the project implementation (Johnson & Tengstrom, 2010). At ABC ltd problems could be technical and non-technical. Non-technical problems especially social problems can be avoided by clear risk assessment and risk plan communication plan and Leadership plan. Kusluvan (2003) employees commitment is dependent on employee motivation and properly motivated employees can play vital role in the enhancing their performance and so the organisations overall performance. At ABC ltd Leadership should be clear what change they are looking for, the process of such change, and the impacts of such change on each individual and at firm. Leadership also show their commitment to motivate people to bring such change.

List of References Meredith, J. 2011. Project Management: A Managerial Approach. 8 Edition. Wiley. Heldman, 2005. Project Management JumpStart. 2 Edition. Jossey-Bass. Schwalbe, K. 2005. Introduction to Project Management. 1 Edition. Course Technology. Panneerselvam & Senthilkumar, 2009. Project Management. 1st Ed. New Dheli: PHI learning Ltd. Taylor, F. 2008. Shop Management. Edition. NuVision Publications, LLC.

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Johnson, G & Tengstrom, E. 2010. Urban Transport Development: A Complex Issue. Springer. Hariman, R. 2003. Prudence: Classical Virtue, Postmodern Practice. Edition. Pennsylvania State University Press Lau, 2004. Managing Business with SAP: Planning Implementation and Evaluation. Edition. Idea Group Publishing.