Project management assignment on lean transformation at Ezy Mart

Question

Task: Part 1:Using your knowledge of the organisation and a ‘Gemba Walk’ provide an overview of the organisation and specific area/department of focus. Describe an issue/opportunity that has become evident during the Gemba walk that could be addressed through a lean transformation project management assignment.

Part 2: Describe the project management methodology and create a visual representation of the associated project lifecycle that best suits the proposed lean transformation project management assignment. Discuss 5 lean principles and use ADKAR model to describe how you would management the change necessary to implement the lean transformation project.

Answer

Part 1- Project management assignmentCase Study
Overview of the Organisation and Specific Area
“Ezy Mart” is primarily a convenience store operator with over 400 locations across Australia. In 2001, the business started as a single convenience store. Now, it has evolved and has become one of the leading store operators across Australia. In the project management assignment, the primary business strategy is based on the requirements and preferences of the customers. The business has aimed to create a feeling of ease by having everything arranged in perfect balance for the best possible buying experience.

In theproject management assignment the main motive is to become Australia's leading operator of convenience stores, providing customers with a distinctive shopping experience, high-quality items, and locations across the country. The main operator of the convenience store does not necessarily imply being the biggest, but the organization does entail having the finest customer service, most distinctive merchandise, and steady, predictable organizational growth. The business considered in the project management assignmentanticipates the potential to raise the investment grade rating in the future. Additionally, the business will continue to keep a close eye out for new prospects for expansion across the board of the company.

Identifying specific waste and addressing the issue during the project management assignment
Considering work experience as an Assistant Manager, the working environment is comparatively good with liberal management. As the company considered in theproject management assignmentbelieves in working with different cultures, it is also quite fun to work. However, while working in the company, being unable to cope with different tasks has been one significant issue faced by the majority of employees. This not only damages employees’ mental well-being but physical well-being too. This can be identified as a specific waste for the respective project as the issue faced by employees in EZY mart can lead to influencing the cycle times of the project longer. As opined by Lu et al. (2022), long-hour workers have an increased risk of hypertension, heart disease, joint discomfort, fatigue, and weight loss. Moreover, their attitude and conduct are also impacted by a high workload which results in lackluster mental clarity, less motivation, and trouble focusing on the current activities. Needless to say in the project management assignment, the tight deadlines are the consequence of employees being sick.

During the project management assignment, the issue can be addressed through the waterfall methodology. Khoza &Marnewick (2020) have opined that the technique can be defined as a classic approach to project management in which tasks and phases are performed in order, with all work progressing in one direction, much like a cascade. Moreover, by incorporating this methodology, the roles and milestones of the project will be clearly defined. This is the main reason for incorporating this methodology into this project. Therefore, simply by adopting the waterfall methodology, the project managers will be able to efficiently plan all the phases of the project and establish specific deliverables for the employees. This will be beneficial for the employees working in Ezy Mart. All these straightforward defined phases in the project will be easier for the team members to be followed without requiring any previous training (Chari & Agrawal, 2018). Additionally, keeping track of all the dependencies will become simple as these stages will become dependent on the output of the previous tasks. As per the project management assignment all the employees from customer executives to assistant managers will be quickly catching up with the requirements, progress, and tasks.

Major Factors in the Proposed Lean Transformation Project
Needless to say, in this respective Lean transformation project, reasonable judgment has been appropriately used while combining all the work elements. Moreover, all the elements in this project have been moved to maintain a smooth process flow. All the major factors in the proposed Lean transformation project management assignmenthave been described below.

Voice of the Customer
In any lean transformation project, the voice of the customer is one of the major factors. In case of removing waste in the project, the business can be advised to listen to, understand, act on and align its actions with the voice of the customers. As opined by Poe et al. (2020), businesses cannot create the most value for the consumers in case they are not aware of the true voice of the customers. In this project management assignmentto identify information about customers, the business is advised to include surveys or forms of online questionnaires.

Critical Customer Requirements in the project management assignment
Keeping in mind the business background and its issue, the critical customer requirement for the project has been selected as quality and features. As per the project management assignment even though many convenience stores in Australia had struggled to remain relevant in the environment, some of the convenience stores have implemented unique strategies to maintain the quality and features of the services and products they offer. In this case, the Australian convenience store operator is advised to maintain the quality and features of the services (Sahoo &Pattnaik, 2020). In this way, the business will be able to thrive in the competitive market and will be able to solve the problems.

Critical to Quality
The internal quality parameter will be representing the customers' wants and needs. Maintaining the quality of the business is crucial because the process quality ensures that the consumers are happy. Considering the business situation, it is advised to incorporate DFMEA (Design Failure mode and effect analysis). Here in the project management assignmentthe systematic group of activities will allow the business to identify and evaluate potential products and processes.

Critical to Process
This factor of the Lean transformation project clearly represents the appropriate resources required for the business to assist in implementation. Needless to say, this is quite similar to other main factors in the lean transformation project for success (Khoza &Marnewick, 2020). For the respective project management assignment, the business is advised to dedicate a particular budget for the transformation as it can be difficult to turn lean without supporting the local lean team.

Conclusion
In Conclusion of the project management assignment, it can be stated that despite being one of the traditional project management methodologies, the waterfall model is undoubtedly critical for the chosen case study project. Even though it may not be as flexible as other approaches, it will be able to help Ezy Mart to prevent the current issues. The step-by-step process in this methodology will be able to improve the negative experiences faced by employees in Ezy Mart. Moreover, the main reason for using this particular methodology in the project management assignment is that it follows the output of the previous phase which is highly important in this lean transformation project.

Part 2- Questions
1. Project Management Methodology
Waterfall Methodology in project management assignment
According to the definition of the waterfall methodology, it represents a linear approach where the customer and stakeholder requirements are altogether gathered at the beginning of the project. Fagarasanet al. (2021) have opined that the sequential project plan aims to accommodate the requirements of consumers and stakeholders. There are mainly five phases associated with this waterfall method in the project management assignment, which are important for the lean transformation project. Here, each and every phase of the methodology will be aiming to resolve the overall efficiency issue of EZY mart case study project. The project phases have been described below.

Assembling the requirements: Before starting the actual project, it is important for the business to gather all the requirements to establish specific deliverables that are important to be completed at the end of the project.
Creating the structure: After gathering all the important information for successfully completing the project, a framework needs to be designed by the business with the help of a visible concept.
Implementing solution: After designing the framework, the next phase is to implement the developed solution into the project.
Reviewing for errors: In this phase of the project management assignment, after developing and implementing the solution into the project, the business will review for errors. It will mainly check whether the project has made all the requirements are not.
Updating and upkeep: During this phase, the business will be monitoring and updating the errors in case any error has been found in the previous phase.

Visual presentation of the Project Lifecycle in the project management assignment

Project-Lifecycle-for-EZY-Mart

Figure 1: Project Lifecycle for EZY Mart
(Source: Created by Author)

2. 5 Lean Principles
There is no doubt that the project management assignment practices are useful in encouraging continuous improvement, and it is based on the fundamental idea of respecting individuals (ROTARU, 2021). Five major principles associated with the Lean Transformation project have been illustrated below.

Define value: Similar to any other business, Ezy Mart is also advised to understand what value they are providing to their employees. Needless to say, value is one of the most crucial factors that define what consumers will be willing to pay. In certain cases, consumers may not even know what they are capable of articulating. In these cases, businesses are usually advised to conduct interviews, surveys, or online questionnaires to discover what their employees value.

Map the value stream: The second principle of Lean project management assignment is to map the value stream. In this step, the main goal of the business is to identify all the activities associated with the employees' values (Poe et al., 2020). Here, the wasteful activities will be those that will not benefit the final consumer. There are two types of waste can be distinguished; non-value added, but essential waste, and nonvalue and needless waste. The former should be lower to the absolute minimum, while the latter should be abolished because it is sheer waste.

Create flow: After eliminating all the wastes in the process flow, the next step in the project management assignmentis to make sure that the flow of the remaining processes proceeds without any difficulty or delay (Kramer, 2018). Breaking down stages, rearranging production steps, balancing the workload, establishing cross-functional divisions, and teaching employees to be multi-skilled and adaptable are some methods to ensure that all the value-added activities go smoothly.

Establish pull: In the case of any manufacturing system, Inventory is usually considered a major waste. A pull-based system aims to reduce inventory and work in progress items while ensuring that the necessary supplies and knowledge are accessible to support a seamless workflow. In this project management assignment, the pull list system will enable just in time, manufacture, and delivery, in which goods are produced in precisely the amounts required and at precisely the right times (Bagiuet al., 2020). Here, the business may make sure that the items created will be able to fulfill client expectations by following the value stream and moving backward through the manufacturing system.

Pursue perfection: This is the last phase or principle of lean management. By completing the first four steps which are identifying value mapping, value stream, producing flow, and adopting a pull system, wastes can be avoided. The most crucial of all these steps in the pursuit of perfection is this phase. It mainly integrates a continuous process improvement. Moreover, the business will be incorporating lean thinking into the corporate culture. While delivering products on the basis of consumer demands, every employee will be aiming for perfection (Reiff& Schlegel, 2022). Here the business considered in theproject management assignmentis advised to learn that organization that constantly looks for ways to improve itself every single day is important.

3. Implementing AKDAR model in the project management assignment
The AKDAR model can be quite useful to promote change simply by establishing precise benchmarks to be met along the way since it is outcome-oriented. Each participant in the transformation project management assignmentof EZY mart is required to accomplish each goal, even though they may do so at various times. For instance, one individual could already want to change whilst another individual just now be realizing they need to. Moreover, the model is capable of detecting areas of resistance through its five consecutive goals (Putra &Triyono, 2022). This can be identified as one of the most beneficial features of the model. For the chosen project management assignment, the AKDAR model will be implemented in the following way.

The first goal of utilizing this model is to make individuals aware of the need for change
Undoubtedly conveying the need for a change is important, but raising awareness of the shift requires more than just saying it. The employees of the organization considered in project management assignmentare advised not only to comprehend the justification for the need for change but also to learn to accept that justification in order to genuinely appreciate its importance. Therefore, for Ezy Mart, it is advised to begin the process by providing a clear explanation of why the change is being incorporated into the business processes. For instance, the business is introducing designated roles and responsibilities for each employee. In this case, the business is advised to start by explaining that when employees travel or work from home, it is important for them to communicate with the in-office team (Khoza &Marnewick, 2020). Here it is important for the business to focus on the advantages of the change while applying to the individuals who will be affected. In this project management assignment, introducing the roles and responsibilities will allow the employees to easily understand and divide the work processes easily. Each and every employee in the organization will be encouraged to complete their work efficiently and productively.

AKDAR-Model

Figure 2: AKDAR Model
(Source: Khoza &Marnewick, 2020)

The second goal of utilizing this model is to encourage the desire to change
Allowing employees to understand the reason for incorporating change does not imply that the change will be incorporated into the organization efficiently. Here the employees should want the change in order to accept it. In order to encourage the desire to change among the employees, the business considered in the project management assignmentis advised to establish change leaders in the first place. Here, the leaders will not only publicly support the change, but also will be responsible for organically related to those who will be impacted by the change (Thesinget al., 2021). Moreover, the business should be very careful when selecting the change agents who will be understanding how everyday activities will be impacted. In this way, the agents will be able to offer tailored help and direction. The leaders should also be explicit about the benefits of the incorporated change as they pertain to particular individuals or teams to inspire desire. Here the business considered in the project management assignmentis required to avoid highlighting the company's benefits.

The third goal of utilizing this model is to provide knowledge on incorporating change Undoubtedly, the model mainly focuses on instruction and training. Here, the team members of the organization will be required to comprehend how their roles, competencies, resources, and procedures will change in order to start this transformation. Since each milestone must be attained by each employee independently, knowledge building should be specific. Here the leaders of the organization considered in the project management assignmentare advised to take time for evaluating the skills, tools, and duties. Along with this, it should be noted that too much change all at once can be quite difficult for any business and which may lead to resistance (Bennett IV &Soylu, 2021). Therefore, in order to implement change in the business processes, the management should implement the change gradually rather than implementing a large number of new materials.

The fourth goal of utilizing this model is to ensure that all the employees have the ability to make a change
In order to achieve this goal, the business is advised to put change leaders in charge of teaching individuals or teams to close the knowledge to-ability gap. Moreover, charging change leaders with gathering input from their teams and alerting them to any possible problems or barriers can be helpful for the business (Lazuardi&Muhyi, 2021). Here, hands-on training will be productive for employees.

The fifth goal of utilizing this model is to reinforce the change
After creating awareness, desire, and ability among the employees, the business is advised to reinforce the change. The excellent framework in the project management assignmentwill be able to help the business to solve the problems. By building knowledge, increasing ability, and reinforcing the changes, the business will be able to customize self-guided learning and digital adoption tools.

Self-Assessment of project management assignment
Part 1

1	2	While illustrating a brief overview of the Ezy Mart, I have appropriately mentioned all the information. From its initial phase to the current scenario, I have explained in the project management assignmenteach and every piece of information about the organization.
2	1	During describing the issue of the organization, I was capable of not only of explaining the issue but have also justified how the issue can be overcome.
3	1	The specific waste identified for the Ezy Mart clearly shows how important and influential it is for the business. Needless to say, maintaining the reputation of the business is significantly important. I have realisedin the project management assignmentthat the business is not currently operating efficiently to manage employees' experiences. Therefore, it is quite obvious the identified issue has to be solved immediately to avoid damaging the reputation of the business.
4	2	Needless to say, I have chosen the waterfall methodology appropriately helping the chosen business organization so that it can avoid all the issues. The methodology will not only help the business to determine all the requirements at the beginning of the project but also allow to development of a straightforward plan.
5 i)	1	While discussing the voice of the consumer, I have critically advised the business to collect consumer feedback. This clearly defines how the business can easily capture success.
ii)	1	While discussing this particular practice in the project management assignment, I have advised the organization to transform the customer requirements into a framework. This will practically allow the business to analyze the consumers' needs and desires.
iii)	2	Undoubtedly, quality is one of the most important factors in business. I have practically shown that it is a good idea for the business to identify the critical quality factors or parameters.
iv)	1	At last, while discussing the process of the business in the project management assignment, I have mentioned all the important steps to follow.
6	1	In terms of evaluating the visual presentation of the chosen case study, I can say that I have demonstrated all the influential and important factors that can have a serious impact on the business.
7	1	Here I have been quite capable of evaluating and examining myself and measuring the progress I have made over the course of this project management assignment. I have used all my existing skills to monitor and evaluate the work progress.

Part 2

1	2	Each and every process of the waterfall methodology has been described in this part of the project quite effectively. The described project lifecycle clearly represents each and every phase of the project. The proposed Lean transformation project management assignment. This method will not only help the business to keep track of dependencies, but also it will be easier for employees to manage different tasks.
2	3	In terms of describing the green principles, each and every principle described in this study has been justified quite appropriately. Moreover, all the activities are quite related with the project as well.
3 i)	1	I have critically described the fundamental need for communicating change in the organization.
ii)	2	Here in the project management assignmentI have analyzed that it is important for the business to Foster's desire to make the change.
iii)	1	Along with all the factors associated with the business organization providing knowledge while incorporating or implementing change is important. I have realized that it is important for the business not to incorporate too much change all at once.
iv)	2	The business is responsible for ensuring all the employees have the ability to make changes. In certain cases, hands-on experiences and training provided by organizations are proven to be quite effective.
v)	1	In this case, as a result, the business will be able to monitor performance and provide detailed feedback to each and every employee.
4	1	Over the project management assignmentI have developed and improved my existing skills. With the help of this constant improvement, I have used simple approaches and practices to assess myself effectively. Here in the project management assignmentI can see that I was capable of examining and evaluating my own skills quite appropriately. I was quite responsible for identifying the issues and as well as the solutions to highlight the areas of improvement for the respective business. I addressed the solutions for the organisation to keep track of the tasks they've completed and the skills they've acquired through time.

References
Part 1
Chari, K., & Agrawal, M. (2018). Impact of incorrect and new requirements on waterfall software project outcomes. Empirical Software Engineering, 23(1), 165-185. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manish-Agrawal-14/publication/316362583_Impact_of_incorrect_and_new_requirements_on_waterfall_software_project_ outcomes/links/601f251ca6fdcc37a80b1411/Impact-of-incorrect-and-new-requirements-on-waterfall-software-project-outcomes.pdf Ezymart.net.au, (2022). About Us. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://ezymart.net.au/about-us/ Khoza, L. T., &Marnewick, C. (2020). Waterfall and Agile information system project success rates-A South African perspective. South African Computer Journal, 32(1), 43-73. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/sacj/v32n1/03.pdf

Lu, L., Chou, C. Y., & Cooper, C. L. (2022). Personal and social resources in coping with long hours of the Chinese work condition: the dual roles of detachment and social motivation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(8), 1606-1640. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09585192.2020.1779778

Part 2
Bagiu, N., Avasilci, S., & Alexa, L. (2020, July). Exploring the opportunity for a hybrid methodology in project management: a focus group approach. In IOP project management assignment Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 898, No. 1, p. 012045). IOP Publishing. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/898/1/012045/pdf

Bennett IV, E. R., &Soylu, A. (2021). Overcoming the Obstacles in Corporate Change Management. Journal of Business and Social Science Review Issue, 2(2), 23-29. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://jbssrnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/4.pdf

Fagarasan, C., Popa, O., Pisla, A., & Cristea, C. (2021, August). Agile, waterfall and iterative approach in information technology projects. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 1169, No. 1, p. 012025). IOP Publishing. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/1169/1/012025/pdf

Khoza, L. T., &Marnewick, C. (2020). Waterfall and Agile information system project management assignmentsuccess rates-A South African perspective. South African Computer Journal, 32(1), 43-73. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/sacj/v32n1/03.pdf

Kramer, M. (2018). Best practices in systems development lifecycle: An analyses based on the waterfall model. Review of Business & Finance Studies, 9(1), 77-84. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://www.theibfr.com/download/rbfs/rbfs_2/rbfs-v9n1-2018/RBFS-V9N1-2018-6.pdf

Lazuardi, M. L., &Muhyi, H. A. (2021). Change model combination: A comprehensive way for successfully change. Journal of Public Value and Administrative Insight, 4(1), 1-10. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://readersinsight.net/JPVAI/article/download/1492/1280

Poe, L. F., Seeman, E., & Greenville, N. C. (2020). An Empirical Study of Post-Production Software Code Quality When Employing the Agile Rapid Delivery Methodology. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 13(10), 1-48. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://jisar.org/2020-13/n1/JISARv13n1.pdf#page=4 Putra, G. A. S., &Triyono, R. A. (2022). Instrumentation bulk material estimator with easy hook-up. Procedia Computer Science, 197, 344-353. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saad-Salman-Ahmad/publication/353493429_Modeling_Control_Measure_Score_of_COVID-19_Outbreak_Using_Fuzzy_c-Means-Based_Adaptive_Neuro-Fuzzy_Inference_System/links/615c223150be5507287f91e1/Modeling-Control-Measure-Score-of-COVID-19-Outbreak-Using-Fuzzy-c-Means-Based-Adaptive-Neuro-Fuzzy-Inference-System.pdf#page=300

Reiff, J., & Schlegel, D. (2022). Hybrid project management assignment–a systematic literature review. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, 10(2), 45-63. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://revistas.uminho.pt/index.php/ijispm/article/download/4084/4295

ROTARU, D. A. D. (2021). CHOOSING THE MOST SUITABLE PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY. Internal Auditing & Risk Management, 62(2s), 43-55. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: http://aimr.univath.ro/download/1276_S104.pdf

Thesing, T., Feldmann, C., &Burchardt, M. (2021). Agile versus waterfall project management: decision model for selecting the appropriate approach to a project. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 746-756. Retrieved on: 30/07/2022, from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921002702/pdfmd5=dc8af90274c3cd59f94f40 55c64519bd&pid=1-s2.0-S1877050921002702-main.pdf

Tags: ezy mart waterfall methodology adkar model australia ppmp20009

NEXT SAMPLE