Project Management Performance Review

This assignment is a personal performance review of a student's project management experience. The student reflects on their ability to manage a research project, identifying successes, challenges, and areas for improvement. They evaluate their problem-solving skills, time management, and communication abilities, recognizing strengths such as effective problem-solving but also acknowledging weaknesses like limited communication skills. The student concludes by outlining how this experience will inform their future professional development, particularly in carrying out further research projects.

UNIT 6 MSBP

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1Project aims and objectives................................................................................................1
P2Project management plan...................................................................................................2
P3Work break down structure and Gantt chart......................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Small scale research by applying qualitative and qualitative research method................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5Reseserach and data analysis............................................................................................10
P6Recommendation..............................................................................................................18
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................19
P7Reflection.........................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERNCES.................................................................................................................................21

Title:
The impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and innovation- A
Case study on Continental consulting Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
Managing a successful business project is considered to be one of the crucial parts of
management as it is defined as the combination of techniques, skills and knowledge which are
being used to achieve management aims and objectives within time schedule. The success of
any project depends upon the project manager as it is the responsibility of the project manager to
allocate the tasks and instruction to the employees which are needed to be accomplished on time
(Binder, 2016). The company which is being considered to carry out this assignment is
Continental Consulting Limited which is a research and business consultancy headed by Mario
Bindas. On 31st may 2018 Mario called upon a section in which a research aim were decides on
which the project plan is based and that to identify the impact of digital technology supporting
small business growth and innovation. This report will focus on background of project, purpose
of report, aims and objectives of project along with project management plan in which certain
aspect like cost, time, quality, budget are being explained. Moreover work break down structure
and Gantt chart are also being prepared in this file. Apart from this small scale research is being
carried out with the help of qualitative and quantitative research method as well as data and
research analysis is also being done. Lastly a recommendation and reflection has also being
given in this report.
TASK 1
P1Project aims and objectives
Background of the project:
Continental consulting Ltd is a UK based organisation which is specialised in supporting
medium and small business manufacturing enterprises so as to re-engineer their organisation
process in order to achieve high profitability and sustainability. It nearly render its services all
around the London and was established eight years ago by bringing up latest technology
equipments, IT facilities etc. But as the time passed rapid innovation took place in IT sector and
the technology which was brought upon by Mario Bindas eight year ago became outdated
(Davies and Hughes, 2014). Even the company felt that the organisation is being lost to
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competitors in the industry but still the firm did not make any changes to upgrade their business
process and thus which is proved to be the key weakness as many other new organisation have
come up with innovative ideas and are successfully capturing the market. Thus, taking such
aspect into consideration Mario Bindas hold a meeting on 31st mat 2018 in which the research
aim were decided that is to analyse the impact of of digital technology supporting small business
growth and innovation.
Purpose of the report:
Main purpose of this research report is to understand the impact which the digital
technology can have upon small and medium business growth and innovation. In addition to this
it will also help researcher to acknowledge why it is essential to come up with inovatives ideas
and equipments in it sectors which will also further help a researcher to develop the knowledge
and skill level at personnel and professional level (Frankenberger and et. al., 2013).
Aim:
“To identify the impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and
innovation”- A Case study on Continental Consulting Limited.
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of digital technology.
 To examine the impact of Digital Technology on innovation and business growth of
Continental Consulting Limited.
 To explore different types of digital technology used by Continental Consulting Limited
to improve growth.
 To identify relationship between digital technology and growth and innovation of
Continental consulting Limited.
P2Project management plan
Project management plan:
It can be defined as a formal, approved documents which helps in determining how the
project needs to be executed, controlled and monitored (Glukhov, Ilin and Levina, 2015). Thus
there are several components of effective project plan which are needed to be considered by the
project manager of Continental Consulting Limited and they are basically, cost, time, quality,
communication, resources etc. are being explained below:
2

Cost:
This aspect needs to be considered at first while planning effective project plan as
without appropriate budget and availability of cost, Continental consulting firm cannot achieve
its maximum growth and innovation. As in order to adopt the digital technology it is very much
essential for the firm to have sufficient among of funds. Thus, in order to carry out project
smoothly the estimated budget by management of business is 388000 pounds. Whereas for
researcher to carry out effective research the estimated budget is 380 pounds (Heger and
Rohrbeck, 2012).
Total forecasted budget
Particular 2018-19($)
Implementing technology cost 170000
Promotional expense 70000
Advertisement expense 55000
Catalogues 18000
Training charges 75000
Total cost 388000
Time:
It is the second essential aspect which must be considered while making an effective
project plan. If the Continental consulting firm will finish up the project on time then it will help
the business in achieving the competitive advantage in the for of improvement in growth and
innovation (Spender, 2014). Thus, the estimated time period for the completion of project by
organisation is 26 weeks, whereas for researcher the estimated time period is approx 8 weeks so
as to complete research effectively and to collet accurate and valuable data which would help in
drawing effective conclusion.
Quality:
It is also a crucial aspect which will positively impact the business growth in the form of
increase in profitability ratio if the firm takes this aspect into consideration while making project
plan. So in order to render better quality services to its clients management of Continent'
consulting Ltd must make use of modern digital technology like social media and mobile
3

application which will help business to achieve its growth and innovation too (Silvius and
Schipper, 2014). Whereas a researcher should also make best use of books, journals, magazines,
government reports etc. so as to come up with best quality research.
Risk:
This is the aspect which term to be uncertain and may take place nay time in an
organisation. For Continental consulting organisation risk can take place in the form of shortage
of funds, poor knowledge of digital technology, unskilled labour etc. So management must take
such risk factor into consideration and accordingly should prepare effective project plan.
Whereas for researcher too risk can take place in the form of shortage of time and if the data is
not collected from authentic sources then the research also might fail. So researcher must take
this risk aspects into consideration while carrying out research and this can be done by
scheduling the time period of each task and by ensuring that data that is being collected ids from
authentic source.
Scope:
The scope level for Continental consulting Ltd is term to be wider as it render services
all around the London by supporting small and medium business manufacturing enterprises so as
to re-engineer their organisation process in order to achieve high profitability and sustainability.
For this a firm need to adopts the modern digital technology like social media so as to render
services to large number of customers. Whereas the scope level of researcher is term to be
broader while carrying out research various tools, techniques and research methods need to be
taken into consideration like qualitative, quantitative, thematic interpretation tool etc. which will
help research to develop at professional level and personnel level.
Resources:
It is a basic requirement which the project manager of Continental consulting
organisation must take into consideration while making effective project management plan.
Resources for organisation here refers to skilled labour, funds etc. So in order to achieve
maximum growth and innovation in business Continental consulting Ltd must come up with
advanced digital technology and should train employees so that they can effectively utilise the
technology resource so as to achieve growth for organisation. Whereas a researcher should also
make best use of its resources like government reports, magazines, books, journals internet etc.
so as to come up with valuable and accurate result.
4

Communication:
In order to come up with positive impact in the form of increase in sales and profit,
management of Continental consulting Ltd must take into consideration that there take place
effective communication between management and employees so that workers can easily adopt
the changes taking place in the adoption of digital technology. Thus, good communication in an
organisation will help business to achieve maximum growth and innovation. Whereas a
researcher can make use of e-mail, messages, questionnaire method in order to communicate
with respondents in order to gather valuable information.
P3Work break down structure and Gantt chart
Work break down structure:
It cab be defined as the key project deliverable in which the team work are bing
organized into manageable sections. Moreover it cab be said that it is deliverable oriented
hierarchical decompositions of the work into checks which needs to be executed by the project
team (Hillson, 2017).
5

Gantt chart:
It is a chart which is being used by an organisation as it render a graphical illustration of
the project schedule that helps in planning, coordinating and tracking specific tasks in a project.
Horizontal axis of the chart represent the time spank of the project in which each task need to be
completed, whereas on vertical axis task are being represented which are need to be carried out
in order to completed the project on time (Muller, 2017).
6

7

TASK 2
P4 Small scale research by applying qualitative and qualitative research method
In order to carry out small scale research it is essential for the research to take into
consideration qualitative, quantitative, Primary and secondary research techniques and they are
explained below (Nicholas and Steyn, 2017):
Qualitative research method:
This is a type of market research method which focuses on obtaining of information
through conversational and open-ended communication. Moreover, it can be said that this
method is used to uncover trends in opinions and thoughts and dive deeper into the issues and
this method vary using semi-structured and unstructured techniques. Some common method of
qualitative research is individuals interviews, observation, focus groups discussion etc. Thus a
researcher in order to carry out effective research on project plan this research method is being
considered so as to collect valuable data (Polonsky and Waller, 2018).
Quantitative research method:
It can be de-dined as that type of research method in which a systematic investigation of
phenomenon is being done by collecting quantifiable data and performing statistical,
computational and mathematical techniques. This in this method a research collects data from
potential and existing customers by using sampling methods and sending out online polls, online
surveys, questionnaires etc. and the outcome is being depicted in the form of numericals.
Primary research method:
It is defined as a methodology which is being applied by the researcher so as to gather
valuable information directly rather than collecting data from previously research done.
Technically it can be said that the research “Own” the data. Thus in order to carry out defective
project and research a researcher takes this method into consideration so as to address a problems
which require depth analysis (Pryke and Smyth, 2012).
8

Secondary research method:
It is a type of research tool which involves using of existing information which have
already being published in several books, journals, magazines, internet etc. Moreover while
carrying out this research existing research material are being summarized and collated so as to
increase the overall effectiveness of research.
Thus, a researcher adopts the qualitative research method and primary data collection tool
so as to gather reliable and accurate information of the project plan. In order to gather opinions
of individuals questionnaire method is being used in which a set of question are being rendered
along with some options to the respondent and the respondent have to juts tick market the right
option. The sample size considered by rehearser is 40 respondent and they are the customers and
the employees of the company (Pulina and Timpanaro, 2012).
Questionnaire
Name:
E-mail id:
Phone number:
Address:
1. Are you aware about the concept of digital technology?
 Yes
 No
2.Does it will be beneficial for the Continental consulting Ltd to come up with innovative
ideas in respect of digital technology?
 Yes
 No
3. What type of digital technology should the Continental consulting Ltd should come
upon so as to improve growth?
 Artificial intelligence
 Cloud technology
 social media
 Mobile application
4. What is the impact which the digital technology can have upon Continental consulting
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Ltd?
 Improvement in sales
 Decrease in the workload of staff
5.Does digital technology is interconnected with the growth and innovation of Continental
Consulting Ltd?
 Agree
 Disagree
6. What are the barriers which can take place during the process of innovation and
growth of Continental consulting Ltd?
 Lack of funds
Lack of skilled labour
7. Which are the factors that pushes Continental Consulting Ltd to adopts modern digital
technology?
 High competition
 Change in market trends
8.How Continental consulting Ltd can overcome the barriers which can take place during
improvement of growth and innovation?
 Sufficient availability of funds
 Skilled staff
9. Recommend some ways for Continental consulting Ltd so as to improve growth and
innovation in business.
…...................................................................................................................................................
TASK 3
P5Reseserach and data analysis
Researcher hers takes into consideration Thematic interpretation data analysis techniques
so as to examine the opinions of the individuals which are being given with the help of above
questionnaire (Reich, Gemino and Sauer, 2014):
Theme 1
1. Are you aware about the concept of Frequency
10

digital technology?
 Yes 35
 No 5
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 30 of them specifies
that yes they are aware about the concept of digital technology. Whereas rest 5 of them says that
no they are not even aware about the concept of digital technology. Thus, it can be concluded
that majority of population are aware about the concept of digital technology.
Theme 2
11
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
35
5
Frequency

2.Does it will be beneficial for the
Continental consulting Ltd to come up with
innovative ideas in respect of digital
technology?
Frequency
 Yes 39
 No 1
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 39 of them specifies
that yes it will be beneficial for the Continental consulting Ltd to come up with innovative ideas
in respect of digital technology. Whereas 1 of them says that no it will not be beneficial for the
Continental consulting Ltd to come up with innovative ideas in respect of digital technology.
Thus, overall it can be said that if the company will be benefited if the organisation adopts
modern digital technology.
Theme 3
12
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
39
1
Frequency

3. What type of digital technology should
the Continental consulting Ltd should come
upon so as to improve growth?
Frequency
 Artificial intelligence 4
 Cloud technology 6
 social media 20
 Mobile application 10
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 4 of them says that
artificial intelligence is the type of digital technology which should be adopted by the
Continental consulting Ltd so as to improve growth and 6 of them says cloud technology. Other
20 of them says social media will be best suitable to achieve successful growth. Whereas rest 10
of them specifies that mobile technology will too suit best for Continental consulting Ltd in
improving growth.
13
Artificial intelligence
Cloud technology
social media
Mobile application
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
4
6
20
10
Frequency

Theme 4
4. What is the impact which the digital
technology can have upon Continental
consulting Ltd?
Frequency
 Improvement in sales 25
 Decrease in the workload of staff 15
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 35 of them says
that the impact which the digital technology can have upon Continental consulting Ltd is
improvement in sales volume. Whereas rest 15 of them says workload of staff will get decreased
as paper work will get reduced.
Theme 5
14
Improvement in sales Decrease in the workload of staff
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
15
Frequency

5.Does digital technology is positively
interconnected with the growth and
innovation of Continental Consulting Ltd?
Frequency
 Agree 37
 Disagree 3
Interpretation
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 37 of them says that
they are agree that there exist positive relationship with the growth and innovation of Continental
Consulting Ltd. Whereas rest 2 of them says no there does not exist any positive relationship of
digital technology with growth and innovation.
Theme 6
8.What are the barriers which can take
place during the process of innovation and
growth of Continental consulting Ltd?
Frequency
 Lack of funds 30
15
Agree Disagree
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40 37
3
Frequency

 Lack of skilled labour 10
Interpretation:
From the above table it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 30 of them says that
the barriers which can take place during the process of innovation and growth of Continental
consulting Ltd is lack of funds. Whereas rest 10 of them says lack of skilled labour may result in
the form of barriers for the growth and in ovation of business.
Theme 7
7. Which are the factors that pushes
Continental Consulting Ltd to adopts
modern digital technology?
Frequency
 High competition 25
 Change in market trends 15
16
Lack of funds Lack of skilled labour
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
30
10
Frequency

Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 25 of them says that
high competition is one of the fact which forces Continental consulting Ltd to adopts the modern
digital technology so as to achieve growth and innovation. Whereas rest 15 of them says that
change in market trends is also one the factor which influences business to take into
consideration modern digital technology.
Theme 8
8.How Continental consulting Ltd can
overcome the barriers which can take place
Frequency
17
High competition Change in market trends
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
15
Frequency

during improvement of growth and
innovation?
 Sufficient availability of funds 25
 Skilled staff 15
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be interpreted that among 40 respondent 35 of them specifies
that if the Continental consulting Ltd ensure that there is sufficient availability of funds then it
will easily help to overcome the barrier which can take place in the form of shortage of funds
during the process of improvement in growth and innovation.
P6Recommendation
After analysing the above data with the help of thematic interpretation technique certain
recommendation are being given below with the help of which Continental consulting firm can
easily achieve its successful growth and innovation and they are mentioned below (Santos,
2012):
18
Sufficient availability of funds Skilled staff
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
15
Frequency

 Firstly, it can be recommended that Continental consulting firm should adopts the social
media digital technology as large number of people are connected with it and it will
easily help business in supporting medium and small business manufacturing enterprises
so as to re-engineer their organisation process in order to achieve high profitability and
sustainability.
 Secondly it can be recommended that in order to operate with digital technology
effectively skilled labour will be required so management of Continental consulting Ltd
should recruit and select skilled labour which will help business to achieve growth and
innovation too.
 Thirdly, it can be recommended that management of Continental consulting firm should
make investment in carrying out market research analysis as changing in technology
keeps on taking place due to the change in trends. Thus, it will help business to remain
update about the changing trends and technology which will also result in achieving
maximum growth and innovation in business.
TASK 4
P7Reflection
Overall it can be reflected that a research has been conducted by me on the title the
impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and innovation- A Case study on
Continental consulting Ltd. So in order to carry out this research I have studied about various
types of research methods like qualitative, quantitative, primary, secondary etc. so as to gather
valuable and reliable data. Moreover thematic interpretation techniques also has been used by me
in order to analyse the research and the data which were collected by me with the help of
questionnaire in which 40 respondent as sample size were take so as to acknowledge the
opinions of whole population. Thus, it has helped me to achieve my aims and objectives of the
project plan (Seymour and Hussein, 2014).
Apart from this I have faced from many problems as well while carrying out this research
and those issues are mentioned below:
Issues How I have tackled with such issue
while carrying out research.
How I can further improve
my such skill.
Communication While communicating with respondent In order to improve my this
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I have face difficult as they belong to
different cultural background, so in
order to carry out research effectively I
have render more and more of
information to the respondents so as to
make them clear about the topic on
which they have to render their opinions
which has also consumed my time.
skill I will try to give
presentation in-front of large
number of public which will
help me to build my
confidence level.
Time management In order to completed my research
effectively there was a requirement of
enough of time, but due to shortage of
time I have face issues. So in order to
tackle with this issue I have segregated
my task into different segment and
allotted time period for each segment .
Thus, it has helped my to tackle with
this issue and in completing my research
on time.
I can further improve my this
skill by looking at how my
senior manages their time
schedule and will try to do the
same and will ask to my senior
to render me a feedback
whether I have completed my
work on time or not.
CONCLUSION
From the above report overall it can be concluded that in order to manage business
successfully it is very much essential for the management of organisation to take into
consideration the changes taking place in digital technology as with the passage of time changes
keeps on taking place. So in order analyse the impact of digital technology n small business
growth and innovation this research were carried out. Certain research method like qualitative
and quantitative were also considered so as to gather valuable data. Moreover, thematic
interpenetration were also done in order to analyse the the data collected through questionnaire.
Lastly certain recommendation were also given so that company can make best use of digital
technology in cacheing maximum growth and innovation.
20

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REFERNCES
Books and Journals
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Davies, M.B. and Hughes, N., 2014. Doing a successful research project: Using qualitative or
quantitative methods. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Frankenberger, K., and et. al., 2013. The 4I-framework of business model innovation: A
structured view on process phases and challenges. International journal of product
development. 18(3/4). pp.249-273.
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.
Heger, T. and Rohrbeck, R., 2012. Strategic foresight for collaborative exploration of new
business fields. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 79(5). pp.819-831.
Hillson, D., 2017. Managing risk in projects. Routledge.
Muller, R., 2017. Project governance. Routledge.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Polonsky, M. J. and Waller, D. S., 2018. Designing and managing a research project: A business
student's guide. Sage publications.
Pryke, S. and Smyth, H., 2012. The management of complex projects: A relationship approach.
John Wiley & Sons.S
Pulina, P. and Timpanaro, G., 2012. Ethics, sustainability and logistics in agricultural and agri-
food economics research. Italian Journal of Agronomy. 7(3). p.33.
Reich, B. H., Gemino, A. and Sauer, C., 2014. How knowledge management impacts
performance in projects: An empirical study. International Journal of Project
Management. 32(4). pp.590-602.
Santos, F. M., 2012. A positive theory of social entrepreneurship. Journal of business ethics.
111(3). pp.335-351.
Seymour, T. and Hussein, S., 2014. The history of project management. International Journal of
Management & Information Systems (Online). 18(4). p.233.
Silvius, A. J. and Schipper, R. P., 2014. Sustainability in project management: A literature
review and impact analysis. Social Business.4(1). pp.63-96.
Spender, J. C., 2014. Business strategy: Managing uncertainty, opportunity, and enterprise.
Oxford University Press.
Online
Difference Between Primary and Secondary Data. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-primary-and-secondary-data.html>.
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Project Logbook
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation:
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: Date:
Update of weekly research/ tasks achieved
 What have you completed?
 Did you fulfil Task requirements?
 Are you on track and within deadlines set?
 Did you need to make any changes to your
project management plan?
Comments
Analysis of the impact of digital
technology supporting small business
growth and innovation- A Case study on
Continental consulting Ltd.
Yes
Yes
No
Any risks and / or issues identified?
 Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of
skills required for undertaking research
tasks?
 Did you identify any additional risks/issues
that have an impact on the project
management plan?
Shortage of time
No
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Problems encountered
 What barriers did you face?
 How did you overcome them?
Lack of knowledge about the ways of
gathering data.
By taking help of internet, books etc.
New Ideas and change of project direction No
What Have I learnt about myself this week?
 How did I feel when I had to deal with
tasks/problems?
 Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?
 How well have I performed? What did I
contribute?
 What can I improve on next week?
 How might this learning apply in the
future?
Well satisfied.
Yes.
Satisfactory level.
My communication skill.
For carrying out further research.
Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority?
 Have you set aside sufficient time for
completion?
Respondent opinions.
By scheduling time for each task.
24