OBC - Managing a Successful Business Project: Pandemic & Workplace

This project examines the impact of a major external event, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, on workplace transformation, focusing on Oxford Business College (OBC). The report discusses the negative impacts of the pandemic, such as increased costs and employee turnover, and outlines the importance of the project life cycle (PLC) and project management plan (PMP) for OBC's expansion efforts. It details key project factors like deliverables, quality, risk, communication, and resources, emphasizing the use of primary and secondary data for effective expansion planning. The project aims to expand the university into new areas, improve workforce profitability, enhance technology implementation, and foster a positive organizational culture. The research employs a descriptive design to analyze market trends and improve the college's working efficiency, highlighting the critical role of project management in ensuring successful business development and adaptation to external changes.

How has a major external
event transformed the
workplace

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Discussion over workplace transformation and impact of pandemic over workplace................3
Explaining the theory underlying the key stages of PLC and PMP............................................3
Producing the PMP for the business...........................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The businesses exist in the external environment and there are many different changes
taking place which can affect the working efficiency of the business. With respect to this the
current external event which has majorly affected the working in the external environment to a
great extent. hence the present study includes discussion of OBC that is Oxford Business College
which is a private high education based college. The college has enjoying good growth and
development since past few years and is now expanding the services. For this the management
has developed good franchise and has acquired new premises for expanding the university in
new areas. But the pandemic has affected the working in a great manner and as a result of this
the working of OBC was also affected. The current report will outline the development of the
project management plan in order to grow and develop the university for future development.
MAIN BODY
Discussion over workplace transformation and impact of pandemic over workplace
The workplace transformation is being defined as the making changes within the
workplace so that the different changes can be produced. This transformation can be both
positive and negative because the changes of external environment are not in control of
company. the impact of pandemic over the workplace is negative as because of the pandemic the
college were shut down (Susilowati and et.al., 2021). This in turn results in the increase in cost
as the teaching facility need to be provided with online sources and for this new set- ups have to
be created. There is a negative impact being created because it will be affecting the working of
OBC in negative terms as the cost is increased to a great extent and also there is high employee
turnover which affects the working efficiency of the university.
Explaining the theory underlying the key stages of PLC and PMP
For the acquiring of the different areas for expansion of the college in the new areas.
Hence, for this, OBC need to follow all the stages of the new project life cycle. This is essential
for OBC to comply with all these stages because of the reason that it will provide better outcome
and as a result of this the working and operating efficiency will be increased (Crawford, 2021).
The different stages of the project life cycle include initiation, planning, executing, monitoring
and control and at last closing. For OBC to be successful in expanding the university in different
areas will have to comply with all these stages. Out of all these stages, the most important for

OBC to manage is the planning and execution stage. This is particularly because of the reason
that in case this will not be planned in proper manner and be executed in the planned manner
then this will be affecting the working efficiency of the company. hence, out of all the stages it is
important for the company to plan the working in better manner and to execute the working in
exactly the same manner.
Further for the expansion of the college in the different cities there are also different
types of the factors that need to be considered before expansion (Khomyakov, Mirgalimova and
Sillitti, 2020). The reason underlying this fact is that these factors help in effective development
and expansion of the college to different areas. Hence, for this the different factors involves the
following-
 Deliverables- the major deliverable of the project of the project involves expanding the
business in other areas as well like West London, Slough, Nottingham and others. Further
another deliverable of the project involves the updating the of the space and use the
premises in better and effective manner. This is necessary because when the space will be
utilised properly then this will be implementing the project in successful manner.
 Quality- with respect to successful project it is clear that all the steps of the PLC need to
be followed in proper and effective manner. Also, it is necessary for OBC that proper
quality is being maintained within its working (Project life cycle, 2022). The reason
underlying this fact is that when the quality will be good then this will be affecting the
working in positive manner and vice versa. For this OBC is complying and using all the
latest technology and this improves the working and quality of the company.
 Risk- the risk is any sort of contingency which might occur in the future and can affect
the working to a great extent. the risk which OBC might face is the conflict among the
employees (Heigermoser and et.al., 2019). This is a risk because there can be conflict
arises any time and this can affect the working to a great extent. also another risk attached
to the expansion of the college in new countries is the external changes like the
pandemic. These changes are not in hands of OBC but can affect the working to a great
extent.
 Communication- this is the most essential aspect in the successful completion of the
project and this is necessary because it will result in development of work in better

manner. For the communication, the use of both written and verbal communication is
being undertaken.
 Resources- the resources involve the different types of tools and techniques which are
assistive in completion of the project successfully. This is most important because
without these resources the project cannot be completed in proper manner (Kerzner,
2018). The different resources involve use of computers, technology, internet
connectivity, stationary and many others.
Also for the expansion there are different methods and all these need to be followed
appropriately in order to work in proper manner. For the data collection the focus will be laid
over the combination of primary and secondary sources in order to expand the business properly
and attain the objectives in better and effective manner (Richardson and Jackson, 2018). This use
of primary and secondary sources is important for the project management because it will
provide the data relating to the things going in the new market and accordingly the expansion
will be planned in proper and effective manner.
Producing the PMP for the business
The aim of the project is to expand the university into new areas like Nottingham,
Coventry, West London and others.
The objectives further include the following –
 To implement good workforce within the college so that its profitability increases by 20
%.
 To enhance the implementation of latest technology by increasing the investment in this
field by 16 %.
 To work on improving the organizational culture and interrelationship among employees
for fostering the working by 12 %.
With respect to the research design it is necessary for the company that they must
undertake the use of appropriate research design. Hence, for the successful completion of the
project of expansion of college in new areas, the use of descriptive design of research will be
undertaken. the reason underlying this fact is that this descriptive design of research will be
helping the company in analysing the latest trends (Borkovskaya, 2018). Thus, this will be
providing better outcome to for the company to grow and develop and become a successful
college. Along with this the use of data also assisted in better and effective manner because it

includes the following latest trends prevailing within the market and among the learning
technology. Further this descriptive design will assist in improving the working efficiency of the
college and compliance with latest technology will help the company in improving the working
efficiency of the college.
Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Scheduled Project initiation 12 days Tue 4/5/22 Wed
4/20/22
Auto
Scheduled Developing project idea 2 days Tue 4/5/22 Wed
4/6/22
Auto
Scheduled Developing the team 3 days Thu 4/7/22 Mon
4/11/22 2
Auto
Scheduled Defining stakeholder 4 days Tue
4/12/22 Fri 4/15/22 2,3
Auto
Scheduled Developing deliverables of project 3 days Mon
4/18/22
Wed
4/20/22 2,3,4
Auto
Scheduled Project planning 10 days Thu
4/21/22
Wed
5/4/22
Auto
Scheduled Designing the layout of activities 4 days Thu
4/21/22
Tue
4/26/22 5
Auto
Scheduled Communication plan 3 days Wed
4/27/22 Fri 4/29/22 7
Auto
Scheduled Risk management plan 3 days Mon
5/2/22
Wed
5/4/22 8
Auto
Scheduled Project execution 6 days Thu
5/5/22
Thu
5/12/22
Auto
Scheduled Assigning resources 3 days Thu 5/5/22 Mon
5/9/22 8,9
Auto
Scheduled Installation of tracking system 3 days Tue
5/10/22
Thu
5/12/22 11
Auto
Scheduled Project monitoring 6 days Fri
5/13/22
Fri
5/20/22
Auto
Scheduled Monitoring of overall performance 4 days Fri 5/13/22 Wed
5/18/22 12
Auto
Scheduled Cost tracking 2 days Thu
5/19/22 Fri 5/20/22 14
Auto
Scheduled Project closure 1 day Mon
5/23/22
Mon
5/23/22
Auto
Scheduled Final submission 1 day Mon
5/23/22
Mon
5/23/22 15

CONCLUSION
In the end it is concluded that managing the project is very important for the company to
work in proper manner so that working can be improved in better manner. For the development it
is necessary that proper project is managed. For this the above report evaluated the fact that use

of PLC that is project life cycle is very important and also the use of project management plan
that is PMP.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Borkovskaya, V., 2018. Project management risks in the sphere of housing and communal
services. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 251, p. 06025). EDP Sciences.
Crawford, J.K., 2021. Project management maturity model. Auerbach Publications.
Heigermoser, D., and et.al., 2019. BIM-based Last Planner System tool for improving
construction project management. Automation in Construction. 104. pp.246-254.
Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley
& Sons.
Khomyakov, I., Mirgalimova, R. and Sillitti, A., 2020, March. An investigation of the project
management approaches of agile and plan-based companies. In Proceedings of the 35th
Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (pp. 1662-1665).
Richardson, G. L. and Jackson, B.M., 2018. Project management theory and practice. Auerbach
Publications.
Susilowati, M. and et.al., 2021, March. How to manage scope, time and cost of project
management plan to develop manufacture information system. In IOP Conference Series:
Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 1098, No. 6, p. 062006). IOP Publishing.
Online
Project life cycle. 2022. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.workfront.com/project-
management/life-cycle#:~:text=project%20life%20cycle-,What%20is%20the%20project
%20life%20cycle%3F,monitoring%2Fcontrolling%2C%20and%20closing. >