Work Breakdown Structure to the Project Management Lifecycle

Question: Discuss about the Applying the Work Breakdown Structure to the Project Management Lifecycle? Answer: Introduction: According to Hans (2015) often the organizations face difficulties for introducing new products as it requires significant alterations in existing processes. However, Indelicato (2013) opines that bringing variation in existing services is effective to grab new business opportunities as such extensions do not require huge investments. All Seasons, a consultancy organization, provides casual staffs to its various clients in hospitality sector. The organization is currently planning to supply permanent staffs also. A new system is going to be implementing in All Seasons for business expansion purpose. The current report deals with analysis of the new system implementation project in All Seasons. Project Purpose: All Seasons generally supplies contractual staffs to its clients. Currently the organization is focusing on supplying permanent staffs to various organizations in hospitality sector. As the demand for staffs in hospitality sector fluctuates highly, AllSeasons management requires assessing the suitability of candidates before sending them to clients for interview. However, management also requires developing interview schedules after discussing with candidates and client organizations. It is evident that the management needs modifying their existing system of service delivery to increase efficiency of the new service. Outcomes of this project will enable All Season management to implement a new system for expanding their business. Analysis on the new service of All Seasons indicate that the organization require to execute some new tasks. Tasks Performed by Short listing applicants from available candidates Placement officer Assessing short listed candidates Placement officer Providing feedback on candidates to clients Placement officer Describing the terms of recruitment to candidates Arrangement officer Sending list of selected candidates to contract managers Arrangement officer Checking validly of contract with clients Contract manager Finalizing interview schedule Contract manager Negotiating and Accepting fees Arrangement department Table 1: Tasks in the new system Table 1 indicates the list of tasks which are going to be completed as a part of new support system. However, first three tasks are new to All Season staffs. Rest tasks of the new system are similar to those in existing process. Identification and description of stakeholders: According to Kloppenborg (2012) stakeholders of a project are those people who are either working for it or arranging for resources required for successful completion of project. However, Huemann (2013) also opines that the people who can be impacted by the outcomes of project are considered as stakeholders. On other hand Kerzner (2013) states that even after identifying all people directly or indirectly related with a project, it cannot be assured that all stakeholders are identified. However, according to Muller and Soderlund, (2015) the stakeholders of a project can be categorized on basis of their relation with project. In case of current project All Seasons staffs, client organizations and the applicants are considered as stakeholder. The identified stakeholders are categorized according to their involvement with the new system implementation project. Type of involvement Internal stakeholder External stakeholder Involved with the project process Contract manager Arrangement officer Placement officer Future Applicants Involved with the project outcomes Existing pool of candidates Client organizations Table 2: Identification of stakeholders and their involvement with project Internal and external stakeholders of this project are identified in table 2. The table also reflects how these stakeholders are involved with this project. Implementation of the new system can require development of new contracts with client organizations. It will engage contract manager with the project. The new system also deals with different tasks such as short listing applicants, scheduling interviews and placing them in client companies. It indicates that the duties of placement officer and arrangement officer may be modified. However, as AllSeasons is going to supply permanent staffs it will be more selective while short listing the applicants. Thus the applicants may be affected by the new process as the criteria for applying may change. As the selection process will be changed, existing candidates of All Seasons require modifying their skills for being selected. The client organizations also require revising their selection process to hire candidates supplied by AllSeasons. The discussion indicates that project outcomes will impact on the existing candidate pool and clients. Equivalent diagram: Figure 1: Equivalent diagram for All Seasons Project Identification of key deliverables of a project enables to get information regarding flow of processes (Brotherton et al., 2015). However, identification of subtasks is also important to determine order of events within a project (Eric Kirkland, 2014).Roberts (2011) suggests that proper milestones require to be decided before executing the tasks of project. In this report important tasks of new system implementation project in All Seasons are identified. The figure 1 reflects ordering of these tasks. However, Key deliverable of this project is suitable candidates for client organization. Tasks will be repeated in project until the suitable candidates are supplied. Description of events: Name of Events Type of Event Sources of Event Conditions Activities Responses Destination of responses Acceptance of requests from clients External Receiving request for staffs from client organization A contract is present between All Seasons and client Checking validity of contracts Identification of valid contract Placement department Primary selection of candidates Internal Requirement of sending candidates to client Candidates with desired skills are available Judging the candidates according to their skills and experiences and determining whether these are matching with the desired profile. Recording the feedbacks on selected candidates and creating list of selected candidate List of selected candidates will be forwarded to Arrangement officer Describing the terms of recruitment to candidates Internal Primary selection of candidates All terms and conditions for further recruitment process are clearly demonstrated Demonstration of terms and conditions and identifying whether candidates agree with it List of Agreed candidates Arrangement Department Interview Scheduling External Primary selection of agreed candidates NA Discussion with candidates and clients on schedule Finalizing schedule Client and candidate Final Selection of candidates External Successful schedule of interview Interviews are scheduled with client organization Sending candidates to client company Getting feedback on candidates from clients and obtaining list of selected candidates Arrangement department Accepting Fees from client External Final selection of applicants Successful negotiation with client Negotiating with client and sending invoice of fees Client agrees on fees Arrangement department Table 3: Description of events in new system Table 3 reflects the vents which are going to be performed as a part of new system in All Seasons. Morris (2013) opines that the identification of subtasks is important for successful completion of projects. Success of a project depends on the development of realistic milestones (Roberts, 2011). The process of segmenting a project into different subtasks depends on its key deliverables (Eric Kirkland, 2014). Identification of subtasks is also important for determining the flow of information and resource requirement of a project (Huemann, 2013). Brotherton et al. (2015) opined that identification of subtasks provides information regarding lifecycle of project. In this project the events of new business process are identified. However, analysis on the identified events indicates that the management of All Seasons does not require developing a completely new process. Existing staffing process followed by the organization can be modified to meet requirements of clients. According to the policies of All Seasons management, a client can request for services only a valid contract is present with All Seasons and the client organization. At the initial phase of this process, contact manager will check validity of the contract. If the contract is found valid selection process of candidates will start. For permanent candidates the primary selection will be done by placement department. After that the candidates will be demonstrated about recruitment terms and will also be sent for interview. After receiving the final list of selected candidates from client, Arrangement department of All Seasons will send invoice for fees to the Client. Documentation of assumptions: In this project it is assumed that the candidates with desired skills and experiences will be available in the existing candidate pool. It is also assumed that the candidates are able to be selected after interview taken by client. However, it may happen that suitable candidates are not found from existing pool. Candidates who are primarily selected may not be selected after final round. Apart from these the selected candidates may not agree with the terms and conditions of recruitment. In these cases the selection process will be repeated until All Seasons become able to meet clients requirement. It is also assumed that no complexity will arise regarding acceptance of fees. However All Seasons management can take legal steps in case of any breach of contract. Conclusion: Analysis on the All Seasons project indicates that successful implementation of new business process depends on execution of each event associated with the process. However, success of the new business process also depends on the contribution of external and internal stakeholders. References: Brotherton, S., Fried, R. and Norman, E. (2015). Applying the Work Breakdown Structure to the Project Management Lifecycle. 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