Managing Programs and Projects

This document discusses the core planning process, project planning approaches, and the clean-up process for the Fukushima nuclear plant. It explores different project management methodologies and their application in the clean-up process.

MANAGING
PTOGRAMS AND
PROJECTS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of core planning process...............................................................................................2
Simulation...................................................................................................................................4
Project Planning Approaches......................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Project is defined as task with has beginning and ending and thus have some scope and
utilise resources. It is not routine activity but specified operations which are design in order to
achieve organisational objectives. Project management is the process of applying skills,
techniques, tools and knowledge for completing project and meeting requirements. There are
different criteria that are constraint to some time period and budgets and are evaluated at the time
of deliverance (Badewi, 2016). This project will include case study of 2011 earthquake and
tsunami in Japan due to which Fukushima Daiichi reactors melted down. There were 11 such
reactors in 4 different nuclear power plants which was damaged by tsunami and lead to
malfunction in cooling and circulation of water. After that more than 1,00,000 individuals were
evacuated so that further damage can be controlled which is affecting 1800 square kilometres of
land with variations in radiations (Eight years on, water woes threaten Fukushima cleanup,
2019). TEPCO is Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding Inc. is largest power company of
Japan which includes Fuel and Power Inc., Power Grid Inc. and Energy Partner Inc. It generates,
sells, distributes electricity and other sources of energy in Tokyo and Yokohama. More than 41,
525 employees are working to provide safe, reliable and fulfilling responsibilities to individuals
and communities of Fukushima (About TEPCO, 2019).
There are different stakeholders like TEPCO which is owner of plant at the time of
natural calamity and its main focus is to focus on monetary expenses on clean-up procedure,
legal actions, responsibilities and taking control again. Another is Japanese Government which
has taken partial control and main objective is to regulate future nuclear reforms, reimburse
citizens and cost of cleaning process. General Public are also stakeholders as their objective is to
get safety, regain lost property, regulatory reform in nuclear energy. There are different
industries like fishing, agriculture and nuclear energy which has main objective is to limit the
radioactive and contaminated water from leaking into ocean that affect water, land and air. There
are different impact of this disaster, Political Impact is in future there will be many obstacles to
restart nuclear power plants which has been shut down and there is going to be regulations
reforms for such nuclear energy (Bass, 2016). In this disaster the main impact was on social
aspects as many local communities were evacuated from danger zone which leads to
displacements from society. Next impact is on economy, this disaster in resulting in destruction
of £1.92 billion and lost of over 6,000 lives. Others were high imports, decline in growth rate,
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rise in inflation and recession in the Japan which has lead to instability in the economic factor of
country. Environmental impact is has over 200 tons of debris was on shoreline of Western
Canada and 2 million ton of pollution that includes garbage and plastic (Japan's 2011
Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster, 2019).
MAIN BODY
Analysis of core planning process
Core planning process in simpler terms outlines development and maintenance of project
and related activities which needs to be accurate and complete (Brulin and Svensson, 2016). In
the present case study there is need that TEPCO needs to develop a planning process so that
clean-up process leads to achievement of goals of different stakeholders. In case study it can be
clearly seen that this project which is ongoing from 2011 needs to be buckle up so that progress
can be enhanced along with decreasing radioactive leakages and water pollution. There are
different methodologies and tools which are important to be applied in project, some of them are
as follows:
Agile project management: This approach is applicable in case of rapidly changing
demand in case of software development and takes constant approach to manage tasks and
procedure. It main focus is on continuous improvements with the help of previous feedback.
Some of the characteristics of this planning approach is high quality, speed and team inputs
which helps in reducing waste and assist in innovation. There are different values on which this
agile project management is based like individuals interactions over process and tools, working
software, collaboration of customers and respond to change (Cleden, 2017). It is widely because
it increases flexibility which helps in adapting changes and enhance focus on specific goals of
project. In case of cleaning up nuclear plant it has witnessed slow progress in recent years which
is needed to be improve so that it does not delay the reimbursement plan of government. With
the help of software development, robotics arms are been employed so that small size pieces of
radio-active fuel can be pick up from the bottom of one of the reactor. This acknowledge that
agile project management approach has been followed so that software are developed to fasten
clean up process (Fukushima: current state of the clean-up, 2019).
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Waterfall project management: It is sequential process which involves outlining,
analysis, design, development, testing and maintenance. As it consist of steps it is impossible to
go back to previous stage as it has to start from beginning again. This implies that there is less
adaption for change management and thus detailed plan need to be outline before implementing
it. One of the characteristics is that waterfall project management stress on documentation which
assist in passing information to new team (Görög, 2016). Projects which are planned with the
help of this method are easy to understand and steps are self-explanatory due to its linear
designing. In case of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up, TEPCO system which is use for
purification of contaminated water had failed due to inadequate planning. This has resultant in
storing polluted water in 1,000 tanks and need to reprocessed again before releasing it into
ocean(Eight years on, water woes threaten Fukushima cleanup, 2019).
PRINCE 2 project management: It stands for Projects in Controlled Environments and
a process based method which helps in managing projects. There are different key features like it
focuses more on business justification, defines structure of organisation for project team,
planning approach is based on product. It emphasis on categorising projects into smaller tasks
which as controllable and manageable and it provides flexibility to every stage in the project. As
it is process based method of project management there are certain principles that control
processes from beginning till end. This ensures that every stage is structured effectively so that
there are no loop holes in completion of whole projects. There are some rules which insist the
process to be qualitative like it should be justified in terms of business, learning at every stage of
projects, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined to avoid confusion (Harrison, and
Lock, 2017). Whole project is divided into smaller and manageable tasks to control process,
project managers are responsible for additional inputs and continuous quality checks. It is
essential that project manger is efficient and experience so that implementation is effective. In
case of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up the whole process is divided into smaller tasks like
water management, removing fuel, debris retrieval, waste management and other measures
which ensures that risk in minimum.
Kanban project management: It was developed by Toyota engineer and compared to
other project management method it focuses on creating workflow so that bottlenecks can be
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eliminated in process. Whole project is divided into specific steps and stages and teams are
assigned so that members have their own duties to perform. This method is defined by project
managers and develop system to maintain workflow so that output and efficiency can be
maintained. As team members are focusing on one tasks at a time it leads to flexibility and
divided workload. There are certain principles on which Kanban Project Management is laid on,
each visual card has tasks written on it with all information, cards at limited so that bottlenecks
are avoided. Continuous flow is ensure so that there is workload and improvements must be
constant so that efficiency can be increased (Hering and et. al., 2015). Teams in this project
management are self-motivated which helps managers to increasing overall efficiency of project.
In context of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up workers have been half in four years but there
are still approximately 5,000 labourers working at site. As workers are expose to radiations and
level depends on what type of work they are handling. Thus it can be concluded that workers are
not motivated and thus project manager of TEPCO needs to find out measures to retain
employees.
Simulation
From above introduction of case study, simulations and experience which are gained is
that TEPCO has designed whole project planning into three stages, are as follows:
Research Gathering: It is important that company analysis Fukushima site so that clean-up
processes can be developed along with taking stakeholders interest into consideration. As higher
level of technical machines and acumen is required for clean- up process all relevant information
is necessary (Hillson,2017). There is need that Japan government and TEPCO participate
actively in sharing information so that potential incident associated with it can be eliminated. It is
important that all stakeholders are indulge so that funds can be collected and objectives can be
achieved.
Clean-up Process: The process is developed so that risk associated with radioactive leakages
and contamination of water is minimised. There are different stages by which this process is
carried out, phases are as follows:
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Contaminated water management: In this three process are involved like removing
sources of contamination, directing fresh water and retain polluted water from leaking. First is
done with the help of multi-nuclide equipment so that radio-active materials are removed
(Jenner, 2016). Directing fresh water phase is done with freezing operations which will help in
decreasing groundwater inflow and last is done with treating amount of stagnant water which is
stored has been reducing by lowering water level within turbine.
Progress of removing fuel: In order to remove fuel from pools opening is provided to
access the operating floor was done, then investigation of the state of contamination in the was
started with the help of remote robots and heavy machine. Installation of cover for removing fuel
was made and trial process was starting to operate fuel handling machines. This has lead to
many troubles and TEPCO examine and review the process again.
Fuel debris retrieval: Internal investigation was conducted and project team analysed that
that deposits which are fuel debris are accumulated in the bottom of pedestal (Le Roy and
Fernandez, 2015). In order to remove this a manually operated underwater survey vehicle was
used to gain clear picture of pedestal. The findings showed that platform came off track and was
partly buried showing fuel debris deposits.
Waste management: operations were started so that solid waste storage management can
be ensured and there were only about 40% of storage capacity to store solid waste. In this storage
facility it was only possible to store highly radioactive rubbles that are arises from removal
process and during dismantling process of upper part of nuclear reactor. TEPCO project team
then formulated Storage Management Plan so that storage and management of such waste can be
done properly. In addition to this process, sampling and analysis was conducted so that
prediction of generating of solid waste during project can be estimated.
Other specific measures: The part of turbine buildings of nuclear plant where workers are
allowed to work in general or in safety workwear with disposable dust-proof mask are specified
so that safety can be ensured. Such measures are also necessary so that workers can be retained
and progress of whole project can be improved.
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Identification of Risk Source: For developing risk reduction measures on the site, the major
risk sources that are identified on the site of the Fukushima Daiichi are:
1. Highly contaminated water and fuels which have relatively high risks and given high
priority
2. Fuel debris, immediate there is less risk but might grow (Newton, 2016).
3. Solid waste, which will increase risk in the future, but adequate management efforts are
necessary.
Continuous efforts by project team of TEPCO have been made so that reduction can be find out
with the help of various measures and techniques.
There are different project management methodologies are applied so that outputs are effective
and objectives can be achieved. Some of them are:
Agile project management: This approach in case of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up is
applied to use robots so that minute particles are removed. In project of clean-up process there is
increase in demand of software development so that speed of progress can be increased. It is
constant project management method which will help TEPCO team to manage tasks and whole
procedure so that objectives can be achieved. With the help of this methodology project team can
focus on continuous improvements in developing software in assisting procedure. It will helps
organisation to ensure higher quality, improved speed and enhanced team inputs which
ultimately helps in reducing waste (Oakes, 2016).
Waterfall project management: It consist of sequential process for Fukushima nuclear
plant clean-up procedure which will involve outlining the whole project in terms of objectives.
Analysis will be done to find out solutions which will help in design and development of suitable
measures for cleaning process. At last, testing and maintenance will be conducted so that
corrective action can be taken on time. TEPCO project team has faced problem in this method
that it consist series of steps which makes it impossible to redesign previous stage. Thus project
manager needs to start from beginning in order to follow the sequence and which leads to less
adaption in managing changes in the project.
Kanban project management: With the help of this method TEPCO project team can
focus on creating workflow between steps to carry out project. By creating a flow in tasks and
activities obstacles can be reduced in process which will eliminated stoppage of process. Kanban
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project management will help TEPCO project team to divide whole project into steps so that
members have their own duties to perform effectively.
Project Planning Approaches
There were different approaches that were used by TEPCO project team so that
Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up procedure can attained its objectives on time and perform
effectively. In the above case study it is seen that growth and progress has been slow and
different measures were employed by TEPCO project team. They ensure that risk is analysed
effectively and can be reduce in order to minimise the different type of impact it is having on
economy, social life of people and environmental aspects of Japan. Thus it is essential that
critical evaluation is done so that advantages and dis-advantages can be analysed and appropriate
method is selected. There are many different planning process which assist in project
management so that plans that are made to carry out projects are effective in every aspects.
Participatory Planning Approach: In this approach to planning project, it defines that
each stakeholder should have saying in the process. Some of shareholders in Fukushima nuclear
plant clean-up project is government, TEPCO project team, local citizens and communities,
fishing, agriculture and nuclear industry, international countries should also be included. This
will ensure that all segments have credibility of representing and point of view is included while
planning. This will helps in reducing drawbacks which occurs by avoiding participation of
different shareholders and thus ensure qualitative outcomes. Thus this approach can be used so
that important key players are included and different stakeholders which will be affected by
project and its outcomes are also included (Paquin, Gauthier and Morin, 2016).
Critical evaluation of different project management methodologies will be conducted so that
effective and suitable one is find out. This will help TEPCO project team to enhance growth of
clean-up process and objectives can be achieved.
Waterfall project management: This model is define as sequential steps which divides
whole project into smaller tasks and phases to reduce it complexity (Stark and et. al., 2016). In
case of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project there are many advantages and dis-advantages
which will help and hinder the project.
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Advantages: Before reaching to the next phase it is essential that previopus pahse outcomes are
achieved effectively so that qiality can be maintained. In this model testing and qluality is
assured in every phase so that overall outcome is effective in attaining objective of Fukushima
nuclear plant clean-up project. Documents are prepared at every stage in this project
management model so that it can assist in future. Success is depend on efficiency of proejct team
members which will help TEPCO to achieve objectives effectively.
Dis-advantages: Despite of so many merits there are various demerits also which can hinder the
quality of outcome and thus lead to failure of project as well. In case of occurrence of errors
during the Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project stages it can be fixed at that stage only.
Such model is appropriate for complex project where change management is continuous and
stages are prone to changes according to need of environment and project.
Agile project management: In case of Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project there
are many advantages and dis-advantages available with TEPCO project team. Some of them are
as follows:
Advantages: Such model provides flexibility in process and between steps that ensure that
adaptivity is high in case of changes in project. With the help of this project TEPCO project
team can bring creativity and innovation so that qualitative aspects in outcomes can be
maintained and enhanced. This will also help TEPCO project team to decrease cost of
Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project so that economical impact can be reduced.
Dis-advantages: this can also lead to changes in TEPCO as well so that project team is effective
in Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project and objectives can be achieved. Fukushima nuclear
plant clean-up project is a large and complex process which is on-going from 9 years and it
ispredicted that it will take more 20-25 years to see the outcomes thus this model is not suitable
for such projects.
PRINCE 2 project management: It stands for Projects in Controlled Environments and
a process based method which helps in managing projects (Turner, 2016). There are different key
features like it focuses more on business justification, defines structure of organisation for
project team, planning approach is based on product. There many merits and de-merits in case of
Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project for TEPCO project team.
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Advantages: This project management model will help in applying different practises that will
help project team to achieve organisational objectives (vom Brocke and Lippe, 2015). It will also
helps in fostering communication between TEPCO project team members and increase
accountability of employees. This model will focus on achieving outcomes of Fukushima nuclear
plant clean-up project which will have positive impact on Japan and different aspects as well.
Dis-advantages: There are many de-merits also like it only have two different types of practises
that are included in Prince2 project management to assist Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up
project (Young, 2016). There is requirements that senior management of TEPCO is involved in
every phase of project and heavy documentation is done which hinder quality of outcome.
From the above analysis it is recommended that Waterfall Model of Project Management
is applied to Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project so that smaller and manageable actions
are made out of whole complex process. This will also help TEPCO project team to allocate its
resources and objectives in smaller portion so that quality can be maintained and controlled in
whole process. This will ensure that waste is reduced which will lead to decrease in overall cost
of project as well.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from above case study that project management is process by which
different types of projects are controlled and managed so that objectives can be achieved. From
the case study it can clearly analysed that Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project is on-going
from past 9 years from 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami hits Japan which leads to melting
of radio - active nuclear plant in ocean. There is TEPCO project team which has control of
nuclear plant at the time of natural calamity is engaged in cleaning process since then to regain
its control after opening. There are different stakeholders in this project like government, local
community, different industries, international nations, TEPCO Inc., etc. which are effected
directly or indirectly by this project. There are different project management model like waterfall
model, Prince2 model, Agile and Kanban model which will help TEPCO project team to
effectively carry out the whole complex project and achieve its objectives. There are different
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impact like slow economic growth, disburse of local communities, water and land pollution
which is creating issues for Japan. Planning is necessary so that whole project becomes effective
and thus participatory approach to planning is involved so that each and every shareholder has
stake in planning process. At last, it is recommended that Waterfall Model of project
management is applicable and suitable for Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up project so that it
divide whole complex process into smaller tasks so that objectives can be achieved.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Badewi, A., 2016. The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM)
practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance
framework. International Journal of Project Management. 34(4). pp.761-778.
Bass, J. M., 2016. Artefacts and agile method tailoring in large-scale offshore software
development programmes. Information and Software Technology. 75. pp.1-16.
Brulin, G. and Svensson, L., 2016. Managing sustainable development programmes: A learning
approach to change. Routledge.
Cleden, D., 2017. Managing project uncertainty. Routledge.
Görög, M., 2016. A broader approach to organisational project management maturity
assessment. International Journal of Project Management. 34(8). pp.1658-1669.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Hering, D. and et. al., 2015. Managing aquatic ecosystems and water resources under multiple
stress—An introduction to the MARS project. Science of the total environment. 503.
pp.10-21.
Hillson, D., 2017. Managing risk in projects. Routledge.
Jenner, S., 2016. Transforming government and public services: realising benefits through
project portfolio management. Routledge.
Le Roy, F. and Fernandez, A. S., 2015. Managing coopetitive tensions at the working‐group
level: The rise of the coopetitive project team. British Journal of Management. 26(4).
pp.671-688.
Newton, R., 2016. Project management step by step: how to plan and manage a highly
successful project. Pearson UK.
Oakes, G., 2016. Project reviews, assurance and governance. Gower.
Paquin, J. P., Gauthier, C. and Morin, P. P., 2016. The downside risk of project portfolios: The
impact of capital investment projects and the value of project efficiency and project risk
management programmes. International Journal of Project Management. 34(8).
pp.1460-1470.
Stark, D. and et. al., 2016. Teenagers and young adults with cancer in Europe: from national
programmes to a European integrated coordinated project. European journal of cancer
care. 25(3). pp.419-427.
Turner, R., 2016. Gower handbook of project management. Routledge.
vom Brocke, J. and Lippe, S., 2015. Managing collaborative research projects: A synthesis of
project management literature and directives for future research. International Journal
of Project Management. 33(5). pp.1022-1039.
Young, T. L., 2016. Successful project management. Kogan Page Publishers.
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<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-water/eight-years-on-water-woes-
threaten-fukushima-cleanup-idUSKCN1QP0MA>
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About TEPCO. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www7.tepco.co.jp/newsroom/reports/archives/2019/tepco-releases-video-on-
fuel-removal-from-unit-3-at-fukushima-daiichi-visual-presentation-of-actual-work-being-
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Japan's 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.thebalance.com/japan-s-2011-earthquake-tsunami-and-nuclear-disaster-
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Fukushima: current state of the clean-up. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://phys.org/news/2019-03-fukushima-current-state-clean-up.html>
Eight years on, water woes threaten Fukushima cleanup. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-water/eight-years-on-water-woes-
threaten-fukushima-cleanup-idUSKCN1QP0MA>
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