Foundation of Business Management: Project Management Plan and Personal Reflection

This report discusses the foundation of business management and its importance in planning, organizing, directing, and controlling company functions. It also includes a project management plan for a trade show and a personal reflection on the skills learned in the module.

FOUNDATION OF
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Business Case Company.........................................................................................................1
Project Management Plan.......................................................................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
Personal Reflection.................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDICES.................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business Management refers to all the activities, processes and techniques that are used
by an organisation in order to plan, organise, direct and control the functions and operations of
their company. It is one of the most important and crucial aspects within a firm in order to ensure
its sustainability and growth within the marketplace. Moreover, this concept also includes
operations management, which is associated with appropriate and effective management of each
and every operation and functions of a company which contributes towards achieving the
business objectives effectively (Simon, Fischbach and Schoder, 2014).
Hence, in context to this, the report below is based on foundation of business
management and is divided into two parts. The first part of this project is associated with
demonstration of understanding of various business management functions, along with relevant
tools in the practice week appropriately. As for the second part of the project, it undertakes the
form of personal reflection to analyse development of several skills related to the activity.
PART 1
Business Case Company
Roli is one of the most significant and innovative business companies that is currently
operating within the musical sector of the United Kingdom. The firm wishes to transform the
overall sector by manufacturing and distributing next-gen musical instruments and software
which are aimed to help aspiring musicians to have a strong base towards learning and making
music. The company currently wants to take part in a trade show where it wishes to showcase its
unique and innovative offerings and services to people attending the same. The agenda of
entering this trade show is for the firm to get higher edge within the music industry of the
country (Weske, 2019).
Project Management Plan
Project Management is one of the most appropriate methods through which a project is
plan, developed, executed and controlled to satisfy the purpose set out by the company. Hence,
in relation to Roli and the trade show it requires to enter in, below is a detailed project
management plan for the company,
Rationale for Exhibiting
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There are several reasons for which the company has decided to exhibit its products
within the market. The very first rationale for the same is to enhance its market awareness.
Moreover, the firm has also developed an innovative product by the name of Seaboard, which
the firm plans to enhance the sale of following the exhibition. In addition to this, the company
also wishes to gain a competitive market edge over other music companies which would add to
its enhanced market share in future.
Project Plan Milestones
There are several milestones which Roli wishes to attain through this exhibition of its
Seaboard. Some of these milestones are reflected below:
• Roli aims at enhancing 2% customers within 3 months of exhibition
• The firm emphasises on 5% growth within sales of Seaboard by the end of 6 months of the
Trade Show
• The company also plans to enhance around 2% market share within 1 year of the exhibition.
Potential Return on Investment
Return on Investment is the amount which the company acquires in relation to its
investment. It is the financial gain which the firm has access to after its project or product brings
the firm higher revenue even after the breakeven point. In relation to Roli, the company is
willing to invest around £10,000 within this trade show in context of exhibiting its offering to the
public. If the return which the firm acquires is around £15,000 after the show, then the return on
invested is calculated below:
ROI = Investment Gain / Initial Investment *100
= 5000 / 10000 * 100
= 50%
Hence, the potential return on investment for the company through this trade show is
around 50%..
Project Plan and Budget
Project Plan refers to a detailed outlay in relation to planning and executing the whole
project (Lüdeke-Freund and et. al., 2017). Hence, in context of the trade show that the company
is willing to enter in, its project plan is showcased as under:
• Project Initiation:
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This is the first stage which defines the overall project, as well as set up the basis for its
execution (Opdebeeck, 2015). In relation to Roli, this stage would be related to defining its
target customers, communicating its need and so forth. For this purpose, Business Case is one
tool that is being used which is described below:
BUSINESS CASE
Objectives The objective of this trade show is to provide the company with market
awareness and better sales of its offering Seaboard.
Importance
of Exhibiting
The importance of this trade show for the company is to build up a strong image
through enhancing the brand awareness in the market.
Target
Market for
Seaboard
Demographical, Geographical and Behavioural Segments have been taken into
account by the company within which, individuals from Urban areas of the UK,
aged between 15-35, with income more than £1,000 monthly and having an
interest in making music through innovative ways are taken into account.
Strategies
The strategy adopted by the firm would be robust marketing in social media,
along with real time showcase of performance of the offering to induce an
appease within the customers.
• Project Planning:
The whole initiation process has to be approved by the upper management, following which, the
company gets on with planning the overall event (Gold and Schleper, 2017). Hence, in this
context, below is a project plan and budget forecast of the trade exhibition for Roli:
Activities Amount (£)
Rental Space for Exhibition 3,500
Human Resources 1,100
Exhibition Display 1,000
Design 1,000
Show Services 1,300
Promotion 600
Lodging 1000
Others 500
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TOTAL 10,000
• Project Execution:
This is the stage where the project is actually executed, which in context of Roli is development
of the exhibition for the products to be displayed and sold within the trade show. Within this, the
human resources would be assigned their duties, performance measures would be established,
and communication plan would be set, along with setting up of project schedules (Manikutty,
2016).
• Project Closure:
The last stage of the project plan is related to the monitoring and controlling the outcomes of the
project. For this purpose, Benchmarking would be used by the organisation in context of
measuring the effectiveness of the exhibition. Within the same, sales, brand awareness on social
media and positive feedbacks would be taken into account for measuring the effectiveness of the
trade show.
Conclusion
Thus, the above part showcases that effective project management is required to provide
a structure to a specific activity within the company and to achieve certain milestones associated
with the same. Furthermore, there are several tools with Roli such as the project plan, business
case and budget, which would help the firm in developing the project in an appropriate manner.
Along with this, ROI could also assist the company towards getting anticipation in relation to the
likelihood of success of a project set up by the company (Blaschke, Frost and Hattke, 2014).
PART 2
Personal Reflection
Throughout working within this module, I got a hold on several academic and professional
skills that are necessary for an individual to assess, as well as learn in order to ensure personal
and professional growth. Moreover, reflecting this activity is also very much necessary in
relation to determining the positive aspects, along with potential areas of improvement (Gamble,
Peteraf and Thompson, 2014).
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For this purpose, Kolb’s Learning Cycle, Belbin Team Roles and Tuckman’s team
development model are being used to reflect my learning and application of a range of skills
within the module. This model works on the notion that there are several elements that are
required to be present around an individual to facilitate learning and development, where as
Tuchman’s model is related to team formation and Belbin’s associated with determining team
roles. Hence, in relation to the project above, the reflection is performed below on the basis of
several journal entries that are attached within the appendices. (Refer to Appendix 1). For this
purpose, Gibbs Reflective Model is being used and thus, based on these aspects, the reflection
for this process is completed below:
• Description:
The module allowed me to gain insight about how different organisations could implement a
range of project management tools and techniques in order to ensure accomplishment of their
project to accomplish certain goals set by the company. For this purpose, I was required to work
in a group of individuals in order to develop and execute a project. Hence, Roli was chosen as
an organisation for the case study and Tuckman’s Model was utilised for team building.
Furthermore, the roles were set and responsibilities were allotted to these individuals by using
Belbin’s Team Model.
• Feelings:
When the project started, I was quite nervous as the scope of this project is quite vast. Along
with this, there were multiple activities related to the overall development and execution of the
whole project and management of team members, which made me even more anxious. However,
as the work progressed, it made me confident to handle different situations and apply a range of
models and showcase my ICT skills to ensure development of the project in a justified manner.
Moreover, another thing which made me confident was the numeral skills which I possess, that
was used throughout the project.
• Evaluation:
This section is associated with appropriate evaluation of all the positive and negative elements
within the experience (Cooke and Alcadipani, 2015). Within the module, there were certain
experiences that were very much effective and positive. For example, I got to work in software
like Microsoft Excel and Word, which enhanced my skills in relation to development of budgets
and Gantt Charts for the project. Another positive element was the team formation and working,
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where each and every member was mostly cooperative; along with supportive towards giving in
meaningful suggestions of how best the whole project could be accomplished.
However, there were certain negative aspects as well which presented several roadblocks
towards accomplishment of the project (Doeleman, Ten Have and Ahaus, 2014). The very first
element in this regard is my ineffective communication skill. The reason for this is that despite of
having a command over the language when it comes to the written part of it, I fail to use certain
norms and principles verbally. For instance, week 2 of the module saw conflicts between several
individuals in regards with calculation of potential ROI for the project. Due to ineffective verbal
communication, I failed to appropriately persuade or solve the problem. Another negative aspect
was problem solving. There were several instances which showcased certain problems that were
required to be managed by me. However, I tend to panic in stress and within pressurised
situation, which affected my decision making and I failed to solve those problems in an
appropriate manner.
• Analysis:
Throughout this module, I realised that project management is one of the most appropriate and
effective aspects that must be taken into account by each organisation in order to ensure that
effective small and large scale projects could be executed as per the requirements of the firm.
Moreover, I realised that a range of different skills such as communication, teamwork, ICT,
numeracy and problem solving helps individuals to ensure that they contribute at their level best
during each activity that has been organised by them.
• Conclusion:
There are several things which could have been approached in a different manner, considering
the fact that it would have drove my performance towards a better position. For instance, I could
have undertaken proper training and development that was required to enhance my
communication and problem solving skills. Another thing which could have been done
differently was that I could have adopted for feedbacks from my assessors and colleagues which
would have helped me in highlighting all the areas of improvement.
• Action Plan:
This is the last stage of this model which takes into consideration a detailed plan of how the
problems highlighted above would be approached and overcome (Holsapple, Lee-Post and
Pakath, 2014). As per the above scenario it is very much evident and clear that I require working
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on my verbal communication skills, as well as my problem solving abilities. For the former, I
will be taking in seminars and conferences, which would allow me to be a part of furnishing my
skills through speaking in front of audiences. Moreover, this would also help me in developing
attributes like negotiation and persuasion, which will contribute in helping me towards better
conflict management. In relation to my problem solving abilities, I would be taking a training
programme related to Simulations, which would allow me to be a part of mock situations which
would test and enhance my ability to take spontaneous measures, strategies and tactics to deal
with different situations, This would further make me more professional and intellectual which
will be contributing towards my academic and professional prosperity.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above that foundation of business management is very
crucial in order to ensure appropriate insight and practice onto a range of different processes and
methods that allows in enhancing the interlink and coordination amongst several functions of the
company which helps in achieving business objectives. On the other hand, project plan is very
crucial as it allows companies to plan and execute different projects as per the requirements of
the firm. Lastly, personal reflection using models like Gibbs is very imperative in order to
showcase application of several skills within an activity or process.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Blaschke, S., Frost, J. and Hattke, F., 2014. Towards a micro foundation of leadership,
governance, and management in universities. Higher education. 68(5). pp.711-732.
Cooke, B. and Alcadipani, R., 2015. Toward a global history of management education: The case
of the Ford Foundation and the São Paulo School of Business Administration,
Brazil. Academy of Management Learning & Education. 14(4). pp.482-499.
Doeleman, H.J., Ten Have, S. and Ahaus, C.T.B., 2014. Empirical evidence on applying the
European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model, a literature
review. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 25(5-6). pp.439-460.
Gamble, J.E., Peteraf, M.A. and Thompson, A.A., 2014. Essentials of strategic management:
The quest for competitive advantage. McGraw-Hill Education.
Gold, S. and Schleper, M.C., 2017. A pathway towards true sustainability: A recognition
foundation of sustainable supply chain management. European Management
Journal. 35(4). pp.425-429.
Holsapple, C., Lee-Post, A. and Pakath, R., 2014. A unified foundation for business
analytics. Decision Support Systems. 64. pp.130-141.
Lüdeke-Freund, F., and et. al., 2017. Sustainability-oriented business model assessment—A
conceptual foundation. In Analytics, innovation, and excellence-driven enterprise
sustainability (pp. 169-206). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Manikutty, S., 2016. IIMA-Being Ethical: Ethics As The Foundation Of Business. Random
House India.
Opdebeeck, H., 2015. The wisdom of mercy as the foundation of business and peace: The
alternative to fear. Business, ethics and peace. pp.63-74.
Simon, D., Fischbach, K. and Schoder, D., 2014. Enterprise architecture management and its role
in corporate strategic management. Information Systems and e-Business
Management. 12(1). pp.5-42.
Weske, M., 2019. Business Process Modelling Foundation. In Business Process
Management (pp. 71-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1
Journal Entry: Week 1
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION ALLOTTED
TIME
ACTUAL
TIME
TAKEN
Company
Selection
The activity required me to select a case
study for the module 3 days 3 days
Team Formation Several individuals were required to be
selected for which Tuckman’s model was
applied
4 days 3 days
Journal Entry: Week 2
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION ALLOTTED
TIME
ACTUAL
TIME
TAKEN
Deciding up of
Roles
Roles and Responsibilities were distributed
using Belbin’s Team Role model 2 days 2 days
Setting up
Project
deliverables
The project’s scope was determine,
deliverables were set along with timelines 5 days 6 days
Journal Entry: Week 3
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION ALLOTTED
TIME
ACTUAL
TIME
TAKEN
Collection and
segregation of
information
All the information related to the company
and its offerings were acquired and
segregated as per the project
5 days 4 days
Development of The whole project was formed, using a 2 days 3 days
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Project Plan range of Microsoft tools to define activities
and setting up timelines
Journal Entry: Week 4
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION ALLOTTED
TIME
ACTUAL
TIME
TAKEN
Calculation of
ROI and setting
up of Budget
The potential ROI was calculated and
budget was formed for the company and its
Trade Show project
3 days 2 days
Execution and
Control of the
Project
Techniques like Benchmarking were used to
determine the effectiveness of the project 4 days 5 days
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