Home Improvement-Kitchen Remodel, Coursework Example

Summary of Major Accomplishments:

The project for review is the kitchen remodel I completed for my home in 2013 and the point that will be reviewed in the status report is the ‘Implementing’ phase, as shown below in Figure 1, which shows the flow chart for the order of completion of each stage.

Figure 1: Remodeling Schedule

The implementing phase is a group effort that requires collaboration between the homeowner (project manager) and each of the contractors hired for completion of the project, so strong leadership is mandatory when attempting to promote the best possible work environment for optimal productivity.  To this point, the project has been outlined regarding the type of flooring, cabinetry, appliances, and color scheme that will be used to remodel the kitchen.  All of these elements have been priced to establish a budget for the supplies to complete the job.

The services, such as plumbing, carpentry, and such, have also been determined so that a price range for these elements can also be established.  The project manager has to know every aspect of every factor that might occur within the course of the kitchen remodel and compensate for these contingencies, including weather, sick employees, equipment failure, loss of materials, and other things that may cause delays.  The project manager has to be able to successfully establish what the context of these contingencies are, identify which aspects pose a risk and which aspects may present opportunities for positive gain, analyse the risks in order to create controls, evaluate the risks that cannot be controlled to determine if they are acceptable, and treat the risks that present themselves in order to proceed with the project.

The implementation phase typically will run concurrent with the decision-making process because the implementation plan consists of choosing the risk management measures that will be applied during the production of the products.  Although it is sometimes overlooked, this step is a critical element in the management of risk factors.  The project manager must make sure that the risk management measures are budgeted and implemented in accordance with the plan for completion of the order.  As previously determined, threats include any circumstances that could potentially jeopardize the success of the kitchen remodel and a vulnerability assessment incorporates the collection and deduction of relevant information.  They provide the essential information required to determinate threats to the project and their associated risks in the context of the assessment criteria to provide a clear description of the operational context.

Risk analysis requires that decisions on current risk levels for each specific threat are made based on the deductions provided from the assessments and are determined by the impact and likelihood of the event.   Managerial concern about the project’s vulnerability to problematic occurrences is a function of analysis of a number of relevant factors, including the risk inherent in the automotive industry, the extent of the effort already taken to control these risks, and the individual factors such as awareness of inventory, the abilities of all the employees, and other important details associated with the supply of necessary materials to the client.

Despite the most meticulous planning, the project did experience a few setbacks, one of which was the delay in the delivery of the flooring, necessitating the re-ordering of the material from another vendor, which resulted in the project missing the milestones related to completion of the floor so the remainder of the remodeling can be completed.  As only one of the major setbacks experienced by this particular project, this particular delay demonstrates the possible ramifications of taking shortcuts or possible mismanagement of faculty and resources.  These delays are caused by several factors, including miscalculations regarding the delivery times and availability of the necessary materials before start of the project and the significant time and effort it took to institute effective labor management.

The notable delays in completion of various aspects of the project were related to lack of available resources in the form of experienced, highly productive workers and the ability of the contractors, which was too widely dispersed, to effectively manage the larger workforce and/or work extended hours necessary for the project, causing the delay of the initial ordering of the principle materials, which resulted in the necessity to re-order parts and placed the project over-budget.  Such misappropriations and miscalculations are the usual causes of challenging situations in projects due to underestimating the volume of assets necessary to complete the project according to the client’s conditions and on time.

Delivering your results and getting sign-off

This looks forwards and backwards because this element can be included at the close of a project or between phases of a project.  Projects have always required planning, decision-making, management, and control in order to deliver the desired outcome or success of an organisation. These processes comprise all the relationships both within and around the project that occur between the project manager or local planning authority, and the project’s stakeholder groups.  These measures should be aimed at accumulating knowledge to facilitate the management of any uncertainty by providing a basis for effective reflective processes, which in turn helps to diminish ambiguity by interpreting it as known risks and opportunities. The main danger in this respect is that the acquired knowledge will be lost after the project has finished. By standardizing and modularizing processes and procedures, making the gained experiences easily accessible within the project team, there is a greater preparedness to be more flexible in accordance to the various situations occurring

Employing retrospective project metrics

This looks backwards because it involves analysis of decisions that have already been made.  Flexibility in the team was a reflection of the flexibility in the diverse leadership styles used by the project manager to get the best performance out of each team during the multiple phases of the project. The leadership style used must enable the leader to successfully manage all aspects of the current situation to produce the best possible outcomes for the team, the project, and the stakeholders.  When properly implemented, the risk management process should be sufficient for handling and managing opportunities and risks in order to productively carry out a project since the outcome of how well one can plan, execute and control the tasks, and how well one can manage the relationships with all the stakeholders involved with the project are determining factors to the fruitfulness of the efforts and finances expended

Administrative closure

This looks backwards because it involves the decision-making process, where the supervisors endorse the implementation stage, and the review and updates juncture are included in the output phase.  During the administrative closure process, the employer must select and approve the risk management measures to reduce the current risk levels associated with completion of the project.

Celebration and team rewards

This looks backwards and forwards because this can come at the close of the project or at the end of a phase of the project and instills confidence that performance will lead to payments through the understanding that determination will lead to the performance necessary to accomplish the objectives.  Expectancy is said to be linearly and definitely interconnected to performance and goals are deemed to be equally integral to provoking a strong sense of motivation.  Nonetheless, since difficult objectives are harder to achieve than simple goals, the expectancy of goal achievement would seemingly be adversely connected to performance when challenging tasks are presented.

Capturing lessons learned

This looks backwards and can include elements such as costing actions, which ranges from purposes that are primarily concerned with recording past events- external reporting and accountability for past performance-to the support of a wide range of commercial and performance decisions in which the focus is on how to influence future events. Past performance may be a guide to what will happen in the future, but it needs to be reviewed in the light of recent and expected new developments. It is therefore important to ensure that cost data prepared for managerial support is valid for the particular purpose.