Lean Management Assignment: Construction Project Of Ashfield Suburb In Perth
Question
Task:
Your partner and you will have to decide on the way forward for this initiative:
Answer the following questions:
1. Discuss how you would handle the conflict with:
a) your partner and
b) the builder
Explain in detail your conflict management strategy for both the above stakeholders.
2. Select one leadership style and explain in detail how you would successfully manage this
project to completion.
3. Explain how you would use the Seven Quality Control (7 QC) tools and techniques to help
you manage this project. (You must demonstrate the application of these tools in relation
to this project. You may also propose other tools and techniques that you have learned
from this unit).
4. Prepare a risk management strategy for this project. You must identify all risk and explain
your strategy to manage each of the risk
Answer
Executive summary
This report of lean management assignment is about a construction project in Perth. It will initiate with the application of control management styles for solving the conflicts with the stakeholders. Then the leadership style for this project will be also identified and its significance will be highlighted. Then, aquality control management plan will be implemented and some of the tools and techniques will be applied for assessing the plan. At last, a risk management strategy will be developed in which some of the key risks in this project will be identified and their mitigation process will be stated as well.
Introduction:
Background: In the project management plan illustrated in this lean management assignment about the construction of a new home in Ashfield suburb of Perth, it will be also important to lead it with efficiency. Leadership in a lean project would help in ensuring proper conflict management between the stakeholders and to control and manage the project with efficiency (Wu et al., 2017). It is always the responsibility of the leaders to implement a proper control plan and manage all the risks with success. This is because of the fact that if proper control is not implemented then it would not be possible for the leaders to control the expenses as well as schedule of the project. It is also the responsibility of the leaders to manage the stakeholders efficiently. The reason is that there could be conflicts between the stakeholders regarding some decisions made in the project and on outcome of the project (Maylor & Turner, 2017). Long term conflicts can even result in delay on completion of the project with success. Further, the risks in the project can lead to interruption or even failure and can even result in the losses for the investors. Therefore; the project leader has the responsibility to identify all those risks and implement proper plan to counter those risks effectively.
In this report, the strategy will be to develop a proper conflict management plan based on solving the conflicts with two key stakeholders of this project. Then a proper control management plan will be implemented which will help in executing the control in this project. The last objective is to develop an efficient risk management strategy in order to counter all the project risks with success.
Leadership for this project: For this project, proper leadership is going to be important for controlling and managing this project. In this regard, transactional leadership style will be followed which will help making the progress of the project and the performance of the members consistent and effective. Proper monitoring can be implemented which will help in implementing the control effectively. Transactional leadership will help in managing the performances of the project team and then, it will be also possible to assist the team members to complete their task with efficiency (Aga, 2016). Along with this, it will be also possible to monitor and review each of the phases so that lean management can be followed effectively. This will help in ensuring proper completion of each stage and further this will help in completing the overall project with quality and with proper success.
Conflict management plan: Conflict management mentioned in this lean management assignment will be an important requirement in the process of developing the project management plan for this construction project. Therefore; a proper strategy on conflict management will be now developed. First of all, different styles of conflict management needs to be addressed and this will help in selecting the preferred styles for managing two different stakeholders (Kivila, Martinsuo & Vuorinen, 2017). The different styles of conflict management and their utility are as follows:
- Accommodating: In this style of conflict management, the desires of the other stakeholders are given importance rather than The concerns of the stakeholders are given importance in the conflicts and the leaders believe in keeping peace. In this way, they end up on agreeing to the point of the view of other for making peace in the conflict.
- Avoiding: In this style, the leaders avoid the conflicts and do not give importance on solving those. In this regard, the leaders either postpone the decision or give the responsibilities to other parties to solve the issue (Basogul & Ozgur, 2016). In such scenario, the leaders also take time to rethink about the solutions to the conflicts.
- Compromising: In this style, the leaders act as the third parties to settle the conflicts between the other parties. In this process, solution is made regarding satisfying both the parties partially. Moreover; the leaders can also make some partial solutions to the issues.
- Collaboration: In this style, the leaders focus on developing the win win situation for the two parties in conflict (Curseu & Schruijer, 2017). Focus is given on settling down the conflict by satisfying the needs and expectations of both the parties.
- Competing: In this style, the leaders might be affirm to their decisions and fight for winning their own rights against the other parties. This situation occurs when the leaders are confident on their own decisions.
Therefore; all these styles vary according to the situation. It is the responsibility of the leaders to choose the right way in accordance with the type of conflicts that they are intending to solve. Now, the focus will be on choosing the right style and strategies for solving the conflicts with two key stakeholders of this project.
Partner: The conflict with the partner might occur due to difference in the point of view regarding the design and architecture of the home. Conflicts also might occur due to the expenses or budget of the project if it becomes too high. It will be important to find some proper solutions for those conflicts or else it could lead to delay in the decision making. In case of solving the conflicts with the partner, the first focus will be to choose the collaboration style. This could be an important choice as it will be possible to satisfy the requirements of both the leader and the partner (Lee, Huh & Reigeluth, 2015). Some adjustments can be made in the decision making process regarding the design and architecture of the house. In such case, decisions would be made regarding making some changes in the design in order to suit the needs of both. The changes would be made by taking the support of the designer and the builder of the project. The changes would be made as such that the end design would be of high quality and would meet with the expectation levels of both. This will certainly help in solving the conflict with success. However; if the thinking of the partners would seem to be better than the thinking of the leader, then accommodation style can be chosen. In this way, the decision or the interest of the partner will be given importance.
The builder: Conflicts with the builder can occur due to difference in the choice of construction materials or due to increase of budget or expenses. These could be some significant conflicts due to which the project can get delayed and can even fail badly. Therefore; it will be extremely important to solve the conflicts on an immediate effect. There can be some instances when the builder would be giving importance on their self-interest rather than giving importance to the value of the customer (Shah, 2017). The issue can occur if the builder suddenly increase the contract rate or get involved in unethical works like using low quality materials. The issue mentioned in this lean management assignment can also occur if the builder would not be able to complete the activities within the schedule. This could increase the expenses of construction and the owners could face issues regarding loss of extra money. On the other hand, conflicts can also occur if the owners are not willing to pay the full contract amount or changing their decisions on frequent basis. In this regard, the conflict management style could be based on either collaborating or competing. Collaboration can occur if both owners and the builder settle on a fixed contract amount which would be comfortable for all or can make some adjustment in the project schedule. However; if the proper settlement does not occur, then the owners will have to take the competing way of fighting against their rights. This might result in the interruption of the progress of the project as there could be legal issues and some third party negotiators might come into the scenario for solving the disputes (Yang, Cheng & Chuang, 2015). The action of competing would result in wastage in time for both the parties. However; this could be the only way by which the owners would be able to claim their rights in this project. An alternate way can be chosen based on compromising. This would be the responsibility of the leader to solve the issues in such a way that both the parties would get some benefits from the solutions and the project will not be interrupted due to conflicts.
Control management plan: The next step within this lean management assignment will be to implement a proper control management strategy. Control will be implemented in the expenses, schedule and the quality of the project. In this regard, importance will be given on finding the problems related to different activities in the project and then with the use of proper tools, it will be possible to implement the controls for solving the issues. In this process, Seven Quality Control tools and techniques will be used and the significance of all those tools will be described in relation to the project issues and control.
- Stratification: With this tool, the information of the project will be classified according to their categories and sub-categories. In this project, the information could be related to the expenses, risks, constraints, objectives, stakeholders and others (Kim, 2017). These are the main categories for this Now if any problem arises due to risks in the project, then the information from the category of risk will be utilized for making proper analysis. Then, it would help in solving the issue with ease. It will also help in implementing the control in risk management.
- Histogram: With the use of histogram, it will be possible to identify the areas of the project in which more control is required to be implemented. The areas are categorized and are arranged according to their priorities in the project. Then, the histogram tool can be used for analyzing the control that is required to be implemented in those.
Image of a sample histogram
- Check sheet: It is an important technique in which, the quantitative data from the series of events can be considered and the defects in each of the events can be identified by analyzing the data. In this regard, the quantitative data are based on the results of the implementation and it is compared with the data that have been expected from the event in the planning
- Fishbone diagram: This is one of the efficient tools mentioned in this lean management assignment for solving the issues to the problems. With the use of the fishbone diagram, it will be possible to find the causes of various problems and their effects on this project (Coccia, 2018). In this project, problems can occur due to increase of the expenses on the implementation of the construction. This is because of the increasing rates of the construction materials. Therefore; it will be important to identify the main causes behind the increase of budget. The impact of the increase of budget will be also analyzed. Then, different roots of the problem will be analyzed and the proper solution will be identified. This process will significantly help in implementing the control in the budgeting.
Fishbone diagram for a construction project
- Pareto chart: With the help of the Pareto chart illustrated in this lean management assignment, it will be possible to identify the the factors that would result in the increase of budget or failure to meet with the deadlines of the project activities. This would help in identifying the key problems behind the issues. Thus, by eliminating or reviewing those factors, it will be possible to implement the required control.
Pareto chart for solving problems in the project explored within the lean management assignment
- Scatter diagram: This tool will help in identifying the relationship between the problems. This means that all the problems will be related will each other and then the main root for this problem could be identified. In case of this project, problems can occur due to conflicts, risks and others. All these problems will be analyzed by assessing the dependent and independent variables. Then, the root causes can be identified and control can be implemented to mitigate those causes.
- Control chart: This will be useful in the process of determining the stability of different processes of this construction project and if those processes are variable, then the reasons can be identified. This will help in implementing the control significantly. For example, the budget needs to be stable and if it is found to be variable, then the reasons of the variability will be identified and control will be implemented.
Risk management plan:
Purpose of the plan: The purpose of the risk management plan examined in this lean management assignment is to identify the key risks that could impact the success of the project and then find the risk monitoring and control process. This would help in eliminating the risks in the construction project and would help in completing the project without interruption (Aven, 2016).
Risk register:
Risks |
Details |
Impact |
Probability |
Responsible person |
Mitigation technique |
Failure to meet the standards |
This risk can occur if the construction standards of Western Australia are not followed and can result in failure to meet with the quality |
Medium |
Medium |
Project manager, Builder |
Identification of the proper standard in the process of planning. |
Failure to meet with the regulations and compliances |
This could result in legal issues against the owner and the builder and the project can get interrupted |
High |
Medium |
Owner, project manager |
Communication will be made with the local authority for becoming aware about the regulations. |
Failure in proper designing of the house |
This can happen if proper communication is not conducted between the owners and the designers. This could lead to ineffective design of the house |
High |
Low |
Owners, designers |
The designers need to take feedback from the owner after the completion of the design and needs to communicate with each other throughout the design process. |
Increase of the project schedule |
This problem can occur due to lack of proper control in the project schedule and can result in delay in project completion. |
High |
Medium |
Project manager |
Proper control needs to be implemented in the project monitoring. |
These are some of the key risks mentioned in this lean management assignment which can be impactful for this project and therefore; a proper mitigation process has been highlighted for each of the risks.
Risk monitoring and control:
The identified risks will be monitored and controlled by implementing audit process for each of the activities. This would help in identifying the new risks and therefore; proper control can be implemented. Tools like TQM and Balanced Scorecard will be used for controlling the activities and the risks associated with this project.
Risk management plan approval:
Stakeholder 1
Signature: Allan Jones Date: 12.10.2019
Title: Owner 1
Role: The main owner of the house
Stakeholder 2
Signature: Sarah Johnson Date: 12.10.2019
Title: Owner 2
Role: The joint owner of the house
Stakeholder 3
Signature: Nicolas James Date: 13.10.2019
Title: Area councillor
Role: To approve the project as the administrator
Stakeholder 4
Signature: Tim Smith Date: 14.10.2019
Title: Project manager
Role: The lead and manage the project
Conclusions:
This report of lean management assignment was based on the development of the conflict management strategy, leadership style, control management and risk management. The strategies for each of these activities have been highlighted in details. Along with this, different tools and techniques have been used for identifying the requirements and for developing the strategies. All these have been conducted with the perception of the leader of this project.
References:
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