Project Management, Leadership and Skills: Target UK Project Report

This report presents a comprehensive business case and project plan for establishing Target stores in the UK, addressing concerns arising from the unsuccessful Target Canada expansion. It includes a literature review of project management concepts such as initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure, emphasizing the importance of project initiation and planning. The report defines project objectives, performance measurement factors, and stakeholder analysis. It details the project schedule, resource allocation, budget, and identifies potential risks and constraints. The communication plan is also outlined to ensure effective team collaboration. The analysis recommends a phased project implementation approach for successful execution of the Target UK project.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP AND SKILLS
Project Management, Leadership and Skills
Name of Student
Name of University
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Abstract
The report aims in discussing the project management aspects associated with a project of
opening Target Stores in UK. The project is a critical project particularly because the previous
project of opening a target store in Canada was a failure. A business case and a project plan is
developed for the Target UK project, which are discussed in the report. A literature review has
been undertaken in order to understand the importance of project initiation and planning. The
project objectives are defined in the report so that an accurate project plan can be developed. The
report incorporates stakeholders’ analysis in order to establish the importance of the
stakeholders’ management in a project. The reports identifies the major risks and constraints
associated with the project. The project plan that is prepared for Target UK project will help in
successful completion of the project. The importance of project initiation and planning is
established in the report.

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Table of Contents
Part A...................................................................................................................................3
Part B.................................................................................................................................13
Introduction....................................................................................................................13
1. Literature Review......................................................................................................13
1.1. Project Management...........................................................................................14
1.2. Project Initiation and Planning...........................................................................16
1.3. Different Approaches..........................................................................................16
2. Introduction to the Case.............................................................................................17
3. Project Plan................................................................................................................19
3.1. Project Objectives...............................................................................................19
3.2. Performance Measurement/ Management of Quality.........................................19
3.3. Project Stakeholder Analysis..............................................................................20
3.4. Project Schedule: Activities and Milestone........................................................21
3.5. Resources and Budget.........................................................................................25
3.6. Constraints and Risks.........................................................................................27
3.7. Communications.................................................................................................29
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................30
References..........................................................................................................................31

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Part A
A presentation of project plan and business case for Target UK project is prepared.
The Presentation aims in discussing the Business case and the Project plan for Target UK
project

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The first slide of the presentation introduces the topics that are covered in the
presentation. The presentation will be discussing the major components of the business case and
the project plan that is prepared for the Target UK project.

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In order to identify the need of project initiation and planning in successful project
implementation, an extensive literature has been undertaken. The literature search indicates that
project initiation and planning phase is important as it ensures appropriate requirement
identification and gathering. For the implementation of Target UK project, a phased project
implementation process is recommended as it helps in setting up an experienced project team.

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Project planning and initiation are considered important for the Target UK project as the
Target Canada project failed mainly because the project team could not identify the customers’
needs. Furthermore, the supply chain management software that was prepared was faulty leading
to the failure of the expansion.

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The slide identifies the main objectives of the project. Fulfillment of the above identified
objectives will ensure successful completion of the project.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP AND SKILLS
This slide gives an idea of the stakeholders in the Target UK project.

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The above slide indicates the activities that are to be completed for Target UK project.
The schedule plan that is prepared indicates that it will take 815 days to complete the entire
project.
The above slide indicates the resources allocated for the project. The resources are
allocated on basis of the activities that are needed to be completed.

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The above slide provides an idea of the major constraints and the risks associated with
the project. The major risks include, schedule overrun, loss of money and quality issues.
Addressing the risks and the constraints are essential for successful management of the Target
UK project.

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The above slide gives an idea of the communication plan that is prepared for the project.
This will ensure effective communication among the team member.

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The presentation concludes that the effective initiation and planning of Target UK project
and use of phase project implementation approach can help in successful implementation of the
project.

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Part B
Introduction
The report aims is to produce a detailed business case and project plan for development
of Target stores in UK. Target US is quite popular for their quality products in low prices. It has
been a favorite shopping destination not only for people in US but also for Canadian families.
Target US therefore thought that expansion in Canada would prove to be a good business
opportunity. However, their expansion is Canada was not much a success as certain factors
contributed to the failure of entire expansion project leading to bankruptcy. Target US has now
embarked on a project of expanding their stores in UK. The report discusses the detailed business
case and the project plan for this expansion project. An extensive literature review is undertaken
in order to highlight the various project management concepts related to project initiation,
planning and execution. The report further identifies the most significant planning problems
associated with the Target Canada project. The planning problems could have been managed by
making use of tools and techniques of project management. The report further identifies the
major project objectives so that an appropriate project plan can be prepared. The business case
identifies the performance measurement factors that should be considered for managing the
quality of the project. The report further identifies the major stakeholders associated with the
project and performs a stakeholder analysis of the identified stakeholders. The project plan
involves appropriate scheduling and estimation of the resources. The plan further identifies the
major risks, constrains and the methods of communication that will be followed while execution
of the project.
1. Literature Review

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This section of the business case aims in providing a detailed literature search about the
different project management concepts related to project initiation, planning and execution. For
the Target UK project, it becomes quite essential to choose a particular project management
concept so that this particular project is not a failure like that of Target Canada project.
1.1. Project Management
Project management is a process of initiation, planning of a project and project execution.
Use of project management methods help in achieving the specific goals of a project. The
primary aim a project management methodology is to achieve the desired goal within the given
time constraints. One of the most significant aspect of project management is project planning.
The project manager is responsible for developing a project plan, which should be followed for
project initiation, planning and execution (Ramazani and Jergeas 2015). A project management
process can be subdivided in to five stages, which are initiation, planning, execution,
performance monitoring and closure. All these project stages indicates that the entire project is
subdivided into smaller and manageable units (Kerzner 2019). The various project stages
associated with project management are evaluated in the section below.
Initiation: The project initiation is the very first stage of project management life cycle.
The initiation phase is important for defining the major objectives, scope and the deliverables of
the project. The initiation phase is therefore quite important for managing and executing a
project. A particular project is initiated by developing a business case for the project (Zulch
2014). The development of the business case is followed by a feasibility study and establishment
of a project charter. The main stakeholders of the project is identified in this phase and a well-
defined project team is set up. Therefore, in the initiation phase of the project the entire project

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requirements are identified and the project team is set up for undertaking and implementing the
project.
Planning: The planning phase is an important part of project management that relates to
project estimation scheduling and development of project budget. There are a number of
activities that are carried out in the project planning phase. This includes identification of the
project stakeholders and development of the project plan. The project planning phase is
important to set and prioritize the goals of a particualr project (Hussein and Klakegg 2014). In
the planning phase of project management, the project deliverables are defined and the project
schedule is prepared. The project planning phase of the project helps in identification of the
major risks in the project. The most significant project risks are analyzed by the process of risk
assessment. The planning phase of a project is mainly important as it helps in preparation and
delivery of a project plan. The plan is presented to the stakeholder and is needed to be approved
prior to the start of a project.
Execution: Execution stage is a vital stage of project management. In this phase, the
project is executed as per the plan. The project execution phase is related to project deliverables
and various project outputs (Schwalbe 2015). The phase of project execution ensures that the
project is delivered in a successful manner. It is project manager’s responsibility to ensure that
the tasks assigned to the execution phase of the project are completed within the scheduled time.
Monitoring and Control: The monitoring and the control phase is the fourth phase of
project management (Noe et al. 2017). Project monitoring and control phase helps in effective
management of the works completed in the execution project phase (Cullen and Parker 2015).
The execution project phase further monitors the risks and issues associated with the project so

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that the mitigated risk does not return back to the project. The primary purpose of a project
monitoring and control phase is to compare the major project deliverables against the project
plan and the requirements of the project. The project monitoring and the control phase is
therefore necessary to ensure that all the project deliverables and the specifications are met
during the execution and completion of a task or a project. It is quite needed for a project
manager to measure the performance of a project prior to project closure.
Project Closure: The last phase of project management is project closure. The project
monitoring and the control phase checks whether the project has met its requirements (Frich et
al. 2015). Only after successful project evaluation and documentation of the project, a project is
closed.
1.2. Project Initiation and Planning
As identified from the literature search above, the project initiation and planning phase
are two of the most important stages of project management and are the most vital stages as well.
The initiation and the planning phase is associated with effective requirement identification,
specification identification and identification of the resource needs of the project (Burke and
Barron 2014). It is vital for a particular project to work on project initiation and planning to
ensure appropriate requirement identification.
1.3. Different Approaches
A number of project management approaches are related on the requirements of a
particular project. The different approaches of project management include phased approach,
lean project management approach and iterative approach (Seymour and Hussein 2014). Target

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UK project should involve choice of a particular project management approach that can help in
successful execution of a project.
The phased approach to project management is mainly led by the experienced project
managers to overcome the resistance to change. A phased approach of project implementation is
quite crucial for overcoming the resistance to change. It is therefore, one of the widely used
approaches of project management.
The lean project management approach is quite different from the phased approach and is
associated with the application of lean concepts such as lean construction and others. The lean
project management therefore requires a much disciplined approach of examining all the
activities related to project management.
The iterative and incremental project management approach indicates a combination of
both iterative design for incremental build model associated with project design. This approach
of project management therefore incorporates collaborative learning and testing in each phase of
the project (DuBois et al. 2015). This project approach is therefore quite vital for management
and execution of a complex project.
For the Target UK project, it is quite essential to choose a particular project
implementation approach so that the project can be implemented in a successful manner. For
Target UK project, a phased approach is chosen particularly because this approach involves a
formalized project management process within an organization (Kerzner 2017). The phased
project management process is crucial for successful management of a project as it involves
experienced project management team. After failure of the Target Canada project, it is necessary
for the project team to implement a Target UK in a phased approach.

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2. Introduction to the Case
The business case is being prepared for the Target UK project. Appropriate planning and
controlling of the Target UK project is essential as the Target Canada project had failed. There
were certain planning problems associated with the Target Canada project. First of all the project
team could not identify the main project requirements. Since Target US is popular in US, the
expansion in Canada was expected to be a hit as well.
Target is known to provide high quality commodity in much lower prices. However, in
Canada the prices of the commodities in Target was comparably higher in comparison to the
other local retailers.
The issues in the Target Canada project planning phase had resulted in development of a
faulty software. The development of a defective software had resulted in supply chain problems.
The problems in the planning phase of the project had resulted in failure of the entire project as
the number of customers started reducing gradually. As a result of that, Target Canada had to file
for bankruptcy.
The use of appropriate project management approach could have eliminated this problem.
The project planning had certain issues regarding requirement identification. Proper background
research was not done in the project planning phase that led to incorrect requirement
identification. The use of a phased project implementation process could have however helped
in accurate requirement identification and planning (Heagney 2016). Furthermore, setting up of
an experienced project team would have eliminated the major issues in the project. Therefore, for
Target UK project, a proper project management approach is chosen. The following section of

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the business case, gives an idea of the project plan that is prepared for successful implementation
of the Target UK project.
3. Project Plan
A project plan is prepared for the Target UK project that gives an idea of the major
project requirements, objectives, schedule and the resources needed for completing a project
successfully (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). The project plan will help the project team to follow a
planned approach of project implementation so that the issues associated with Target Canada
Project does not return to Target UK project. The following sections of the project plan identifies
the project objectives, the performance measurement, stakeholder analysis, schedule and the
resources needs of the Target UK project.
3.1. Project Objectives
Identification of correct project objectives are necessary in order to ensure that the
project fulfills all the requirements and specifications of the project. The major objectives of the
Target UK project indicated below-
 To Identify the business needs of Target retailer group in UK
 To enter into the retailing market in UK
 To identify the customers’ needs in UK
 To offer high quality goods in low prices
3.2. Performance Measurement/ Management of Quality
It is quite clear from the Target Canada project, that the project had issues with the
performance management and management of quality of a project. Therefore, it is quite essential

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to set appropriate matrix for performance measurement and management of the quality of the
project (Verzuh 2015). The process of performance measurement in Target UK project is
outlined in this section.
A project supervisor is appointed to ensure that there are no schedule delays and cost
overrun in the project.
Apart from that, delivery of a quality software for this project is essential as well. Major
issues had been faced in Target Canada project as a result of delivery of a faulty software system.
Therefore, in this case, necessary time is allocated for testing the software prior to the launch.
The software will be tested or a span of time sin order to identify the issues and bugs in the
system. This will ensure that a working software is delivered in Target UK project.
The performance measurement criteria that is set for this project includes management of
all the work processes of the project in an efficient manner. The quality of the software will be
examined on basis of the number of instructions that can be processed by the working software.
3.3. Project Stakeholder Analysis
For ensuring successful delivery of the project, identification of the major stakeholder
associated with the project in its planning phase is essential. The table below identifies the most
significant stakeholders associated with the Target UK project.
Stakeholder Description Influence Interest
Target Group Main stakeholder of
this project and is the
project owner
High High

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Project Manager Project manager is in
charge of requirement
identification and
supervising the
Project
Medium High
Project Team The project Team if
responsible for
ensuring successful
project execution
Low High
Project Sponsor Project sponsor is one
main investor in this
project
High Medium
Software
Development Team
The software
development team is
responsible for
delivering a working
software
Low Medium
3.4. Project Schedule: Activities and Milestone
The activities and the milestones of the Target UK project is represented in the figure
below-

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Figure 1: Representing the Activities of the Target Project.
[The Work Activities in red indicates the milestone of the Project]
The figure below indicates the Gantt chart of the project-

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Figure 2: Representing the Gantt chart of the Project
3.5. Resources and Budget
The resources needs and the budget of the project is indicated in the figure below-

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Figure 3: Representing the Resource Needs for each activities in a project and the Project
Budget
3.6. Constraints and Risks
The project plan is prepared as per the specifications of the project. However, there are
certain constraints associated with the project. The main constraints of a project are indicated as
follows-
1. The project is needed to be implemented within the budget set, which is one main
constraint.
2. The project must be implemented as per the needs of the customers considering the last
project was a failure
3. The project should fulfill the identified project objectives.
The major risk and their severity and impact in the project in indicated in the table below-
Risks Description Probability Impact
Schedule issues One of the major
constraints is that the
Target UK project is
needed to be
executed within the
scheduled time. Any
scheduling issues in
the project can
Low High

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increase the risks in
the project.
Resource Shortage The Target UK
project is an
expansion project by
Target retailers. The
resource shortage is a
major risk since it can
result in delaying the
opening of Target
stores in UK.
High High
Issues in the Software
Developed
Target Canada
project failed mainly
because of
development of a
faulty software and
therefore, it is a
major risk in the
project
Medium High
Technical Issues Since the project is
related to
development of a
software, certain
Medium Medium

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technological issues
can be faced during
project
implementation
3.7. Communications
The success of any project largely depends on smooth communication among the project
team members (Zulch 2014). Target UK project team will be following a particular
communication plan that will be used to communicate with the stakeholders and the team
members. The communication plan that is prepared for the project are as follows –
Stakeholders Purpose Communication
Vehicle
Frequency
Project Manager Discussing the
project requirements
Email and face to
face
Weekly
Target Group Discussing the
Project Specifications
Email and
Conference
Monthly
Resource Manager Resource Allocation Face to Face Bi-Weekly
Software
Development Team
Discussing the
software
requirements
Email and Face to
face
Weekly

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The above indicated communication plan will be followed by the team members for
successful project execution.
Conclusion
The project plan and the business case identify the major project requirements. A
literature review has been undertaken for identifying the importance of project planning and
initiation. The business case identifies the project implementation approach suitable for
implementation of Target UK project. The project plan identifies the project schedule and the
resources needed in the project. A budget is set for the project. The project plan identifies the key
risks associated with the project and gives an idea of the communication plan that will be
followed by the project team of Target UK.

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