Strategic Management of Project

In this assignment, a company's implementation of Straight Through Processing (STP) System is analyzed. The STP system aims to streamline transaction processes and reduce manual intervention. However, the project faced resistance from employees due to concerns about job losses. The author emphasizes the importance of effective change management in such situations. Kotter's eight-step change model is selected as an appropriate approach for managing change within the organization. The model consists of steps such as creating urgency, forming a coalition, preparing a vision, communicating the vision, removing obstacles, and anchoring the change. The strength of this concept lies in its phased implementation approach, employee management, and rogue employee handling.

Straight Through Processing
Strategic Management of Project

Student in Work Role
Strategic management of project refers to selecting, nurturing, and delivering the projects
within the organization effectively. The ability of managing the project strategically within
the organization bypasses the basic project management and more focus is kept on the project
delivery capability that can lead to accomplishment of organization’s strategic objective. In
the current paper, the author analyses the implementation of Straight through Processing
(STP) System within the organization. The author has spent appreciable amount of time as
head of payments and settlements. The general focus of the author was to ensure that the
organization is shaped and taken ahead in coordination with the changing standards of the
industry. The key focuses were management of office settlement processes, management of
documents related to on-boarding preparation and issuance, handling client relationship
management software and associated systems within the organization.
Straight through processing is a step towards improving the speed with which the financial
companies handle the everyday transactions. With the help of this process, the financial
organizations will be able to save their added effort of filling the same client information over
and over again during the settlement process. Through this process, the information can be
entered once into the system and can be passed over to the other concerned parties at each
stage. The organization which is under assessment uses T+3 trading settlement option. It is
lengthy, time consuming, and tiring for both, the company employees and the customers. In
the T+3 process, the employees manually enter and record the client data and related
transaction data and proceed with the further process. The entire completion of T+3 process
takes three days. However, the new system will eliminate the need of human intervention and
make the process smoother and a settlement can be completed in one day. The complete
elimination of the human intervention is not possible, but it can be reduced to minimum. This
system will help in streamlining the transaction processes at various checkpoints.
The company set out to implement the new system throughout the organization based on the
five steps to implementation of project, that are imitation, planning, execution, monitoring
and controlling, and closure. The final goal of the project was the implementation of STP
Project as soon as possible and the deadline defined for the project was six months. As per
the various aspects of the project was concerned, most of these were moving ahead
appreciably well. The company had right scope for the project, and it has planned the entire
budget and other resources for the project.
The gradual progress of the project led to the finding that the implementation of the project is
getting challenging than it was anticipated. The cause of the challenge was concern among
the employees that the new system will result into numerous job losses within the company.
There was little to no acceptance of the new system within the organization. Despite
everything of the project in place, project was not moving ahead due to the employee
resistance. After several weeks, it was identified that the key issue is with the implementation
of appropriate change management within the organization prior to moving ahead with the

project. The project manager had not anticipated the resistance and therefore no steps were
taken regarding the change management.
Unit Concepts and Principles (Selection of Relevant Concepts)
The consideration of project situation and being a live observer of the project, it can be stated
that the effective management of change within the organization was required. The project
manager failed to understand the need of project stakeholders and took action that led to the
project to fall flat. It was found that the employees at the senior positions, who were assured
that their jobs are secured, tried to participate actively in the project implementation process.
However, the employees who were at the middle or bottom level, considered the change a
threat to their livelihood and thus backed out from supporting the project.
Here, it can be stated that as the project was to implemented within the organization,
therefore, it was important that the employees reflect active participation to the project. This
resistance required that the project manager revisit the entire project implementation from the
beginning and let the heat settle down. This led to the delayed project implementation and
thus impacted the defined project budget. ( grammar mistakes)
Here, citing the situation, it can be stated the key challenge was of appropriate considering of
change management. A good change management, directed and supported by the
management, is necessary within an organization when substantial size of employees are
likely to be impacted. Therefore, the author has tried to narrow the focus of the study towards
change management in the STP System Project implementation.
Which concepts, principles, tools, techniques, models (MBA and wider research) apply
to this situation?
In the current project scenario, the project manager initiated the project appreciably well.
However, the failure to anticipate the need of right change management delayed to the project
to undefined duration. Therefore, the need of change management was of utmost importance
in the project.
The concept of change management refers to effectively managing the changes within the
organization to ensure that smooth transitioning from one phase to another can take place.
There are various change management processes suggested by the researchers. Some of them
are Lewin’s change management model, Kotter’s eight step change model, and others. Each
of the change models have their own merits and demerits. Therefore, in the current situation,
it has been identified that the Kotter’s change model can be applied appropriately. The reason
behind the selection of the Kotter’s change model is the understanding that in the larger
organizations where stakes are very high, it is important to make gradual changes instead of
rapid changes. The Kotter’s change model acts on similar philosophy and therefore, this
model has been selected. The diagram below shows eight steps in Kotter’s change model that
can be utilized by the organization to implement the change. ( please review the reasons for
selecting Kotter’s model).

In this change model, the first step is to create the urgency among the employees regarding
the requirement of the change in the organization. This step suggests creating an environment
within the organization that reflect that for the survival of the company and everyone who is
working within the company, the change is necessary. The next step is to form a coalition,
that is, the management is required to build one or two groups who can spread this idea
throughout the organization. This ensures that the environment towards change is maintained.
The next step is to prepare a vision that can be shared with the organization. It is important
that the need for change must be aligned with the future vision of the company. This will help
the employees to hold on to something.
The next step is to communicate the vision to all the employees within the organization and
ensures that they are on the same page. It has been found that despite better communication
of vision, organizations can still face resistance at different corners of the organization. The
next step suggests removal of these obstacles through methods like pay increase, reputation
build up, and others. The next step is to start implementing the change, but phase wise and
observe the success rate. The next step is to strengthen the change and take it further. In the
last step, the management is suggested to anchor the change throughout the organization
while keeping in consideration previous steps. (what are the learnings from previous steps?)
What is the strength of these concepts and principles?
The strength of this concept is that it allows the management to make phased implementation
of the project. It helps in understanding that whether the project will be successful. If a
project is found to be successful at the first implementation phase, then it can be replicated

throughout the organization. Moreover, the Kotter’s step change management model helps
the management in appropriately manage the employees and their any form of resistance. In
addition, the model also helps the management in handling the rogue employees through
various methods. If the current situation of the STP Project is considered, then it can be stated
that the project was facing resistance and the use of right technique could have reduced the
resistance. This is where the Kotter’s change model comes into picture.
The Kotter’s change management model also requires the active involvement of the
management to ensure that the right environment is built around the need for change. The
need for the involvement of the management is that it creates an environment that something
very important is under process and it is necessary to take place for the betterment of the
whole organization.
My comments :
1) Use referencing ( for Kotter’s models / diagrams)
2) Correct the grammar
3) Do proper formatting
4) State clearly what are your key learnings from the straight
through Processing Project
5) Give more stress on the conclusion part.