International Business Machines Coporation †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the International Business Machines Coporation. Answer: Introduction The project management refers to the process of initiating, planning, executing and controlling the work done by a team with the purpose to accomplish the pre-defined goal (Schroeder, and et. al., 2008). The present essay is based on a case study of the midsize company; Latino Engineering which is facing issue related to the quality of services and accordingly the complaints are increasing day by day. For this purpose, the project management plan related to continuous improvement has been developed to resolve the problem of the business. In this regard, suitable project management techniques are applied along with consideration of resources requirement so as to address the issues which are being faced by the business. Furthermore, Gantt chart and network diagram have been prepared for completion of the project in relatively less. Moreover, Six Sigma and Total Quality management techniques are applied to identify the root cause of the issue which is being faced by the Latino Engineeri ng. According to the given case study, it has been found that earlier Latino Engineering was well performed under the management of Dominic. However, Dominic Latino a founder of the company decided to sell the outright of the company and then get the retirement. After that, an issue was faced in the service quality; defective engineering equipment, poor design and development follow up with the clients and wrong packaging of the equipment. Owing to this, project management plan has been implemented to assess the reasons of the problem and ensure the continuous improvement in the Latino Engineering. In this regard, effective techniques such as six sigma and TQM are applied. The first technique is Six Sigma has two methodologies; DMAIC and DMADV. The DMAIC technique begins with stating/ defining (D) the problem clearly along with a specification of the project goals and case study shows that customer complaint is the major problem. For this purpose, the project aims to improve the quality, reduce the defect in the engineering equipment and reducing overall time taken to respond the customers. In addition to this, the project will target to ensure that the right equipment is packed and delivered to the respective client (Zu, Fredendall and Douglas, 2008). The second element of the methodology is measurement (M) of various aspects where project team will work on finding the reasons for the issue. At this juncture, data related to a working process are collected from the period after the retirement of Dominic. It will be helpful to assess that what went wrong as earlier the level of client satisfaction was very high (Antony and et. al., 2007). The fourth element of the methodology is the analysis of the collected data (A) in whi ch it has been noticed that management is not treating their employees well and offering them guidelines on the right time. It is evident in the case study that in order to maintain the quality, old employees were retained but the significant change was related to the management only. For this purpose, it has been found that the major issue is related to the issues were related to the management so the employees were not being motivated to deliver the good quality (Kuo, Wu and Deng, 2009). The fifth element of the methodology is an improvement in the process (I) wherein management will be asked to follow the effective practices such as motivation of employees and providing the quick response for customer queries (Chakrabarty and Chuan Tan, 2007). The last element ensures the control process (C) in the future which will be done with the continuous audit of the internal function and taking the reviews of customer and accordingly modification will be done in the internal procedure or p ractices of the business. The TQM is another strategic approach which helps in maintaining the high-quality standards in accordance with the set regulations (Turner, 2008). It aims to improve the performance of the business for the purpose of meeting the expectations of customers in an effectual manner. At this juncture, overall quality measures which consist of quality control, quality improvement, quality assurance and management of the quality design is used by the project management team in Latino Engineering (Kerzner, 2013). For example, top management will be asked to create the appropriate environment wherein employees can be provided training to learn new practices in reducing the time taken to deliver the services. Quality culture will be created for which separate department will be prepared that will assess the quality of all engineering equipment after they are manufactured. Not only this, but the quality checking will be done in accordance with the particular requirement of the customers. The customer complaint procedure will be handled by the particular department and reporting of the same will be done at the end of the day (Larson and Gray, 2013). Moreover, continuous or monthly training will be provided to employees to update them with new knowledge. This training aids to meet the expectations of customers effectively and determine the success of the business. Apart from this, management will be motivated to encourage mutual respect and teamwork in the organization. This mutual respect and teamwork will bring out the positive outcome as it was the biggest issues faced by Latino Engineering. In this manner, verification of all produced equipment will be done with the help of quality audit and evaluation of the vendor. It contributes towards increasing productivity and profitability of the company so as to create its competitive edge in the marketplace (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011). Moreover, the involvement of employees in the decision-making process is ensured through which employees will get the detail information related to the task to be done. Similarly, clear communication will be provided with the personnel whereby they can understand the policies and procedures associated with the manufacturing of engineering equipment. The plan for eliminating the root cause has been prepared in a structured manner. The first step of the plan to assess the current situation in which project management identifies the current scenario like how many customers are not satisfied and what the standards of service delivery are at present. At the same time, manufacturing and packaging department is also analyzed. With the analysis of the current situation, root causes have been identified that manufacturing process and packaging department is not standardized so the quality is being affected (Stevenson and Hojati, 2007). Owing to this, the objective of the project are set related to quality; 100% right packaging, production of zero defects products and the clear understanding among employees related to quality standards. Further, appropriate strategies were implemented for improving the current situation by keeping in mind the objectives of the project. At the completion of the initial processes, strategies set are implemented such as conducting training programming and offering guidelines to production manager (Besner and Hobbs, 2008). Also, a quality department will be set to assess the quality of a manufactured product as per the set standards and then the quality department will ensure the product meets the expectations of customers or clients. Furthermore, customer complaint department will be linked to the quality department directly so that necessary changes can be made in the internal procedure in accordance with the review of buyers. For instance, production department will be provided standard guidelines to be followed at the time of providing input to manufacture the desired product. Packing and quality assurance aspects will be considered whereby it becomes easy for the corporation to abi de by the regulations or rules in order to maintain the high standard quality of products and services. In addition to this, potential obstacles associated with the project have been removed with the continuous monitoring. At the same time, all information related to improvement efforts is communicated among members of the group. Also, this procedure is supported by the monitoring of the progress plan (Rodney Turner, Ledwith and Kelly, 2009). This is helpful for the business to understand the issues related to the project and accordingly management can easily address all the potential issues and ensure the successful operation of the business in the marketplace. At last the clear guidance has been provided to the management of Latino engineering to sustain the improvement efforts (Sharp and et. al., 2012). Moreover, the training program will be carried out on time to ensure that no such errors take place. These in turn long as well as short-term objectives of the company will be achieved and higher customer satisfaction will be ensured. Lastly, the project has been executed and associa ted issues are addressed in an effectual manner. Resources requirement Every project needs all necessary resources for its successful completion other it might not be completed on time or in accordance with the set standard. For this purpose, current project was sourced effectively by assessing proper requirement at the initial stage. The resources required for completion of the current are; finance, human resources and physical resources. The financial resources will be employed in several activities of the project such as offering training to employees, disturbance in the current work and setting the separate department to assess the quality of work (Sharon, de Weck and Dori, 2011). This indicates the additional financial resources will be needed in the Latino Engineering for meeting the future requirement of the business and determining the competitive edge in the marketplace. At the same time, expert personnel will be hired to impart training and assess the quality of services which will be offered by the firm. On the other hand, it might be possibl e that expert too need training in order to carry out the respective task. These kinds of practices help in sustaining the improvement efforts and meet the expectations of all related stakeholders. On the other hand, physical resources such as the projector, laptop and other related accessories will be needed through which it becomes easy to handle the related tasks in the right manner. In addition to this, human resources such as project management team will be needed that will ensure to complete the several activities associated with the project. All these resources should be provided for implementing the project in a successful manner (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2011). However, extensive financial resources will be needed to meet the contingency situation. At the same time, extensive time has been consumed in scheduling or completing all the project activities related to continuous development. Therefore, different types of resources are required or employed in the current project for each particular activity of the project. According to the case study, Latino is suffering from a serious issue where it is important for management to take necessary action to improve the existing business performance. For this purpose, the continuous improvement plan has been prepared as follows which will help to ensure that problems or issues are not repeated in near future and customers get the higher level of satisfaction with the quality of services delivered by the business (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The Gantt chart presented in the appendix is showing different activities covered under the project. It will ensure the sustainable improvement in the Latino Engineering which helps to build the reputation of the business in the marketplace. The Gantt chart is providing the information related to all activities covered under the project along with the time of each particular activity. All these activities are interlinked and affect the performance of the entire project to a great extent. The effectiveness of Gantt chart has been shown in the diagram itself because it reflects the predecessors of each activity whereby the right decision can be taken for starting the same and employing the necessary resources. The first activity of the project will be started at the end of the September month and then all tasks will be completed in the month of December. With the view of activity diagram, it can be seen that maximum time will be taken for the implementation of the project (Lewis, 2016). This is because the implementation is the most crucial activity through which company can address the exact issue. However, resources requirement of the project has been mentioned in the aforementioned task (Sokovic, Pavletic and Pipan, 201 0). The rationale behind using such kind of approaches is to ease the project manager in allocating the task and acquiring the necessary resources. This facilitates in reducing the uncertainties to a great extent. The activity chart or Gantt chart is used for drawing the network diagram which provides the guidance related to starting or ending time of each one. This is considered as the most effective technique as the project manager can easily save the time by using the critical path (McCue, 2017). This method shows the longest path of the project completion which might require extra cost but the overall time taken for the completion of the project will be reduced to a great extent (Advantages and Disadvantages of Critical Path Method, 2017). The critical path identified in the below-mentioned graph is 1+2+3+4+5+7+9+11+12+13=60. This reflects that project duration will be 60 days instead of 87; however, the standard time for the project was 87 days which was reduced by using critical path method. It leads to cater the requirement of Latino Engineering in an effectual manner and offer the quality products to customers in the relatively less time. It can also be said that activities 6, 8 and 10 will be done simultaneously with other activities of the project which tend to save huge time and cost. This in turn firm can better focus on the profitability and productivity as the changes will be implemented as soon as possible. Therefore, the continuous improvement plan has been implemented in the Latino Engineering with the allocation of specific time and resources. It leads to improve overall quality and motivate personnel to be dedicated towards the customer satisfaction and offer the sense of satisfaction by purchasing the product of the cited company. In this manner, stated objectives of the project have been achieved by completing the project in relatively less time and working in the pre-specific activities. Conclusion The aforementioned essay concludes that project management plan assists companies to resolve their issues related to productivity, profitability or customer satisfaction. This enables companies to integrate workforce and motivate them to focus on the target. It can also be concluded that with the use of critical path method and Gantt chart project team can complete the project before the time and save the resources. Furthermore, the continuous improvement plan has been made to maintain appropriate quality and sustain the same for longer time span. With the implementation of a current project, the company can effectively control the current issue and stated objectives will be achieved in an effectual manner. 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