Thursday, February 13, 2020

Project management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Case Study Example Utilisation Utilization = Actual output/ Design capacity In this case the actual output is 12,000kg and designed capacity of 20,000kg. Utilization will be; 12,000/20,000*100%= 60%. 60% utilization determine the effective capacity since if the plant is not turned on, then the effective capacity is zero. Ultimately, the dry cleaner designs will have some redundancies which lead to simple de-bottlenecking "adding" to capacity.   v. Efficiency Efficiency is the actual output as determined through a percent of effective capacity. Hence, it is given as; actual output / effective capacity. In this case study, efficiency will be; (12,000/16,000) * 100% = 75%. (b) Managing Actual Output, Utilisation and Efficiency of the resources available The concern in the dry cleaning business is more on productivity that relates to competitiveness. The business will not be able to earn greater profit or charge a lower price. There is need for the business to increase its efficiency from 75% to over 80% to boost operational efficiency whenever probable. Utilization as well is at 60% which is low. The solutions to increasing utilization is through keeping the dry cleaning equipment in proper operational conditions, correcting quality problems, reducing bottlenecks and training of employees (Krajewski & Ritzman 2005). In order to increase the actual output, the company must use a benchmarking method which measures capacity from choice of one not requiring adjustment or constant updates. The dry cleaning company can benchmark the existing operational efficiency against other efficient dry cleaners in the locality whether in emerging or mature markets. The next step is to evaluate the efficiency of work process to point out areas requiring improvement. Finally, the company can develop solutions meant to increase performance in these areas. This can include checking the speed of receipt of garments, sorting, cleaning, drying and packaging of cleaned clothes. Increasing the hours worked for each employee is one input which should be increased to over 70% but by not increasing the number of employees to run the dry cleaning business (Krajewski & Ritzman 2005). The gains or losses must be tracked and performance standards established. The company should also create worksheets capturing weekly, monthly and yearly data. Question 2 Devise and implement a brief project management plan to include; a) Scope Management Scope management ensures clarity of project guidelines drawn from the triple constraints such as cost, quality and time or schedule. For instance, a construction project synchronises the triple constraints to drive stakeholders’ perceptions of the success of the project. The scope of the project plan is monitored for probable changes if the scope of the project changes (Carly 2004). Agreeing on the scope ensures minimal rework which commits extra resources, time and cost overruns. In the case of the construction project, the prefabs will take 45 days to complete 4 houses. The expected project cost will be $4500. This project is anticipated to be made of cedar, cemented floor and Gall sheet roofing. The project will involve a sufficient amount of work, only necessary work is carried out and work completed contributes to success of the construction project. The project will use existing technology since it is conventional (Thieraus et al 2009). The scope is clearly defined and the design

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Human Relations - Conflict Resolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Relations - Conflict Resolution - Essay Example For example, Heitler (1993) focuses a lot of attention on the psychological aspects of a conflict and Varney (1989) gives similar ideas in his own research. It is noted that the primary sources of conflict are based in miscommunications, the relationship of the people involved in the situation and personal biases. All of these are linked directly to psychological issues and thus it may be possible to handle the situation with the tools used by psychologists. The ideas presented in the book are also in agreement with those presented by Nelson (1995) who gives several approaches to resolving conflicts amongst which the first is to directly confront the problem of the conflict. Psychologically, conflicts may be difficult to bring out to the open but handling them in an objective manner and then deconstructing the issue for a resolution may be the best way to go. Heitler (1993) also links conflicts to emotions and the approach given by PDI (1999) is no different since the approach seeks to build understanding rather than to accept the conflict as a given. If there is understanding between conflicting parties, it would be possible for them to see each other’s viewpoint and then empathize with each other about how one solution could be acceptable to all parties involved in the conflict. Such inclusion would certainly create a win-win situation that would certainly be taken by all individuals who are seeking fair play and justice. The book goes into a lot of depth about how bargaining and negotiations can be used to arrive at a settlement of many issues but in certain cases, a bargain may even have to be enforced in the case where there is a clear guilty party. However, in most cases the conflict will need to be resolved with negotiations and bargaining where individuals can present their own solutions to the problems they have. The person mediating the conflict then has to see which parts of the two possible