Managing project (snowball)

MANAGING PROJECTS: A STUDY ON SNOWBALL
LTD
Student Name: Faruk Ali
Student ID: 159121018

Introduction:
Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and
closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria. A
project is a temporary endeavour designed to produce a unique product, service or results
with a defined beginning and end constrained and often constrained by undertaken to meet
unique goals and objectives. Typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The
temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual .which are repetitive,
permanent or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services (Nguyen
et al, 2009, p.1134).
Task 1: The benefits and limitations of internet for marketing plan:
1.1 Classification of projects:
Several projects have been evolved in corporate world which has been implemented for
different business purposes. Different classification of projects has been illustrated below:
Construction project: Sometimes construction project refers to the building of infrastructure
for business expansion and development. In the words of (Yang et al, 2011, p.908), towards
the planning of construction projects, the project manager will need to focus on business
objectives an essential expansion areas so that estimated profit can be earned in future. In this
case, the project manager will need to frame proper budget for construction project with
allocation of necessary financial sources, raw materials and manpower. However, (Tharp,
2014, p.122) argued that lack of management activities within the controlling process of
project, projected works might not fulfil organisational objectives.
New product development project: It is related to the new commodity or services in existing
or new market area. Therefore, it is necessary for the company to analyse the market area and
customer's expectations before planning for new product development. Without measuring
the market area, the new product might be badly affected with high competition (Müller and
Turner, 2010, p. 440). In new product development project, the project manager will need to
allocate necessary financial supports so that production process can be started according to
the market demand.
Maintenance project: Maintenance project takes place for developing and maintaining the
proper format of the project. In this case, the project manager will need to perform risk
management process.

1.2 Management scope :
Scope refers to the details tools of the projects. Scope management consists of the scope of
the projects as well as the scope management of the products. According to the (Lin and
Chen, 2012, p. 537), it refers to the decisions that are supposed to complete during the life
cycle but not at the time of the continuing rounds of the production of services. The scope of
a project implies to complete a work or plan successfully. The proposed project have to
completed within the particular time and certain budget, this the main principle of scope
management.
1.3 Gantt chart and critical path:
Fig 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by author)
The above chart shows that ‘a’ and ‘b’ start the work at the very first day, ‘c’ starts this job
after ‘a’, ‘d’ starts after ‘b’,’e’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘h’ starts the work after ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘f’, ‘f’ respectively. It
is also seen that, ‘d’,’e’ and ‘g’ are the dummy activities because they start their job but it is
not clear from the above figure that when they complete their projects.
Fig 2: Critical path
(Source: Created by author)
This critical path conclude that a+b+f+h = (5+4+6+5) days = 20 days.

1.4 Taking of decision whether the project is successful or not:
It is obvious that sometimes project may successful or it may failure (Stuart-Wilson, 2015, p.
69) . A project is assume to unsuccessful when it is not delivered with the appropriate time
schedule or about the expectations that is the quality whereas a project is supposed to be
successful when it is completed within the minimum budget but it also maintain its quality.
At the last, after the completion of the project, if the management of the project things that
the project is same or above their expectations, then it is considered as the successful project.
1.5 The process to manage the existing project:
Whether is it necessary to change the the plans of the projects, then at first manager need to
clear about the changes to the workers so that they are completely informed about this (Gil
and Tether, 2011, p. 420). Then keeping the objectives in their mind, team members need to
prepare the designs of the plans.
1.6 Reasons for using the quality audits:
The reasons behind the quality audit is to examine whether the project maintain the quality of
the products which are proposed to be produced. It is very important with respect to the
quality system of ISO, ISO 9001.
Task 2: Based on Case Study Of Snowball Ltd :
2.1 Skills and competencies required by the Project Manager:
Project Manager have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a
project. A company has formalized and adopted the practice of utilizing standard project
management competencies throughout the full spectrum of a project in order to ensure
consistency improve their services. Standard competencies not only provide a framework for
the management and delivery of projects will also provide a goodwill of a company.
According to, Yaghootkar and Gil (2012, p.134) there have some skill and competencies of a
project manager:
● Common basis to identify workplans
● Common framework for performance evaluations
● Tool to evaluate the strength and weakness of individuals and the overall organisation
● Tool to assist the development of an individual's Learning plan

● Standard upon which project managers can self assess
● Acquire and maintain a highly skilled and knowledgeable resource base (Bakker et al,
2011, p. 498)
● Ensure the long term improvement and sustainability of that resource base
● Provide standard competency evaluation criteria of assessment of individual and
organizational knowledge and skills
The project manager's role varies according to industry and individual business, but at its
heart, project management entails balancing a project's timeframe, budget and overall scope
as the team works to meet its objectives. Project managers oversee the individual's tasks that
move a project toward completion,so its ultimate success or failure depends in large part on
the project manager's competency. According to Sauer , good project managers provide the
motivation team members need to help bring a project to successful competition. Among the
advantages of having a project manager:
● Poor project management can create stress among project contributors and lead to
higher turnover.
● Most people are happier working on productive terms with good communication and
clearly defined goals.
● Good project managers use established processes to proactively deal with the
surprises and challenges that come with any complex project (Sauer and Reich, 2009,
p. 190) .
2.2 Example of the concern :
As a clean and renewable energy source, wind energy is seen by many as a way to partly
solve our Nation's energy crisis. According to Tharp, wind energy has grown by leaps and
bounds in recent year. Wind energy generation capacity growing by 45% in 2007, wind
turbines are sprouting up on wind farms all over the country.Winds are caused by the uneven
heating of the atmosphere by the sun,the irregularities of the Earth's surface and the rotation
of the Earth. This report presents an overview of the wind turbines project of Snowball Ltd.
2.3 Project Life Cycle Stages :
Snowball Ltd has used the Wind power to use the air flow through wind turbines to
mechanically power generators for electricity. As per Singh, wind power, as an alternative to
burning fossils fuels,is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no

greenhouse gas emissions during operation,and use little land. The net effects on the
Environment are far less problematic than those of non renewable power sources. Wind farms
consist of many individuals wind turbines which are connected to the electric power
transmission network. The project life cycle phases are discussed below:
Starting the project : Everyone plans tasks in different ways, but the most complicated
projects have tried and tested methodologies that help break process down and ensure that
project manager and different departments are clear about which tasks need to be completed
by whom and by what time. It will also monitor what is in mind, taking the time to prepare
before the project starts is extremely important. The company Snowball Ltd have a budget of
14 million pounds which includes the installation of ten new wind turbines.so they need a
plan to generate their project (Luyet et al, 2012, p. 216). The company wants to generate
30,000 jobs in the north East of England. So the project should be done at october 2017.
Organizing and Preparing:
Every successful company has a careful project manager. There need a strong understanding
between the project manager and the employees. Companies have to prepare the employees
to accept change and effective implementation of new initiatives are likely to see their effort
success with careful planning. The support of team leaders and organisation can help their
workforces adapt to change and retain their competitive edge. According to Luyet, the
important managements are:
● Understand previous change initiatives
● Involve top Leadership
● Identify people who might be potential stumbling blocks or champions
● Map out the process
● Construct an effective communications system
● Provide adequate support and development to manager and employees (Yoffie and
Cusumano, 2015, p. 85)
● Provide coaching who still need to know
● And finally Measure Success
Carrying out the Work:
With the project set up company need to get the project moving and keep it on the move. The
project manager compared this stage to juggling balls. According to Ooms, in particular the
following three balls are:
● Progressing the project activities that have been planned ensuring that they are
complete to time,within cost,and to the right quality.

● Maintaining the support of those affected by the project sponsor and stakeholders.
● Keeping those who are contributing to the project connected and committed.
Closing the project:
A project should be closed when all the work of project is finished, all of the output have
been delivered and accepted by the business owner and the target outcomes have been all are
being generated. Its called the formal ending or termination of a project. At the project
closeout positive behaviour is awarded for individuals, groups and the client or sponsor is
invited to speak to enforce a sense of satisfaction. According to Yoffie, there have some
objectives to closing the project:
● Unnecessary things are transfer to Customer or Sponsor
● Final payments
● Project Profile
● Trust and Alignment Effectiveness
● Schedule and Budget Management
● Risk Mitigation
● Customer Satisfaction
● Senior Management

2.4 Project Processes :
Fig 3: Project management structure
(Source: Singh et al, 2009, p. 418)
The important management tools are analysed in the following:
● Project initiation: It is the initial situation of a business. In this case, the main
principle is to related with the successfully completing the project. The main
instrument is the pre-sale. During this period, the workers show their capacity and
efficiency to complete the project of the client as well as successful over it (Sicotte.
and Paré, 2010, p. 1162). Whether it is needed for further improvements, then clients
requirement have to be solved by discussing with them.
● Project planning: It is one of the most important process of the management. If the
management take any wrong decision then there would arise negative consequences
toward the next steps of the business. In this plan, management need to focus on the
time period, budget. This play an important role when it appear in the project cost
after completing the project (Jin-Kuusirinne, 2014, p. 324) .
● Execution of project: After completion the paperwork of the project, here project
management focus on the objectives of the project. During the project execution, head
of the manager need to update all time the project status. And the remaining team
members have to complete the job within the proposed deadline.

● Control and validation the project: At the time period of the project, the project
need to control and then validate step by step. The controlling can be done by the
focusing on the plan of the project, communication plan, assurance of quality plan.
While validation implies the supervision over the business from the starting date to
the end date (Yang, 2011, p. 903).
● Evaluation the project: It is the last process of the business plan. If the project
complete within the appropriate time schedule and delivered to the client as per their
requirement, then the project is assumed to be accepted and as a result client pay for
this. If the project do not complete properly to the customer, then it is needed to study
and resolve the project and take necessary steps to avoid such kind of mistakes.
2.5 Leadership and Administration :
According to Bakker, the predictions of the employees about their leader’s action is known as
the leadership style. It is necessary to adopt leadership style to the project manager to
supervise the project. There are different types of leadership type, such as: 1. Autocratic 2.
Democratic 3. Free rein leadership 4. Paternalistic leadership 5. Emergent leadership.
Among them democratic leadership style is very popular. It is based on the managers as well
as consulting with the employees. The manager also give chance to the team members to take
decisions. Sometimes leader make a moderator to guide the members in the decision making
procedure (Stuart-williamson, 2015, p. 121). As a result, employees get interest as they get
the chance and and think that management also give priority to their ideas and suggestions.
Resulting, there is a chance of improvement of the project. In precise, the advantages of the
democratic leadership are as follows:
❖ Strong motivation and the scope of further improvement which will in turn help the
growth of the project.
❖ Friendly relation between leader and team members which increase the cooperation
between them.
❖ Highly increase the job performance
❖ Reduces the mis-understand between them.
❖ Increase the willing power to work more which implies huge productions.
❖ Team members get the opportunities to show their capacities.
According to Sergiovanni(1991), administrative is connected with the others to achieve the
business goal. Administration department is the head of the project. The main principle of

the administration have to connect various departments and making available all informations
regarding the project to everyone. An ideal administrator need the qualities like, 1. The basic
idea of the administrative 2. Have potential of enhancing the team member’s capacity, 3.
Create a proper office management strategy 4. Capacity to meet the administrative budget
during the proposed time boundary (Mir and Pinnington, 2014, p. 207).
2.6 Controlling the problems in Project Lifecycle :
There is a possibility that the project face problems due to the shortage of time
allocation,budget and resource allocation. Sometimes management recruit wrong person,
which will tends to the fall of the project plan. If the management chooses the skilled person
who have the ability to understand the objective of the task, then there arise less problems
during the project. Moreover, the inefficient or the incapable persons can not coordinate with
the remaining members which in turn create the problems between the team of the project.
If these arises then it is necessary to solve the problems as soon as possible (Gil and Tether,
2011, p. 419).
Strategic business plan: When the objectives of the project is not cleared to the team
members, then there arise a problem to make mistakes. So it is necessary, to clear the main
principle of the objective of the project. So that they can achieve their goals.
Compliance business plan: At the time of the tasks, it is needed to remember about the laws
and regulations. If someone break the rules and make any mistake which is against to the
laws, it will make a bad remark for that team member as well as to the business (Ooms et al,
2011, p. 57).
Financial business plan: Financial structures are the backbone of the business, if it falls
shortly the project will incur loss.
Environmental business plan: It is also necessary to keep in mind the geographical
background. Whether the region is not suitable for that project, it will decrease the
productivity (Mir and Pinnington, 2014, p. 205). The clients who pay for the project, will not
accept the service of the projects. So it is also needed for the business to aware about the
climate.
Maintain the reputation: The good will of the company should maintain all time. Otherwise,
no investor can depend easily on the management. Resulting, the project leads to a huge loss.

Conclusion:
A proper coordination, cooperation of project is necessary among the administration, team
leader and the employees to execute and successfully complete the project. If there is the lack
of proper planning, the business can not achieve the goal. The project manager has to perform
lots of responsibilities due to the time span of the project that means the starting period to the
end period of the project. It is important to the project manager of the turbine set up for wings
energy to have a leadership characteristics so that he can easily and appropriately lead his
members and members can also obey and respect him.

References:
Books:
Yoffie, D.B. and Cusumano, M.A., (2015). Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill
Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs. HarperBusiness.
Stuart-Wilson, F., (2015). Professionalism and Ethics: A guide for dental care professionals.
Andrews UK Limited.
Tharp, M., (2014). Transcultural Marketing: Building Customer Relationships in
Multicultural America. ME Sharpe.
Ooms, G., Hammonds, R., Decoster, K. and Van Damme, W., (2011). In the Studies in
Health Services Organisation and Policy, the Department of Public Health, Institute of.
Jin-Kuusirinne, T., (2014). Communication Optimisation for Education Export Export
Readiness Examination from an Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective of the
University of Tampere.
Journals:
Bakker, R.M., Cambré, B., Korlaar, L. and Raab, J., (2011). Managing the project learning
paradox: A set-theoretic approach toward project knowledge transfer. International Journal
of Project Management, 29(5), pp.494-503.
Sauer, C. and Reich, B.H., (2009). Rethinking IT project management: Evidence of a new
mindset and its implications. International Journal of Project Management, 27(2), pp.182-
193.
Yang, J., Shen, G.Q., Ho, M., Drew, D.S. and Xue, X., (2011). Stakeholder management in
construction: An empirical study to address research gaps in previous studies. International
Journal of Project Management, 29(7), pp.900-910.
Müller, R. and Turner, R., (2010). Leadership competency profiles of successful project
managers. International Journal of Project Management,28(5), pp.437-448.
Singh, R., Keil, M. and Kasi, V., (2009). Identifying and overcoming the challenges of
implementing a project management office. European journal of information systems, 18(5),
pp.409-427.
Gil, N. and Tether, B.S., (2011). Project risk management and design flexibility: Analysing a
case and conditions of complementarity. Research Policy, 40(3), pp.415-428.

Nguyen, N.H., Skitmore, M. and Wong, J.K.W., (2009). Stakeholder impact analysis of
infrastructure project management in developing countries: a study of perception of project
managers in state‐ owned engineering firms in Vietnam. Construction Management and
Economics, 27(11), pp.1129-1140.
Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., (20140. Exploring the value of project management: linking
project management performance and project success.International Journal of Project
Management, 32(2), pp.202-217.
Yaghootkar, K. and Gil, N., (2012). The effects of schedule-driven project management in
multi-project environments. International Journal of Project Management, 30(1), pp.127-
140.
Luyet, V., Schlaepfer, R., Parlange, M.B. and Buttler, A., (2012). A framework to implement
Stakeholder participation in environmental projects. Journal of environmental management,
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Lin, A. and Chen, N.C., (20120. Cloud computing as an innovation: Perception, attitude, and
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Sicotte, C. and Paré, G., (2010). Success in health information exchange projects: Solving the
implementation puzzle. Social science & medicine,70(8), pp.1159-1165.

Managing project (snowball)

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