PROJ6006: Case Study Analysis of Acorn Industries Project Management

This assignment analyzes a case study on Acorn Industries, a company undergoing a transformation through acquisitions and entering the realm of government contracts. The case study focuses on project management, leadership styles, and team dynamics. The student explores leadership approaches like participative or democratic leadership, emphasizing the importance of communication, feedback, and team cohesion. Various project management tools and techniques are discussed, including classic methods, waterfall techniques, and agile project management. The assignment also examines communication strategies within and outside the project group, including meetings, emails, and virtual methods. Different types of power a project manager can utilize, such as reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and coercive power, are identified. Furthermore, the assignment delves into building self-managed teams and discusses the benefits of such teams, as well as approaches for handling challenges. The student suggests steps to alleviate challenges by improving communication, providing support, and building self-managed teams for efficient project delivery.

RUNNING HEAD: ACORN INDUSTRIES 0
project management
Student’s Details-
APRIL 11, 2020

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Introduction
Project management is the practice of making the planning, executing and closing the
required work which can be attained through the meeting the desired set of objectives (Kerzner,
2017). The primary goal is to achieve the target of all the project goals. Here, assignment is
based on the case study which is based on the Acorn industries. This determines the roles and
duties of the project manager for the successful completion of the project. Also, this will
determine the power of the project manager and managing communication within and outside the
project group.
Leadership Approach for Managing Project Team
It is important to communicate the mission, vision and the expectations of the team in
order to gain the objectives of the team. It is also important to take and provide the necessary
feedback which can make the success of the project. The leadership style for the management of
the group project of Acorn Industries is the participative or democratic which can be chosen for
the handling of the project team. Moreover, participative leadership style has the capacity to
generate new ideas and make ongoing commitment with the team which can provide appropriate
direction to the team and can be helpful in the achievement of the goals (Browne, Dreitlein, Ha,
Manzoni, & Mere, 2016). The project manager of Acorn Industries can manage the project team
effectively with the due cooperation of the functional managers with this leadership. This style of
leadership will provide an opportunity to make the consensus and facilitate the meetings for
addressing the concerns of each member and making each member more focused and dedicated
towards the goals of the team (Larsson, Eriksson, Olofsson, & Simonsson, 2015). This will also
enhance the innovative capability of the project team which can be handled successfully with the
support of the other functional managers working on the group project.
Use of Tools and Techniques by Project Manager
There are various project management tools and techniques which can be used for the
managing of the projects easily and effectively. The first method which can be used by the
project manager of Acorn Industries is the classic method which is regarded as the simple and
traditional methods of managing the projects (Alotaibi, Sutrisna, & Chong, 2016). This includes

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the planning of the work, allocation of the resources and providing and taking feedback along
with monitoring of the deadlines. Further, there is another method called waterfall technique
which allows the project managers influence the team to make the sequential performance of the
tasks. Also, the project manager makes use of the Gantt charts for providing the visual
representation of the tasks and the assigned duties. Further, another method or technique which
can be used by the project manager is the Agile project management. This is the value-based
approach used by the project manager through the use of the set of principles. This will divide
the project into short sprints and making continual improvement. This can include the techniques
such as FDD, DSDM and Scrum which can be used as agile frameworks for the representation of
the project (Maria & Santos, 2018).
Making Communication Outside Project Group
Management of communication outside the project group is an important aspect of the
project manager who undertakes the responsibility of the group project. The project manager of
the Acorn industries can make use of the methods and techniques for making the communication
outside the group project (Ziek & Anderson, 2015). The project managers communicate with the
people outside the team who are stakeholders through conducting meetings which can facilitate
the description of the required deliverable and also for understanding their demands. Another
method which can be used by the project managers is emails wherein every list of information
can be shared. This is the effective method as the information is written and there are lesser
chances of errors. Lastly, the project manager of the company makes the ongoing
communication with the outsiders through the virtual methods in which the communication can
be made through the video calls for the explanation of the entire project.
Using of Types of Power
The project manager can use five types of power for the motivation of the members of the
group project. First power which can be used is the reward power in which the manager will
provide the ways for making the person desirable and remove the undesirable experiences of the
person. Further, the second power can be legitimate power which is utilized by project manager
to take the charge of the team and also make deciding upon the compensation of the members.
Third power of project manager is expert which can be exercised by the administration of the

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knowledge and facilitation of the expertise to others (Gacasan, Wiggins, & Searle, 2016). This is
also related with leading by the example. Forth power which can be used by the organization is
the referent power which can be used through the making of association with the CEO and get an
opportunity to make the associations with the members. Lastly, the coercive or punishment
power can be used to control the team members to make the necessary compliances.
Methods for Building Self-managed Teams
In the management of the agile projects, there is importance of self-managed teams which
can be managed effectively through the empowering of the members to make the management of
the tasks on their own. The methods for developing self-managed team include making of the
team which has a different background and knowledge (Annosi, Foss, Brunetta, & Magnusson,
2017). The team members provide the individual contribution into the project and the
productivity increases. In the handling of the agile projects, the method can be used through
showing of the trusts and confidence on the team members as they have a significant
contribution into the team. Also, the teams can also be developed through the appropriate
leadership which facilitates the employees support and guidance to cross the hurdles. The
method can also be used in the form of giving accountability to make certain decisions and
making a transparent communication for the effective management of the group project.
Selection of Approaches
The approaches for the building up of the self-managed teams for managing the Agile
projects is effective as it can make the success of the team target. Also, these self-managed teams
have some set of roles for the handling of the project through the scrum master, team architect
and business analysts who have a significant contribution in the team. The roles are defined
through the coordination between the tasks and the activities. These approaches can provide
quick results to the team target and provide an opportunity to successfully manage and improve
the performance (Grab, Weiss, & Kurth, 2019). The approach can also create confidence within
the team which significantly lead to their effective contribution in the team which can also make
the employees productive and loyal towards the team project. The reason behind the selection of
the approaches for the self-managed teams is that it can create potential advantages to the team
(Dyba & Dingsoyr, 2015). This can provide them the decision-making authority to the teams for

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the solving of the operational problems and also increase the speed of the solving of the
problems. This approach is helpful as self-managed teams increase the level of redundancy
which provide an opportunity to the team members to share the knowledge and making the
coordination effectively.
Alleviation of Challenges Encountered by Project Manager
As a project manager of the Acorn industries, I would make certain steps for the
alleviating the challenges. I might make use of proper communication is the basis of success and
failure of the project. I would make use of proper communication for describing each person’s
role and maximizing the involvement of the employees and reducing the risk. I as a project
manager provided the necessary support and guidance and praised every member for their
accomplishments (Browne, Dreitlein, Ha, Manzoni, & Mere, 2016). This could be done to
increase the morale of the employees and building up of the team spirit which can lead to the
successful completion of the project. Further, I would have used the methods according to the
project requirements and also made the necessary contribution in the management of the
projects. I would have taken feedback from the members and at the same time, I would have
made use of the power for praising the members and giving punishments in certain cases. I
would have overcome the challenges through the building up of self-managed teams which has
the ability to deliver the projects efficiently and effectively.
Conclusion
Conclusively, it can be said that project management is regarded as the aspect of the
business in which executes the action in the direction of accomplishment of the specific
objectives of the organization. Moreover, the assignment is based on the project management of
Acorn industries in which it has highlighted the ways project manager can use to lead a project
and get success in the long-run. Also, the project is not only responsible for making the internal
communication but is also liable for making external contacts particularly with the stakeholders.

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References
Alotaibi, N., Sutrisna, M., & Chong, H. (2016). Guidelines of using project management tools
and techniques to mitigate factors causing delays in public construction projects in
kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Engineering, Project, and Production Management,
6(2), 90-103.
Annosi, M., Foss, N., Brunetta, F., & Magnusson, M. (2017). The interaction of control systems
and stakeholder networks in shaping the identities of self-managed teams. Organization
Studies, 38(5), 619-645.
Browne, W., Dreitlein, S., Ha, M., Manzoni, J., & Mere, A. (2016). Two Key Success Factors
for Global Project Team Leadership: Communications and Human Resource
Management. Journal of Information Technology & Economic Development, 7(2).
Dyba, T., & Dingsoyr, T. (2015). Agile Project Management: From Self-Managing Teams to
Large-Scale Development. 2015 IEEE/ACM 37th IEEE International Conference on
Software Engineering.
Gacasan, E., Wiggins, M., & Searle, B. (2016). The role of cues in expert project manager
sensemaking. Construction management and economics, 34(7-8), 492-507.
Grab, B., Weiss, P., & Kurth, B. (2019). How digital transformation drives the evolution of self-
managed teams? Ecoforum Journal, 8(3).
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Larsson, J., Eriksson, P., Olofsson, T., & Simonsson, P. (2015). Leadership in civil engineering:
Effects of project managers’ leadership styles on project performance. Journal of
management in engineering, 31(6), 04015011.
Maria, J., & Santos, D. (2018, October 2). XP, FDD, DSDM, and Crystal Methods of Agile
Development. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from Project-management.com: https://project-
management.com/xp-fdd-dsdm-and-crystal-methods-of-agile-development/

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Ziek, P., & Anderson, J. (2015). Communication, dialogue and project management.
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.