The project is intended to relocate the company headquarters from the current position to the new proposed location which is 73 miles away. The new building will have two new departments that will be incorporated into the existing departments.
In the project, the main area of study is to analyze staff relocation. The report will help the management to solve current space problems for their staff, prepare for the project funding, make necessary adjustments and give the go-ahead for the project development to start.
During the analysis, the organizational staff relocation, problem areas, and the association with external entities must be analyzed in detail. It will help the company to save on costs in terms of rent.
Introduction
The project aims is to relocate staff members of the company from the current office to a place which is far away from the head office. The oil and gas company is currently housed in a building of 90,000 sq feet area with space for parking and has three floors. The company intends to move seventy miles away from the current office with good facilities which will include meeting conference storage and canteen. However the new building will not have enough parking space and has limited public transport. It is feared that some employees may decide to move away from the company causing staff turnover. This paper intends to come up with strategies that will ensure the project succeeds without employees relocating to other companies as well as ensuring that the company maintains the current staff members.
The new building will have six floors and each floor will have different categories of employees and these employees are required to fit in the area as we will change one floor to act as parking.
Project objectives
The main objectives of the project are to relocate to the new building without losing the current crop of employees. The company will also hire new staff members therefore the building is intended to house new employees to the new place. Another objective will be to ensure the new building is purchased and fully owned by the company. Then the owners of the current building will be notified of the new move which will lead to the termination of the existing company and the building owners. We shall also notify all employees, shareholders’ customers of the move. We shall also get involved in restructuring the new office by ensuring proper furniture and equipment is purchased and fully furnished in the office to be ready to accommodate all employees. The communication equipment will also be installed under our watch. Lastly we shall also educate employees and ensure that they are involved in the move of the project. This project intends to be completed by 31st January 2009.
Project deliverables
There are several deliverables that this project intends to achieve. This includes restructuring the current building to put it into the position it was before we had rented them. The other deliverable is to ensure there will be a full information technology infrastructure in the new building to accommodate the information technology department that will be created. We shall ensure that the office shall run a parallel head office for six months to direct some customers to the new building.
Main considerations
The main considerations that will be considered before moving are the pride of employees who will not be willing to move to the new building and the main is to advise what benefit they will get from the movie. The furniture required the funds available and the impact of terminating the contract with the old building owner.
Assumptions
The assumptions for this project will include that
- The board of directors has approved the move of relocating employees.
- There is enough funding to acquire the new building
- The building plans for the new place are available for our study
- There will be no staff resistance to delay the project
- The new building is capable of sustaining the business of the company
- At least seventy percent of the employees will be willing to relocate to the new location
- That the government will give us all legal documents required to do business in the area.
Project constraints
- The project constraints will include
- lack of enough funding to relocate including relocating employees
- It will also include a lack of enough time to relocate to the new place
- The company may lose business during the time of moving
- Employees may resist the move
Critical success factors
- Available of funds
- Exclusive right to stay in the new building
- Acceptable by the staff
- Customer and staff considerations to
- Bringing new ideas to keep them ahead of the competition.
Measurable targets
The new location will require the following inputs:
- Project Initiation Document
- Business case
- Terms of reference
- Project boundaries
- Project management
The location will in turn produce the following outputs:
- Office partitions
- Installation of communication equipment
- User procedure specifications
- Relocation of staff
Resource requirements
The project will require huge financial outlay and support of staff.
Gnat
In Microsoft project
Communication and risk plan
| Communication | Frequency | Format/delivery | Audience | Sender |
| Project charter | Once | PDF/Email | Project manager & project team | Project sponsor |
| Initial notice of move and any employment related changes | Once, and then as needed | PDF/Emails and home mailings | Employees & family of employees | Human resources via president |
| Monthly progress reports (MPR) | Monthly | PDF/Email | Project sponsor | Project manager |
| Status reports | Bi-weekly | Ms word/email | Project sponsor | Project team members |
| Termination of lease | Once | PDF/mail (UPS) | Current landlord | COO/CFO |
| Scope statement and work breakdown structure | Once | PDF/Email | Project sponsor | Project manager |
| Notification of move | Once | PDF/Email and USPS mailings | Current clients | President |
| Project plan status and changes | Weekly | PDF/Email | Project team, vendors, contractors movers etc | Project manager |
| Approved change requests | As needed | PDF/Email | Project team | Project manager |
| Project team meeting agendas and minutes | Weekly | Ms word/email | Project team | Project manager |
Changeover and transition (Implementation).
This is the process of changing over from the current location to the new proposed location. The implementation of the project will be done in phases where by the location is implemented into the organization in phases while the location is still in operation. It starts with one phase before moving to the next until it’s successfully implemented.
This method was appropriate because of the following reasons:
- There is less interruption of the company normal operations during the implementation of the place.
- It is cheaper because it will not require extra staff in its implementation.
- It is less risky to implement
Challenges Faced During The Project Life
No matter how much I tried to relocate effectively and efficiently, there were setbacks worth mentioning that I encountered during my project development:
- Inadequate time for project development from initial stages to the completion.
- Some of the specifications were not clear and ambiguous therefore hard to come up with a clear specification of the requirements.
- I faced the problem of financial resources as I had limited sources of income and had to depend only on one source i.e. family which proved to be inadequate for developing the whole system.
Mitigations of the Challenges Encountered
From the above challenges faced, I had to develop a way of overcoming them to ensure that my project comes to a realization. The following are the decisions and actions I took to counteract the challenges:
- Carrying out extensive information gathering through a variety of ways to ensure that I got the various information and views from all the stakeholders to ensure I come up with a clear specifications.
- Asking for support from various sources that could assist me financially
References
- Benfari R, Changing your Management Style, Lexington Books, 2000
- Chapman, R.J. (1998) The role of system dynamics in understanding the impact of changes to key project personnel on design production within construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 235–247.
- Crawford, P. & Bryce, P. (2003) Project monitoring and evaluation: a method for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of aid project implementation. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21, pp. 363–373.
- Gower (2000) Gower Handbook of Project Management. Edited by R. Turner & S. Simister, 3rd edn. Gower Publishing.
- Jack R. Meredith (1998); project managerial approach, Prentice-hall
- Kuprenas, J.A. (2003) Project management actions to improve design phase cost performance. Journal of Management in Engineering, pp. 25–32.
- Lock, D. (2000) Project Management, 7th edn. Gower Publishing.
- Meredith, J.R. & Mantel, S.J. Jr. (2000) Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 4th edn. Wiley.
- Nicholas, J.M. (2003) Project Management for Business and Technology. Prentice-Hall.
- Raby, M. (2000) Project management via earned value. Work Study, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 6–9. Szulanski, G. 2000. The process of knowledge transfer: A diachronic analysis of stickiness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 82 (May): 9–27.
- Szulanski, G. 1994. Intra-Firm Transfer of Best Practice Project: Executive Summary of the Findings. Report. Houston, TX: American Productivity & Quality Center
- Williamson R.J. , Business Organization , computer books publishers
- Winstow F.T.(2000); The Principles of Scientific Management, Courier Dover,
Symbolic Character In “Death Of A Salesman” By Arthur Miller
The play by Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman demonstrates the struggle of a man in an attempt to reach success in life. It describes the life and surroundings of Willy Loman who searches for the alleged American Dream. He sees no other way for his satisfaction in life, unless he finds material amenities and wealth. This point is especially emphasized in the play. Furthermore, in the chase for luck and prosperity Willy forgets about his family and its highest values. His intentions are straightforwardly related to selfish ideals. The play is very symbolic and provides a specter of symbols. They are helpful in characterization of things and heroes. Symbols used by Arthur Miller in his play provide a possibility to look at it from a philosophical point of view. Hence, the symbols of Willy, Linda and Happy describe the symbolic features of the American Dream, betrayal of higher ideals, and the continuation of American Dream.
Willy Loman is an ordinary man who has an obsession to achieve the success by means of diamonds about which his brother told him. The main problem of him is that he does not feel the reality. His approach to life is that it is short enough to wait for something. He is aware of the time prospects of life and passing of the material amenities to heirs: “Work a lifetime to pay of a house. You finally own it and there’s nobody to live in it” (Miller 4). He is an example of an American everyman seeking a better destiny. Examples of outstanding persons in the sphere of business inspire him. This is why he inevitably follows the way of his obsession. In this respect, the character of Willy represents a person of narrow-minded scope of realities of life.
Linda is the wife of Willy. She does not directly symbolize the betrayal of ideals. The thing is that her constant mending of stockings represents the infidelity of Willy admitted by Biff, the older son of them. Linda tries to please Willy, but fails in every attempt. She represents an alternative to see on life from the other side. But her stockings every time remind Willy of his betrayal of higher ideals of life. The family is placed for Linda higher than material amenities. However, her opinion represents the reason for conflict with Willy. It is due to his mere understanding that at some points he could be wrong. Notwithstanding, Linda is a symbol of another opportunity which Willy denies. She represents it by saying: You are too accommodating, dear (Miller 4). Thus, denying Linda’s remark and her opinion, Willy goes by the way of self-betrayal and takes it for granted for the sake of his dream.
Happy symbolizes the continuation of the father’s dream. He also received such obsession from Willy in searching for the better place and better destiny under the sun. Happy represents the hope of his father to still follow the way of the American Dream. It is something like “Per Aspera ad Astra”. Happy is naïve and behaves just like Willy, i.e. without shaping the reality.
To conclude, the play by Arthur Miller is the representation of the American Dream and its false ideals. It is a caution for those who pretend to play with destiny and to ignore the significance of such high values, as family. Moreover, the significance of the play is also in its approach toward all generations of Americans.
Works cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a salesman: certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem. New York: Penguin Classics, 1998.
Employment Recruitment And Personnel Retaining
Introduction
It is often said that employees are the most important assets of an organization. It is the quality and ability of the employee, along with the capability and leadership shown by the top management of the company that ultimately results in its growth and success. The employee factor is especially true in the case of a new or startup business. The employees, in close association with the management have to play a crucial role to attracting, retaining and growing its customer base. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by the top management in recruiting and retaining top quality employees at both management and entry levels. This will be done with reference to the Thai Lay Garment Company which is planning an entry into the retail garment industry in the United Kingdom. Apart from selection and retention, a proper reward system for motivating the managers and other employees will also have to be designed. This will in effect be a part of the management plan for the new business venture startup.
The role to be played by the top management of Thai Lay Garments
The top management of the company has to play an extremely crucial role at this juncture of entry. They have the huge responsibility of recruiting the senior, middle, lower level managers, supervisors and entry level employees of the firm. They can resort to many established and accepted ways of doing this. The most common ways are advertising in the print and visual media, taking employees from other companies, using networking or availing the services of a professional staffing agency. (Recruitment Methods/Recruitment Process). In the case of senior level management it would be ideal to use networking contacts established from sources like friends, business associates, auditors, venture capitalists, and other associates. An advantage is that the costs involved in paying fees of a staffing agency or paying for advertising space can be saved. Advertising for jobs is useful for attracting a large number of applicants and it can benefit the company by having a large pool of talent to select from. (Recruitment Methods. 2002). Advertising can be done in classifieds and trade journals which will less costly and more effective. But this form of attracting talent can be quite expensive and wasteful. Cost of advertising will depend on the media and the publication in which the advertisement is given. It can be wasteful because the ad might not be visible or it might attract the wrong types of potential employees. Another effective but costly option would be to use the services of a professional staffing agency. They have the skill, knowledge and talent to identify the right employee. They will also be having a list of interested candidates with them. The right candidate can be targeted which will result in a saving of time and money. Recruitment agencies are a well established business segment in the UK. “The use of a recruitment agency to assist in finding the right staff to employ is very well developed in the UK and is an industry worth about 24.5 billion pounds annually.” (Employer Advice for Using Agencies). In the case of Thai Lay Garments, it is proposed that networking will be resorted to for selection of senior level managers. The company has got sufficient contacts like wholesale customers, bankers and other associates who can provide the names of potential candidates. This is more cost effective since the number of posts required (for Thai Lay at this stage) for senior and middle level managers is small. Advertising in local print media through classifieds will be the method used to attract talent for entry level employees.
Process of recruiting
Once the applications for all the posts have been received, the process of actual recruiting can begin. For senior and middle level managers, qualification, experience and leadership qualities are important considerations. For entry level jobs, enthusiasm, aptitude and age are important. This is because the target market for Thai Lay is customers whose age group is between the 15 to 35 years. There are several steps in the recruiting process. All candidates should be called for a preliminary interview. The interview will be personally conducted by the CEO of the company along with other senior staff. An interview strategy should also be worked out. For the sake of uniformity, all candidates can be rated using criteria mentioned above (qualification, age, leadership, enthusiasm etc). Each candidate can be independently rated by members of the interview panel and compared later. Once the final candidates have been short listed, a second interview can be had from which the final list can be selected. Some extra candidates will also have to be short listed in case the selected ones are unable to join the company. At this stage a letter of apportionment and an acceptance confirmation letter will be sent to the selected persons. Once they sign the letter of acceptance, they will become the valued employees of the company.
Motivating and retaining employees
It is one thing to recruit employees, but it takes more effort to motivate and retain them. “Not only is it difficult to recruit skilled workers, but also to retain them.” (Cunningham 2002). Retaining good talent is very important since finding replacements will involve following the steps mentioned above all over again. Moreover, keeping employees for long periods will help in building a close relationship with customers. This is an important factor in customer relationship management (CRM). Motivating an employees as a whole and individually is also a very challenging task. This is because the perceptions of employees about motivation vary from one person to another. They will also vary from one level to another. For example, the motivating factor for a top level manager will be quite different from that of an entry level worker.
Reward systems
Another important factor is planning and implementing a suitable reward system as a strategy for motivating and retaining employees. Reward systems should include both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Extrinsic rewards include the actual monetary and easily measurable factors. Intrinsic rewards are more personal and include factors like job satisfaction, appreciation, working conditions, employee perception about the company, the challenge involved etc. Repeated studies have shown that employees are motivated not just by money but by intrinsic (even to a larger extent) factors. It is proposed that Thai Lay will focus on good pay, job security, timely and sincere appreciation, and a good working atmosphere for its employees. But care should be taken while rewarding employees. “Rewards for doing nothing tend to reinforce doing nothing, so be careful about what you reward.” (Kirschner 2008). The work will be challenging because it is a startup venture. Top level managers can be paid a bonus depending on achieving sales targets as a whole. Middle level managers can be rewarded if they achieve departmental goals. Entry level employees can be given bonus for achieving daily or monthly targets. Customer surveys about such employees can also be done to rate and reward them. Other benefits like paid vacations, health care, earned leave etc can also be provided.
Bibliography
Cunningham, Sharon. (2002). Attracting and Retaining Employees in a Competitive World. [online]. Insurance Journal.
Employer Advice for Using Agencies. [online]. Agency Central.
Kirschner Rick. (2008). Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Rewards. [online]. CanDoGo.
Recruitment Methods/Recruitment Process. [online].
Recruitment Methods. (2002). [online]. Business Bureau-Uk.