Gene's Performance Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Role of project leader in creating a WBS

Team A

University of Phoenix

PM/582

Mark Block

July 29, 2017

Role of project leader in creating a WBS

Project managers have an important role in the creating and implementing WBS of projects. Goals set in a project are the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that they are doable and achievable. In the management of a project, the WBS provides the manager with an organized approach of in handling project tasks. A WBS provides estimates of the resources that the project manager would use to complete a project. This then requires a project leader to ensure that they have all the details written down to ensure that every aspect of the project is given attention and increase the success rate s of a project. In developing a WBS, a project manager has several responsibilities that are crucial for the take up of the project.

A project leader identifies the specific objectives of the project to provide a clear framework for developing a WBS. The main goal is to develop a service or a product, therefore, the project manager must develop is expected must provide a clear understanding of what the final product will look like. Objectives and goals identified help in creating work packages and putting them into orders; these objectives guide the team members to work towards achieving them. Objectives reduce the ambiguity of the project and give a direction on the project course. This role enables the managers to manage the details that are generated while developing the WBS (Norman, Brotherton, & Fried, 2011).

Project managers regulate the details added to the WBS depending on the resources allocate to the project. Resources include time, finances and human labor required for the project to be completed. The regulatory function ensures that the project is done within the budget that has been given for the implementation of the project. To create an effective WBS, a project manager must identify all the necessary resources that would enable the project to deliver as expected. Project managers input in designing a WBS enables an effective and efficient implementation of the activities within the project. The project manager would be able to develop a system in which they could work on to ensure that the final expected outcome is achieved. Working on a known budget helps a project manager, and the team develops an effective WBS. The manager is responsible for minimizing waste and maximizing the available resources to reduce wastages and costs that would have been incurred.

A project manager monitors and manages the creation of a WBS in project management. They are responsible for the coordination of team meetings and the assembling of project facilities and materials. A project leader ensures that there is maximum participation from all team members and should be quick t notice any conflicts or discomfort among team members. It requires regular communication between team members and project managers to build an association while working together towards the same goals and objectives (Springer, 2010) . Managers can monitor individual input to the project requiring the project manager to have a detailed insight into the project. Project managers are responsible for creating an environment in which team members can give their ideas on what should be included in the project without feeling intimidated.

Project managers are also responsible for planning and allocating work to the team members. Project managers help in the breaking down work sizes into small activities and then allocate these work packages to team members who have the skill and expertise in that area, and they can deliver as expected. They match the relevant resources to different work units identified, and this promotes transparency and accountability on the project resources (Grisham, 2010). Project managers have control on the project deliverables by ensuring that team members understand the smallest details of what is expected of them. Project leaders must understand the composition of their team to ensure that the matching of individual team members with work packages produce high-end results. Project leaders are expected to have all the knowledge related to the project for success to be realized.

Project managers are responsible for providing a networking overview of the project expectations through a WBS. Many of the work units created in the WBS are interconnected which requires the team members to work as a team all through. Conflicts and misunderstandings may arise in the process which then requires the project manager to identify the possibility of these things happening and mitigate them (Springer, 2010). Dependencies within the project course allow project managers to develop work sequences to avoid waste of resources. It is the responsibility of the team manager to ensure that they pick a team that could corporate and works together. A project can be completed within or less that time scheduled if the team can work together without any conflict in the process.

Project managers assess risks and make necessary changes to the WBS. Managers evaluate the project and can make changes to the project course where they deem fit. These changes may include adding new information or adoption of new WBS, and such changes may change the whole outlook of the project and the roles of the individuals who make up the team. Managers could reduce risks that might affect the project outcome through extensive research on project related issues. Risks can be averted through planning and consultations before team members start working on the project sections allocated to them. A project manager must understand the project dynamics to be able to quickly identify risks and avert them (Project Management Institute. 2013). The project leader is responsible for team education on the possible risks that the project may face and how they could tackle them.

Project managers ensure the quality of the outcome of a project through extensive checks throughout the project implementation. It is their responsibility to ensure that a project goes well and the desired outcome is delivered . To ensure that they achieve this, they select experts in different fields that are useful to the project to work on the various section of the project. Managers ensure that they have appropriate and relevant resources for the project to ensure that the work is delivered in time. Team members consistently report to the team leader to reduce possible mistakes along the way. Accuracy increases the quality the products hence a project manager must able identify select experienced and qualified people to take in the project.

Project - Work Breakdown Structure

Sales Practices and Hiring Strategies

Task Justification

In order to increase sales by 30% OLLO should not rest on an increase in internal staffing alone. A deep dive into current sales programs, hiring practices, and marketing strategies will be in the plan.

Sales Practices and Program - A full review of sales practices and the profit and loss statement would allow the project team to provide possible areas of opportunity. For instance there are laws in place by the Federal Trade Commission regarding delivery times. The law states “If the item cannot be shipped within the time stated in the catalog or advertisement, the consumer must be notified and given the opportunity to choose whether or not to cancel the transaction. A toll-free telephone number or postage-paid postcard must be provided to the consumer for this purpose.” ("New Hampshire Department of Justice", n.d.) The task becomes, how many times OLLO misses delivery dates, how many of those customers cancel, and what are the costs to the company in loss sales and revenue. The team must look at other items that may be able to drive additional sales such as competition, time to home, retail price comparison, true to size, product offering, and quality of goods. Additional summation of reason for return and revenue per transaction should be reviewed.

Hiring Strategy - An increase of 15% could be 15 people or 150 people depending on the size of the company so scope would need to be defined, however the basic hiring strategies would be the same for any number. Understanding the current sales numbers and what that 30% equates as far as sales support needed. If it is not already available a time study will be needed to understand the time to process a sale and how many sales can be processed on an average day to get the number of staff needed in support. The project team will need to understand the employee to management ratio and finally to determine what type of employee i.e. warehouse, sales, sales support, supervisors, marketing analysts, accounting etc. and how many will need to be hired. Once the project team has these numbers a hiring strategy can be put in place. In order to increase revenue per sale it may be viable to look at a virtual sales support team, meaning a distribution of work to employees working from home. Basic hiring strategies are employee referrals and job fairs. Since this is a short turnaround of two years it is important to retain the new talent and hire right. A consideration could be a bonus for all new employees who reach a year in tenure.

Marketing Strategies – E Commerce is the catalogue of the past, the team will need to fully understand who these shoppers are and more importantly who is missing and how do they become comfortable shopping online. “The typical catalog shoppers are employed women in their early 50s and with an income of about $53,000 per year, according to the 2004 Direct Marketing Association's State of the Catalog and E-Commerce Report. They are usually married and live in the suburbs.” ("Marketing Schools", n.d.) The set of customers in this demographic are the low hanging fruit and without much marketing adjustment could increase sales just by an increase of revenue per transaction. In order to increase sales a team should be built to understand how to attract the other groups, the millennials, men of all ages, what are they buying, and what marketing strategies are working on them? A review of click throughs, social media advertising, and traditional media advertising should be reviewed and updated. The choice must be made, stay with current demographic or to market to a whole new one.

WBS Dictionary

REFERENCES

Grisham, T. W. (2010). International project management: Leadership in complex environments. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Marketing Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-

marketing/catalog-marketing.html

New Hampshire Department of Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.doj.nh.gov/consumer/sourcebook/mail-telephone-sales.htm

Norman, E. S., Brotherton, S. A., & Fried, R. T. (2011). Work Breakdown Structures: The Foundation for Project Management Excellence. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Project Management Institute. (2013). Practice standard for work breakdown structures. Newtown Square, Pa: Project Management Institute.

Project Management Institute Staff,. (2011). People in Projects. Newtown Sq: Project Management Institute.

Springer, M. L. (2010). Project and program management: A competency-based approach. West Lafayette: Ichor Business Books/Purdue University Press.