Project Management Report: Field Trip Communication and Methodologies

This report analyzes a project management scenario involving a field trip for 30 students, with a budget of 60,000 Euros. It begins with an introduction to project management principles, followed by a risk register detailing potential risks like physical hazards, budget constraints, transportation issues, and documentation problems, along with mitigation strategies. The report emphasizes the need for effective communication, outlining its importance for team building, employee management, and transparency, and it describes the communication process. Finally, the report analyzes and critiques project management methodologies, comparing Agile, Waterfall, and PRINCE2, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages in the context of the field trip project. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations for successful project execution.

Project Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Assignment 2...................................................................................................................................1
Risk register with the project and measures to cover them.........................................................1
Assignment 3...................................................................................................................................5
The need for effective communication structure and an analysis and critique of
methodologies.............................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Project management refers to the planning, initiating, processing, monitoring and
competition of work which is both short term as well as long term in nature. Short term projects
last for less than 1 year. Whereas the long term projects last for more than a year. The report
covers a scenario where a project of field trip has been planned by the institute to give exposure
of sustainable business to 30 students. The management faculty has a total amount of 60,000
Euros ( 2,000 euro fund from each student) for planning the whole risk. The report undertakes
the risks which can develop or associated with this whole trip (Burke, 2013). A full risk
management plan has cover up this report. Along with this, the report also covers the need for
effective communication between and among the involved parties. Apart from this some
methodologies like principally comparing Agile, waterfall and PRINCE 2 methodologies has
been covered.
Assignment 2
Risk register with the project and measures to cover them.
Risk register refers to a way to register risks along with the actions for covering,
managing or controlling each risk. It is very essential in managing the risks with are associated
with the project. As soon as the risk is identified it is logged into the register and considerable
actions are taken to manage the risks. The risk register of the given field project is as follows-
Serial no. Description of
risk
Impact Risk Response Risk level Owner
1 Physical
hazards
Can cause
illness and
injury to the
students
Inquire and
check if the
field does not
have any bad
climate which
can cause
illness to the
students. Also
search that all
High The project
manager.

the roads or
routes are
fully safe.
2 Budget risk Lack of
budget will
impact the
quality of trip
also bad
experience for
the students
The budgets
should be set
accordingly.
Information
about the fairs
and fees of
convenience,
food and stay
should be
analysed
properly
before hand.
Medium The project
manager and
its team
members
3 Transportation
risk
Improper
transportation
facility can
also be a risk
for the trip
causing more
cost for the
project to put.
The proper
transportation
should get
planned for
the students.
There should
be not any
damaged
transport or
vehicle which
may cause any
delay in the
schedule for
trips.
high The project
manager and
its team
members.
4 Financial risk Extra costs do Contingency medium The project

incur during
the trips which
can be a risk
which the
university
need to cover.
fund or
account should
be planned by
the project
manager to
cover the
unknown costs
and expenses
during the trip.
manager and
team members
5 Documentatio
n risks
All the
documents
which will be
needing during
the trip for
example ids of
students, any
permission
from the site,
or any legal
formalities
mandatory
from patents
site can impact
the trip.
All the legal
formalities
should be
done
beforehand of
the beginning
of trips
specifically
concerns from
parents.
High All the
members
(students,
project
managers and
the team
members) are
responsible
for this.
6 Reputation-al
risk
Any
misconduct by
the student
during the trip.
The students
should be get
well educated
about their
self- conduct
and behaviour
Low students

which they
need to have
during the trip.
7 Personal
safety
Any criminal
activity or
mishap with
the students
done by the
population of
that area.
Supervision is
necessary to
overcome it.
High Students and
the guide
teachers.
8 Environmental
hazard
Any danger
from wild
animals, or
illness from
high or very
low
temperatures
can use illness
to the students.
The trip
should be
planned at that
period or place
where
soothing
environment is
present. This
can be a major
help for
getting the
students ill
and successful
trip.
high Project
manager and
its team
members.
9 Operational
risk
In this type of
risk, the
operations
which are
associated
with the trip
All the
operations
which are
need to get
done during or
before hand of
Likely high Project
manager

includes here. risk should be
done.
10 Schedule risk In this the
things and
events if not
sync with the
schedule may
affect the
quality of the
trip.
All the things
and events
should get
sync properly.
Likely high Cooperation
from students
From the help of risk register, the above following risks have been identified which can
cause risk for the field project (Fleming and Koppelman, 2016). These above risk can be
managed and control comprehensively by-
Proper communication- The communication can help majorly in eliminating most of
the grievances or barriers which may occur during the project. The communication between the
project planner and all the people like trip coordinator, hotel manager, transportation manager
and so on should get done before and during the trip (Hwang and Ng, 2013). Proper
communication can cover majority of risks stated above like environmental risk, transportation
risk, physical risk and etc.
Training and orientation- The training and orientation programme should get conducted
by the college to instruct the students about the trip and the precautions they need to take while
on their trip (Heldman, 2018). The training can also includes the kind of behaviour they are
expecting from the students. By such the personal and reputation-al risks can get eliminated.
Site visit and supervision- It refers to the visiting of sites by the project manager before
fixing of any venue or place. This can reduces the chances of any kind of failure into the trip.
From such the schedule risk, budget risk, operational risk can get eliminated.
Assignment 3
The need for effective communication structure and an analysis and critique of methodologies.
Effective communication is very much necessary for-

Building of effective team- Communication helps the people in building up of effective
team. With proper communication between the project manager and the students, teachers and
the other parties can help the trip to get successful. Communication can minimize the risks which
are associated with the field trip (Kerzner, 2017). Effective communication will build a strong
team with the members that are associated with the project of this trip. For example- with proper
communication between transport person and hotel manager can help the students and also the
hotel to get prepared for the students to arrive as well as students will not have to wait for the
rooms to get empty or clean.
Managing employees- Effective communication helps in managing the team and its
members. All the activities of team members can get synchronised due to effective
communication. Effective communication will enable the team to inform the others adequately
about their responsibilities and expectation from them. As in case of field trip project, the project
manager can synchronised the activities before and during the trip which can help in creating
success for the project (Larson and Gray, 2013).
Ensures transparency- Effective communication encourages the transparency in the
activities. Communication removes any kind of barrier or grievance caused. After the removal of
all the barriers the communication will flow very smoothly across the departments. For example,
effective communication will help the project manager in maintaining transparency between the
work of various people or parties like hotel manager, field site manager, transportation manager
and the like. From this the activities or events can get held at decided schedule.
Contributes to the success of project- Communication plays a vital role in every project
or activity. Communication with transportation facility, hotel facilities, parents, teachers,
students and other linked parties or people contributes to the success of the project.
Communication with all these parties decides the effectiveness of the project.
Every ideal communication is followed by some steps of processes, these steps are-
Sender- The sender initiates the message or communication by sending it using many
communicating modes. As in the given scenario, the project manager sends or initiates the
message to students about the trip, to hotel manager about the rooms to get booked, to
transportation manager for getting transportation arranged and the like.
Message- It is the idea, feeling, information etc. that is send by the sender for initiating
further communication. There are many modes available for the sender like email, telephonic

calls, telegram and so on. The project manager can use telephonic communication to get the
information fast and effective (Meng, 2012).
Encoding- The message send by the project manager gets encoded by the concern party.
Concern party may include students, teachers and others.
Media- it is the way in which the message is transmitted. The message can get
transmitted via orally or in written form. The project manager for effective communication can
do telephonic communication.
Decoding- The message which was send by the sender gets decoded by the receiver and
converts it into meaningful information. The message send to the students, teacher,
transportation facilities, hotel facilities and others gets decoded by them to get the information.
Receiver- He is the person who finally receives the message. As in given case the
students, teachers, parents and other external parties can be the receiver.
Feedback- The feedback is the message which is formed by the receiving party. The
message gives the answer or reply to the sender's message.
An analysis and critique of methodologies are as follows-
Agile methodology- In agile methodology, the whole project is divided into the small segments
or parts and each part is delegated to some person who is responsible for that part. The dividing
of activities helps the whole project in timely competition. In agile methodology the project
management processes encourage often inspection and implementation that encourages the
adoption of change, enhance team work, accountability, and high quality of work performance.
Advantages-
 This methodology helps in getting the project completed by the time. The project
manager can divide the project of field trip into small segments and allots those segments
to different people to supervise. For example- the transportation work is allotted to a
person, the work for legal requirements is allotted to other person and so on.
 Also it tells how much resources will be needing and how much has yet used into the
project. The project manager can analyses the need for resources and the quantity
required.
 It also saves cost for the organisation. By analysing the total cost the project manager can
saves cost to some extent which can help in organising some other activity for students
during the trip.

 This method is allows flexibility and helps in bringing any sort of change into the plan.
Weaknesses
 This methodology is time consuming. It will consume more time in planning and
executing the field trip project.
 More requirement of documentation is in this methodologies. Too much documentation
can create hustle and bustle for the project to manage.
Waterfall methodology- In this type of methodology the whole project is divided into small
segments or tasks where the later task is totally depended to the completion of the former task.
Here the whole project is complete or follows like a waterfall (Müller and et. al., 2014).
Advantages-
 The work or tasks is followed by linear sequence. As in given case, the project is divided
into small segments like first goes the idea for project, then forming of plan, then fixing
of hotels, then deciding for transportation and the like. The tasks are clear and transparent as team know the line for tasks that need to get first.
Weaknesses
 This process is highly time consuming as the work which can perform simultaneously is
not performed only after the completion of former tasks.
 The methodology is also very expensive for the project.
PRINCE 2 methodology- This method is a well method which is being practice for project
management. In this the project is well and clearly planned and properly structured. The
methodology follows 7 principals, they are-
 Project should get justification- As in the given case, the project should get justified first
from the people it will going to benefit i.e. students.
 Teams should learn from every stage- The methodology should teach a lesson or any kind
of skill at every stage to the concern people i.e. students.
 Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined- In this the roles of the team members along
with their responsibilities should get analysed clearly by the project manager.
 Work is planned in stages- the project of field trip should get planned from the very
beginning to its kick-offs. All the stages should be clearly structured and planned (Pinto,
2014).

 Project boards “manage by exception”- the project manager does not have enough time to
watch out for every minute details or information of the project. So he delegates the work
to team members along with the time, budget and task required from them.
 Teams keep a constant focus on quality- The quality of work of team members is in focus
by project manager. The manager keeps a continuous monitoring of the work which he
has delegated to the team members.
 The approach is tailored for each project- the methodology PRINCE 2 is suitable and
applicable on every project undertaken irrespective of the size of the project, number of
employees or members employed and so on (Meredith, Mantel and Shafer, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the report represented above, we can conclude that the every project needs to get
managed properly with cleverly. As in the given scenario the project of conducting a field trip is
associated with number of risk like budget risk, financial risk, operational risk, personal risk and
etc. which can get managed by communication, training and orientation , supervising and so on.
Apart from this the project can get managed by application of any 3 project management
methodologies and that are- agile, waterfall and PRINCE2 methodologies.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA, 26.
Fleming, Q. W. and Koppelman, J. M., 2016, December. Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Heldman, K., 2018. Project management jumpstart. John Wiley & Sons.
Hwang, B. G. and Ng, W. J., 2013. Project management knowledge and skills for green
construction: Overcoming challenges. International journal of project management.
31(2). pp.272-284.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Larson, E. and Gray, C., 2013. Project management: The managerial process with MS project.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Meng, X., 2012. The effect of relationship management on project performance in construction.
International journal of project management. 30(2). pp.188-198.
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J. and Shafer, S. M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Müller, R., and et. al., 2014. Understanding project success through analysis of project
management approach. International journal of managing projects in business.
Pinto, J.K., 2014. Project management, governance, and the normalization of
deviance. International Journal of Project Management. 32(3). pp.376-387.

11