Honecker corporation

1.0 Introduction

Honecker corporation is a manufacturing company well-recognized by customers for quality automobiles and trucks.  Its expansion worldwide was quite apparent even though it serviced mostly U.S automobiles. It had a good reputation that was well known globally. The ultraconservative of senior management overwhelmed the company and hindered its growth internationally. In 2009, the conservation disappeared when new management came. The company was rich and trusted by lending and financial institutions. Borrowing loans was easier because it had a quality rating. Instead of expanding by opening other manufacturing companies in other countries they acquired other companies: which include, Gamma, Alpha, Delta, and Beta companies. Each of the four companies had other companies operating in their geographical areas. Senior managers from the four companies leaned the cultures in their geographic locations, and they built an excellent reputation with local stakeholders as well as clients (PMI, 2018).

The senior management of Honicker decided to leave the senior managers from each company intact provided the changes established could get implemented. The company aimed that each company should have the manufacturing competence to deliver quality deliverables to any client worldwide.  The company had an enterprise known as project management methodology that performed its activities well. Honicker understood well about project management which enabled them to capture a significant number of clients and stakeholders in the United States. They recognized that dealing with all the other companies using a modified version of the EPM system was a challenge. They found out that the acquired companies required some changes.

They were all at different levels of project majority. Alpha had an EPM system and believed that its tactic to project management was more intense compared to the one that Honicker applied.  Beta was beginning to study project management, but they had no formal EPM even though they had few projects which they shared to customers when reporting their status. For Gamma and Delta, they had no clue about project management. Worse was that laws varied from country to country. They created other different stakeholders who needed services keeping in mind that they had different levels of project maturity. Because of procurement laws in some countries, the stakeholders actively participated in project management whereas in others it was not necessary. It was a difficult task in developing a project management methodology system that would meet and satisfy the requirements of the acquired companies, clients and stakeholders.

2.0 Principal Components Discussion

A successful project contains the following essential components.

Ø Assigning of responsibilities: Managers assign roles to respective departments while outline objectives.

Ø Designing: the senior management of the project sit down and discuss ways of achieving the objectives of the project. They come up with a budget showing the allocation of resources.

Ø Observation and monitoring: While the project is on the progress the managers go around to check if employees are working towards achieving the objectives. 

Ø Finalizing or wrapping up: It’s the final stage of a project upon completion of the project they close or terminate it.

3.0 Simulation scenario analysis

It is a tool that analysis possible future events which might cause impacts on deliverables by considering possible alternative deliverables. They help senior management to estimate the risk and therefore coming up with strategies on how to avoid them. It also helps managers to prepare for compensating the project management (PMI, 2017).

The case study was about Honicker manufacturing company. It had a good reputation for household appliances. The company grew globally acquiring other companies from different countries, and therefore they found it difficult to manage those companies. To deal with the issue, they initiated a project whereby they asked Janet Adams to take control of the project. Janet was in charge of Information Technology. She had enough experience to run the project. She selected her team and requested each manufacturing section to assign at least a representative. She asked the representatives to keep time and make sure they attend the meeting. In the meeting, she asked the representatives to give their views concerning the project. They discussed the strategies they will employ to achieve their objectives. After a long discussion, they came up with requirements that each IT team should understand. They were then required to sign the document. She told them that them that the project will be executed by using well strategic planning (Pedersen, 2016).

4.0 Project, program, and portfolio Management distinction.

Ø A project is a temporary exertion used by the senior management of a company or any other organization to create a unique product. It usually has a start and an end.

Ø A program is a group of projects that an organization should manage and coordinate.

Ø Finally, a portfolio is a group of projects and programs that companies manage together to achieve short and long-term objectives.        

5.0 Project selection

Many companies face challenges when selecting the best project that fits the operations of a company. Project selection needs skills, experience and a high level of competence. It’s only possible to select the best project when a company has an effective management team (Project Management Institute, 2016)

6.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, companies always desire to interact with customers globally. They face challenges when they grow, and management sometimes fails because controlling and monitoring becomes a major challenge to them. Due to different obligations present in different countries, it makes companies lose hope in their responsibilities. To solve such challenges, senior management should find the best projects which can help control their businesses globally.

7.0 References

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2018, May 24). The strategic role of project management elevated as organizations manage disruptive technologies — Business Wire (English), 1-5.

Project Management Institute. (PMI). (2017). Benefits realization management framework. PMI Publications, Thought Leadership Series. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/benefits-realization-management-framework.pdf

Pedersen, K. (2016). IT project selection: Politics, experience, and good friends. Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 19(1), 55-70.

Project Management Institute. (2016). Connecting business strategy and project management. PMI Publications, Thought Leadership Series. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/connect-business-strategy.pdf?sc_lang_temp=en

Appendix

Develop Project Charter

This is the process of designing a formal document that authorizes the presence of a project and gives the project manager the authority to apply resources from the organization to the project activities. The benefit of the process provides a link between the project as well as the strategic objectives of the company. It creates a formal record to the to the project as well as the commitment of the organization. It also outlines the inputs, tools, and techniques applied and finally the deliverable of the project. The inputs include the formal document of the business, agreements made, the environmental factors likely to affect the business and finally the organizational processes of the assets. Organizations need tools and techniques to control the various activities happening on a daily basis. Some of those activities include data gathering, conflict management, meeting management and facilitation. The organizations need specific tools and techniques to manage those daily activities. And finally, is the output section which comprises of project charter as well as assumption log (Pedersen, 2016).

Assigning Responsibility                                                                   

Designing Project Knowledge

This is the process by which organizations use existing knowledge to come up with new knowledge that will help the organizations to achieve its objectives. The benefit of this process is mainly to ensure that organizations create knowledge that will help them deal with future operations and other projects.  The process is practiced throughout the entire project to prevent the occurrence of risks in future (Pedersen, 2016).                          

Monitor and observation

This is the process by which senior management team keep track and report on the general progress and performance of the activities in the project management. The importance of this process is that it allows stakeholders of the company to understand the current performance. Small business should apply this strategy to communicate to the stakeholders the current state of the company (Pedersen, 2016)                                                                               

The senior management team should use the above project charter to run their organization.

References

Pedersen, K. (2016). IT project selection: Politics, experience, and good friends. Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 19(1), 55-70.