The introduction of the new product by the company will need planning, communication, coordination, skills, motivation, and transformative leadership. The proposal by the head of marketing to produce a room-sized plastic storage unit suitable to the outside of the home is not a complicated idea but due to the high competition and the need to design the container to include features that will make it more appealing and efficient for the consumers than products from the competitors. This paper aims at identifying the stakeholders, project manager, project sponsor, and creating the project charter.
The Stakeholders
According to stakeholders view theories, stakeholders of a company are individuals and constituencies contributing to the wealth creation and activities (Gido, & Clements, 2011). These individuals can either benefit or bear the risks depending on the success or failure of the business respectively. In the case of Winsome Manufacturing Company, the stakeholders are the management and staffs in all the departments, the board of directors, the shareholders, consumers, and the public. The different branches play different roles, but each function is dependent on the success of the others. The designing team is responsible for the development of the product to meet the requirements of the head of the marketing department. The production team, on the other hand, is liable to undertake the actual product according to the design offered by the designing team.
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Production would be challenging without the necessary raw materials thus the inclusion of the purchasing department who must ensure they buy high-quality products at the cheapest costs possible. The purchasing or accounting department must also ensure that the products arrive in the time stipulated not to limit the production team from undertaking their tasks thus; they must coordinate with the shipping department. The sales and marketing department being the people who proposed the introduction of the product must push for the product to be produced according to their directives, therefore, follow the entire production costs. The sales and marketing will then coordinate with the shipping department to distribute the products as they improve and broaden the market for the new product. The other stakeholders such as the board and shareholders if any are responsible for permitting the project since they are the financers. The consumers and the public are external stakeholders. The customers provide market and information that led to the proposal whereas the public consideration is essential due to the environmental issues that may arise from undertaking the project although the latter are minor stakeholders.
Project Sponsor
The project sponsor is the overall boss of the project who works closely with the project manager to ensure the success of the project. Some of the responsibilities are to approve budgets, lead the board, make the fundamental decision concerning the project, and champion the project (Verzuh, 2011). The project manager must be one of the senior most executives to perform such tasks. The concession among multiple studies that indicate that the project manager chairs the board makes it clear that the general manager is most likely to be the project sponsor.
Project Manager
The project manager is the leader of the project, oversees all the stages of the project, and address all issues to ensure success. Although the project manager operates under the project sponsor, he/she is the primary person who has firsthand running of the project. The project manager during the initial phase of the project must ensure that everyone associated with the project understands all the necessary and minor factors. He/she should be competent and a team player to provide coordination and motivation of the teams. Communication being one of the most critical aspects and determinant of success or failure of the project, the manager, must be an effective communicator and understand the strength and weaknesses of the teams (Lynch, & Roecker, 2007). These values depict that the human resource manager, production manager or the marketing manager should be the project manager. The HRM understands and knows the various motivating techniques for all employees thus making him/her the best candidate for the task compared to other departments. However, the shortcomings due to overseeing the progress of the project mean that production department is more suitable. The marketing department being responsible for the project would be vigilant towards the success of the project but may have issues in overseeing the timely production. The advantages and disadvantages of the HRM and marketing department thus ensure that the best unit to have the project manager is the production department. The close interaction and ability to provide quality and timely productions in other products ensure that the production department would ensure the success of the project.
Communication
As earlier indicated, the gap between effective and ineffective communication is similar to the margin of success and failure. The project manager should ensure that all the departments understand the project by using simple language and illustrations, schedules and skills needed to ensure success. Effective communication is a two-way traffic with the project manager and other leaders giving orders or instructions for the workers to follow and the workers offering suggestions or feedback to ensure free flow communication (Verzuh, 2011). The project manager must react to the feedbacks to ensure that the team is willing to express themselves. In case of conflict within the group, the project manager must address the problem swiftly by communicating with the conflicting parties to ensure that they understand the importance of all members towards achieving the set goals. Information should be through different mediums such as frequent meetings with the team or weekly or monthly interactions with the board and the sponsor to ensure that they stay in touch with the progress of the project.
The failure to make changes when due and lack of a well-structured chain of command within the team limits efficiency. The team members must know the person to approach in the technical or non-technical issues, and the leaders must be supportive for to ensure that the team is willing to contact them. The formal structural leaders may also hinder communication hence the need to identify and commend informal leaders within the group (Lynch, & Roecker, 2007). An informal leader tends to know everything since he/she is approachable to ensure successful communication. Emails, posters, and telephones can also contribute towards effective communication.
Communication is different to different stakeholders thus the need for the project manager to communicate and ensure the project secrecy stays secret to competitors, the project manager should be clear on the timeline to communicate to different stakeholders. In case the design or product features secrets are made public without the consent of the project manager, it would jeopardize the project release thus making it illegal for team members to share information to the public. The requirements of the law to communicate to the shareholders on the investments and progress is mandatory (Verzuh, 2011). Thus, failure to offer such information is both illegal and unethical. Cover-ups and deception on the development of the project are immoral. Setting the ethical and legal standards in communication would improve communication.
Project Charter
The project charter is a preliminary plan of the project. It should include a definition of the project and goals, plan, resources, risks, solutions to the risks, implementation, and success of all the phases of the project (Verzuh, 2011). Through the project charter, the project sponsor and the project manager will advocate the project to the project board, which contributes to the provision of the resources needed. Winsome Manufacturing Company project manager must demonstrate that there is a preference of a room-sized plastic storage unit suitable to the outside of the home in the current and future market. The feedbacks from consumers would provide the evidence required to prove the opportunity the new product would bring to the company. The project would encounter competition from the other firms, but with the inclusion of new features, the marketing department is adamant that they will have the upper hand. The costs for the new product are low due to the use of existing plant and expertise within the working force to undertake the project. The success of the project will increase the market share whereas failure to exploit the current opportunity will lead to consumers choosing products from other companies and increasing their market share. The large market share will be detrimental to the firm’s growth and development hence the need to undertake the project.
References
Gido, J & Clements, J. (2011). Successful Project Management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Lynch, M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A Handbook for Successful Design, Delivery and Management . Routledge.
Verzuh, E. (2011). The fast forward MBA in project management . Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
