Salvaging a Project

Human Resource Management – Designing a Compensation and Benefits Package Program
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to discuss a compensation and benefits package program. The first part provides a memorandum to the team members involved in the completion of the compensation program. The memo elaborates the budget situation facing the project which has been on a near-collapse as a result of a decline in financial resources – and failure to meet deadlines. The second part discusses ways to improve the performance of a team player. Three recommendations stand in improving an under-performing team member; [1] offering training and education, [2] giving regular constructive feedback, and [3] changing the management style from a boss to a mentor. The third part discusses ways of amending the project to bring it back to track. As seen, the design of a new compensation and benefits package program is facing financial and budgetary challenges. What is more, there are delays in submitting their project deliverables and works-in-progress. The critical path method CPM provides a sound approach to amending the project. The CPM also presents a classic method in bringing the project back to track. This will be achieved by reducing the length of activities in the critical path, starting with upstream activities, and utilizing the remaining financial resources effectively. Of special concern for the analysis is to design a critical path method that intends to bring the project back to track.

Keywords: Critical Path Method CPM, Compensation and Benefits Package, Compensation Project, Project Management, Organizational Theory, Employee Underperformance, Human Resource Function.
Introduction
The function of the human resource department is to streamline relationships in the organization’s workforce. This means that compensations and benefits are instrumental in this realization. Compensation programs serve to ensure employees are offered sound financial packages, including relevant benefits and allowances. This paper seeks to create a memorandum to employees involved in the creation of a compensation and benefits program. As reported, the design of this program is facing a financial and budgetary breakdown primarily as a result of delays in the submission of assignments and failure to meet stipulated deadlines by members of this project. The second section of the paper discusses ways through which under-performing employees, those involved in the project, can be improved to meet the project deliverables and deadlines. As it appears, education and training, proper leadership, and constructive feedback are all instrumental in enhancing the performance of the employees. The final section of the paper discusses ways through which the project, which faces a budgetary breakdown, can be brought back to the track. As part of this realization, a revision of the critical path method is central in bringing the project back to track. The critical path provides a series of activities based on their length and urgency. To bring it back to track, the paper reveals that costly activities should be undertaken first. Also, operations in the upstream path should be conducted first as opposed to those in the downstream. Also, the critical path should be revised to resemble a slack path.
A Memorandum Communicating the Budget Situation to Team Members
To: HRM Project Team Members
From: The Project Manager
Date: 20th February 24, 2018
Communication of the Project Budgets and other Key Points of Consideration
As you are all aware, we are in the process of developing a new compensation and benefits package program for the company. This project is expected to streamline the way we pay and compensate the staff for work done. As the project manager, this project has been of utmost importance to the company as it reflects how we treat, financially handle and compensate all our workers. Hence, the success of this project will not only reflect our commitment and dedication to the HR department; it will reinforce the organizations approach to paying and compensating its workforce.
It must, however, be noted that the progress of this fundamental project has not been at all gratifying. As you are all aware, some team members have been submitting their work late. A good number also do not meet the deadline. A worrying trend, for example, regards the design of payrolls which will maintain a balance between the company’s income and overall revenues – and its expenditure in administrative functions. A key focus of this compensation and benefits package program is to maintain a balance between what the company earns in terms of profits and revenues – and what it pays off to the staff. This, as you can all confirm, is not an easy endeavor. Perhaps this is the reason I am a little bit disturbed by the recent conduct of some team members. Another pressing concern(s) is that just eight weeks with the project, some members have been discouraged. Another challenge and limitation that faces this project undertaking are that the HR department is quickly running out of funds and money to finance the project. This shortage of finances has partly been caused by the above-aforementioned delay in the submission of work by some team members. The delays continue to eat into the project time; it leads to the depletion of resources in terms of stationery and similar resources – making it hard to meet the project deliverables.
It is for the above reasons that I bring to your attention the worrying progress of this project. I hereby ask for your mutual corporation in bringing this compensation project to fruition. I urge all team members to exercise a sense of urgency in each and every assignment everyone is offered. As you are all aware, the success of this compensation and benefits package program will reflect our dedication as a team. It will further reinforce our teamwork, dedication, and ultimately the commitment to undertake a future work of similar measure and magnitude. In this spirit, therefore, I call upon all team members to remain united and committed to this course. Doing this will require that we observe time in our submissions and we utilize the resources well to save time and money. I look forward to seeing further improvements and progress in the following quotas of the project.
Ways to Improve an Underperforming Team Member
Usually, in project management, highly skilled and experienced team members are an asset to project deliverables. However, under-performing team members present a significant challenge in the progress of any project. Project practitioners hence rely on two major options in dealing with underperformers; the first option is to completely get rid of them while the second is to improve their capacity in meeting the project outcomes. Sources establish that given the inadequacy and unavailability of skilled and highly competent workers in the job market, the first option becomes altogether difficult (Prakash, 2014). More clearly, it is even harder to lay-off incompetent workers since there is a stake shortage in the job market. Hence, the second option of improving the underperforming staff becomes a viable approach altogether.
Changing the Role of the Boss to that of a Close Mentor
The Project Management Guide (2014) supports that incompetency and underperformance are more of a perception than a reality. This is because team members exemplify different capabilities, which when monitored, can produce significant end results (Prakash, 2014). For example, a software processing firm may recruit engineers of different programming backgrounds. However, the workers will work differently based on their academic backgrounds, values, cultures, and work role relations which greatly differ. For example, a project manager may compare two workers [A] and [B]. The worker A may be a planner while B may be action-oriented. Neither of them is incompetent. For urgent completion of work, B may be appropriate while for quality work, A is preferable.
This analysis supports that a key way to improve the performance of team members is to shift the role of the project manager from a boss to a mentor. The boss will present further challenges by dictating project guidelines and implementation timeframes – while the mentor will provide life-long support. The boss will apply significant pressure while the mentor will work on finding a relevant solution. This analysis supports that improving an under perming team member takes into consideration the ability to offer regular, on-going attention and support. This means the project manager in charge should be steadfast in offering support than simply dictating rules, regulations, and project timeframes.
Provision of Constructive Feedback
A project undertaking is a time-consuming and a resource-intensive activity. Many times, there arises conflicting information and instructions with regards to the task. This means as part of the project; there is the likelihood of misunderstanding instructions and implementation guidelines (Prakash, 2014). The main objective of constructive feedback is to ensure the ‘underperforming’ team member has a clear picture of whatever they are required to handle through clarifications and support. Provision of constructive feedback will further establish positive work relations towards the establishment of mutual trust required to meet the project end outcomes. This analysis reveals that part of improving an underperforming member is to offer support, feedback, and supporting information at every phase of the project.
Education and Training for Proper Induction
It is clear that some form of incompetence results from the fact that some of the project undertakings do not align or match with the staff natural abilities. This means that project managers should strive to understand workers’ natural inclinations. The goal of education and training cannot be overlooked in inducting workers for a given project. Coaching, for example, introduces workers to the basic information about the project, including the reporting and communication hierarchy. Education also ensures the employees’ knowledge and skills are well-aligned with the needs and expectations of the project. In this realization, it is the goal of all project managers to offer full induction to team members as part of improving their underperformance. A major recommendation is to offer employees with assignments that match their natural abilities and inherent capabilities. While training will boost understanding of key project deliverables, offering alternatives to match the member’s skills will play an instrumental role towards the realization of the project outcomes.
The Plan of Action to Bring the Project Back on Track
The first step of bringing this project back to track is to deliver and avail all the project reports to the team members. The critical path will be displayed in every project meeting to engage the team members on how to shorten the tasks and activities on a critical path (Tutorial Point, 2015). Shortening the activities and project deliverables in the critical path will not only cut weeks and months off from the project timeline; it will serve to ensure the members have adequate time for complex and relatively hard undertakings and deliverables.
Another approach will be to examine the critical path method and examine ways that the project logic can be revised to start working sooner on relatively long critical paths. More clearly, bringing the HR project back to the track will require looking at the project logic. This will be done to establish ways that the long, time-consuming activities can be attended first and those on the critical path handled with urgency. This way, it is possible to cut both the cost and time required for project completion (Tutorial Point, 2015).
Another priority is to understand the cost-per-week for every single activity on the critical path. This step will be accompanied by the reduction of least costly activities long before the costly ones. The goal of understanding the cost-per-week is to cut the cost associated with every project deliverable. Given that the compensation and the benefits package project is facing depletion in its budget, as the project manager, it is prudent, to begin with, costly undertakings and deliverables before proceeding with less costly activities. The undertaking of the cost-per-week will be shared with fellow team members to ensure the project proceeds with a cost-centric approach.
The final approach to bring the project back to track will be to completely reduce activities on the critical path. These activities will be reduced until the critical path becomes a slack path. Then, I will proceed to work on new project paths. For example, if the design of payrolls for the new compensation program is partly time-consuming and intensive, the project will focus on less intensive activities like; [1] financial analysis of the company [2] design of compensation goals, and [3] laying down implementation plans for the project. This analysis supports that reducing the length of the activities in the critical path, reducing upstream [earlier] activities, and concentrating more on downstream [less urgent] tasks will amend the existing flaws in the HR project (Advanced Industrial Marketing, 2014).
Developing a New Critical Path
It is important to note that understanding the critical path method is crucial in the realization of the end outcomes. The critical path reflects the longest path through the inter-linked series of activities required for a project. More clearly, the critical path reflects the longest route through an inter-linked network of project activities while respecting the inter-dependencies resulting from this network. This analysis reveals the compensation and benefits package project developed by the HR department will require critical re-adjustments to get back to track (Advanced Industrial Marketing, 2014).
The Critical Path Diagram

The Steps of the Critical Path Method;
The speculation and specification of specific activities
The establishment of activity sequences and scheduling
The design of the network diagram
Identification of varying critical paths
The design of the critical path diagram to show the regular progress of project activities.
Conclusion
The paper offers a memorandum to communicate to the team players the budget situation facing the project. For example, the finances for the project have been on a declining trend. Also, there have been problems with meeting deadlines by some of the team members. These delays continue to affect the project completion in multiple ways including extended periods of time and more resources to cover for time lost. The analysis further identifies that the success of any project depends fundamentally on the cooperation of all project players. Given that the design of a compensation and rewards project is on a near-collapse, education, training, and constructive feedback present themselves as classic alternatives. Also as seen, re-examining the logic of the project, using the aspects of the critical path method CPM, and offering constructive feedback will salvage the project. This analysis believes that the HR project will require critical re-adjustments including; cutting activities on the critical path, revising the logic of the project, and concentrating more on costly activities as opposed to the less costly ones.
References
Advanced Industrial Marketing. (2014). Project Management and the Critical Path. The Advanced Industrial Marketing Official. Retrieved from http://www.wiki-blue.com/sites/wikiblue/Pages/Project%20management%20and%20the%20critical%20path.aspx
Prakash, V. (2014). Improving and Under-Performing Team Member. The Project Management Official. Retrieved from https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/11330/How-To-Improve-An-Underperforming-Team-MemberTutorial Point. (2015). Critical Path Method. The Tutorial Path. Retrieved from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/critical_path_method.htm