Managing a Successful Business Project

This report details a comprehensive project management plan for a business project focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Waitrose. It covers project aims and objectives, a detailed plan encompassing cost, scope, time, and quality, a work breakdown structure, a Gantt chart, and an evaluation of the project management process and research methodologies. The report includes small-scale research, data collection using questionnaires, and an evaluation of the accuracy and reliability of the research methods. Tools and techniques of research and data analysis are discussed, along with recommendations for improving the project and the value of the research undertaken. The report concludes with an evaluation of the project outcomes and the decision-making process involved.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario......................................................3
P2 Project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality ...........................4
P3 Work breakdown structure and a Gantt Chart .......................................................................6
M1 Comprehensive project management plan for completing the aims and objectives.............7
D1 Evaluate the project management process and appropriate research methodologies............8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Small-scale research, information gathering and data collection to generate knowledge ....9
M2 Evaluate the accuracy and reliability of different research methods applied in this research
......................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Tools and techniques of research and data...........................................................................10
P6 Appropriate recommendation of research............................................................................15
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
P7 The value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives ........................................16
M4 Evaluate the value of the project management process and use of quality research...........17
D2 Evaluate and reflect on the project outcomes, the decision-making process ......................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Project management can be defined as a group of tasks that is performed in an organized
way in order to achieve the aim and objective of the project (Pinto, 2007). This work is time
taken. It may take a month, a week or a year as per the projects. The project will assigned to a
different team member or the individual. The management planing is done very effectively by
the team members and the heads of the team. Certain rules and regulations are laid to led the
work smoothly and in a disciplined manner. The present report is based on the project
management plan that covers aspects of cost,scope, time, quality, communication, risk and
resources in the context of CSR at Waitrose. The report is explaining the work breakdown
structure and a Gantt Chart to provide time frames and stages for completion for the proposed
project management plan.
TASK 1
P1 Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario
The aims is nothing but the desired destination that have to be achieved by the Waitrose.
The company focuses on adding the value in the yearly turnover or making the profit. On the
other hand the objectives is defined as the steps which are taken in order to fulfils the required
goals.
Aim: The impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Marketing within Waitrose
The objective of the Witrose should constitute the below listed standards:
 Specific: The aims or the goal of the company must be clear to the employees so that they
can easily understand the motive or the objectives that they have to follow.
 Measurable: The final goal of the corporation have to be quantified. That is the time limit
is allocated to do a certain task or collectively the whole project (Filiatrault and Lapierre,
1997) .So that the delivery of the project or the product do not cross the given deadline.
 Achievable: The aims must be real by watching the existing condition of the market. IT
should not fly over the sky or be virtual that cannot be achieved. Hence the entrepreneur
have to look for the demand of the product by taking surveys to explore their right goals.
 Identifying the importance of CSR activities while achieving sustainable goals.
 Analysis of the positive impact of CSR activities on the organisation.
 Accessing the relationship of CSR activities on the Waitrose in order to achieve
competitive advantages.

 Evaluating the several methods via which corporation can achieve benefits through
Corporate social responsibility.
Research questions
 How Corporate Social Responsibility is essential in attaining sustainable objectives?
 What is the relationship between CSR activities of Waitrose in order to attain competitive
advantages?
 What are the optimistic impact of CSR activities on the Waitrose?
 What are the several procedures used by Waitrose in attaining competitive advantages
through Corporate Social Responsibility ?
The tasks involved regarding the achievement of the objective are listed below:
 Scheduled regular training: The corporation have to arrange regular training to the newly
recruited employees to give them proper work introduction. The trainers must be
experienced holders and have the potential to train the new comers.
 Recruitment: The company focuses on recruitment of the skilled workers in the monthly
basis. This will improve the work quality of the system.
 Firing: The company should also fire some employees from training period that are not
performing well . This process goes on together with the process of hiring the workers
(O’Sullivan, 2002).
 Making Business plans: In order to achieve the objective of the organisation certain
business plans should be made by the team heads or the CEO of the enterprise.
P2 Project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality
The Corporate social responsibility made certain norms for the employees of an
organisation that will proved beneficial for them as well as the enterprise. It also helps in
making project plan that covers the aspects of the scope, time, quality, communication, risk and
resources. The Waitrose follows the below listed project management plan:
 Scope: The corporate social responsibility define certain rules to achieve the scope
smoothly. It says that the scope of the project must be clear ,unique and understandable to
all the employees or the member of the corporation. So that the employees would give
their hundred percent contribution towards achieving such goals (Elonen and Artto,
2003).

 Cost: The CSR also focuses on the cost or the resources needed by the enterprise in order
to manufacture the product. The employees will be treated as the resources. The cost will
be increased as per the number of recruitment done. The wages are given by examining
the post or the working performance of the worker.
 Time: Time management is the most important task done by the company. There must be
a given schedule for the work or the project that is when the project is to be delivered.
This is simple by dividing time slot to each task (Elkington and Smallman, 2002). And
this will tell the quantity of the resources needed by the company. Also the employees are
paid at the specified time.
 Quality: The enterprise should focus on the quality work which will ultimately gives the
quality project or product. The corporate social responsibility says that the worker have to
reflect positive attitudes towards their work. They should be fully dedicated regarding the
production of good quality (Parise and Casher, 2003).
 Communication: The team members and the leaders should communicate effectively so
that they can share their views and the work among each other. They can take as well as
give advice each other so that the risk could be minimized.
 Risk and Resource: The resource will the employees. They are the only one whose
continuous contribution can improve the turnover of the company. In order to achieve the
above listed conditions there exits several risk. The company will resolve such risks with
the help of corporate social responsibility.

P3 Work breakdown structure and a Gantt Chart
The work break down structure is nothing but the structures of the work which is divided
as per the employees performance. It is divided in a hierarchic form so that team members of
project can easily manages the activities. With the help of this structure, team members of
management are capable of identifying each and every information of the section which assist
them to effectively accomplishing the activities. This is commonly the outline structure which
help the team of project management to examine the furthermore segmentation in the project.
The work-breakdown-structure of the Waitrose are following:

The Gantt chart for the WaitRose are following:
M1 Comprehensive project management plan for completing the aims and objectives
The project management plan is nothing but an official and authorized documents that are
used in managing the project execution. It is very essential to describe, create, collect and
coordinates the different planning tasks. This defines about the execution, monitoring and
controlling of the projects. The corporate social responsibility are used in executing the

comprehensive project management plan. As it focuses on the completing the aims and
objectives of the Waitrose by making an appropriate business plan. The business strategies
included the cleared and specific goal of the corporation. The objectives are nothing but the
processes involved in aiding the fulfilling of that goal. The objective must have some standards
like time bound, the realistic plan, measurable, achievable, cleared, etc. The work done by the
employees must be monitored by the team heads in order to reduce the risk levels. The CSR also
do the recruitment of skilled workers regarding the improvement of the enterprise's turnover.
D1 Evaluate the project management process and appropriate research methodologies
The project management consist of several processes and research methodologies that
are listed below:
 The company heads should recognise the problem domain.
 After that surveys are taken in order to examine the problems of the consumers regarding
the products.
 Making certain effective plans to resolve such problems.
 Implement that plan by the employees in order to minimize the problems or the risks.
 Taking care of the customer's need the product or the project is manufactured.
 This processing involves the recruitment of the skilled personality as well as firing of the
existed employee that are not proved to be beneficial.
Some of the project management processes are written below:
 Monitoring: Planning is done in the earlier phases but ongoing monitoring is very
essential in order to determine the budgeting and scheduling of the activities.'
 Control : Every project is full of issues but it is the duty of project managers to control
all those problems so that they do not give any negative impact on the result.
 Communication: Good communication is very necessary as it affects on the success of
projects. If all workers do their task by communicating essential information with each
other, then no conflict will rise in future.
TASK 2
P4 Small-scale research, information gathering and data collection to generate knowledge
The customer satisfaction regarding the project or product manufactured is stated below:
Questionnaire

Name:
Age:
Gender:
1. Are you satisfied by the project management planning with the corporation?
(a)Yes
(b)No
2. How much you satisfied by the rules or regulations of the company?
(a) Somewhat satisfied
(b) Fully satisfied
(c) Not satisfied
3. Is Waitrose follows the CSR activities?
(a) Yes
(b) No
4. Is CSR will contribute regarding the competitive advantage?
(a)Yes
(b) No
5. Is the CSR aids in achieving the aims and objective of the Waitrose?
(a) Yes
(b) No
M2 Evaluate the accuracy and reliability of different research methods applied in this research
The different research methodologies contributes in maintaining the accuracy and the
reliability of the project management planning. For example the survey taken gives the accurate
information regarding the products as per the demand of the consumers. This will include the
examining of the working conditions of the employees too (Polonsky and Waller, 2014). The
information of the competitive market products is being gathered. This information helps in
making a reliable as well as unique product in the market. The data being collected from
different regions during the survey treated as the input for the manufacture. The outputs are made
according to this data.

TASK 3
P5 Tools and techniques of research and data
Research is a systematic way to collect the information and data. It is very helpful in the
business process because through this ,company can know about the market conditions,
customers taste and preferences. Data or information that is collected is very helpful in running
the business process or functioning. Research can be of two types which are as follows -
Basic research – These research is helpful in increasing the scientific knowledge.
Applied research – This research is helpful in developing the new products and development.
There are 2 types of techniques that is helpful in collecting the data which are as follows -
 Quantitative research – In this research ,researcher collects the information in statistic
terms rather than information (Eckerson, 2010). It is helpful in comparing the previous
data or current data. After comparing these data ,company can reach to a final result and
can evaluate that performance of the company is good or not. In this ,researcher can
collect the data from the following way -
◦ Observation
◦ questionnaire
◦ Interview
◦ Survey etc.
 Constructive research - This research is conducted by technical researcher for find out
the solution of specific or existing problems.
 Qualitative research – In this, researcher collects the more data or information rather
than statistical data. It can be also known as field research because in this, researcher
goes to market and collects the information (Czuchry and Yasin, 2003). In this it collects
the information about the market conditions, customers 'taste and preferences etc. This
research is very helpful in designing the strategy and new products and services.
 Research design: The complete research is depending on the research designing that is
carried out by the researchers to identify the impacts. There are commonly three types of
research design namely descriptive, explanatory and experimental.
 Research philosophy: Interpretivism philosophy are used in this project that will assist
in evaluation of data effectively which will furthermore be resulting in reaching at

accurate conclusion. On the contrary, there is positivism philosophy which does not suits
in carrying out research.
 Data collection: For gathering the data, there are commonly two methods that are
applicable in research. One of them is primary data, questionnaires are created in this
case which will help in achieving the important as well as accurate data from the users.
Second one is secondary data, in this case books and journals are refereed. This will
assist researcher in collecting information regarding CSR activities which is needed to be
carry out by the enterprise.
 Sampling: It is a kind of technique which is used by researcher so that a sample can be
extracted from large population. Here, 20 sample size has been selected and survey is
conducted on employees.
 Data analysis: This will be done by using the thematic analysis. Here different themes
are created that aids in carrying out of research effectively. The themes will be created as
per the question as this assist in carefully analysing the response.
 Limitations: Several drawbacks are present that are seen at the time of carrying out of
research study. One of the main disadvantage is time as the topic is large for getting the
response but there is a limited period of time. Hence, time is less and work load is very
high.
Theme 1: Employees are satisfied with the current project management planning.
Are you satisfied by the project management planning with the
corporation?
Frequency
Yes
No
12
8

Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
12
8
Column B
From the above based graph it has been concluded that 60 % people are satisfied by the
project management planning while 40 % are not. So, organisation have to some how do
modification in their planning.
Theme 2: Employees are satisfied with the rules and regulations of the company.
How much you satisfied by the rules or regulations of the company? Frequency
Somewhat satisfied
Fully satisfied
Not satisfied
7
10
3

Somewhat satisfied Fully satisfied Not satisfied
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
7
10
3
Column C
From the above based graph, it has been seen that large number of people are satisfied by
the rules and regulations of the company. So, corporation do not need to modify their norms.
Theme 3 : Waitrose follows CSR activities.
Is Waitrose follows the CSR activities? Frequency
Yes
No
14
6
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
14
6 Column B

From the graph, it has been concluded that most of the people said that company are
following CSR activities. So, they do not need to focus more on such activities.
Theme 4: Employees are agreed that CSR activities will contribute in getting the competitive
advantage.
Is CSR will contribute regarding the competitive advantage? Frequency
Yes
No
16
4
From the above based graph, it has been examined that CSR activities are contributing a
lot in providing competitive advantages.
Theme 5: CSR activities aids in acquiring aims and objectives.
Is the CSR aids in achieving the aims and objective of the Waitrose? Frequency
Yes
No
12
8
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
16
4
Column B

Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
12
8
Column B
From the above based graph, it has been noticed that CSR activities are helping in
achieving aims and objectives of the corporation.
P6 Appropriate recommendation of research
Corporate social responsibility is very important because it provides many benefit to the
company like increasing goodwill or brand value etc. If company does it then it receives many
benefits from the government and people of the society assumes that company is doing it's
business ethically. Wait rose also does CSR activities for taking the advantages. There are many
recommendation to the company which are as follows -
 Employees- Employees is the most important p;art of the business and are very helpful in
implementing these activities. So Wait rose should provide the adequate and sufficient
remuneration so that they can work effectively and efficiently (Cooper, 1990).
 Social – Wait rose is working in the society and members of the society are working in
the company. So company should provide the benefit to the society so that it can work
properly without and interference and should provide the charity ,donation etc. so that it
can improve the standards of the society.
 Customers – Customers are very important because without having it ,Wait rose can not
survive in the market. So company should provide the best quality of products or services
to the customers so that their needs and wants will be satisfied and they can invert into
loyal customers.

 Environment – Company have responsibility to take care of the environment and should
take all possible step for protecting it. It should use the natural resources in effective and
efficient manner and should not waste the resources.
So wait rose has responsibility to do above things if it wants to get success in the market.
From the report, it can be concluded that CSR activities are very necessary for the
Waitrose in order to capture large number of users as well as improving image in the market. But
this can only be occurred by adopting the CSR activities effectively. There are various methods
that can be used are described below:
 One of the important method is by giving donation to charitable trust. There are several
trusts that requires the financial help. So, the corporation should donate a certain amount
of money for the upliftment of the charitable trust.
 On the other hand, in order to provide and maintain safety of environment, Waitrose
have to create certain rules and regulations in the organisation so that environment can be
protected.
TASK 4
P7 The value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives
The Waitrose have taken certain tools for the research to meet the required stated
objectives. Some of the tools are research philosophy, data collection, the data analysis, primary
research,qualitative research, constructive ,secondary research, etc. The company have
undergone several surveys to collect the relevant data or the previous information regarding the
company production. This aids in exploring the past image of the corporation (Cooke-Davies,
2002). It will reflect the status of the organisation in the current market too. The surveys taken
examine the current or modified demand of the consumers. It states whether the corporation is
meeting the needs of them or not. If they are not fulfilling the need of the customers then the
experience says the company deals with the losses at that particular year (Aguilar, 1994).
Hence the research philosophies effectively aids the Waitrose in making the new plans or
the business management strategies to fulfil the present need of the users. By exploring the
current demand of the consumers the company make the product which will consecutively fulfil
that need. This will ultimately enhance the yearly turnover of the company because the
production of quality product would surely raise the demand of the product. The data analysis
sometimes if not done correctly causes in enhancement of risks levels. For example ,if the data

says that the user demand the new product with additional qualities. But not the appropriate
percentage regarding the modification is given then this will create a situation of risk that is how
the product modification is done , if the accurate data is not given. If the company assumes the
data for the manufacturing purpose of the new product but on the other hand if it does not give
the positive feedback , then this is matter of concern for the WaitRose.
From the above I came on the conclusion that CSR activities are not only useful for the
welfare of society but also assist corporation that has newly established in the market. This not
only aids in achieving sustainable aims and objectives but also support in enhancing the number
of users. Apart from the theoretical concepts and the knowledge in terms of CSR activities, I also
come to know that how one can gather information from the books and journal. There are
different books but the researcher have to choose the accurate one so that proper data about
research can be gathered. On the contrary, the time provide for the research is very less but still I
was easily completed my work on time. Further at the time of data analysis, I have received
knowledge regarding software which assist in analysing the information. By the aid of graph and
thematic analysis , I was efficaciously capable to accomplish my task. For me, this was a
improvement factor which assisted in acquiring goals with in the specific time period.
M4 Evaluate the value of the project management process and use of quality research
The project management process like surveying, plan making, recruitment task, risk
handing,etc. Effectively aids in meeting the stated objectives. The surveying task is used to
explore the present ,previous as well as the future conditions of the consumers need. The skilled
employees recruited to handle the various tasks regarding the production of the project at the
allotted deadline. The risk is handled by the team leaders with the help of the communication
among the different department of the organisation. The various quality research tools are used
like quantitative, research philosophy, data collection, the data analysis, primary
research,qualitative research, constructive ,secondary research, etc. in order to examine the
image of the company in the existing market.
D2 Evaluate and reflect on the project outcomes, the decision-making process
The decision making processes is done by the team heads in order to reduce the risk of
the product manufacturing processes. There exits various risks that are not handled by the team
head alone. So the communication techniques are applied among the different sectors of the

organisation in order to take and give advice to solve the problems created in the project
management.
CONCLUSION
From the above based report it has been concluded that the management of the successful
business project includes various strategies like research, risk handling, survey conduction, the
recruitment processing, etc. The Waitrose deals with several techniques regarding making
effective planning like focusing on the consumer,employees, society as well as the environment.
The corporate social responsibility aids in making such plans that will laid some specific norms
which includes the human resource.

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