Managing Successful Business Project: Ethicall CSR Activities

This project report focuses on managing a business project with the application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for Ethicall, a UK-based charity fundraising organization. The report begins with an introduction to project management and the importance of CSR. Task 1 sets aims and objectives for Ethicall, including implementing CSR to achieve sustainable objectives, and includes a project management plan with a detailed timeline. It also presents a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart for managing the project. Task 2 involves qualitative research using questionnaires distributed to Ethicall managers. Task 3 analyzes the research findings, and provides recommendations for improving CSR activities within the organization. Finally, Task 4 includes a reflective report summarizing the student's experience. The project aims to explore the role of CSR in business, analyze Ethicall's current CSR practices, and suggest ways to enhance them for competitive advantage.

MANAGING SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Setting aims and objectives for Ethicall company.................................................................1
P2 Preparing project management plan.......................................................................................3
P3 Work break down and Gantt chart.........................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P4 Research through qualitative technique.................................................................................6
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................14
P5 Analysing the research method............................................................................................14
P6 Recommendations on the current study...............................................................................15
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
P7 Reflective report...................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Work break down structure.......................................................................................5
Illustration 2: Gantt chart ................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The business projects can be termed in simple way as a set of various tasks which starts
at a particular time and ends on a specific schedule. Most of the organisations use to divide their
work on the basis of projects so that they can have an overview of all those tasks which they will
have to do at a particular time. It is necessary to manage the business projects in an effective
manner so that work can be accomplished in an appropriate way. The present report is based on
managing a project which with the application of CSR activities so that a firm can be represented
as a responsible and ethical business (Jeston and Nelis, 2014). For this purpose, chosen company
is Ethicall which is a charity fund raising organisation headquartered in UK. The said firm have
62 employees and an annual turnover of 5 million GBP. The report will discuss about the project
management with a major aim of implying CSR activity of the mentioned enterprise. Further, for
the purpose on implementation of CSR activities, work has been planned by breaking down it at
various stages. Finally, a recommendation will be made which can help in better development of
CSR activities within organisation.
TASK 1
P1 Setting aims and objectives for Ethicall company
The Ethicall organisation is a charity fundraising enterprise who use to collect funds for
various purposes with a good cause. The said enterprise is passionate about its goals where
collection of funds are done through different campaigns (Eckerson, 2010). The firm gives a
good performance by focussing on continuous development and improvement so that they can
maximise the return on charity investments. For this purpose, the employees of organisation
work on the basis of innovative ideas that can help in easy generation of funds and sound
relationship with their charity clients. The sated entity is has raised more than £60m since its
inception with the help of its good cause and succinct aims that are related with good cause. It
also cares for its employees and give them a good level of job satisfaction through various means
so that they can be provided with good experience and innovative works (Pryke and Smyth,
2012). The aims and objectives for mentioned company can be set in the following manner for
conducting present research in context of CSR activities:
Subject: Implementation of CSR activities in company to attain sustainable objectives.
Background of the study
1

The Corporate social responsibility or CSR is an activity which is based on a process of
undertaking various activities that can show a concern of business towards its society. It is
apparent that an organisation use to operate within a society, so it is necessary to provide it
something in return. This can also be understood as a cost paid by organisations for working in a
society. This can be done by performing various activities like donating a certain part of profit
for welfare of society, delivering quality services to the customers, generating employment
opportunities, taking care of surrounding environment etc. In the corporate world, the concept of
CSR and its application has become significant and mandatory so that the society can be
developed with the contribution of various business enterprises (Turner and Zolin, 2012). Thus,
the application of this concept is useful in presenting a better image of a business concern among
society. Moreover, a firm with a positive recognition in society also have the competitive
advantages. The quoted enterprise is established with an aim of raising funds for people with a
good cause. Therefore, cited company can be presented as a business concern established with its
CSR policy of serving people by giving them financial assistance. Besides this, the firm performs
its CSR activity by performing their responsibility towards society to protect them. Advancing
with this study, a deeper analysis have been made with the help of different tools which can aid
in fulfilment of aims set for research (Trkman, 2010).
Aim: To implement the CSR activity for attaining sustainable objectives: A case analysis of
Ethicall company.
Objectives
 To understand the concept of CSR activity in business organisation's context.
 To analyse the role of CSR activity in attainment of sustainable competitive advantage.
 To examine the CSR activities adopted by Ethicall company.
 To recommend method through which CSR activities can be applied by organisation to
gain competitive advantages.
Research questions
 What is the role of CSR in business organisation's context?
 What is the significance of CSR in attainment of competitive advantage?
 Which CSR activities are adopted by Ethicall company?
 What are the ways that can aid in attaining competitive advantage by business
organisations?
2

P2 Preparing project management plan
The project management plan refers to the number of activities that are ascertained to be
performed for accomplishment of set objectives. For this purpose, it is necessary that planning is
done in a proper way to achieve various objectives. The planning activity designed in advance,
help for managing the various tasks in a proper manner so that the work can be moved in a right
direction. The planning process aids in managing activities with proper arrangement of resources
and allocation of roles and responsibilities. This ensures better work without missing any
significant task in hurry (Meredith and Mantel, 2011). A project planning takes into
consideration a number of aspects like budget, time schedule, scope of study, required sources,
tools and methods for communication and analysis of risks. Thus, the planning process make all
these aspects in a systematic order for accomplishing the entire project in a desired manner. A
risk analysis in all this process is a crucial activity which must be performed in a better way so
that advance planning can be done to resolve it. Thus, a projection of risks and managing
activities accordingly will help in effective completion of work. In present context, the
activities of said business have been planned along with a proper allocation of time and
resources.(Shen and et.al., 2010) As per the planned activity, the project management can be
done in following manner:
Title of various activities Time
schedule Occurrence Finish Predecessors
Research study 96 days Thu 3/2/17 Fri 3/3/17
Formulation and
preparation 20 days Thu 3/2/17 Tue 5/30/17
Searching out the topic for
study 8 days Thu 3/2/17 Mon 3/13/17
Formulating statement to
identify the issues and
problems
3 days Wed 5/31/17 Fri 6/2/17 3
3

Allotment of resources and
setting time frame for
activities
9 days Thu 5/18/17 Tue 5/30/17 4
Making plan for
implementation 56 days Thu 5/4/17 Fri 3/31/17
Review of literature 10 days Thu 5/4/17 Wed 5/17/17 5
Deciding research
methodology for study 15 days Thu 4/13/17 Wed 5/3/17 7
Allocation of expenses 5 days Mon 4/3/17 Fri 4/7/17 8
Data analysis along with
interpretation 17 days Tue 3/21/17 Wed 4/12/17 9
Evaluation of findings 9 days Tue 3/21/17 Fri 3/31/17 9
Closing the project 20 days Fri 3/10/17 Fri 3/3/17
Proposing findings and
conclusions 7 days Fri 3/10/17 Mon 3/20/17 11
Proposal of
recommendations 5 days Thu 3/2/17 Wed 3/8/17 13
Documentation delivery 6 days Thu 3/2/17 Thu 3/9/17 14
Submitting final project 2 days Thu 3/2/17 Fri 3/3/17 15
The above activity chart will help in proper accomplishment of activities so that entire
project can be accomplished as per the allotted time and resources.
4

P3 Work break down and Gantt chart
The breakdown of various work helps in providing a better structure for different tasks
according to which the work can be executed. The break down of work according to a particular
system and structure will help in easy understanding of tasks. In current scenario, the activities
and tasks of Ethicall organisation can be divided into small parts so that work can be done with
less number of confusions and duplication (Storbacka, 2011). In addition to this, the work which
is divided in a systematic manner also helps in determination of various activities along with
specific time schedule under which it is completed. Thus, all work can be scheduled and
managed in advance with proper management. This allocation and work breakdown can be best
depicted with the help of Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is a representation of work and activities in
respect of time duration that each activity will take to accomplish. Thus, an estimated time and
resources can be ascertained in advance from this chart.
Illustration 1: Work break down structure
Gantt chart
5

Illustration 2: Gantt chart
TASK 2
P4 Research through qualitative technique
A research is done to know about a subject matter in deeper way which can be helpful to
understand entire topic. The research is done by collecting various data for which an analysis is
done. The data analysis can be done with the help of two method which are qualitative and
quantitative. As per the qualitative technique, thematic analysis of collected data is performed
which can be supported with various graphs, charts and tables. In present study, CSR policies
and various activities related to it are being studied (den Hertog, van der Aa and de Jong, 2010).
As per this objective, Ethicall company has been taken into account for which study will be
made with the help of collecting primary data. The collection of data is an important activity
where researcher must ensure proper method to be adopted so that right material can be arranged
for study purpose. In primary data collection, information is arranged freshly while in secondary
6

method of data collection, it is collected from books, journals and previous research articles. The
questionnaire has been designed in current context for collecting primary data. On this collected
data, qualitative analysis have been performed which will help in reaching at a particular result.
The main objective of collecting data in present scenario is to assess the significance of CSR
activities in corporate business environment (Shehu and Akintoye, 2010).
The questionnaire has been filled out by 5 managers of Ethicall organisation. To reach
out directly for filling questionnaire was not easy, hence, they were contacted via emails and
questionnaire was sent to them directly through their mail Ids. The questionnaire for present
scenario has been developed in following manner:
Questionnaire
Please choose one of the option from available alternatives for various questions.
Name:
Designation:
1) Do the Ethicall company believes in application of CSR activities?
 Definitely
 Probably
 Rarely
 Definitely not
2) In your opinion, is there any role of CSR implementation in achieving competitive
advantage?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
3) Which CSR activity has mainly proved to be of attaining sustainable competitive advantage?
 Donating amount of profits for charity
 Development of society
 Providing assistance to vulnerable groups
 Giving highly developed services to clients
4) Which of the following issue you have apparently noticed in your (Ethicall) organisation?
7

 Lack of Welfare activities for employees
 Less participation of women employment
 Less engagement in CSR activity
5) Which department is better eligible for applying CSR activities in organisational premises?
 Human resource
 CEO and owners
 Senior management
6) Which strategy you will recommend for application of CSR activity in better way?
 Development of infrastructures in surrounding environment
 Developing employees of company
 Fair service providing to clients and needy people
Thank you for spending your precious time in filling out the questionnaire. Your responses
means a lot for us.
Theme 1: Company believes in application of CSR activities.
Do the Ethicall company believes in application of CSR activities? Frequency Percentage
Definitely 3 60
Probably 1 20
Rarely 1 20
Definitely not 0 0
8

Definitely Probably Rarely Definitely not
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
60
20 20
0
Do the Ethicall company believes in application of CSR activities?
Percentage
Findings and analysis: The above theme has focussed on company's belief on CSR activities.
As per the analysis, managers of cited company have shown their positive response in this
regard. 60% of managers are in strong favour of CSR activities while 20% of managers say that
CSR activities are important only sometimes. On other hand, 20% managers have also responded
that they rarely believe in CSR activities as it is not important for them.
Theme 2: There is a great role of CSR activity in achieving competitive advantage.
In your opinion, is there any role of CSR implementation in achieving
competitive advantage? Frequency Percentage
Strongly agree 2 40
Agree 2 40
Neutral 0 0
Disagree 1 20
Strongly disagree 0 0
9