Running head: Project Execution and Control

Project Execution and Control

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Project Execution and Control

Executive Summary

The current study circle around the Park Corporation’s the Blue Spider project and its

possible risks. There are some possible risks regarding the project which has been analyzed

and evaluated throughout the strategy. It has been noticed that this issues are creating vital

problems through which the project can be unsuccessful. The following report has

highlighted some potential strategies to eliminate those issues. Moreover, this paper has

provided risk registration through which the project manager can assess those risks.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4

1. Risk identification and impact assessment............................................................................4

Possible risks of the case study...............................................................................................4

Impact of possible risks..........................................................................................................5

Risk probability and impact matrix........................................................................................6

Strategy for managing risks....................................................................................................7

Risk register............................................................................................................................7

2. Risk management reporting...................................................................................................8

Identification of stakeholders.................................................................................................8

Involvement of stakeholders o ongoing activities of the project............................................9

Conclusion................................................................................................................................10

Reference List..........................................................................................................................11
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Project Execution and Control

Introduction

Risk management of a project refers to the practice through which possible risks of a

project can be identified in advance. It helps to analyze those risks and provides

precautionary steps for mitigating those risks. In short, risk management refers to the process

of identifying, evaluating and prioritizing possible risks of project or work activities in order

to minimize those issues for future progression. The following study is a report that circles

around feasible risks of a project of the case study namely The Blue Spider Project. This

report further demonstrates the impact of those risks along with some potential strategies to

eliminate them.

1. Risk identification and impact assessment

Possible risks of the case study

The concentration of Park Corporation mainly lies on R&D business. This company

does project based work for the defense department. In recent days, the focus of Park

Corporation has changed to a low cost production facility. Now, the company has aimed to

start a new project namely the Blue Spider Project that has been aimed in increasing the

capabilities of Spartan missiles. While planning this project, there have been some certain

risks that can make the project void. As per the view of Heldman (2018), risk can be

considered as both a threat and opportunities for the project. Some of those risks are lack of

true leadership skills in the project manager, poor communication and lack of concentration

of the leader over the project.

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Project Execution and Control

Lack of leadership skill

Poor team communication

Lack of Leadership concentration

Figure 1: Risks Factor of the Blue Spider project

(Source: Case analysis)

Impact of possible risks

A close observation of the case study will help in assessing these possible risks

regarding the project. The first and utmost risk is the lack of adequate knowledge in the

leadership skills of the project manager namely Gary Anderson who was appointed by Park

Corporation for handling the work activities of the project. He was given this position for

reducing the cost of the project and for increasing profitability of Park Corporation.

Chemuturi (2013) has critically stated that the emergence of risk may occur from wrong

selection of equipment. In this regard, it can be said that selection of Gary as the project

manager gave rise to the risk as he lacks experience and adequate skills. Due to the lack of

these abilities in Gary, the project can face lots of problems mainly regarding decision

making. Such a project like the Blue Spider project needs experienced project leaders for

making successful execution. Lack of concentration was the main problem of Gary’s project

leadership as he not only committed to the work of R & D but also focused on the
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Project Execution and Control

administrative part also. On the other, communication was the second issue of the project.

Effective communication is one of the important tools to handle such a big project. It has

been noticed throughout the project study that the project management and IT team of Park

Corporation were somewhere lacking in team communication through which they became

unable to share information and data of IT solutions of the Blue Spider Project. This lack of

communication can make the project explode.

Risk probability and impact matrix

Risk Minor Moderate Major Extreme

Factors

Lack of Rare Low Medium Medium High

leadership
skills

Poor team Moderate Moderate Low Medium Medium

communicati
on

Lack of Likely Medium Medium High High

leadership
concentratio
n
Table 1: Risk probability and Impact Matrix

Analysis

Lack of leadership skills can be a high threat for Park Corporation's Blue Spider

Project as it can void the entire project. In this regard, the impact of this issue can be a high

threat for the successful development of the project. Moreover, poor team communication

carries a medium level of threat as it can be solved by effective supervision. On the contrary,

lack of leadership concentration can be the catalyst of hampering the project growth. In this

perspective, the threat of this issue is much higher.

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Strategy for managing risks

All of these three probable risks can hamper the flow of the project as well as

consequences of the project. As the project is interrelated with the R&D and it aims to

increase the capabilities of Spartan missiles, these issues require to be eliminated for a

successful launching of the project. As per the view of Chemuturi (2013), identification of

risk mitigation strategy can be applied through determining appropriate elimination plan. In

order to mitigate the void of lack of leadership skills the director of Park Corporation needs

to hire an experienced project manager who is possessed with adequate technological

knowledge and carries much experience about the way of controlling a IT project. This leader

will not only control the entire activities of the project but also generate initial technical as

well as general solution regarding the project. Moreover poor team communication can be

alleviated through effective collaboration of the team manager as well as implementation of

communicative technologies. The project manager needs to be collaborative in increasing the

commitment of the team toward the project. Committed members are always contributing in

making the project successful. An effective and responsible leader will always keep focus on

existing projects instead of diversifying their concentration.

Risk register

Id Risk Likeliho Impact Severity Owner Eliminat Date

description od of the of the ion raised
risk risk action

1 Lack of High High High Director Hiring of 02/07/

leadership of the new 1965
skills Park project
Corporati manager
on who is
possesse
d with
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adequate
leadershi
p skills

2 Poor team Medium High Medium Manager Motivati 17/08/

communicatio of the ng the 1965
n project team
team through
effective
collabora
tion for
increasin
g their
commitm
ent level.

3 Lack of Medium Medium Low Director Engaging 23/07/

leadership of the leader 1965
concentration Park towards
Corporati the goal
on of the
project
Table 2: Risk Register

2. Risk management reporting

Identification of stakeholders

Stakeholder’s Contact person Power Interest Engagement

name strategy

Garry Anderson 98 Shirley Medium Project manager Mail, and

and controller of Telephone
Street Pimpama the technical
team.
Street, QLD

4209, Australia

Elliot Grey 39, Queen High Director of Park Mail, Telephone

Street, Corporation as and
Melbourne, well as director appointment.
Australia of project
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management
team

Team leader 64, Amar Street, Low Leader of the Telephone and
Sydney project team Direct
Australia. appointment
Table 3: Identification of stakeholders

Involvement of stakeholders o ongoing activities of the project

Stakeholders are the key drivers of a project who have an utmost interrelation with the

activities and success of the project. Engagement of all stakeholders is much important for

the Blue Spider Project as it aims in improving capabilities of Spartan Missile. As per the

case study, Director of the team, manager of the project team and team leader are the three

most valuable stakeholders of this project. Director of the project team namely Elliot Grey

who is also one of the leaders of Park Corporation has the duty of assessing financial

resources regarding the project. This is the reason why Elliot Grey was so much concerned

when Lord Industries handed the bid of this project by making a predetermined budget.

Elliot’s concern over this project was to complete this project within $2.2 million. His duty

was to make the project at least cost for increasing the profit rate of Park Corporation.

Therefore, he involved Garry Anderson as a project manager. to complete the project with

the least budget. Garry Anderson, although lacking in sufficient skills and experience, has the

duty of controlling the entire activities of the project. As stated by Crawford & Stretton

(2018), a project manager should have the ability of controlling the project team along with

mitigating daily issues regarding the project. In this perspective, it is necessary to mention

that Garry Anderson was lacking in these required skills to manage the project. This lack of

controlling power of Garry Anderson created a poor environment in the project team in terms

of communication. In addition, the leader of the project team can be considered as one of the

major stakeholders of the entire project team as he is the medium of communication and
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collaboration with the project team. Duty of the leader is to supervise the work activities of

the team members as per the order of the project manager. Such an IT project needs sufficient

collaboration and communication which was lacking in the Blue Spider project due to the

lack of true leadership skills of the project manager.

Conclusion

Risk management refers to the practice of identifying risks and mitigating those risk

factors for achieving a successful project consequence. In conclusion, it is necessary to

conclude that there are some risk factors regarding the Blue Spider project of Park

Corporation. Potential issues of a project can void the success of the activities. The Blue

Spider project was also facing some problems which have been analyzed throughout the

study. Those issues were mainly revolving around the leadership skill through which

communication and collaboration issues were emerging. The following study has gone

through some potential solutions through which these issues can be mitigated. Hence, it can

be concluded that lack of leadership and poor team communication can be mitigated through

proper leadership ability which was lacking in the project of Park Corporation.
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Reference List

Chemuturi, M. (2013). Mastering IT project management: best practices, tools and

techniques. J. Ross Publishing.

Crawford, L. H., BA, H., & Stretton, A. M. (2018). Bodies of Knowledge and Competency

Standards in Global Project Management. The AMA Handbook of Project

Management.

Heldman, K. (2018). PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley

& Sons.

Snyder, C. S. (2013). A project manager’s book of forms: A companion to the PMBOK guide

(2nd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley

Wysocki, R. K. (2011). Effective project management: traditional, agile, extreme. John Wiley

& Sons.