Report: Operation and Project Management Challenges at Vauxhall

This report provides an in-depth analysis of operation and project management challenges within the context of Vauxhall, a leading car manufacturer, operating in the global market. It identifies key challenges faced by operation and project managers, including competing business practices, changes in technology, communication issues, customer expectations, and geographically dispersed teams. The report examines crucial managerial roles, such as overseeing production, ensuring efficiency, and developing interpersonal skills, while also emphasizing the need for strong communication and negotiation skills. It further includes a project plan for implementing a new distribution system, outlining its purpose, objectives, scope, resources, and costs, as well as potential risks. The report concludes with a discussion of new operation strategies designed to align with organizational values and enhance overall performance in a dynamic global environment. The report stresses the importance of risk management, strategic planning, and adapting to changing market conditions to ensure the success of projects and operational efficiency.

Operation and Project
management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Operation and project management are considered to be as two important aspects of
business. These two activities are important for long term success and success of firm. It also
crucial for effective as well as efficient utilisation of resources. Operation management is mainly
concerned with transformation of input into output. Project management includes managing the
project in systematic manner. Due to globalisation operation manager in many companies have
to face various challenges as well as issues. The report will have focus on identifying the key
challenges faced by operation manager in current international market. It will emphasize on
analysing the managerial role as well as skills required for performing such functions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
1. Comparing the challenges of operation and project manager in current international market
.....................................................................................................................................................3
2. Analysing important management roles and skills which is required for management
operations ...................................................................................................................................5
3. Project Plan highlighting the potential risks that company might have to face .....................7
4. New operation strategy which meets organizational value...................................................14
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Supply chain management is defined as the administration of the flow of products and
services. It involves all the procedure which transform raw material into final goods. The
purpose of supply chain management is to assist an organisation in increasing customer value
and helps firm in gaining competitive advantage. Operation management is also administrative
procedure which includes planning, organising, managing, controlling the production process.
This process is executed in order to ensure the highest level of efficiency in business. Both
operation and supply chain management is important for providing high level of satisfaction to
customers.
The report will have focus on identifying the challenges faced by operation and project
manager in global market in context of Vauxhall. This organisation is a leading car
manufacturer. Following study will highlight the roles which manager in an organisation have to
perform in relation to operation management. Report will include some strategies which can be
adopted by Vauxhall for increasing the value of business.
TASK
1. Comparing the challenges of operation and project manager in current international market
In today's competitive and continuous changing global business environment both project
and operational manager have to face various challenges. Globalisation has completely
transformed the way operation manager performed their routine duties.
Challenges faced by operation manager in context of international market
`One of the key challenge faced by operation manager of Vauxhall is in developing the
strategy for producing goods or services. Operation manager in Vauxhall is facing the issue in
maintaining the balance between demand and supply due to continuous change in social factor
such as customer demand, taste as well as preferences (Ma and Cai, 2019.). In addition to this
other challenges faced by operational manager are:
Competing practices: One of the key challenges faced by operation manager is in
managing the competing business practices overseas. Due to continuous change in the business
environment because of globalisation, operation manager has to face difficulty in maintaining
competing business practices.

Re- evaluation of the purchasing strategies: Due to changes in regulation and
amendments in laws operation manager in Vauxhall is facing issues in developing the purchasing
strategies.
Developing employees: This is another most evident challenge faced by operational
manager in context of current global environment. Due to diverse culture and different needs of
workers operational manger in Vauxhall is facing issues in developing employees , factor has
significant effect on productivity as well as operational efficiency. .
Challenges faced by project manager
Changes in technology: For instances changes in ERP software, project manager in
Vauxhall have to face difficulty in allocating as well as managing the business resources during
the project. Training is the best strategy which can be helpful for Project manager for dealing
with such challenge.
Communication: It is the biggest challenge faced by Project manager in context of
current global environment. Project manager faces difficulty in communicating effectively with
internal and external stakeholders, this factor have great effect on business performance of
Vauxhall.
Customer expectation: Due to globalisation, there has been tremendous shift in
demands of customers and shopping pattern because of which operation manager in Vauxhall is
facing issues in making the production plan. Operation manger is also facing the challenges in
meeting the customer expectation and also in fulfilling their demnds.
Geographically dispersed team: Projects are inherently collaborative in nature. But
with the changing times and expansion of business different teams working in Vauxhall has
spread across the different parts of the globe. Team also have to face various issues such as
language barriers, different time zones which has direct as well as significant effect on their and
overall performance of the project. In context of Geographically dispersed team, there can be
disruption in information flow because of which project manager have to face issue in managing
the project. Project manager in Vauxhall can utilise collaboration software such as Proof hub, as
this will provide them with ease in managing international project in systematic manner.
Risk management: It is the biggest issue which might lead to the project failure and firm
might have to bear big financial losses. Due to globalisation, project manager in Vauxhall is
facing the challenge in managing the risk related to the project. Some project risk is hidden flaws

in the project plan, uncertainty in financial market and other unknown components which can
have effect on the success of the project (Godsell, Karatzas and Brady, 2018.). It is required by
project manager in Vauxhall to develop strategic plan, as this tactic will aid them in dealing with
different type of project risk at global level.
Increase in pressure of competition : Due to increase in level of competition due to
globalisation , operation manager in Vauxhall is facing difficulty in maintaining concentration on
core tasks.
Concerned over productivity :Operations managers are increasingly feeling the
pressure to push employees to work faster and better due to diverse workforce, this factor has
great impact on the productivity as well as working efficiency of firm.
2. Analysing important management roles and skills which is required for management
operations
An operational manager is a person who is characterized according to the work
performed by them in context of global operations. The managerial role in context of in Vauxhall
organization is expected to perform different functions which includes overseeing the production
of products and services. Crucial managerial role in an organization is to ensure that an
enterprise is running as well as it possibly can, with a smooth efficient service that meets the
expectations and needs of customers.
Managerial role in an organization is completely dependent on the nature and size of
business. In context of Vauxhall, important managerial role is to develop interpersonal skills in
order to perform their roles as well as responsibilities. In addition to this both operation and
project manager in Vauxhall to have knowledge about techniques of management. Both
operation and project manager is required to posses effective communication skills, as this ability
will assist them in providing the clear direction and instruction to workers (Tonchia, Tonchia
and Mahagaonkar, 2018.).
In addition to this other skill as well as expertise required by operation manager for
performing key roles includes understanding of business, leadership, technical and functional
expertise. In addition to this, operation manager in Vauxhall should have strong negotiation
skills which is required for negotiation with global suppliers and forcing them to reduce the price
of goods as well as services. It is very much essential for manager in Vauxhall to have

Awareness of internal and external customer needs, as this will assist them in developing
effective production plan. Operation manager in Vauxhall need to increasing their influencing
power, as this will assist them in motivating people to participate in the project. In addition to
this, these people might have high decision making power which is very much crucial in order to
manage project in systematic manner.
In context of global operational management, operation manager play crucial role in
budgeting, controlling costs and assist firm in improving financial performance. In addition to
this, other crucial role of project manager in Vauxhall includes forecasting, analyzing the
financial statement and sales report in order to identify new ways of maximizing results.
Management of costs, resources and supply chain : Operation manager of Vauxhall has
played important role in managing supply chains well as other business resources at international
level which has aid business entity in reducing the cost of production. In context of Vauxhall,
role of operational manager is to manage, monitor and control routine activities.
Setting of goals: Other important functions of project and operation manager in an organization
to set goals which are to be achieved by employees within specific time. Important role of
operation manager is to provide instruction to employees and assist the in achieving the desired
goals and objectives. In other words, role of operation manager is to proper guidance related to
the project.
Production planning: In additional to the above, crucial role of operation manager is to make an
effective production plan in order to help firm in fulfilling customer demands as well as meeting
clients expectation. Production planning in context of global environment is considered to be as
very complex and challenging task for that operation manager in Vauxhall need to posses depth
knowledge about the market and customers (Acha, Shah and Markides, 2018.). Operation
manager in an enterprise can collaborate with other teams of experts for developing the products
as well as services. During the time of production planing, role of operational manager is to align
complete product manufacturing or development procedure with requirement of customers.
Operational manager plays an important role in establishing the procedures fore meeting the
expectation as well as demand of global clients.
Other role of operation manager in an organization is to develop strategies for improving
productivity as well as efficiency which is very much crucial in order to meet the demands of
the global market.

3. Project Plan highlighting the potential risks that company might have to face
The project plan is for implementing the new distribution system in Vauxhall. Project
manager in Vauxhall is planning to implement new distribution system in order to improve the
quality of services.
1. Purpose and objectives of project plan :
The purpose of project plan is to assure the quality of the project deliverable and to
improve the quality of distribution process as well as services. Objective of plan is to highlight
the necessary information required for effectively managing the quality of project as well as
services.
Intended audience in the project will be project team and any senior leaders whose
support is required for executing the plan.
Reviews and approval: In present project, prior approval will be taken by top level management
in Vauxhall. The plan will be reviewed by project manager at regular interval of time and
changes will be done according to the situations.
2. Objectives of the project: The objective of Project is to assure that:
 TO improve the quality of services as well as distribution procedure
 To resolve quality and other issues by implementing the new technology.
 To prevent the delay in delivering products or services by establishing new distribution
system.
3. Scope of the project: The project will emphasize on planning time-scale for implementing
new distribution system. Benefit of new distribution system are saving of cost, quality
management, revenue generations, operational saving etc.
4. Resources : The different types of resources required for executing the specific project
includes finance, manpower, technology, Communication devices, Proper infrastructure etc.
5. Costs: :
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Resources 250000$ 750000$ 125000$
IT integration services 200000$ 200000$

IT hardware and
software
25000$ 25000$
IT network and
communication
75000$ 75000$
6. Project deliverable : In addition to this, Business deliverable will be provided by the
supplier, which will satisfy the business needs. Other Project Management deliverable will be
provided by the supplier, which are produced to help manage, control and monitor the progress
of the project
7. Quality management approach :
In context of present project, Total quality management approach will be used by project
manager in Vauxhall. The reason for adopting the approach is that it will help in ensuring that all
the procedure is being conducted in systematic manner. It will aid project manager in avoiding
misunderstandings (Kaya, 2018). Selection of the best quality management approach is
important in order to eliminate schedule delays, productivity losses etc.
The quality management objective in context of present project will be achieved by:
 Early identification and reviews of all quality-impacting process.
 Reviews of all quality-impacting procedures.
 Using the well-defined and anchored quality standards and processes.
 Quality control
8. Quality control: The quality control in context of present project emphasizes on deliverable
of the project. Project manager in Vauxhall will be responsible for monitoring the quality of
procedures as well as goods and services. In addition to this, role of project manager will be to
prepare and maintain the list of project deliverable which includes information related to Planned
delivery date, Applied Quality Standards/Customer satisfaction, Quality Control, Acceptance
Criteria covering criteria for completeness and correctness (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018.).
Quality control activities will include both formal and informal inspection by project manager. In
addition to this, testing will be done for measuring the quality of products as well as procedure.

9. Quality assurance: Some quality standards will be set by the project manager which will
provide them an ease in assuring the quality of procedure as well as products or services. Project
audit, project review etc. These activities will be performed in order to assure quality of products
and processes. Project review will be executed by project manager for discovering deviations or
risk related to the time, schedule, scope and budget which can have adverse effect on the project
outcome (Pheng and Meng, 2018.). Purpose of executing the project audit is to analyse the
application of approved project Plan. The risk which can be associated with the implementation
of the project are :
Nature of risks Probability Impact Strategy
Cost risk
(due to poor costs
estimation and creep.
In addition to this,
slippages in schedule
can lead to increase in
costs)
Medium High This can be
eliminated by proper
planning of costs.
Strategic risk (result
from errors in
strategy)
Low High Such types of strategic
risk can be eliminated
by conducting proper
market researcher and
then developing
strategic plans.
Legal risk
( such types of risk
arise from legal and
regulatory obligations.
Low High It is required by
project manager in
Vauxhall to follow all
the norms as well as
regulation.
10 Roles and responsibilities

Stakeholders Roles and responsibilities
Project manager Role of project manager in Vauxhall is to
approve quality plan. Responsibility of project
manager is to provide all the resources which
are required for executing the different tasks
during project.
Quality manager It is the duty of quality manager in Vauxhall
to report project manager. Responsibility of
quality manager is make sure that all the
project deliverable is fit for accomplishing
desired objectives.
Role of quality manager in Vauxhall is devise
as well as establish the quality procedures. It is
the duty of project manager to set quality
standards.
Functions of quality manager is Managed
reported deviations from the Quality Plan
Leaders Function of leader in Vauxhall is to work
closely with quality manager in order to
achieve desired quality objectives.
It is responsibility of leader to ensure that the
quality standards set are being followed by
employees.
Project Members Project members in Vauxhall are responsible
for executing different activities as per set
quality standards.

Role of project members is to follow the
instruction provided by project leader.
Suppliers They are required to supply the materials,
technology and other resources required during
the project.
Timescale :

4. New operation strategy which meets organizational value
Operation manager in Vauxhall needs to formulate an appropriate strategy as this will
assist them in accomplishing the desired business objectives. Operational strategy can be defined
as is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operation
and their contribution to overall strategy (Tonchia, 2018.). In context of Vauxhall, business
entity have five operational objectives these are :
Costs: Firm wants to increase its ability to produce goods or services to low costs.
Quality: An organization intends to increase its potential to develop products or services
according to the specification and without error.
Speed: Business entity emphasizes on increasing the speed of operation in order to fulfill
customer demands on time.
Dependability : Management in Vauxhall is now concertinaing on identifying the suitable
ways for increasing firm ability to deliver products and services in accordance with promises
made to customer.
There are various strategies which can be adopted by management in Vauxhall which
will assist them in meeting organizational value and accomplishing desired operational objective
these are training to employees. It is required by operational manager in Vauxhall to provide
proper training to employees, as this strategy will assist them in ensuring that all the business
activities are being performed according to the set standards. In addition to this, an organization
can employ the advance technology at workplace, as this tactic will assist them in increasing the
efficiency as well as productivity. Use of technology for the purpose of production will help an
enterprise in improving the quality of products or services. It will also help an organization in
increasing working efficiency (Bowers and Morse, 2018). In context of Vauxhall, an
organization can utilize the internet or other technology, as it will aid business entity in reducing
the costs of distribution. Just in Time and Total quality management are two approaches of
operation management which will assist an organization in bringing the positive as well as
drastic improvement in quality of products, services and procedures. In addition to this, Project
manager can utilize computer software for managing the resources (Lock, 2019). Software can
also utilize for preparing the gantt chart as well as work breakdown structure which is very
helpful in context of managing project. It provides project manager an ease in monitoring the
progress.

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that the major challenges which is faced by the
operation manager in global context is related to meeting the expectation of customers and
fulfilling their unique demand. The other fact which has been found during the study is that
operation manager in an organization need to have unique skills such as knowledge about
business, negotiation and an effective communication skill which is required for managing
operations at international level. It has been concluded from the report that project planning is
very much important for successful implementation of specific project.
There are different strategies has been suggested which can be adopted by an enterprise
in order to meets the values of the organization through operational management.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Pheng, L.S. and Meng, C.Y., 2018. Managing productivity in construction: JIT operations and
measurements. Routledge.
Lock, D., 2019. Project management. Routledge.
Kaya, A.F., 2018. Project costing in project management: service sector case (Doctoral
dissertation, Kaunas University of Technology).
Ma, M. and Cai, W., 2019. Do commercial building sector-derived carbon emissions decouple
from the economic growth in Tertiary Industry? A case study of four municipalities in
China. Science of The Total Environment, 650, pp.822-834.
Godsell, J., Karatzas, A. and Brady, T.M., 2018. Using project demand profiling to improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects. International Journal of Operations
& Production Management, 38(6), pp.1422-1442.
Tonchia, S., Tonchia and Mahagaonkar, 2018. Industrial project management. Springer.
Acha, S.,Mariaud, A., Shah, N. and Markides, C.N., 2018. Optimal design and operation of
distributed low-carbon energy technologies in commercial buildings. Energy, 142, pp.578-
591.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Tonchia, S., 2018. Project Strategy Management. In Industrial Project Management (pp. 81-92).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Bowers, D. and Morse, D., 2018. Including IT service management in the Computing
curriculum: a caricature approach.