Project Management Report: SME Case Study and Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of project management within the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), focusing on a case study involving McLaren Construction. The report begins by outlining the significance of project management procedures in construction, emphasizing the company's approach to projects like Bracken House and The Ray. It then explores the objectives of the report, which include evaluating project management practices, identifying strengths and constraints, and assessing the importance of materials management. A comprehensive academic literature review compares and contrasts project/programme management with strategic and operations management from an SME perspective. The report also details project planning, metrics, and tools, illustrated with diagrams and tables. It covers project life cycles, stakeholder roles, and responsibilities. Key aspects such as project leadership, risk assessment, potential project failures, and critical success factors are examined. The report concludes by summarizing findings and insights related to effective project management in SMEs, highlighting the importance of planning, leadership, and risk management for project success.

Running head: MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
Management of real-world project
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Objectives of this report.........................................................................................................3
Academic Literature Review......................................................................................................3
Project planning, metrics and tools............................................................................................6
Project leadership.......................................................................................................................9
Project risk and failure.............................................................................................................10
Critical Success Factors...........................................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
Reference..................................................................................................................................14

2MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
Introduction
The prime objective of this report is to understand the significance of the project
management procedures which are maintained by construction agencies like McLaren as they
are building high quality office spaces for other commercial establishments in central
London.
Considering the wide range of service provided by this construction agency it can be
said that the future of the construction business is very much in the safe hands. The business
approach taken by this commercial establishment while they developed Bracken House and
The Ray is highly recommendable (McLaren Construction 2019). The way they scheduled
the activities of each of the stakeholders in this project has set an example for other SME’s
across England. Talking about the future of the construction industry it can be said that the
current approach which is taken by this SME can be very much useful to address the
constraints of this industry in terms of the rising cost of raw materials, lack of safety training,
slow invoicing and payments, inadequate training procedures for the workers, and adoption
of new technologies which are increasingly used in construction projects like predictive
analysis and augmented reality.
There are diverse categories of projects which are undertaken by McLaren group of
companies like investing in the properties and diverse categories of construction project in
United Kingdom. This SME investments both in public and private sectors with range of
projects in terms of education, residential buildings, retails, logistics, distribution, and
commercial offices. Each of these real world projects are managed by this SME in an
organized manner (Leite 2016). Diver categories of project management techniques and
procedures are deployed in each of the projects in this organization. Life cycles of each of the

3MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
project are quantified by professional project managers who are working in this commercial
establishment over a longer period of time.
Objectives of this report
The prime objectives of this report are listed as followings:
 Evaluation of the project management practices which are maintained in McLaren
group of companies.
 Identification of the positives and constraint associated with the regular operations of
McLaren group of companies.
 Identification of the significance of materials management in McLaren group of
companies.
This report shall aim to understand the effectiveness of the project management
procedures which are generally followed by construction agencies like McLaren group of
companies. The future implication of this organization considering its work breakdown
structure along with the significance of maintaining leadership skills by the project managers
shall be reviewed in this report in a detailed manner. The impact of the identified risks in this
organization shall be evaluated in this report as well. The impact of the risks among the
stakeholders of this construction organization shall also be illustrated in the concluding
sections of this report.
Academic Literature Review
As stated by Eskerod, Huemann and Savage (2015), the characteristics of operations
management includes characteristics like global market price, diverse categories of operation
strategies adopted in the business to main the profitability, flexibility in work schedules and
total quality management. The paper was also very much useful to understand the

4MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
characteristics feature of the program management in terms of change management
procedures, industrial engineering and business transformation (Heagney 2016). The
investigator of this paper highlighted the significant of the key factors of program
management which are very much different from the specifications of operations
management like governance factors, accountability and management of the projects, cost
management and resource management.
However, stated that characteristics of operations management can also be similar to
program management. The investigators helped in understand the quality of service can only
be enhanced using the specifications of program management like efficient planning and
professional allocation of resources (Svejvig and Andersen 2015). The investigators of this
paper highlighted that inspite of having different characteristic feature, these two
management techniques can be aligned with each other in any commercial establishments or
any particular industry.
As discussed by De los Ríos-Carmenado et al. (2015), there are diverse categories of
objectives and characteristics features of project management like setting the scope of the
projects, management of the time taken in each phase of the project, maintaining the quality
of the end of the project, and managing the budget throughout the project life cycle.
However, the investigators also focussed on the strategic management procedures and
operations management procedures from the perspective of an SME. The paper was very
much useful to identify and compare the differences between the objectives of project
management with the objectives of operations and strategic management (Kerzner 2017). The
paper highlighted that the prime objective of strategic management is enhance the net
profitability of any project and prime objective project management is to manage each of the
resources associated with the projects. The paper also focussed on the other objectives of

5MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
operations management like customer service with the scope of operations management in
terms of the deployment of the resources deployed in the projects, process design and testing
procedures of the end products, aligning the acceptance criteria with the scope of the project
and material management.
Even though Collingbourne and Seah (2015) stated that project management
procedure is completely different from operations management. The investigator of this paper
stated that project management procedures only include the management of the resources
involved in each project cycle whereas the operations planning include characteristics feature
like demand forecasting, capacity planning, facility layout, enterprise resource planning,
economic batch quantity and materials requirement planning (Varajão 2017). The paper helps
in understanding the significance diverse categories of layout which are deployed in the
construction sites.
According to Chawla (2015), material requirement planning can be much useful in the
operations management. The investigator of this paper focussed on the significance of
inventory reductions which might have an impact on the operations management. The
investigator of this paper stated that priority planning and control are the prime characteristics
features of operations management. The paper also suggested that operations management
deals mainly with the impact of the factors like prices of the raw materials and effort of each
of stakeholders working in the projects (Wasserman and Gonzalez 2018). The investigator
also focused on the prime functions of project management which are very much different
from both strategic and operations management like allocation of resources. But on the
contrary Case and Stylios (2016), from the perspective of SME, the skills required to be a
project manager is completely different from being an operational manager. The investigator
of this paper stated that management of the constraints associated with projects along with

6MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
scheduling of the activities are the prime attributes of a project manager whereas the
significant specification of the operational manager is to investigate the commitment and
productivity of each of the workers involved in a project.
Project planning, metrics and tools
This section of this report will be looking forward to make a project plan and provide
most of the essentials details of a project life cycle. This plan will be provided based upon the
construction projects taken by McLaren.
ID Outline
Number
Task
Mode
Task Name Duration Start Finish
0 0 Building residential
complex by McLaren
84 days? Mon 16-09-19 Thu 09-01-20
1 1 Planning phase 8 days Mon 16-09-19 Wed 25-09-19
2 1.1 Resource Management 4 days Mon 16-09-19 Thu 19-09-19
3 1.2 Scheduling of the
project
2 days Fri 20-09-19 Mon 23-09-19
4 1.3 Review resources and
time allocation
2 days Tue 24-09-19 Wed 25-09-19
5 1.4 Milestone 1 0 days Wed 25-09-19 Wed 25-09-19
6 2 Design phase 18 days? Thu 26-09-19 Mon 21-10-19
7 2.1 Gathering requirements9 days Thu 26-09-19 Tue 08-10-19
8 2.2 Selection of building
design
8 days Wed 09-10-19 Fri 18-10-19
9 2.3 Acceptance from prime
stakeholders
1 day? Mon 21-10-19 Mon 21-10-19
10 2.4 End of milestone 2 0 days Mon 21-10-19 Mon 21-10-19
11 3 Building phase 58 days? Tue 22-10-19 Thu 09-01-20
12 3.1 Building phase of the
project
15 days Tue 22-10-19 Mon 11-11-19
13 3.2 Testing phase of the
project
5 days Tue 12-11-19 Mon 18-11-19
14 3.3 Compilation of testing
report
3 days Tue 19-11-19 Thu 21-11-19
15 3.4 Building support for
each stakeholders of
this project
10 days Fri 22-11-19 Thu 05-12-19
16 3.5 Making the required
changes
8 days Fri 06-12-19 Tue 17-12-19
17 3.6 Provide training 15 days Wed 18-12-19 Tue 07-01-20
18 3.7 Acceptance from the
prime stakeholders
1 day Wed 08-01-20 Wed 08-01-20
19 3.8 Project completion
phase
1 day? Thu 09-01-20 Thu 09-01-20
20 3.8.1 Project Completion
review
1 day? Thu 09-01-20 Thu 09-01-20
21 3.8.2 Project Closure phase0 days Thu 09-01-20 Thu 09-01-20
25-09
21-10
09-01
02-06 08-09 15-12 22-03 28-06 04-10 10-01 18-04 25-07 31-10 06-02 15-05 21-08
01 January 21 July 11 February 01 September 21 March 11 October 01 May
Figure 1: Scheduling of creation of residential complex by McLaren
(Source: Created by the author using MS Project)

7MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
Figure 2: WBS of creation of residential complex by McLaren
(Source: Created by the author using WBS schedule Pro)
The above pictorial diagram is very much significant to understand the time required
in each of the activities. Planning will of this project will be requiring 8 days and will be very
having numerous sub activities like resource management, time management and allocation
of resources. The design phase of the project will be done in 18 days and will be having
different sub activities like requirements gathering and selection of building design,
acceptance from the prime stakeholders who will be releasing the funds of the project. The
completion of the design phase will be marked by the starting of the building phase which
will be requiring 58 day time. Building phase of the project is one of the most significant
phase of the projects. Testing phase or the quality assurance tests are very much significant in
this project as it must be meeting the expectation of the consumers (Mohamed et al. 2017).
Building support to each stakeholder of the project is the most significant activity for the
successful completion of the project. The following step of this phase of the project is the

8MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
training period where each of the stakeholders who will be working in the project will be
given diverse categories of training procedures like orientation training and soft skill training.
These training sessions can be very much significant for the stakeholders of the project to
understand the effectiveness of technologies which are deployed in these construction project
like augmented reality. The training schedule will be followed by the acceptance test where
the qualities of the stakeholders are enhanced. The project will be closing with the project
completion where each of the new modifications will be reviewed by the project manager of
these projects. The project phase will be marking the closure of the project where each of the
external stakeholders will be released who was incorporated in this project on a contractual
basis (Netland 2016). The following unit of this report will be highlighting the task and effort
required for each of the stakeholders involved in this project.
Stakeholder Type Schedule Task effort
Project
manager
Internal The role of the project
manager is very much
significant from the project
initial phase to project.
The effort of the project manager
is very much significant in order
to maintain the quality of service
in each phase of the project.
Project
facility
Internal The entire infrastructure of
this project especially in the
designing phase and the
building phase is managed
by the project facility.
The effort the project facility is
very much significant as the
service provided by the designers
and the builders is very much
depended on the effort put by the
project facility. Thus, experience
of facility is very much
significant in this project.
Project team
members
Internal Project team members starts
each of their activity from
the first phase of the project
to the final phase of the
project.
The effort of the project team
members are also very much
significant in this project as the
entire end product of the project
is depended on the performance
of the stakeholders.
Sub-
contractor
External Signing of the contract can
be done in an organized
manner using the sub-
contractor. Each of the
agreements which will be
deployed for the
stakeholders who will be
hired from outside in this
The effort of the subcontractor is
very much significant in order to
maintain the efficiency of each of
the stakeholders in this project.

9MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
project will be managed by
the sub-contractor. The role
of the sub-contractor is very
much significant in this
project as he is very much
responsible for the quality
work which is desired from
each of the stakeholder
associated with this project.
Supplier External The role of the supplier is
very much significant in
both the designing phase
and the building phase of
the project as diverse
categories of services are
required for the
development of residential
complexes in central
London.
The effort of the suppliers is very
much significant in this project as
the durability of the building will
be depending upon the effort
provided by the suppliers in terms
of each of the service provided by
the suppliers.
Insurance
agents
External There are diverse categories
of insurance agents who
looks forward for the
successful completion of the
project. The insurance
packages covers each of the
technologies which are
deployed in this project.
The effort of the insurance agents
are very much significant in order
to main the security of both the
technologies deployed in this
project.
Sales and
marketing
Internal The sales and marketing is
one of the most significant
chapter of this organization
as it helps this commercial
establishments to grow
beyond central London.
Thus, the overall
organizational target of this
commercial establishment
The effort of the sales and
marketing team is very much
significant in order to maintain
the organizational growth of
McLaren.
Table 1: Schedule and effort of each of the stakeholders
(Source: Created by the author)
Project leadership
Leadership qualities of the project owner and project manager is very much
significant in order to contribute to the organizational integration and also for the changes
which are generally seen in SME like McLaren. In SME set up like McLaren, there are

10MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
diverse categories of stakeholders involved in each phase of the project thus it can be said
that excellent communication procedure is very much desired to manage the challenges faced
by each of the project stakeholders. At the same time the challenges of SME like inadequate
access to marketing platform is very much significantly addressed using the interpersonal
skills of the project manager (Niazi et al. 2016). Lack of access to new technology is one of
the other issues faced by SME like McLaren and the vision and problem solving attitude of
the project managers is very much desired in order to address these technological issues.
Projects managers must be ensuring both the success of the project as well as must be dealing
with each of the smaller changes in an SME in terms of the diverse categories of government
protocols which is a huge source of income for the SME. The other significant attribute of the
project manager which can help to deal with the changes made in the organization in terms of
the inadequate capital and credits which might have an impact on the overall organizational
target.
The role of the project owner is also very much significant in most of the SME like McLaren
in order to address the issue of ineffective utilization of resources (Osei-Kye and Chan 2015).
Positive attitude must be maintained by the project own right from the start of the project
until it finishes. The technical aspects of most of the SME must be understood by the project
managers also it can be very much beneficial to main transparency in the projects. Business
responsibility must be maintained by the project owners as well as there are diverse
categories of sponsors who are involved in specific project in most of the SME like McLaren.
Project risk and failure
Critically evaluate an appropriate framework to ascertain the risk analysis of the
project to be managed for the SME selected and identify the common causes of project
failures and its impact on the stakeholders. The procedure of listing each of the probable risks

11MANAGEMENT OF REAL-WORLD PROJECT
in the projects which are undertaken by SME can be considered as the risk identification
procedure. There are diverse categories of risk identification frameworks which are generally
deployed in the SME for the identification of the causes behind each of the risks and response
for each of the risks. The impact and the categorization of these risks are the prime
specifications of the risk identification frameworks which are deployed in most of SME
(Pferdehirt, Russell and Nelson 2016). The risk identification frame which is deployed in
most of the SME like McLaren are discussed in the following table.
Serial
number
Causes behind the risks Impact Cell
references
Risk 1 Performance risk: Performance of each of the
stakeholders in projects can result in this risk.
Slight
impact
B2
Risk 2 Technical risk: The deployment of technologies like
augmented realty are the other technical issue associated
with the projects undertaken by SME like McLaren.
Stakeholders like designer and builders can be
significantly affected by this risk.
Major D4
Risk 3 Financial risk: The budget required in each phase of the
projects in SME is the main reason behind the financial
risk associated the project manager of McLaren.
Loss of
time
C3
Risk 4 Deadline risk: Each phase of the project must be miss
the deadlines which can have an impact on the time
duration of the project and it may have a huge impact on
each of the stakeholders of this project.
Major B4
Risk 5 Quality risk: The computer-based would not meet with
the scope and desired requirements and this is one of the
main reason behind this risk.
Lethal C5
Identification of the
risks
D (Certain) C (Likely) B (Moderate) A (Unlikely)
5 (Lethal) Risk 5
4 (Major) Risk 2 Risk 4
3 (Lost Time) Risk 3
2 (Slight) Risk 1