Project Management Concepts and Tools

This assignment delves into various aspects of project management, examining core concepts such as work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, and network diagrams. It provides practical examples and illustrations to illustrate these concepts, alongside a detailed analysis of relevant research papers that shed light on best practices in project management.

OPERATIONS AND
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Review and critique of implementation of operations management principles...............1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2. Preparation of a continuous improvement plan................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P3. Evaluation of Project Life Cycle for Large-screen Televisions.......................................7
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P4. Review and critique the effectiveness of PLC ..............................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project Management is a procedure performed by companies to effectively achieve the
practice to initiate, plan, execute, control and close a specific activity to achieve a certain agenda.
All these steps of project management are quite important to determine and ensure success of a
particular project (Harrison and Lock, 2017). The report below is based on production of Large
Screen Televisions for Bosch, which is a multinational engineering and electronics company
located in Germany. It covers research and development of product and critical evaluation of
appropriate theories and concepts and preparation and analysation of the effectiveness of
continuous improvement plan. It also undertakes critical evaluation of each stage of Product Life
Cycle (PLC) and critical analysis of the use of appropriate theories, mode;s and concepts in the
PLC to differentiate between large and small scale projects.
TASK 1
P1. Review and critique of implementation of operations management principles
Operations Management: It can be defined as the direction of various business practises
in order to create the highest level of efficiency possible in an organisation. Bosch is introducing
a new product in the market and for that purpose, the following theories are discussed for the
evaluation of the new product. These concepts and theories are explained as under:
Six Sigma
In simple words, it can be defined as the process by which the quality of process, product
or service is improved by identifying and removing the errors in the process. This concept uses
five steps to control the defects in product which are Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and
Control. These five steps will give proper information to Bosch about the ongoing process of the
production and the deviations in process which will be rectified. Effectiveness and Ineffectiveness
Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process which focuses upon delivering and developing
new and perfect product and services to their customers. Bosch is producing a new product so
during the production process, the defects and quality can be easily checked in the production
process and be rectified. It will avoid the process waste and reduce the cost of production of the
company and hence it can provide high quality goods at lower prices to the products. So this
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measurement and solution of defects will be resolved in the production process itself, and hence
this tool is useful for Bosch (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
However, it could be quite ineffective in some areas as its principles are quite rigid,
which restricts the firm to effectively mould its principles and functioning in the future. This
might reduce the performance of the firm with respect to their project.
Lean Principles:
The Five Lean Principles provides a framework for creating effective organisation and
delivering better value to their customers. The implementation of Lean Principles takes place in
five steps, the discussion of each is discussed as under: Identify Value: In this very first step, it is defined that Bosch must find that what is the
value that it is delivering to their customers. Value is what for which the customer is
paying and deriving from the use of that product. It will provide knowledge about the
needs of customers, and the price that they can afford for that product (Fleming and
Koppelman, 2016). Map the Value Stream: After the plan has been set, than in the next step the process is
defined which Bosch will carry out from the product creation to till it reaches to the end
customer for consumption. It also includes removing those activities which does not
provide any value to the product and customer as both. The removing of wastes and
eliminating the unwanted processes will lead to reduction in costs and also shortens the
production process. Create Flow: In this step, when all the wastes are removed than this step ensures that all
the remaining actions are taken in a smooth manner without any interruption and delay in
the production process. For avoiding the delays in production process of Bosch, it can
provide training to employees and make proper distribution of work. Establish Pull: This step ensures that the stock is maintained properly. The stock level is
neither so high nor so low. It must be in accordance with the demand of customers as the
goods can be delivered while there comes a demand.
 Pursue Perfection: This step ensures that the production process is not going only in the
traditional way in which it is going. It must be improved continuously so that the best
value can be delivered to customers.
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 Effectiveness and Ineffectiveness:
In the evaluation of this concept for Bosch, it is found that this concept is also important
for the company as while launching new product, the company must know about the what the
product is going to give to the customers, what can be improvements in the product so as to
satisfy the needs of customers. In addition to this, this approach will also help providing better
value to the customers, decrease in the cost of doing business, and increase in the profitability
level of the Bosch (Swink and et. al., 2017). Overall it can be said that this approach will be
useful for the company.
As for its ineffectiveness, it can be harmful for Bosch as both customers and suppliers
will notice about the improvements in process and may also adopt the same for their own
improvements. This might lead to inappropriateness in implementation of this project.
Total Quality Management:
As from name its clear that this concept is closely related to the quality of the products
and services that it is providing to their customers through their products. This approach says that
the quality of product must be maintained and achieved by the segregation of all quality related
functions in the company (Maylor, Turner and Murray-Webster, R., 2015).
In case of, Bosch, this concept will also prove helpful because it will make an increase in
the efficiency, revenue and the customer satisfaction level of the company. It has both advantage
and disadvantage for Bosch because as on the one hand it improves the quality than also on the
other hand its complexity is its big disadvantage. It is not much easy for companies to implement
this approach in their process, any mistake will lead to inaccurate results.
Principles of Operations Management:
There are various principles of operations management which are quire effective and
necessary to be implemented for generating maximum output from the operations by an
organisation. For Bosch and its new product, there are various principles of operations
management which are described below:
Reality: This principle focuses on the issue, instead of the techniques. According to this
principle, no tool or technique could serve as a solution itself. This requires manager of Bosch to
emphasise on the issues related to production of Large-screen Televisions.
Organisation: This establishes interconnection between each manufacturing processes.
Managers at Bosch must predict all outcomes and must organise activities in ways which helps
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to achieve those results. Predictable and consistent tasks and processes would allow the firm to
acquire predictable and effective profit through their televisions.
Fundamentals: According to this, a firm in order to survive must adhere to the
fundamentals. To effectively achieve this, it is required by the manager to maintain effective,
reliable and accurate inventory records. This would help Bosch to achieve almost 80% success in
their production of large-screen televisions. For further 20% the company must adopt new and
innovative techniques (Turkulainen and et. al., 2015).
Accountability: Another principle of operations management which could enhance the
effectiveness of operations is accountability. It requires the managers to effectively carry out
their role of setting the duties and the rules for the employees. They are also required to
effectively handle out duties to their subordinates and monitor as to if the goals are still unmet.
Variance: As per this principle, variance in a project is very crucial. It could be
implemented for reduction in costs or increasing variety in operations and processes (Todorović
and et. al., 2015). In Bosch, this must be encouraged as its effective management would be an
effective source of creativity.
Causality: For an organisation working on a product development, problems faced by
managers are treated a symptoms. It requires managers at Bosch to appropriately solve these
underlying causes or else these problems would be recurring.
Managed Passion: As per this principle, the passion which employees have for the
company could be effectively treated as a driver for success of product development and growth
of the company. Managers at Bosch must try the to instil this passion in the employees
effectively.
Humility: According to this principle, managers at Bosch, instead of adopting a costly
trial and error procedure, must admit their limitations while product development and must
effectively get help to secure the firm and its interests.
Success: It instates that it depends on the company's perspective as to what it considers as
success, but it must always consider customers' interest. It is required that the company revise
their principles as per protecting their interests.
Change: The last principle of operations management believes that change is inevitable
and there will always be new solutions and theories to operate and to perform various functions.
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Thus, Bosch's managers must embrace it and effectively manage to keep the operations stable in
the long run.
 Effectiveness and Ineffectiveness
One biggest effectiveness of this technique in context with Bosch is that implementation
of the same would help the company in effectively enhancing the the product quality which is
essential for its profitability. However, this might be lead to the firm spending more on their
changes, which might enhance the cost of production for the company,
TASK 2
P2. Preparation of a continuous improvement plan
It is quite essential for an organisation to continuously analyse the production and new
product development to ensure maximum possible outcome and effectiveness. It is an essential
step that must be followed by the company for development of its large screen televisions
(Kundu and et. al., 2015). Continuous Improvement Plan is a strategy through which Bosch
effectively could manage the processes for their product development. Below is the Continuous
Improvement Plan for large-screen televisions by Bosch:
BASIS APPROACH/PRINCIPLE IMPLEMENTATION
Quality Out of various techniques, Bosch could
use Total Quality Management
TQM would allow Bosch to effectively
manage the overall quality of its large-
screen television. This approach is
completely centred around quality of the
product and the company could manage
the same at each stage through this
approach (Jurić and et. al., 2015).
Cost
A principle that could be utilised
effectively for managing and
improving the cost of large-screen
Televisions is Variance.
Bosch would adopt variance as a
principle to manage the cost as it would
allow the firm to gain an insight in its
processes and could implement different
methods which would help in reduction
of cost.
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Delivery
For delivery, Bosch would apply the
theory of Six Sigma to manage the
overall development of their product.
The stages of six sigma, Define,
Measure, Analyse, Improvement and
Control would help Bosch to effectively
manage the product from the point of
inception till the point of delivery. In
addition to this, the firm could also use
Supply Chain Management software
such as Logiwa WMS or Infoplus to
enhance effectiveness of the delivery
process.
Safety
To ensure the overall safety, Bosch can
apply Lean Principles as an effective
approach.
The principle under this approach would
enable the firm to eradicate all the
possible aspects that could decrease the
safety levels of the product. Effective
waste management and implementing
innovative processes would assist the
company in achieving safety (Lam and
Lai, 2015).
Effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Plan
It is imperative that Bosch could measure the effectiveness of continuous improvement
plan as to enhance the product development and effective procedure required for the same. As
per the plan, TQM would allow the company to measure the overall quality of it product(Gilbert
and et. al., International Business Machines Corp, 2015). It is quite effective as this approach
would allow the firm to adopt methods and techniques that could cater to ensure highest quality
of their televisions. At each stage, this would allow the firm to ensure that the product is being
made as per the quality required in the market.
Variance could allow the company to measure and manage its cost. By applying this
approach, the company would be able to analyse each process and could either alter or modify
the elements which are unnecessarily adding to the cost.
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Six Sigma would enable Bosch to measure the delivery of the product. At each stage of
development of television screens, this approach would allow the company to implement
technologies, methods and resources which would aid to a perfect delivery of their product as per
the preset standards.
To ensure the safety however, Lean principle would be the most effective approach as it
would enable the company in achieving all the high safety standards that would increase the
safety standards of their processes as well as their product.
TASK 3
P3. Evaluation of Project Life Cycle for Large-screen Televisions
Project Life Cycle refers to all those stages which represents a project from initiation to
closure.. This undertakes all the effective processes that is essential for the company to adopt in
order to effectively accomplish the overall process. Bosch is planning to enter the market with a
new product with a product range of Large-screen Television with minimum size television
being 58-inches and also this segment would include screens for parks and stadiums. The Project
life cycle for this new product by Bosch is explained below:
Initiation Stage:
Within this stage, the firm is required to identify objectives associated with the project,
alongside effective assessment and analysis of the opportunities available for the firm within the
market which could be accomplished by the new product. Moreover, feasibility analysis along
with measurement of value are techniques which are applied within this stage. As for leadership,
this stage could effectively use democratic leadership as it is very crucial for a firm like Bosch to
take opinion of their subordinates regarding the new product development. As for technique the
firm could use six sigma for defining the project in this stage.
Planning Stage:
The next stage requires the management of Bosch to plan the overall development and
implementation of the new product. The initiation phase requires the project team to gain
confirmation from upper management. After that, the firm must create an effective project plan
to ensure further execution of the overall project. The project plan of the new product is
mentioned below:
Cost This involves cost related to acquisition of technologies, resources,
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processes, etc. which might be near £85,000 to £1,00,000.
Communication
All the forms of communication such as external, internal, linear as
well as vertical communication would be utilised by the firm to share
and receive information.
Quality Artificial Intelligence along with Automation are few techniques which
could be utilised by the firm to enhance quality.
Scope New equipments, resources, employees and technologies are being
purchased on order to increase scope of this project.
Illustration 1: Work Breakdown Structure
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In this stage, autocratic leadership could be utilised in relation to effectively plan this
overall project. Lean principles could also be applied in this stage to ensure a detailed planning
within the whole project.
Execution Stage:
This stage undertakes the overall execution of the project. Workflows, along with
allotments of tasks would take place and the project managers would be creating different teams
which would be responsible for carrying different tasks in relation to the project. As for
leadership, transformational leadership could be utilised in relation to appropriately encourage
employees to perform their best. As for this stage, the firm could use Total Quality Management
to measure, monitor and implement best quality for the overall project (Ghaffari and Emsley,
2015).
Closure:
In this last stage, the product would be delivered in the market. This requires the firm to
monitor the effectiveness of the overall project within the market. Furthermore, performance of
teams will also be evaluated within this stage. On the other hand, the firm would be choosing
communication as an effective strategy to share crucial information about the project to all the
stakeholders. As for leadership, the firm could undertake strategic leadership as this would help
the firm in appropriately measuring the performance of the overall implementation of the project.
Business Case:
Company Overview
Robert Bosch GmbH is one of a leading
electronics and engineering company which
was found in 1886 by Robert Bosch (The story
of our success, 2019). The firm deals in
electronic products and has effective market
share. The company is looking to enter large-
screen television market with the smallest
screen produced by the firm be 58-inches.
Vision and Mission The vision of the company through its products
is to spark enthusiasm in people and enhance
their standard of living. The mission is to
provide them with televisions with utmost
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quality and effective use of technology for
current and potential future use.
Objectives
The objective of the company is to provide
large-screen televisions which could provide
effective clarity and better visual experience.
Strategy
The strategy adopted by the firm is to sell these
to maximum number of customers by
emphasising on superior product quality and
enhanced technology in manufacturing the
screens.
Project Plan:
Cost For project related to large-screen televisions, Bosch would incur a cost
of almost £10,000-15,000.
Communication
As an integral part of the project, the team would organise formal
meetings at specific project stages to determine the projects and various
other modes of communication regarding strategies required for the
project.
Quality
To enhance the overall quality, the team would adopt various enhanced
technological methods like AI and automation to measure the
effectiveness of project and and the product quality.
Scope
This relates to the activities which are required to be performed to
successful accomplishment of the project. This requires hiring effective
human resources, employing tools and equipments, formulation of
strategies, managing and measuring product quality, implementing
waste management systems and employing system for product delivery.
Gantt Chart:
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Illustration 2: Gantt Chart
Illustration 3: Gantt Chart
Illustration 4: Network Diagram
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TASK 4
P4. Review and critique the effectiveness of PLC
It is essential that effectiveness be measured of the product life-cycle to enhance the
opportunities related to this product (Glukhov, Ilin and Levina, 2015). The effectiveness of the
PLC is mentioned below:
 In the initiation stage, the firm utilised several techniques to appropriately begin the
overall project. For instance, the firm applied democratic leadership within the company.
In addition to this, the firm also applied six sigma as a technique for this project.
However, six sigma is very rigid; and due to this nature, the firm might face difficulties in
the future in relation to the overall project. Thus, the company must adopt principles
which are quite flexible and could be modified in the future.
 As far as planning stage is concerned, the firm adopted Lean principles to minimise
waste, which was quite effective as such approach from the start enhances the
sustainability within the project. However, the firm adopted autocratic leadership in
planning, which might lead to the firm deciding those factors which might cause
inefficiencies in this phase as there are several elements where collective decision making
is required, such as deciding on the roles of individuals throughout the process.
 In execution stage, the company used transformational leadership which would help the
firm earn several benefits such as a proper encouragement would be provided to
employees to work towards the new product development and adopt necessary skills
which are required for the same. However, Total Quality Management would lead the
firm in focusing primarily on quality of their new offering, which might result in the
company buying expensive and costly equipments and processes which would enhance
the quality but would be delivering less in terms of cost of production.
 Throughout the closure, firm uses strategic leadership and communication as appropriate
methods to carry out the process. Both these aspects are very effective because
stakeholders would be in loop which would help the firm in gather crucial suggestions
related to the closure, thus, enhancing its effectiveness.
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CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded that operations and project management is necessary to enhance the
effectiveness of new products by companies in the market. Operations management must be
evaluated and implemented to ensure the effectiveness of the project. Continuous improvement
plan must be implemented which would enhance the performance of the product development.
Product Life Cycle would help companies in determining effective strategies which would help a
company and their products sustain longer in the market. Lastly, Waterfall model could
effectively be used to analyse and evaluate PLC which would enhance the scope and capability
of the new products.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Ghaffari, M. and Emsley, M.W., 2015. Current status and future potential of the research on
Critical Chain Project Management. Surveys in Operations Research and Management
Science. 20(2). pp.43-54.
Gilbert, Y.S., and et. al., International Business Machines Corp, 2015. Case management system
and method for collaborative project teaming. U.S. Patent 9,189,756.
Glukhov, V.V., Ilin, I.V. and Levina, A.I., 2015, August. Project management team structure for
internet providing companies. In Conference on Smart Spaces (pp. 543-553). Springer,
Cham.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Jurić, M., and et. al., 2015. The LSST data management system. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1512.07914.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kundu, A., and et. al., 2015. A journey from normative to behavioral operations in supply chain
management: A review using Latent Semantic Analysis. Expert Systems with
Applications. 42(2). pp.796-809.
Lam, J.S.L. and Lai, K.H., 2015. Developing environmental sustainability by ANP-QFD
approach: the case of shipping operations. Journal of Cleaner Production. 105. pp.275-
284.
Maylor, H., Turner, N. and Murray-Webster, R., 2015. “It worked for manufacturing…!”:
Operations strategy in project-based operations. International Journal of Project
Management. 33(1). pp.103-115.
Perry, R., and et. al., 2018, April. Successful Management of Major Marine Operations for the
Hebron Project. In Offshore Technology Conference. Offshore Technology Conference.
Swink, M., and et. al., 2017. Managing operations across the supply chain. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Todorović, M.L., and et. al., 2015. Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based
approach in project management. International Journal of Project Management. 33(4).
pp.772-783.
Turkulainen, V., and et. al., 2015. Managing project-to-project and project-to-organization
interfaces in programs: Organizational integration in a global operations expansion
program. International Journal of Project Management. 33(4). pp.816-827.
Online
The story of our success. 2019. [Online] Available Through: <https://www.bosch.com/our-
company/our-history/>
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