Project Management Plan for Employee Training at Zara Corporation

This report outlines a comprehensive project management plan for Zara's employee training project, addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic and the need for enhanced employee skills. It details the scope of the training project, emphasizing its importance for improving both employee and organizational performance. The report explores various project management tools and techniques such as PRINCE2, Waterfall, and Agile methodologies, recommending a tailored approach for Zara. It includes a detailed project management plan with stakeholder analysis, work breakdown structure, cost considerations, resource allocation, Gantt chart, and risk assessment. Furthermore, the report provides a project implementation plan, emphasizing research, risk analysis, and communication strategies. This plan aims to ensure the successful execution of the training project, aligning with Zara's strategic objectives and adapting to the evolving business environment. The full report is available on Desklib for students seeking detailed examples and insights.

Managing Projects in
the Organisation
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
A basic project outline / description / scope based on your project.......................................3
Project management tools and techniques..............................................................................4
Project Management Plan.......................................................................................................5
Project Implementation plan.................................................................................................10
Communication Strategies....................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is the process in which an organisation is performing business
activities that assists them to achieve the project goals and objectives (Lacruz and et.al., 2019). It
is very important for an organisation to manage their projects in an effective way so that they are
able to reduce the negative impacts of risk. This report aims to formulate a project management
plan with special reference to Zara. Zara is found to be the Spanish apparel retailers that operates
in fast fashion. The headquartered of Zara is situated in Spain. This report will be discuss project
management tools and techniques, project management plan, project implementation plan, and
communication strategies.
MAIN BODY
A basic project outline / description / scope based on your project
This is the training project of Zara. Zara is the Spanish retailer organisation that
operates in fast fashion clothes. It is found that Zara is one of the largest apparel retailers in
world. Their fast fashion is always in trend. But in the present times, it is identified that they
require to do a training project as their employees are get impacted because of pandemic
situations. Due to COVID-19, it is found that every day the complexities for organisation is
increasing as it provided an economic impact on country as well as on organisation (Zasa,
Patrucco and Pellizzoni, 2020). Pandemic is provided a negative impact on the employees'
productivity as they are feeling insecure for lost of job. It is found by the employees of Zara that
every company is terminate employees from their job as they have not ample financial resources
in order to provide training. In addition to this, it is found that pandemic situations pressure on
work from home and most of people are not able to do the job. So that's why it is analysed by
Zara needs to do training project which provides a training to their employees for the
development of skills and knowledge.
Scope of project: Training is found to be the continuous process so that's why the scope
of this project is in wide. It includes each and every person in organisation who needs to improve
their skills and knowledge. It is identified that with the help of training project, Zara is not only
able to improve their employees' performance but also able to improve the performance of
organisation.
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Project management tools and techniques
It is very important for Zara that they needs to use different project management tools
and techniques. Project management tools and techniques are necessary to order to make the
project successful. Due to COVID-19, the success of projects is not easy and that's why it is very
important for Zara to use different tools and techniques of project management so that they are
able to achieve the training goals and objectives. It is necessary to understand by Zara that they
should not rely only on one technique of project management as there are many situations come
in the project which is not able to resolve by one tool or technique. So there are some techniques
or tools of project management are mentioned below:
PRINCE2
It is defined as the process based method which is used in project management by an
organisation. This is the method or tool which should be apply by project managers so that they
are able to develop skills for become a successful project manager (Moreira, Vieira, Bravo and
Bredillet, 2020). PRINCE2 is the acronym of Projects In Controlled Environments. This tool can
be easily used by project managers to each project which they undertake. So that's why it is also
applicable to training project of Zara. It is identified that PRINCE2 is the popular management
methodology. It has 7 phases which are discussed below:
 Start up
 Directing
 Initiation
 Controlling
 Managing product delivery
 Managing stage boundaries
 Closing
Waterfall techniques
It is found that waterfall technique is the traditional project management techniques. This
technique is amazing as it can be used in the complex projects which are not able to deal with
classical approach (Morlan, 2019). This technique is based on project management tasks which
are dealing by an organisation in sequential form. In this technique, the project manager is
focusing on successful completion of previous tasks and then come on next task. It is just like a
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waterfall in which all tasks of a projects are flowing into desired direction but only if when they
are completed. Waterfall methodology is required five important stages which are discussed
below:
 Requirements
 Design
 Implementation
 Verification or Testing
 Deployment & Maintenance
Agile Project management
It is an important technique which used by organisation for the purpose of project
management. It is found that this technique is one of the most famous techniques as it deals in
with different projects (Hoi and Goy, 2020). It is quite different from traditional approach as it is
focusing on crushing the big projects into smaller steps so that they are able to achieve the
project goals. It is detailed analysis which assists in adaptive and effective planning according to
the changes and needs required in the project. Agile project management break downs the whole
projects in small parts so that they can easily delegate the roles and responsibility to each
member in the team.
Project Management Plan
Project management plan is the procedure which is formulated by organisations so that
they can manage the whole project in an effective way. It is very important for the project
managers of Zara that they should make a plan in which they include all the important activities
required in training. For that purpose, it is crucial for project managers of Zara that they should
possess some necessary skills and knowledge such as risk taker, creative thinking, innovator,
critical thinking, etc. There are many benefits found by project managers of Zara and that's why
they are planning for success of their training project. Some benefits of project management plan
are clear and organized plan is improving the collaboration of team. In addition to this, well
defined goals in PMP is able to improve team effectiveness. It is also found that PMP is using
management tools and techniques which helps them to increase efficiency. The important
elements in PMP are mentioned below:
Stakeholder analysis
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Stakeholder analysis is very important for the Zara as they are formulating a plan for their
training project and that's why it is very important for them to analyse the stakeholders' interest
which assists them to achieve the goals and objectives of project. It is found that stakeholders are
important as they are taking interest in the success of an organisation (Komarova and et.al.,
2020). Some important stakeholders of Zara are the owners, employees, customer, suppliers,
government and the investors. In stakeholder analysis, it is necessary for company to give
priority to each stakeholder so that they are able to achieve the goals and objectives. This can be
possible with the help of below stages:
 High power, high interest: It is the first stage in which an organisation is focusing on
identifying and giving priority to those stakeholders who are important for the
organisation such as owners, employees, etc.
 High power, low interest: In this stage, Zara needs to give priority to those stakeholders
who have high power but they have as much interest. So that's why company needs to
keep satisfied them.
 Low power, high interest: In this stage, Zara should informed all stakeholder who have
low power and high interest. In addition to this, they also need to check them in a regular
manner.
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 Low power, low interest: It is found that Zara needs to just informed stakeholders in
these category on a periodical basis.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Work breakdown structure is an important element in project management plan as it is
focuses on break down the whole project into smaller parts and then distribute the roles and
responsibility accordingly (Kerzner, 2018). This will reduce the confusion in the mind of Zara's
project managers. So there is a work breakdown structure mentioned below that helps to show
that how all the activities of project will be performed in which manner:
Draft of costs/resources
Here is a draft of training costs which should be consider by project managers of Zara. So
the costs draft is mentioned below:
Training cost per employees
Particulars Amount ($) Amount ($)
Training Material costs 1500
Instructor costs 5000
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Training Equipments 2000
Facility costs 4500
Food costs 1500
Travelling and Living costs 1200
Total Costs (A) 15700
Loss of productivity of administration costs 500
Loss of productivity of Trainees 5500
Total Loss of Productivity (B) 6000
Total Training Cost (A+B) $ 21700
Total Number of Trainees 25
Training Costs per employee $ 868
Consideration of resources
It is found that Zara needs to consider all resources in their project management plan so
that they are able to achieve the project goals. If it is found that project manager of Zara is
forgetting any resources then they are not achieve the objective. This is very important to include
all the resources in training project of Zara in which some of them are mentioned below:
 Trainee
 Trainers
 Training equipments such as projector, computer, laptop, etc.
 Capital
 E books and podcasts, etc.
Gantt Chart
Gantt chart is found to be the chart or graph which is used for the purpose of clearly
defined the tasks and activities which will be performed in the future. It is in the chart form in
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which company needs to maintain the eye on each and every task of training project so that Zara
is able to achieve their goals in an effective way.
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Risk Assessment
Risk is present in every where and that's why it is very important for Zara that they
should find all the business risks which will be found in training project of Zara. Some important
business risks are technological risk, skills resources risk, performance risk, cost risk,
communication risk, etc. Risk assessment requires some important steps which are discussed in
below points:
 Identification of hazards
 Determine what, or who, could be harmed
 Evaluate the risks
 Develop control measures
 Record the findings
 Review risk assessment regularly
Project Implementation plan
The project mention plan is necessary in the critical procedure which requires the actual
execution and monitoring process. This plan provides all the steps in order to implement the
strategy to fulfill the objectives of organisation.
Research and discovery: This research process involves the strategic process in which research
have been done. This research includes who will be the people, timeline and the resources which
have allocated. The project of training in Zara requires the involvement of active employees and
stakeholder to analyse the business and market demand. The project will lead to spend dollar 868
for providing training to each employee (Gemünden, Lehner and Kock, 2018). These costs
would be incurred as per the desired manner so that organisation would accomplish their
objectives to change each and every employee effectively.
Plan assumptions and risk: analysing risk is the most important factor as it may arrive
anytime and anywhere in the business situation. The project for Zara to provide trainings for the
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employees associate many risk for employee termination, pandemic situation and large business
complexities. This may become hurdle for the company as they need to focus on main operation
rather than providing training. So that Zara must manage the time effectively and do not waste
the spare time and contribute it to enhancing employee’s knowledge. There may be budget
constraints as in the economics fluctuation due to inflation that must be pre-determined to avoid
huge losses.
Assign responsibility: it is also the most important task of project implementation. In order to
achieve project objectives, it is necessary to assign responsibilities and authority is to the
potential people. This will maintain a proper structure and coordination into the organisation.
The Zara needs to assign this responsibility is to managers and leaders who will be responsible to
check each employee performance and regulate the activities into overall department (Sanchez
and Terlizzi, 2017). The authorities are provided to the experts in overall the department. These
departments will have one leader and one manager to provide training in equivalent sessions.
Determine activities: the main steps of the plan are to engage all the employees and get
the feedback about their problems, issues and the skills in which they are lacking. The first
activity would be segregate employees as per their skills and capabilities. By dividing each
employee within one segment it will be easy for the leaders to guide one particular group for the
similar topic. The next requirement is need for stakeholder which will be company export and
professionals who will bring the need for change into Zara. The resources need to be a
software’s, computers and laptops and other communication tools to maintain contact.
Communication Strategies
The foremost communication strategies to implement Zara project are described below:
Use of communication tools: this strategy is necessary as due to digitalization there are a lot of
communication tools which require to be used in the organisation. These are cell phones,
adaptors, extensions in others which maintain contact between leader and employees.
Meet with employees regularly: the Zara needs to use this strategy much often. Meeting with
the employees regularly will maintain hierarchy and good relations full stop the employees will
freely discuss about their problems and valuable. Therefore, this could be done through audio
and video conference calls.
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Recognise achievements: it is also the most valuable strategy to maintain with employees.
There will be more engaged in the company's training program when the employees get
motivated through achievements and awards. The manager needs to look at giving performance
appraisals to enable the need for training.
Task 2
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