Galfars Pontoon Construction Project - Case Study Example

Galfar’s Pontoon Construction Project Name: Institution: Date: Pontoon Construction Project This Pontoon Construction Project has exceptional features making it look dissimilar from the way in which Galfar Engineering & Contracting SAOG (Galfar) manages its projects. Galfar represents Oman’s leading construction company in bridges, roads, civil and utilities construction. The company has its operations not only in Oman but also in other GCC countries and India.ver the last 40 years; the company has gained fame because of its unique structures. It owns a 7,000 equipment fleet and employs over 23,000 individuals becoming one of the principal employers in Oman’s private sector (Galfar 2016). The company has excelled in construction producing quality structures and equipment. It also practices high safety standards, social responsibility, and employee satisfaction. This proposal describes Galfar’s Pontoon Construction Project. It will discuss the general roles and responsibilities of the project team, develop plans for the project, and how they will be implemented. This proposal will also include flow diagrams, processes, time management plan, and critical path diagram for the project, project’s life cycle, cost plan, work business schedule, and the communication process (Kerzner, 2013). Project Overview The Galfar Pontoon Construction Project was started to construct pontoons that will be stored for catastrophic failure response. To accomplish this project, a construction facility will be constructed first in order to house simultaneous construction of multiple equipment. After the construction of pontoons, the build facility will be maintained but will be required to adhere to environmental regulations applicable to such sites and facilities. The facility will be used in future for construction of pontoons. Team Values One of the leading values includes team commitment that will allow nothing short of success. Each team member is required to embrace new ideas, work well with other team members and partners, meeting obstacles and challenges with zeal, and assume the role of positive advocates for this project. Through these values, the team will provide leadership that is needed to deliver unique equipment (Kerzner, 2013). Success Measures Environmental Compliance: One of the most important considerations that any team can make is to complete a project without violating environmental regulations. Therefore, this project will ensure there are no identifiable or lost time injuries. Identifiable injuries will be maintained at level which is lower than the industry average. Budget: risks will be managed to ensure that cost is maintained within budget Schedule: The project will seek to meet or beat the set project milestones. Quality: The team will conform to the requirements of the project without adverse effects on budget and milestones. Public perception: Effective communication will provide strong community support. Communication Plan Communication is one of the most important factors in a project and the success of a project is dependent on it. The current project is aimed at adding quality to Galfar in terms of increase in revenues. Each team member and participant in the current project will desire to know about the status of the project and how they might be affected by it. The more that these participants and team members are informed about the project, the more they will be motivated to give their full participation. Therefore, communication to these individuals will be very crucial for this project. Communication methodology Projects usually utilize three directions for effective communication, including top-down communication, bottom-up communication, and middle-out communication. In top-down communication, the command flows from top management to the one in lower levels. The management speaks to all the other levels of the project. In bottom-up communication, the information flows from lower levels to the management. This communication plan ensures the confidence of staffs in lower levels. Staffs in the lower levels of the organisation propose changes and communicate to the management the way these solutions were created. Whenever proposals are made after consultations with project team members, acceptance seems more promising. Bottom-up approach has been selected as the best option for the present project. Communication will be in form of monthly status reports, monthly project team meetings (Pinto, 1998). Program One of the most important factors to consider in any project is the way in which the project team communicates with the general public, political officials, and key stakeholders in the society. Good communication is required for successful completion of Galfar’s Pontoon Construction Project (GPCP). The community requires accurate, complete, timely, and transparent communication on issues affecting them. As a result, the project team will strive to provide the community with this information. The team will ensure that this information is accurate and consistent (John, N., 2003). Design-builder The design-builder and GPCP will engage in close communication in order to develop and maintain a consistent level of communication with both the internal and external stakeholders. This includes promoting broad public awareness and understanding of the Galfar Pontoon Construction Project. It will also enable maintenance of strong relationship with government entities (Goldratt, 1997). The other roles of the design-builder include preparation and participation in public meetings and open houses, assisting with media coordination, giving response to public complaints or inquiries, Web updates, press releases, project updates, and video and photo documentation (Pinto, 1998). Internal Communication In any project, it is important to develop and maintain open and clear internal communications. The design-builder and GPCP will ensure that communications team members and program management are kept in the circle of all external issues, particularly the ones that are likely to attract media attention or jurisdictional attention. The communication staff will ensure that it continually informs the officials and appropriate executives of any situation that may arise. Another role of the design-builder will include dealing with activities that are related to the public, including weekly schedule updates, monthly schedule updates and progress reports, training, coordination with the necessary authorities. It will also disseminate information which is meant to be shared with all the staff (Goldratt, 1997). The project manager will be providing the staff and the company’s management with monthly written status reports which shall communicate information regarding tasks completed in previous month, summary of tasks scheduled to be completed in the next month, and the summary of obstacles and issues and their resolutions. The project manager will organize and conduct monthly staff meetings. Every project member is required to participate in these meetings since they will be held on monthly basis. The status reports will be sent to all team members prior to the meetings so that they can review it in advance. Bi-monthly project team status meetings will also be held every month. Every team member will be issued with an invitation to participate in these meetings. The status reports will be sent to all team members prior to the meetings so that they can review it in advance. Communication will also be enhanced through monthly updates that will be posted to the project’s website. As such, the team members can be able to know about the progress of the project and recommend necessary changes. Key Audiences Galfar Pontoon Construction Project team will engage various audiences through multiple communication strategies (Pinto, 1998). Project Management Approach Roles and responsibilities of the project team Role Responsibility Participants Project’s management team Committing and allocation of resources Approving of major resources and funding and making significant changes to resource and funding allocation Resolution of issues and conflicts Reviewing project deliverables Providing direction to the Project Manager Project Manager Management of project to make it match the project plan Assumes the role of liaison person to the Steering Committee Supervision of vendors and consultants Handles problem resolution Management Giving direction to the project team (Kerzner, 2013). Project Staff Understanding the needs and business processes in their responsibility areas Identifying and removing project barriers present in their areas of responsibility Helping the project manager to identify risks and issues and solving them Acting as project’s advocates Work Breakdown Structure The project can be said to be a temporary effort by a person, a group, or an organisation to manufacture a product or service or even a result. There are three project characteristics which are included in this definition, including the project as a temporary action, and made of unique products, services, and results. The temporality of a project is measured by the fact that it is runs within a defined time period and involves using limited resources. Uniqueness of a project is measured by the fact that it is different from the previous one. Regarding temporality, a project may be completed within a period of few minutes, few hours, few days, or even more than ten years provided the products or services produced are unique and temporary in nature. This definition matches the Project Management Institute (PMI) definition which incorporates temporality and uniqueness (PMI, 2003). Projects cannot be defined well without incorporating the complexity factor. To make complex products, the project has to be composed of a team, processes, tools and equipment, and systems. These factors have to be included in both the small and large projects and there has to be a schedule for the project to be completed within set time. The role of this schedule is to lay down a project plan that will meet the objectives and goals of the project. Complexity differs between the large and small projects. A large project requires complex schedule planning, cost planning, and control functions. A small project just requires a milestone schedule only to track the progress of the project. In contrast, large projects will call for a more detailed schedule such as a work breakdown structure (Kerzner, 2013). The role of WBS is to help the project team to organize the activities that need to be completed and break them down into smaller ones. The WBS breaks down the level of detail as the project increases in complexity. WBS is a hierarchical system that represents a project. Contractors and project teams may not be able to monitor large projects without work breakdown schedule (Pinto, 1998). Devi & Reddy (2012) stated that WBS is characteristic of a hierarchy of levels and tasks that enable the project team to identify improvement areas and challenges present in the project. Such identification will enable the project team to address these challenges and take advantage of opportunities to improve (Pinto, 2007). As the project becomes broken down into simpler tasks, the team will be able to complete it within time and within budget. Work breakdown schedules are not necessary for small projects because they may end up adding production and operational costs. Complexity of small projects is low and manageable without the WBS. In addition, the advantages of WBS in small projects may not be visible. Gantt charts are enough for small projects. Contrary to small projects, Neeraj (2011) states that large projects requires a number of individuals, including contractors, subcontractors and to some extent consultants due to the nature and level of their activities. This represents the point in which the WBS becomes crucial in the management of large projects (Dinsmore, 1999). The critical path method helps in scheduling a set of project activities and it represents one of the most important tools to manage large projects effectively. Any project which has many activities and tasks that depend on each other can apply this method of scheduling. The first task of the project team will involve organizing task forces and aligning staffs so that they can start meetings and coordination as soon as possible. The project team will be aligned and organized in accordance with the requirements of the project. The team will work as a network of individuals for the completion of this project. The project team has to work as a network and this network is considered to be the most valuable tool for project managers. The project network enables project managers to plan different activities. The project network is ideal because it enables them to schedule supplies, labor, and enhance communication (Larson & Gray 2011). Conclusion Galfar Pontoon Construction Project will contribute towards improving value of Galfar Engineering & Contracting SAOG (Galfar) by adding a new line of products. The company intends to achieve its objective within a period of five years. However, the first batch of pontoons is expected to be complete within the first three years. References Devi, T. & Reddy, V. (2012). Work Breakdown Structure of the Project. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA). Vol. 2(2), pp. 683-686 Larson, E. & Gray, C. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process. New York: McGraw-Hill. Neeraj, K. (2011). Construction Project Management: Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Project Management Institute. (2003). Organisational Project Management Body of Knowledge. Project Management Institute, Newtown Square. Pinto, J.K., 2007. Project management: achieving competitive advantage. Pearson/Prentice Hall. John, N., 2003. Project management for business and technology. Prentice Hall. Goldratt, E.M., 1997. Critical chain:[a business novel]. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press. Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. Pinto, J.K., 1998. The Project Management Institute Project Management Handbook (Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series). Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers. Dinsmore, P.C., 1999. Winning in business with enterprise project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Read More