Strategic Management Concept Perspective

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management Concept Perspective and Evaluates. Answer: Identification of the Issue (Sudden Requirement Changes in Project) A project is very important for undertaking the systematic operations of a business organization (Burke 2013). Some projects are infrastructural in nature and focuses on the construction and building for better opportunities. The development projects focus on evaluating the current condition of any service or good and develop a better functioning goods or service for gaining market opportunities. Our project operations consists of a number of operations and functions such as planning, scheduling, functioning, evaluating, and closure. However, there are many issues in the strategic project management operations such as budget over-exceeding, delays in operations, unsatisfied customers, flaws in operations, and change in requirements (McNiff 2016). All these issues had resulted in hindering the functioning of our project operations. Among the above stated issues, the change in the requirement holds an integral part for formulation of strategic management operations. The change in requirement can result in formation of catastrophic errors and hindrance for the smooth operations of project (Gray, Cooper and Grinnall 2014). It resulted in delay for the completion of project and decreasing the quality of production/outcome from the project. We had scheduled the project and in accordance with the initial requirements of the project. Hence, the changes of the requirements have resulted in forming confusion and slower operations for the project. Our DN 107 project was to complete the site investigation and survey in the time scheduled by completing all the operations like analysis of safety measures, risk assessment, construction operations, survey questioning, and making of final report. The use of strategic management tools like change management, stakeholders map analysis, and risk mitigation management would help i n incorporating and dealing with the issues of change management for the DN 107 project. Significance of the Issue The sudden changes in the requirement have a very crucial impact on the operations of the project (Stadelmann et al. 2015). We had deployed the operations of our project as per the initial project instructions and requirements. The operations of the project were working smoothly and the project was expected to be complete in scheduled time. The affects of the issue was: Increased work load- The changes in the requirement of the project have resulted in increasing the work load for our team. Decreased project quality-The process of incorporating the changes took several days and it did not resulted in retaining the expected quality of the result from the project. Exhaustion of extra efforts- We had to deploy extra efforts and time for completing the project. Delay in project completion- We were not able to complete the project in scheduled time as we had to analyze the requirements from the scratch. Observation Perspective I was the project manager and it was my duty for making sure that the operations of the project are completed efficiently. However, the changes in requirements had many negative impacts on the project. The change in the project requirements had resulted in decreasing the profit margin, quality, and enthusiasm of the project team. The changes in the requirement could have been incorporated if proper strategic management tools (like stakeholder map, change management framework, and risk assessments) were used (McNamara 2013). Unit Concepts Change Management The strategic management tools for deploying change management include Change Management Methodology, Principles for change incorporation, and Systematic Framework (Goetsch and Davis 2014). These have been explained below, Change Management Methodology: The use of strategic management has founded some ways for dealing with the changes in requirements by the customers (Rigby and Bilodeau 2015). The change management has been very helpful to me for adjusting the changes in project requirements and deploying a system with integrated change operations. The change management method can be used not only in projects but also in daily life for dealing with sudden changes of the events in human life. The change management is a process which provides the scope for incorporating the changes systematically (Hayes 2014). The use of change management provided us the scope for incorporating the changes in the project. The change management process consists of four steps namely: Identification and submission of change request- In this step, the request for the change in requirements is identified and submitted for processing. Review of change request- In this step, the change request is evaluated and reviewed for scrutinizing the validation of the changes in project requirements. Approval of change request- The different stakeholders like managers, CEO, and other investors approve the changes in the project requirements after analyzing them in terms of feasibility of the project operations. Implementation of change management- In this step, the changes in project management is applied and the closure of the project is requested. Figure 1: Change Management Process (Source: Hornstein 2015, pp-297) Principles for change incorporation: I realized the importance of following project management principles for easily incorporation the changes in the project requirements. The principles used for incorporating the changes in the project requirements are market transparency, labor mobility, scaling, magnitude, duration, and strategic importance (Fullan 2013). These principles are explained below: Market Transparency- It is very important for performing the market transparency analysis before incorporating the changes in the project requirements. The analysis would be helpful for getting an idea of the market services and processes. Labor mobility- The labor mobility is another important feature that is helpful in incorporating the changes of project requirements. It analyzes the function for the mobility of the project team for incorporating the changes of project. Scaling- The scaling shows the level of changes that can be altered (increased or decreased) while incorporation of project requirement changes. Magnitude- The magnitude is an analysis of degree of changes that could be applied and incorporated without affecting the operations of the project. Duration- The duration is an analysis of expected time that would be required for incorporating the changes in the project operations. Systematic Framework: The systematic framework for the process of change management can be implied for incorporating the changes in the project requirements. The systematic framework for the change management includes systematic addressing, managing the hierarchy of process, involving every layer, communication of message, and preparation for unexpected (Hargreaves et al. 2014). The framework has been described below, Systematic Addressing- The change management process can be incorporated by addressing the changes systematically for easing the process of reviewing the changes. The process of change management should be integrated completely with the operations of the project. Hierarchy process- The process of making the project team aware of the required changed must be done hierarchically. The CEO and project managers should be made aware to the change requirement first as they would provide the support and instruction for the change management. Involvement of each layer- There are number of operations in a project. The changes in project requirement must be incorporated for all the operations of the project. The changes affect different levels of organization. Communication of message- The communication among project members is very important as it would help in conveying the requirements at every level of organization and among all the project team. Preparation for unexpected- The project operation does not go as planned always. The team should have to be prepared for unexpected issues while incorporating the changes in project operations. Hence, the team should form a provision for adopting the changes. The strengths of strategic management concepts and principles are that they not only helps in dealing with the financial issues of the project operations but also assist in dealing with the non financial issues (Dobbin and Baum 2014). The strategic management concepts and principles are helpful for assisting the organization to gain more profits and successful service deliverance to the customers. The strategic management concepts and principles of change management methodology, principles for change incorporation, and systematic framework have the following strengths- Core management capabilities and skills included Cross examination ability for project operations Sufficient knowledge for implementing change Systematic flow of operations Leniency of modifications Stakeholder Management: Stakeholder management is one of the most important factors of the overall project management. A project has several stakeholders who need to be well aware about all the details of the project work. Before the engagement of the stakeholders, it is very important to understand the messages need to be sent to the stakeholders and the desired responses from the stakeholders. Consulting early and often with the stakeholders is also an important component of the stakeholder management activity in the project work. In order to gain the support from the stakeholders, they need to be informed at the right time and then providing value to the advices and their feelings. Proper awareness about the human feelings and personal agendas are important. It should be accepted that human do not always behave in a reasonable, consistent, rational or predictable way. Careful planning and proper investment of time is required for a successful project work and stakeholder management. As per Hargreaves et al. (2014), good relationship with the stakeholders is the key to get success in the project management. Engage, interact and listen are three main pillars of the successful stakeholder management in the area of the project management. The stakeholders can also be treated as a category of risk and opportunities that may affect the project management work majorly. In a project it should be examined that the how much value is holding by the stakeholders in the particular project.The success criteria need to be understood by questing. Seek to clarify expectations - perception of success is influenced by the who, what and how? Figure 2: Stakeholder map for construction project (Source: McNamara 2013, pp-398) Risk Management: Each and every type of project has some risks that may affect the project negatively, the duty of the project manager is to identify and manage the risk properly to get the desired level of success in the project work. The risk management work has four steps: Risk Identification: In this step, the project manager should analyze the whole project activities and identify the different risk factors in the area of the project management. In this context, the major risk factors are the budget risks, time risk and the resource allocation risk. Risk Prioritization: After identification of the risk factors, the responsibility of the project manager is to set priority to the risk factors depending on the impact of the risk factors on the project. Some risk factors may have little impact which can be neglected while some may have highly significant impacts on the project (Karimidorabati, Haas and Gray 2013). Mitigation Planning: Depending on the risk priority set to the risk factors, the mitigation plan should be developed. Some of the risk factors can be mitigate while some may not be fully mitigate, then the risk factors should be minimized to the lowest level. Action: Based on he developed plan, the risk mitigation action plan is executed in the last stage of the risk management plan. The core strengths of the management tools and principles like change management methodology, principles for change incorporation, and systematic framework include the core strengths of core management capabilities and skills included, cross examination ability for project operations, sufficient knowledge for implementing change, systematic flow of operations, and leniency of modifications. These strengths would help our project by implementing the change requirements during the project progress. These concepts and principles are very helpful for implementing the operations of the change management in project processes. The benefits of management tools and principles are financial stability, ease of operation, abiding the project management concepts for project operations, and successful change management. Figure 3: Project star model for risk mitigation (Source: Zhao et al. 2017, pp-112) Reflective assessment: Insights and Idea Linking Theoretical and Practical Knowledge Theoretical approach to change management: The strategic management tools for deploying change management include change management methodology, stakeholder analysis, and risk assessment analysis. I have realized the importance of following project management principles and concepts for easing the incorporation of changes in the project requirements of DN107. We can use strategic management for adjusting the changes in project requirements and deploying a system with integrated change operations along with risk management strategies. It would incorporate the stakeholders requirements by complying with the market transparency, labor mobility, scaling, magnitude, duration, and strategic importance. Practical implementation of the theory: The step by step implication of change management, risk assessment, and stakeholder analysis would be helpful for coordinating the process of implementing changes in the project of DN 107. The practical implementation of the strategic management operations are mostly done for construction and software development process (Grol et al. 2013). The software development projects have to face errors and flaws during the testing period. The software developers would have to deal with the issues and find a solution to the respective problem in designing and coding. They use the change management concept for modifying their system design and coding process. Applying change management, risk assessment, and stakeholder analysis in project We can use the change management for adjusting the changes in project requirements and it provides the scope for incorporating the changes systematically. The process involved for applying the change management, risk assessment, and stakeholder analysis have been explained below, Change management- The first phase of implication of change management includes the process of preparing for the changes (including the development of operational model and modification in team management) in the project operations (Chang 2016). The preparation of change in management team would incorporate the changes in the team members. Risk assessment- The risk assessment and management consists of four phases (Cameron and Green 2015). The flow of risk assessment is identification of the different risk factors (such as budget risks, time risk and the resource allocation risk), prioritization of the risk factors depending on their impact on the DN 107 project, planning mitigation strategies should be developed, and development of action plan for execution. Stakeholder analysis- Stakeholder analysis is a strategic management tool that is used for management of several stakeholders involved in the project (Chang 2016). The use of Stakeholder map would be helpful for dividing the stakeholders into internal and external stakeholders and allocating the DN 107 projects resources to them. New Insights on the work situation The change management has been helpful for providing the benefits of management tools and principles are financial stability with risk assessment, ease of operations, abiding the project management concepts of stakeholder analysis for project operations, and successful change management (Booth 2015). I can employ the change management, risk management, and stakeholders analysis with its structural framework for completing our project along with integration of the systematic framework with the project plan and operations. The strategic management provides the scope for project operation development and we can use the tools as per our requirements. Being a project manager, I have to make sure that all the team members have understood the concept of project management. Hence, it is crucial for employing the change management for the project operations. I would get the following benefits for my role in project DN107 with the incorporation of change management in the project operations- Ease of implication of the change management methodology Incorporation of changes in the project operations as per new requirements along with risk assessment Completion of project along with changes in the estimated time and budget Maintaining the desired quality of outcome from the project with the help of stakeholders analysis Key learning points and actions I have proposed the idea for following change management concepts, framework and methodology for implementing the changes in the project operations of project DN107. It would help our team to successfully incorporate the required changes in the project operations. According to Leach (2014), the lack of change management, risk assessment and stakeholders analysis in our project resulted in increased work load, decreased project quality, exhaustion of extra efforts, and delay in project completion for the process of change implication in the project. The changes required in the project for implementing the change management include implying the systematic framework for project DN107. The stakeholders analysis for the change management includes systematic addressing and managing the hierarchy of process for analyzing the requirements and expectations of each of the stakeholders (Batista et al. 2015). Risk assessment would help us for forming a flexible project operation plan that can adjust and adopt the risk factors in operations and minimize their affect on the project. We have to deploy the project risk assessment plan and integrate it with change management methodology for making sure that the operations of project are unaffected. The strategic management methodology includes the actions of identification and submission of change request, review of change request, approval of change request, and implementation of change management (Gollenia 2016). These actions included in the implication of change management and risk assessments are helpful for managing the changes in project operations. The successful completion of the change management, risk assessment and stakeholder analysis would help for successful implementation of the changes in the project (Bradley 2016). The events that would be helpful for knowing the successful implementation of these strategic management tools in the project operations are: Integration of the change management and stakeholders analysis Ease of implication of the risk assessment methodology Incorporation of changes in the project operations as per stakeholders analysis Completion of project along with changes in the estimated time and budget Maintaining the desired quality of outcome from the project Critical Reflection on Assignment process Being a project manager, I have started to follow the systematic framework for deploying change management, risk assessment and stakeholder analysis in all the operations of the project. It would assist us to simplify our operations for change adaptation and making sure that the operations are completed. Hence, it can be said that the strategic management concepts and principles are very important for the project operations and change management. I have learnt about the importance of strategic management concept and methods for incorporating the changes in project operations. The lack of knowledge about the change management, risk assessment and stakeholder analysis was the main reason behind the failure of our project in the first place. If we would have used the process of change management in our project, it would have helped us in adjusting the changes in our project without hindering the progress of our project. Being a project manager, I have to make sure that all the team members have understood the concept of project management. The primary issue of the change management, risk assessment and stakeholder analysis is the problem of time consuming and extra effort used for understanding them. Hence, their use might results in exhausting some extra resources and human effort for successful completion of project. 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