Project Management Reflective Case Study: A14 Scheme, Solent Uni

This report provides a detailed analysis of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme, examining the role of projects in delivering organizational strategy and the processes involved in initiating, planning, and managing such projects. The report critically reviews the project context, stakeholder management using Friedman vs. Freeman theory, problem-solving and decision-making processes, and risk management strategies employed. It highlights factors contributing to effective project management and identifies areas for improvement with corresponding recommendations. The case study delves into specific challenges, such as the discovery of historical artifacts and wildlife conservation, and how project managers addressed these issues to ensure the project's success while minimizing environmental impact. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of integrating organizational strategy with risk management to achieve project objectives and enhance business value. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and past papers.

A14 CAMBRIDGE TO
HUNTINGDON
IMPROVEMRNT
SCHEME

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Role of projects in delivering organizational strategy:................................................................3
Process for initiating, planning and managing projects:..............................................................4
Project context:............................................................................................................................5
Stakeholder Management:...........................................................................................................5
Problem solving and decision making:........................................................................................6
Risk Management:.......................................................................................................................7
Factors that contributed to effective project management:..........................................................8
Factors that were absent and recommendations:.........................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Project Management is the use of management techniques to combine skills, tools,
resources and knowledge to accomplish a range of activities in order to fulfil the goals of the
project. This report gives a gist of the role of projects in delivering organizational strategy and
the processes of initiation, planning and managing that are involved in the overall management
of a project (McClory, Read and Labib, 2017). The report will critically review the case study
chosen, i.e. A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme. Project context, stakeholder
management, problem solving and decision making and lastly, risk management of the case
study will be analysed. This will be followed by the factors that made the project management
successful and recommendations as to how the shortcomings could have been avoided.
MAIN BODY
Task 1
Role of projects in delivering organizational strategy:
Projects are temporary grouping of people, skills, resources, tools, etc. to create
something valuable. Projects are temporary in the sense that the have a beginning and an end.
Projects have well-defined goals and a budget. Though the budgetary constraints can be altered
to meet the demand for resources, the project usually operates under fixed monetary limits. With
globalization and the homogenization that is followed by it, results in all kinds of work being
organized around projects. Each project is allotted to a team and has a Project Professional or a
Project Manager (Irfan and et.al., 2020). Project Manager ensures that the team or the teams if
there are several teams under him/her, are working to meet the goals set by the project on time.
Project Managers along with the team leaders ensure that the team members are constantly
motivated and give their hundred percent towards the project and its objectives.
Businesses are increasingly relying on projects and project management as a way to
deliver their organizational strategy. When employees are divided in the form of teams and each
team is allotted either some or a single project, this improves the mobility of the team. Small
teams can take quick decisions and divide work in between, brainstorm ideas and resolve
conflicts much faster. In addition, this division of labour also improves the overall efficiency of
the company. Project management establish a link between project goals and the organizational
goals. With a series of well-defined projects, the goals of the organization can be split up in a
number of achievable goals (Galli, 2018). With responsibility is also divided among a number of

competent project managers, who keeps the team motivated and can ensure better delivery of
organizational strategy.
Process for initiating, planning and managing projects:
Project Initiation- The process of initiating a project is crucial as it is decided at this
stage how will the project end up. At this stage, it neds to be confirmed what the project seeks to
deliver and how can it increase the business value of the organization. The feasibility of the
project is also determined at this stage (Zaman, Nawaz and Nadeem, 2020). Major decisions are
taken at this stage. The demonstration of the service the project seeks to deliver or the demo
version of the product the project seek to develop, is made and presented in front of the
stakeholders. The decision of whether to move forward with the project or to abandon it, is also
taken at this stage.
The Project initiation process starts with a business case that is presented to the higher
management authorities. Next, a feasibility study is conducted to know the viability of the
project. This is followed by the development of a project charter, which helps in answering
questions such as what is the scope of the project, who are the stakeholders and when does it
need to be completed. Once, it is clear who the stakeholders are, they can be wooed by
understanding what they want and delivering on the same lines. An appropriate team is selected
for that propose and the project is initiated (Kerzner, 2018).
Project Planning- Planning a project means designing the timeline of the project. In this
stage, the goals are made clear to each member of the team and appropriate strategies are decided
to reach those goals. Discussion is encouraged so that every member of the team is on the same
page and there is so misconception regarding the roles and responsibilities of each member. With
proper planning, possible risks and dangers can be avoided. Modern planning tools should be
used to make the planning process most effective. By planning to use the available resources
judiciously, a resource crunch in the later stages of the project could be avoided. Project planning
helps the team to stay within the budgetary constraints. With planning and effectively
communicating to the team members and stakeholders, the progress in the project, higher level of
transparency could be achieved. Project Planning process includes the development project
charter, statement of work or the scope of work, division of work and the final project plan.
Project Managing- The last three stages of the project management are project
execution, project monitoring and controlling and project closing. Together they can be clubbed

as project managing (Radujković and Sjekavica, 2017). Project execution involves
implementation of the project plan. Simultaneously, the project monitoring and controlling phase
goes on. Project manager takes care that employees do not deviate from the project plan. He/She
also ensures that employees are performing well by measuring their KPI (Key Performance
Index) and CSF (Critical Success Factor). After the completion of the project, project closer
stage follows. Manager take care of the remaining paperwork and contracts of external talent that
was hired for the sake of the project. A detailed report is prepared of the entire project.
Task 2
Project context:
Project context means the conditions under which the project operates. The A14 is a road
that links East coast of England with the Midlands. It is over 130 miles long and serves a
plethora of British citizens. To deal with the congestion issues, a 21 mile road connecting
Cambridge to Huntingdon was constructed between 2016 and 2020. This was known as A14
Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme (Rahardja and Lutfiani, 2020). The scheme also
involved improving the existing infrastructure alongside A14. The construction was in line with
the long existing demand of the passers-by to improve the infrastructure and deal with the traffic
issues. Government provided ample funding for the project by allocating 1.5 billion pound
sterling to the construction project. The project can boost the UK economy by a large margin of
2.5 billion pound sterling. The Scheme would lower the traffic and reduce the time taken to
travel from Midlands to East coast of England. The local citizens will get benefited from the
project as it will improve connectivity and provide employment.
Stakeholder Management:
Friedman Vs. Freeman theory is useful, particularly in this case, for there is a major
conflict between stakeholder and shareholder in the construction of the A14 Cambridge to
Huntingdon Improvement Scheme. Milton Friedman was a neo-liberal who argued the goal of a
business is to maximize profits for its shareholders (Frefer and et.al., 2018). According to him,
project management seeks to create value for the shareholders by managing customers, suppliers
and communities. On the other side, are the Freeman, that is the stakeholders. The stakeholders
are those who are affected by the project the most. The various stakeholders in this case are the
people who are using the A14 and those who will be using it in future, the construction workers,
the supplier of materials, local residents and government. These stakeholders are involved in the

project and have much to loose if the project is a failure, in varying degrees. Construction
workers and the departments working on the project are internal stakeholders as they are
responsible in the completion of the project. While local residents, suppliers and people using the
A14 are the external stakeholders as the project will have a direct outcome for them. The
government is both an internal and external stakeholder as it is involved in the construction by
providing funding for the project, as well as it is the government that will be blamed if the
project goes awry or it has any damaging impacts. The local residents would be sceptical of this
project as the heavy construction will cause noise pollution and air pollution near their homes
and affect their normal lives.
Overall, the Friedman Vs. Freeman Theory suggests that the profits of the stakeholders
can be increased if they take responsibility towards the society. When this theory is applied to
this case, it would mean that the project managers of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon
Improvement Scheme, will note the effect the construction is having on the local residents and
they will try to resolve the issues. In the project planning stage, the construction firms that were
involved in this construction decided that they need to help the local communities grow as well.
So they came up with a A14 community fund. With this fund, they helped over 55 local centres
and ventures better their infrastructure.
Problem solving and decision making:
Problem solving is the process of analysing the situation and looking for solutions to best
navigate to the desired destination. Problem solving is a difficult process that involves analysing
the present situation, all the possible solutions to the problem and making a decision. Decision
making is the process of making a choice out of the options available (Nicholas and Steyn,
2020). Taking good decisions is a significant part of the duties of a project manager. The
managers of A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme, had to take a number of
tough decisions to arrive at a good project plan. They then took a number of tough decisions
while implementing the plan. For instance, a number of artefacts were discovered during the
construction work. Once, these artefacts were found, they had to decide whether to continue with
the project or to stop. They decided to continue as it is an important road with a lot of
government funding behind it. They contacted the archaeology department and made sure that
the workers engaged in the construction know how to identify an ancient artefact and inform the
authorities about it. Similarly, another problem that arose was that of wildlife conservation. Over

20 protected species were present in the area that is to get affected by the huge construction. It
was a problem that demanded a suitable solution. The project managers took a decision to
construct 24 wildlife tunnels so that these wildlife species can pass through them and their
survival is affected by the project.
Risk Management:
Every project faces certain risks. These risks can really harm an organization and hamper
the fulfilment of the objectives. Therefore, effective management of risks is crucial. Risk
Management is about establishing the relationship between risks and the impact on the objectives
of a project (Eriksson, Larsson and Pesämaa, 2017). The goal of risk management is not just
limited to minimizing risks and the damage caused by them, but it is also about not letting good
opportunities slip through the fingers. This is known as Positive Risk Management. Positive risks
are the opportunities, which if grabbed on time, could really increase the business value. This can
only happen by taking smart decisions.
The Project managers of A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme linked their
organizational strategy with their risk management program to deliver on that note. They
organized deliberations on most topics regarding potential risks. The biggest one was of course,
the impact the project would have on the environment and the wildlife. The environmental
impact assessment reports claimed that no major damage will be caused. But the project does
fragment a green space. Fragmentation can affect wildlife by interfering with migratory routes of
animals. Big animals require big forest areas to live in. The risk assessment report confirmed that
no big animals live in the area nearby. To better deal with this risk, the project managers
included the environment factor both in the project planning process as well as the risk
management process. They allocated funds to the development of a square mile of green space.
This space was utilised to deal with other risks such as floods. Trees were planted in this green
space to do flood mitigation (Anantatmula and Rad, 2018). While doing the risk management,
project managers of A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme, designed a five-step
process which included identification of risks, analysing the possibility of happening of the bad
outcome, followed by prioritizing the several risks faced by the project, responding to the risk
conditions and monitoring the results.
Task 3

Factors that contributed to effective project management:
Proper Planning- What made the whole project successful was the effective planning that
was undertaken before starting the construction. Extensive surveys were conducted to know how
the several local communities will be affected because of this project. Several environmental
surveys were conducted to gauge the environmental impact of the project. During the planning
process, it was ensured that the project gives it back to the communities what it takes from them.
Because the A14 scheme was a joint venture between different contractors such as Skanska
Costain Balfour, Beatty and Carillion, it was important that all the objectives and the plan details
are thoroughly discussed, so that all the stakeholders are on the same page.
Inclusive Project Managing- When the project was being executed, it was ensured that
the local communities who bear the brunt of the heavy construction are also included in the
project (Fewings and Henjewele, 2019). To help such communities, the A14 community fund
was started. The fund helped a number of local shops and important centres like the Cambridge
Science centre to upgrade their infrastructure. Besides, the project also took care of communities
by building new pathways for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.
Environmental Consciousness- Construction projects of this magnitude cause large scale
damage to the environment. The team in charge of the project knew they need to make amends
for the damage they cause. So they build new habitat for wildlife over an area of one square mile.
A14 Farmer Cluster was another way through which the Project Managers took care of the
sustainability of the overall project (Giao and Trang, 2020). It included using small pieces of
land for wildlife conservation and flood mitigation. While improving connectivity for humans,
connectivity for animals was improved by constructing 24 wildlife tunnels.
Factors that were absent and recommendations:
During planning, all the stakeholders including the local communities were no doubt
involved. But there contribution was very limited. In future, the opinions and worries of the local
communities should be given the due weightage. Only then, can Project Planning be effective.
Plan initiation can be improved by asking all the relevant questions such as the viability of such
projects, in the very beginning. With the wider impact of such large scale projects on the
environment, planting trees and constructing tunnels for wildlife is not enough. It needs to be
ensured that wildlife conservation areas are not fragmented due to the construction projects.

CONCLUSION
The report critically analysed the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme.
Project context, stakeholder management, problem solving and risk management of this case
study was discussed in the context of project management tools and techniques. Projects are an
effective way to implement the organizational strategy. Project management involves the
processes of project initiation, project planning, project execution, project monitoring and project
closing. It was because of a proper planning and paying attention to the environmental and
community challenges, the A14 project came out to be a success. Proper communication to the
stakeholders, including local communities and government, transparency as maintained and with
ideas coming from all the stakeholders, project managers were able to innovate and develop
better plans to deal with several obstacles.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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