Project Management Report: Company Analysis (ENS5543)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of project management practices within Pritchard Francis Consulting Pty Ltd, an engineering firm. The report begins with an introduction to project management principles, including sustainability and internationalization, and then provides background information on Pritchard Francis, detailing its mission, values, and operational standards. A significant portion of the report focuses on the results of a survey conducted to assess the company's organizational culture and integrity, analyzing performance against 12 key principles. The survey results are used to identify the company's strengths and weaknesses, followed by a discussion of industry best practices and recommendations for improvement. The report also addresses challenges faced and lessons learned during the study, culminating in a conclusion that summarizes the key findings and insights. The analysis covers cross-cultural awareness policies, management processes, and their impact on the company's performance.

Project management
(Assessment 3)

Table of Contents
Section 1: Introduction...............................................................................................................1
Section 2: Company background and description......................................................................1
Section 3: Survey results............................................................................................................3
Section 4: Cross culture awareness policies and management process.....................................7
Cross-culture awareness.........................................................................................................7
Sustainability and internationalization...................................................................................9
Section 5: Strength and weakness of the company..................................................................11
Strengths of the company:....................................................................................................11
Weakness of the company:...................................................................................................13
Section 6: Industry best practices.............................................................................................14
Section 7: Recommendations...................................................................................................17
Section 8: Challenges and lessons learned...............................................................................18
Challenges............................................................................................................................18
Lessons learned....................................................................................................................19
Conclusion................................................................................................................................19
References................................................................................................................................21

List of figures
Figure 1: Company logo.............................................................................................................2
Figure 2: Cross-culture policies.................................................................................................7
Figure 3: Strength.....................................................................................................................12
Figure 4: Weakness..................................................................................................................13

Section 1: Introduction
Project management is the application of skills, knowledge, tools, and techniques that
used for achieving the goals and requirements of a project. Engineering organizations are
using different tools and techniques for managing project as well as maintaining the positive
approach by focusing on the principles of working. The knowledge and implementation of
principles have a significant impact on the project management approach and help the
organizations to maintain a standard approach to increase the sustainability and
internationalization (Todorović et al., 2015). The term sustainability in project management
refers to taking responsibility for the impact of activities on customers, employees,
shareholders, communities, and environment. The understanding and application of
sustainable approach help the organization to encourage business operations and maintain the
legal and ethical approach to achieve the business goals. Apart from that, the term
internationalization refers to designing of the products and services in such a way that could
meet the needs of the users across the globe. For better sustainability and internalization of
the company, the implementation of principles is essential. This could support organization to
push the business strategy towards international trends evaluating the economic and political
conditions (Joslin, & Müller, 2015).
The report will evaluate engineering firm Pritchard Francis against these principles
and analyze the cross-cultural awareness of the company related to the policies and their
impact of the management process. Pritchard Francis is one of the leading civil and structural
engineering consultancy organizations from Perth that offering quality services and products
to customers. Moreover, the report will conduct a survey to analyze the effectiveness of the
company that will help to understand the approach of the company in management and
maintaining the sustainability and internationalization. Furthermore, considering the survey,
the report will discuss the strengths and weakness of the company. Apart from that, the report
will provide detail information for best practices of engineering industry and offer
recommendations for Pritchard Francis. In the end, the report will describe the challenges and
lessons learned from the study.
Section 2: Company background and description
Pritchard Francis Consulting Pty Ltd was founded in 1977 and offering high quality
civil and structural engineering services and products. The organization is established in
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Perth and has offices in Kimberley and Northern Territory as well as associates offices in all
states of Australia. The range of Pritchard Fancies' expertise includes the secondary structural
consultancy, development, and completion of the project of construction and engineering.
The organization is playing a major role in the development of civil infrastructure of the
country (About Pritchard Francis, 2019). The core principles that management of Pritchard
Francis is following involves providing the right engineering solutions to the projects,
offering the highest level of services and employing the highest level of caliber people. The
management is having high concern about the development of a strong relationship with
customers and the development of competitive designs and construct the project.
Figure 1: Company logo
(Source: About Pritchard Francis, 2019)
The mission statement of the company involves the following objectives:
 Professionalism
 Innovation and
 Integrity
To achieve these mission objectives, the management is considering the values for
clients through maintaining quality in services and management of the project. The
implementation of honesty, ethical, and accountability in work is helping the company to
keep a positive relationship with the clients. The senior staff is offering training and
providing the direction to the team members that helping them to maintain the technical
excellence and meeting the satisfaction level of the customer within project deadline
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(Rosemann, vom Brocke, 2015). Apart from that, quality is the major concern of Pritchard
Francis as it has a good system of aligning with the standards and monitoring of the
operations that support to minimize the risk and enhance the quality. In addition to this, the
management is equally committed to innovation, reliability and authentic response in the
offering of solutions. The standard that company is following for quality is AS/NZ ISO9001:
2008. On the basis of work quality and professional approach in working, the organization
has awarded with Work safety award in 2017, UDIA WA award, CIA and Heritage award in
2016.
Goals:
Now, the management is looking forward to encouraging the areas of services by
focusing on the sustainability and internationalization strategy. The sustainable development
in designs and engineering is supported by the “Green” initiatives of the company, and the
members of the company are implementing these principles for gaining the economic
competitive advantage (Nicholas, & Steyn, 2017). Pritchard Francis is committed to
delivering profitable project and services to customers in an environmentally responsible
manner.
Section 3: Survey results
To analyze the effectiveness of engineering and organizational approach of the
company, a survey has been conducted focusing on the 14 principles of the organizational
culture and integrity. Following are the results of the survey:
Principle 1: This principle is related to the alignment that focuses on the behavior of
employees according to the values and directions stated by the top management. The result of
the survey state that, the alignment of the company is to a large extent which good. However,
there is the scope of improvement in alignment by offering the training and support to the
team members, but it will be difficult for Pritchard Francis to manage a diverse team as the
approach and perception of an individual is different (Morden, 2016).
Principle 2: The distribution of leadership is essential for managing work by offering the
specific role and responsibilities to the team members by considering their expertise and
areas of interest. The analyze of Pritchard Francis, the performance and decision making of
the company is to a large extent as management is assigning resources and making the
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operational decisions as per the culture and structure (Doppelt, 2017). This kind of approach
has a positive impact on performance.
Principle 3: The business of the organization is related to the creation of value and focus on a
functional and hierarchal approach to meet the objectives. According to the survey, the
Pritchard Francis integration of efforts is up to a large extent which suggests that the
organizational strategy is focused and looking to create the values for the customers and
offering the innovative services and products by considering the trends and standards of the
industry (Morden, 2017).
Principle 4: At the Out-Front approach, the company is striving to a very large extent that
which is helping to gain a competitive advantage. According to analysis, the management of
the company is taking initiatives and determining the innovation in practices by considering
the industry standards (Chang, 2016). The large extent of services in civil and structural
engineering has a significant impact on business operations of Pritchard Francis. For
developing the plan and business operations, the management of the company is conducting
market research and analyzing the approaches of other companies in the industry.
Principle 5: Pritchard Francis is leading civil and engineering company in Australia that
applying the high standards through integrity and openness in operations. For example, the
management is offering real-time training to team members about the utilization of new tools
and technology. Moreover, the safety of employees and workers is the priority of the
company that helping to encourage morale and performance (Calvo-Mora, Navarro-García, &
Periañez-Cristobal, 2015). In Up-Front principle, the company is applying it to a large extent
that has a positive impact on the overall performance and working culture of the company.
Principle 6: The consideration of short and medium terms issues in business planning and
management has a significant impact on the effectiveness of services. Pritchard Francis is a
large organization, and consideration of every aspect in operations become difficult for the
company. Therefore, the company is managing it to a moderate extent which requires
improvement in resourcing (Tregear, 2015). To improve this, the forecasting of needs of
customers and new trends in construction can be beneficial for the company to encourage
knowledge about the issues and make prior decisions to craft improvement.
Principle 7: This is an important principle of organizational culture and management. Time-
based working and completion of tasks as per the given deadline are essential for companies
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to increase brand effectiveness. According to evaluation, the company is managing time to a
large extent as it delivering the projects and services as per the estimated time. This kind of
approach is helping to minimize the cost (Slack, & Brandon-Jones, 2018). In addition to this,
the timely delivery is also helping to meet the satisfaction level of customers and supporting
to retain them for a more extended period.
Principle 8: The business of engineering organization heavily relies on individual
performance and intelligence. According to analysis, the company is implementing ideas and
strategies to a moderate extent as lack of involvement of staff members in decision making is
affecting the outcome of the company (Parise et al., 2016). Now, it is essential for the
organization to make changes in the perspectives in the way of developing the strategies for
improving and application of new ideas.
Principle 9: Continues learning and improvement can influence the management practices of
any organization in a positive manner. The standards and trends in engineering Industry are
frequently changing as modifications in tools and technologies are having a direct impact on
the approach of the company to manage the projects. Pritchard Francis is managing these
aspects to a large extent by involving continuous learning program for management and
workers (French, 2015). For example, the management is conducting workshops monthly to
communicate the changes and training to the staff members related to the new tools and
technology that could be helpful in planning and implementation of the standards in the
project.
Principle 10: This management principle refers to a discipline maintained by an organization
by considering the policies, procedures, and standards proposed by the industry. However,
Pritchard Francis is leading engineering organization in Perth, but it is maintaining the
discipline to a moderate level as the management is lacking to implement policies and
standards in every aspect of the operations (Ollier-Malaterre, & Foucreault, 2017). For
improvement in management approach and culture, it is necessary for the organization to
craft improvement in the level of disciple and application of the strong system in business to
encourage business performance.
Principle 11: Measurement and reporting of the information about ongoing operations and
future planning of the business play a critical role in management. The proper analysis of the
financial and non-financial performance of the company gives a better idea for issues and
strong points that can influence the approach. According to the survey, the Pritchard Francis
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is managing the measurement and reporting system to a weak extent which is having a
negative impact on the business case (Thomas, & Peterson, 2017). There is software available
for measuring, reporting, and publication of information that helps the management to make
the decisions and provide real-time information to the employees.
Principle 12: For every organization, the customer plays a critical role in business growth and
internationalization of products and services. The customer-oriented approach and
development of products and services are required for gaining the competitive advantage.
The culture of Pritchard Francis has proper consideration of customer needs and values that
help to maintain the customer values to a large extent. For example, the management is
managing project as per the requirements of the client as well as motivating the employees to
enhance the customer value creation (Adekola, & Sergi, 2016). Moreover, customer value
creation is helping the company to retain them and developing the positive word of mouth
within the industry.
Principle 13: The innovation and utilization of technical tools to encourage the capabilities
are helpful for an organization to maintain a positive working environment. As per the survey
analysis, the Pritchard Francis management is keeping capabilities creation up to a very large
extent. The reasons behind maintaining large capabilities involve proper market research,
training to staff members and the implementation of professional strategy manner. The
Pritchard Francis management is highly professional and has the expertise in leading the
engineering operations with innovation (Castaño, Méndez, & Galindo, 2015). This kind of
approach is helping the organization to gain a positive outcome and build resilience within
the business.
Principle 14: Micro to Macro is a valuable business management fundamental that plays a
critical role in planning and contributing to the success of the organization. The
implementation of simple structure and operational approach in working is helpful for
employees to accomplish the goals. The management of the engineering company is
maintaining it to a large extent. According to analysis, the manager is planning operation and
offering a clear plan to the workers to implement it. This approach is minimizing the level of
complexity in work and encouraging the contribution of an individual (Galinsky et al., 2015).
The improvement in the standard of individual contribution leads the organization to success.
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Section 4: Cross culture awareness policies and management process
Cross-culture awareness
The consideration of cross-cultural policies and approach has a significant impact on
the business approach of an organization. The cross-cultural approach of the organization
refers to the set of systematic policies and procedure that help to manage the work in a
uniform approach to achieve the desired outcome in business. The implementations of cross-
cultural policies have a great effect on the sustainability and global business functions on an
organization (Peng, 2017). According to analysis, the Pritchard Francis management is
applying cross culture policies for managing the diverse team at the workplace and
maintaining the international operations for engineering. Following are the cross-cultural
policies that Pritchard Francis is considering for managing the business:
Figure 2: Cross-culture policies
Behavioral regulations: The management has stated explicit provisions for maintaining
interaction with the clients and offering the training to their employees. This training program
and regulations involves the utilization of common language, greeting and offering of
required information in a proper manner. To evaluate the performance of individual staff
members, the organization is collecting feedback from the clients. This evaluation procedure
is helping them to identify the areas of lacking staff and offering the training accordingly to
improve their behavior and interaction with the client (Jorge et al., 2015). This approach has a
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Values
Norms
Organizational environment
Behavi
oral
regula
tions

significant impact on the management functions of the company as it helping to develop and
a healthy working environment and building a positive relationship with the customers. For
example, the sales and marketing team of Pritchard Francis is focusing on the needs and
values of customers and offering the detail information through a face-to-face meeting, email
and telephonic conversation.
Norms: The development and implementation of norms are based on the structure and
approach of organization which includes the standards of working, policies for salary, wages,
working time and leaves. Pritchard Francis has determined clear policies as per the position
of employees. In addition to this, management has stated KPI’s for staff members that are
helping them to manage their work accordingly and contribute to the growth of the
organization (Wesselink et al., 2015). The cross-culture training and implementation of
international standards of working including the safety and job security is helping to motivate
the staff. This approach of management is supporting the engineering organization to
encourage working standards and coordination at the workplace. For example, the HR
manager of the organization is offering real-time information related to changes in standards
for department and staff that increase the understanding of team to manage their work and
achieve the goals of the company (Aarseth et al., 2017). In spite of that, the lack of
monitoring related to the implementation of norms is affecting the value creation
management approach of the company and creating barriers.
Values: The values of an organization play a vital role in managing the cross-cultural
management approach. The values in management involve high product quality, high
efficiency, and accuracy in the business operations. As per the analysis of Pritchard Francis,
the values that organization maintains include long term relationship with client, integrity,
honesty and ethical behaviour with accountability (Tabassi et al., 2016). Moreover, the
management tries to keep continues improvement in the skills of staff and knowledge related
to the utilization of engineering equipment, technology, and communication. Apart from that,
the company is offering the rewards as per the cultural trends of the individual that support to
keep the staff members motivated. These policies have a positive impact on the management
approach of engineering organization as the high quality in product, timely delivery of the
project and positive attitude towards the satisfaction level of a customer creating a good
brand image of the company (Kurucz et al., 2017). This brand effectiveness will support
management to improve sustainability and global business functions.
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Organizational environment: The working environment has an important impact on the
management and implementation of standards and policies. According to evaluation, the
Pritchard Francis management has developed a systemic physical layout for managing
operations. The interior and healthy working conditions that maintained by administration is
helping to increase the level of productivity and standards in business. In addition to this, the
two-way communication approach and competition level among the staff is also beneficial
for the company to maintain a positive environment (Ramos et al., 2015). However, conflicts
related to the method of individual and changes in perception has a negative impact on the
management approach of the company. The management needs to monitor the behavior of
staff in the workplace and requires making actions to overcome such incidents.
Sustainability and internationalization
Sustainability
The sustainable approach is required for managing project and gaining success. The
sustainability of an organization is measured through the approach of management towards
the customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and environment. The sustainable
approach of the company helps in managing operations and gaining the competitive
advantage. According to an analysis of Prichard Francis sustainable approach in engineering
and construction industry, it has carried out that management is using the Green policies and
standards for design and development (Sánchez, 2015). This policy is helping to maintain
high standards for environmental protection and economic advantage. The Green policy
refers to less utilization of energy, proper management of waste and optimum use of raw
material for project management. Moreover, the administration is viewing the projects on a
Triple Bottom Line basis that is helping to put premium environmental outcome. Apart from
that, timely delivery of project by Pritchard Francis is also helping to meet the customer
needs. This kind of integrated approach is supporting the organization to increase the
sustainability and results (Eriksson et al., 2015).
The principle that followed by the company for managing sustainability approach in
business involves the promotion of Green building programs, technologies, design practices
and operations of engineering. Additionally, Pritchard Francis is committed to delivering
profitable projects and services in an environmentally responsible manner. The company is
members of Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and proud to support the values
and initiatives of on the basis of the group (Knight, 2015). For example, the company is
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