case study / project managment

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Case Study/ Project Management.
You Have Been Called In As A Consultant To Analyze The Operations At WRU. What Would You Advise?
WRU is a small-medium enterprise that is focused on the design and development of widgets and follows the functional organization model of business. Primarily, this design served it efficiently, but later on, the business was unable to cope with the ever-changing market demands. Therefore, as a consultant hired to analyze the business operations and advice the management, I would advise them as follows;
Internal communication must be restructured so that the flow of information is efficient, and they should aim at reducing the cost of producing widgets so that the merchandises can be sold at a friendly market price. Furthermore, the quality of the widgets should be improved and they should be made available in the market within the shortest time. At the same time, the business can bring in new technology that can assist to produce quality products and the customer demands should be identified through research (Luftman et al. 26). Alternatively, the whole engineering and production departments can be revamped and focus can be concentrated in the research and development because the lack of innovation is killing the company. The enterprise can follow these suggestions to improve.
What Structural Design Changes Might Be Undertaken To Improve The Operations Of The Company?
The company has continued to make losses by remaining committed to its functional structure.

As a consultant, the best structure to adopt at this point is the project structure. It is a method that can help improve business operations because it has several advantages;
In this model of business, the project manager does not occupy the role of a subordinate. Secondly, this structure bypasses the functional structure’s soloing potential and the communication issues. The result is an improved communication system within teams and the whole firm. Since authority is with the project teams and project managers, decision making is faster (Serrador et al. 1041). The model also supports the proficiency of a specialized team of project management specialists. Lastly, it offers elasticity and speedy reaction to environmental prospects.
Projects are conceived, managed and disbanded regularly, and so, the capability to craft new ones is common and is carried out swiftly. For this reason, the project structure can be adopted to improve the company’s operations.
What Are The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Alternative Solutions The Company Could Employ?
The project model of business has strengths associated with it; for instance. Only one project manager has the overall authority in a project, communication is improved across all the organizational department, and among functional teams, decision making is speedy, there is a creation of a cadre of project management specialists, and it encourages rapid reaction to opportunities in the ever competitive market.
However, if WRU decides to adopt the project model, it may have to deal with some weaknesses. For instance, it is expensive to establish and maintain project teams, the project team members may devote their loyalty to the projects rather than the firm, and there is a difficulty in keeping a collective source of intellectual capital. Likewise, project team members are always concerned about their future once the project ends.
Explain In Paragraph Form What You Learned Regarding Project Management Concepts
While learning about project management concepts, I have understood what a project is, what is meant by operational work and project management. More importantly, I am now able to understand the different stages of project management and the tools and techniques used to measure progress. Besides, I now understand that the duties and responsibilities of a project manager are not as complex as many people think. A project manager has to plan and provide for the resources used in a project, participate in meetings, monitor compliance, provide centralized communication regarding the progress of projects and be part of the change control panel.
Explain In Paragraph Form What You Learned Regarding The Use Of Technology.
The use of technology has enhanced planning, organizing and monitoring of projects. As a result, there has been an increase in efficiency in the operations during the different stages of a project. Furthermore, data regarding a project can be easily collected and managed without any significant errors. Overall, technology has simplified the work of project managers.
Works Cited
Luftman, Jerry, Kalle Lyytinen, and Tal Ben Zvi. “Enhancing The Measurement Of Information Technology (IT) Business Alignment And Its Influence On Company Performance.” Journal of Information Technology 32.1 (2017): 26-46.
Serrador, Pedro, and Jeffrey K. Pinto. “Does Agile Work?—A Quantitative Analysis of Agile Project Success.” International Journal of Project Management 33.5 (2015): 1040-1051.