Managing a Successful Business Project John Lewis

MANAGING A
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS
PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Aims and objectives of the project........................................................................................3
P2. Management plan of project.................................................................................................4
P3. Gantt chart and work break down structure..........................................................................6
TASK2.............................................................................................................................................7
P4. Qualitative and quantitative methods of research. ...............................................................7
TASK3...........................................................................................................................................10
P5. Analyses and investigation of research data by applying various tools and techniques.....10
P6. Recommendation................................................................................................................19
TASK4...........................................................................................................................................19
P7. Importance and value of undertaking research methods to accomplish the devised
objectives...................................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................21
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................22
.......................................................................................................................................................29

INTRODUCTION
Globalisation is concerned with the procedure of sharing products, offerings, services,
technology, manpower, culture, etc. across different boundaries. The aims and objectives of the
globalisation are idealistic and enhances greater opportunities. It has helped the countries in
expanding their businesses for the purpose of earning profits. It has favourable and unfavourable
aspects where the positive side of the globalisation has improved the standard of living of poor
people by providing them with job opportunities, improvements of goods and services, etc.
Whereas the unfavourable side will destroy job opportunities and makes harder and expensive
for people and organisation to expand the business in global market. Organisation undertaken in
this report is John Lewis which was founded in 1864 and deals in retail industry. It serves
various products and services like household goods, etc. This report will explain the different
objectives and aims of the project. It will develop the project management plan. The research
will also be conducted in this report and with this the analyses and investigation of research data
will be done.
TASK1
P1. Aims and objectives of the project.
TITLE :
“To elucidate the positive, economic, cultural and ethical impact of globalisation on
different business functions.” A case study on John Lewis.
INTRODUCTION :
Globalisation is a social, cultural, legal and ethical physical process of good and services,
labour, technology, skills, knowledge, etc. between the various countries. With the help of
globalisation the outsourcing of jobs can be done which helps in bringing jobs and technology to
the developing countries. It helps in making connections between the people all around the world
which are more connected to one another. It helps in rapid integration of flow of money and
information. Globalisation makes way clear for liberalisation for the freedom of business which
will be useful in establishing business into the industry, trade or commerce. It further helps in
establishing control over the economic activities in domestic and international markets. The best
part of the globalisation is that it helps in integrating the coordination between different places or
countries globally. It is a multi dimensional process through which it will simply open up

national market, free trade. It further assist the countries in improving the job opportunities for
the people and also boost the growth of the organisation in long run of the business. It attracts the
foreign capital with the help of updated technology which will improve the quality of products.
With the competition in the business market, the domestic industries have become more concern
about the prices and maintaining quality to improve the foreign competition.
Aim :
To elucidate the positive, economic, cultural and ethical impact of globalisation on
different business functions. A case study on John Lewis.
Objectives :
 To learn about the concept of globalisation.
 To illustrate the positive, economic, cultural and ethical impact of globalisation on
different business functions of John Lewis.
 To examine various negative aspects of globalisation.
Research questions :
 What is the concept of globalisation ?
 What are the positive economic, cultural and ethical impact of globalisation on different
business functions of John Lewis?
 What are the negative aspects of globalisation ?
P2. Management plan of project.
Project management is the application of skills, tools and techniques to the activities of
the projects in order to accomplish the requirements of the projects. Therefore, this needs to have
a proper plan which is referred to as project management plan. This plan is a written document
which outlines the ways and manner in which the project is to be executed, monitored and
controlled. This document is approved from the senior authoritative people who are responsible
for regularly reviewing and monitoring the project management plan that it is working as per the
plans. This is a document which is made by the management and needs legal and formal
approval for commencement of the plan. The primary intention of these documents is to insure a
brief outline of the activities of the projects and the manner in which the business goals and
objectives will be attained. It is also crucial because without effective planning, no project can be
executed by the John Lewis. Further, it needs managerial and interpersonal skills which will be
useful for bringing the project from the conception to completion. There are various constituents

which are required to be considered while devising a project plan for John Lewis and they are
discussed below :
 Cost : It is concerned with the financial amount or funds which are needed to initiate the
project plan. This helps in determining the estimated cost of the project which is required
by the company to accomplish business goals and objectives. By setting cost, the
management of the John Lewis is able to establish a control and monitor the financial
aspects by insuring that the cost is used effectively and is able to meet the business
objectives within the specified limits. For this, the organisation will require £8000 for
commencing project plan while the researcher will require £1000 to meet day to day
expenses like travelling, stationary, etc.
 Scope : The scope is related to the limitations of the projects and the about the
accountability and role of each team members for accomplish the objectives of the
project plan of John Lewis. This can be done by effectively describing the goals of the
project, features, functions, tasks, deadlines, etc. This scope of project plan is also
responsible for determining the needs and requirements of the different stakeholders.
 Time : Timing is very important for every project. No project is permanent in nature
because every project is planned for the specific purpose and when that purpose is
accomplished then the plan is said be accomplished. So to meet the project plan on time
the researcher will require 12 weeks for making project plans and 7 weeks for developing
research effectively and efficiently.
 Quality : It is one of the crucial element in devising the project plan because quality
plays a vital role and if the plan fails to deliver the appropriate quality which will provide
an assurance the it meets the project objective and performance standards. Therefore, the
delivered products by the John Lewis must be reliable and has superior quality which will
give customer satisfaction and can increase the demand as well. And for the researcher,
the gathered information must be true, fair, authentic which must have proper relevancy
and can be judged easily on the basis of evidences.
 Communication : It is another very important aspect in devising the project plan.
Without effective communication, no organisation can run the plan effectively and
efficiently. Communication helps in clearing people with the various plans and the
manner in which they are to be accomplished. For this purpose, John Lewis will need

various communication tools like internet connections, telephones, video conferencing,
etc. and researcher will organise various presentations, meetings, training programs,
conferences, etc. in order to inform and communicate with people regularly and to assure
that they know about the manner in which the plan is to be executed.
 Risk : It is the uncertainty of any event which can cause the harm to the organisation.
There are various risk which are required to be managed while devising the project plan.
These unexpected events can be the rapid changes in the customer need, technological
changes, budget resources, etc. There is a proper need to properly identify the various
risk and develop mitigation for the same. John lewis will face the risk of different
customer tastes, external environment threats, etc. while researcher will face the risk of
conflict, lack of secrecy and confidentiality, lack of motivation, etc.
 Resources : Every business requires adequate resources in order to accomplish business
goals and objectives. These resources play a very important part in the organisations and
needs to managed properly because of scarcity of the same. In John Lewis, the resources
which will be required are skilled workforce, technology, finances, etc. while researcher
will require resources like knowledge, skills, money, critical and innovative thinking,
potentiality, etc.
Therefore, from the above mentioned all the relevant points, it is to be considered that
project management plan is not an easy task and organisation must focus on the various
constituents so that proper and effective plan can be made. It will improve the chances of
accomplishing business objectives and goals in a more effective and efficient manner. This will
helps the company in attainment of competitive advantage.
P3. Gantt chart and work break down structure.
Gantt chart- It refers to a type of bar chart that contains a project schedule. It is
developed by Henery L. Gantt in 1917 to monitor the visual communication exemplification of a
schedule which help in plan, coordination and consider particular task in the project. This chart
include all the tasks which are performed in the project on the vertical axis and time intervals on
the horizontal axis. The width of the horizontal bars indicates the duration of the each activity in
the graph. It is beneficial of the company and used by the management as production control tool
when it operating its business at global level. It help in analysing the resources which are
required and making plan in order to complete the tasks.

Work Breakdown Structure- It indicates to a method which is used by the organisation
to get a complex, multi step project done. It help in dividing a large project in small steps so that
they can easily or faster completed by the employees. It is a hierarchical tree structure that
outlines the project and divide in to smaller and manageable parts. When an organisation operate
its business internationally then it help in minimize complex activities to a collection of tasks. It
is beneficial because it provide a clear image of tasks that must be measurable, independent and
clearly describes its limits. Therefore, in John Lewis, the break down of work will help the
researcher in proper conduction of the investigation through step by step process. For instance,
the researcher will concentrate first on identification of the problems, develop aims and
objectives, analyse the background of the research which will help in framing the research
initiation. And then it will further move on step by step process.