Project Management For Business Quality Improvement

Business Scope

Discuss about the Project Management for Business Quality Improvement.

Each and every business needs a business strategy for successful operations. Several skills are required for the perfect project management. Now a day, business environment is characterized by the rapid change and complexities. Different business organizations are struggled to implement different strategies as per their requirements. Use of reliable strategy and perfect project management are the key factors for competitive advantage. Several companies manage different types of projects, programs, and portfolios. Many of projects are defined by the specific timeline, scope and budget. Here, we have to see the business strategy model and project management for the Skyactiv New Zealand. Skyactiv is the range of different types of cars with futuristic technologies. There are several changes in these cars. These changes include lighter body frames, new engine designs, fuel saving stop and start idling feature. Also, it includes the power storing brake system. Skyactiv are fuel efficient cars.

It is very important to define business scope for any project management. We know that business is universal and everywhere. So, the project management team would define the business scope for their business plan. Here, we have to see the business scope for new Skyactiv cars for efficient project management. We have to discuss this business scope in terms of products/services, markets, customers, competitors, etc. There would be several points for comparisons between the Skyactiv and their competitors. Let us discuss the business scope in details. 

Skyactiv plans to launch fuel efficient cars with future technologies. It would be wide range of new technology cars. There would be several changes in the design of car and engine. The company claimed that there would be 30% increase in the fuel economy across the global vehicle range by Skyactiv Mazda. Engineers continuously work on the design of engine and body for fuel efficiency. Also, services after owning a car are improved efficiently. It is important to provide best services to customers. There should be wide range of cars for different choices from the customers. As compared to the competitors the products would be more reliable on different comparative factors. 

There is a big scope for the Skyactiv Mazda in the international market. Market for Skyactiv would be available in all developed and developing countries. Demands for these cars would be increase if customers are fulfilled with their requirements. Market for this product would be increase due to specified range and inclusion of new features. In this new era of technology, demands for smart cars would be increase.

Core Competency

There is very big scope for increasing customers for Skyactiv by implementing some features. For any business, it is important to attract the more customers by using appropriate business planning. The Skyactiv have special characteristics which will help in increasing their customers. A research for customers’ demands and satisfaction is useful for further improvements in the car designs and engines. Skyactiv is more fuel economic and this will guarantee to increase the customer base.

There are several competitors in the market. So, it is important to provide the better quality of the product for the customers. Skyactiv is launched with some advanced features and these features will compete the Skyactiv with other cars in the market. All aspect of the car should be defined in the sense of competition and attract more customers. Healthy competition is always helpful for improving the quality of the product. 

A core competency is defined by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel as the harmonized combination of multiple resources and skills that distinguish a firm in the marketplace. The Skyactiv should provide the potential access to a wide variety of markets. Customers of the Skyactiv should be benefitted due to its new technology. Customers should be provide additional value of the product. Alexander and Martin (2013) states that the competitiveness of a company is based on the ability to develop core competences. 

A project management plan is made for creation of new car engine with more fuel economy and performance. The main goal of the project is to deliver the more fuel economic and efficient car to middle income customers with advanced technology. The important project milestones includes deciding project goals, creation of different teams, allocation of activities, project scheduling, project monitoring, etc. There would be several points for comparisons between the Skyactiv and their competitors. After the completion of the project, car body design would be more attractive, reliable, and lighter. A car engine should be more fuel economic and efficient in terms of fuel and performance. All new advanced technology should be implementing in the new design of the car.

The main goal of this project is to provide more fuel economic car with new technology to customers. A car body design should be attractive and engine of the car should be more efficient in terms of fuel and performance. The project scope statement is summarised below:

“To deliver the more fuel economic and efficient car to middle income customers with advanced technology”

Project Management Plan

The main aim of this project is to change in basic design of Skyactiv for better fuel efficiency and body design.  

Important project milestones are discussed below:

1. To decide the project goals: By deciding the project goals it will helpful for concentrate on the specific activities of the project. If the project goals are properly defined, then this will allow us for proper management of the project. For this project, goals are decided as to create more fuel economic and efficient car engines and body designs with new technology.
2. Create different teams and allocation of different activities: There would be different types of activities required for successfully completion of the project. Persons with different skill sets are required to perform these activities. Different teams would be needed to completion of work. A proper coordination would be required during different activities.
3. Project Scheduling and Monitoring: A proper schedule should be created for the project. There would be so many things needs to be considered during the activities. So, it is important to decide the priorities of these activities. 

After the completion of the project, following deliverables are expected.

1. A car body design would be more attractive, reliable, and lighter.
2. A car engine should be more fuel economic and efficient in terms of fuel and performance.
3. All new advanced technology should be implementing in the new design of the car.
4. All car features would be better as compared to previous designs.  

A rough project schedule is designed for this project which is given below. Actual project schedule would be different from this and this would be affected as per budget, time, availability of skilled persons, team dedications, etc.

Achieve Strategic Objectives and Project Goals

The main challenges for the project team leader during the design of new Skyactiv Car are summarised as below:

1. A research study by project team leader is necessary for understanding of all aspects of the car design and efficiency.
2. Design of the new car should be attractive and with proper body structure. Skyactiv plans to launch fuel efficient cars with future technologies. It would be wide range of new technology cars. There would be several changes in the design of car and engine. The company claimed that there would be 30% increase in the fuel economy across the global vehicle range by Skyactiv Mazda. Engineers continuously work on the design of engine and body for fuel efficiency. Also, services after owning a car are improved efficiently. It is important to provide best services to customers. There should be wide range of cars for different choices from the customers.
3. Internal design of the car would be reliable so that more customers will attract.
4. Different colour variants should be available for customer’s choice.
5. New design of the car should be fuel economic and this feature will meet the requirements of customer against increasing fuel rates.
6. A proper and deep attention is required during the design of car body and engine.
7. Implementation of different quality control tools for maintaining the quality of the product. There are seven basic quality tools which are required for problem solving and decision making process in the business. These seven quality control tools includes check sheets, graphs for trend analysis, histograms, Pareto charts, cause and effect diagrams, scatter diagrams, and control charts. 

The main reasons for the project failures are summarised as below:

1. If proper project management is not employ during the project work, then this will lead to failure of the project.
2. If there is lack of coordination between the different departments of the production and managements, then this will lead to project failure.
3. If proper flowchart is not defined, then this will take more times for completion of different activities and this will results in project failure.
4. If the proper time scheduling is not used for the project management, then this will results project failures.
5. All project requirements should be meet according to project budget. If there are any improper tasks during project activity, this will lead to project failure. 

Key traits of a project team leader for completion of project

The key traits of a project team leader for the completion of the project are summarised as below:

All project activities should be completed within given time schedule.

All quality tools should be used during the project activities. These quality tools will be helpful for understanding basic details for quality improvements.

It is important to have a proper coordination between the different departments of the project. If there is no proper communication within related departments, this will lead to project failure.

Continue monitoring is required for successful completion of the project. Well qualified personnel should be appointed for monitoring the process.

All aspects of the project should be considered in a positive way. All types of mistakes should be avoided during the project work and errors should be minimized. 

There are several factors which are responsible for the success of a project. Following are some elements which are required for success of a project.

1. A project team leader and sponsor should be committed for the project.
2. The project should have clear goals and scope.
3. Well qualified project managers are required for implementation of project activities.
4. Stakeholders should be engaged with project activities.
5. All team members of the project should be dedicated. 

Project quality is depends on the above discussed elements for success of a project. For better quality of the project, all activities of the projects would be handled carefully. All measurements should be accurate and errors should be minimized. Different quality tools should be used for the maintenance of the quality. Variations in the different process should be minimized by using proper statistical methods. A quality control charts would be more helpful for monitoring the quality of the project. 

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa was first total quality management guru who developed the seven quality control tools. These quality control tools are very useful for process improvement and quality control. There are seven basic quality tools which are required for problem solving and decision making process in the business. These seven quality control tools includes check sheets, graphs for trend analysis, histograms, Pareto charts, cause and effect diagrams, scatter diagrams, and control charts. Let us see these seven quality tools in brief.

Main Challenges for Project Team Leader

Check Sheet: Check sheets are the tabular format for recording the data systematically. Data are collected and recorded by using check sheets. These check sheets are very useful for the record purpose. Check sheets preparation is the first step of data collection process. Also, it is helpful for arrange the data for the utilization later (Montgomery, 2009). It is expected to use a check sheets during the project regarding Skyactiv. With reference to Skyactiv project, the use of Check sheet is very important for keeping proper track of data. This check sheets will be helpful during the data collection and data classification. Check sheets should have facilities to include different types of characteristics of data.

Histogram: Histogram is very useful tool for quality control. It is used to describe a sense of the frequency distribution of the values of variable under study. Histogram provides the general idea about the frequency distribution of the observations. Also, histogram can be applied for investigation of the underlying distribution (Omachonu and Ross, 2004). Histograms should be used whenever necessary. During the work activities, there would be large data and we need to understand the nature of this data by using histogram. Based on the collected data for Skyactive project, we can use histograms for understanding the nature of data for any variable under study.

Pareto Analysis: The Pareto Analysis is introduced by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. The aim of Pareto chart is to find out the different kind of nonconformity from different types of data.

Cause and Effect Diagram: It is a root cause analysis for quality control. It is a problem solving tool. It investigates different causes and effects of the process and analyses systematically. It is efficient tool which is useful for organizations management to explore the possible causes of a problem.

Scatter diagram: It is a powerful tool to draw the distribution of information for two variables. It is very useful for checking the relationship exists between the two variables. We can find whether there is any linear relationship exists between the two variables or not. These scatter diagrams are very useful in finding the correlation between two variables. Based on these scatter diagrams one can decide to use regression model for further prediction. We can use the scatter diagrams for finding the relationships exists between the different variables in the Skyactiv project.

Flowchart: It present a diagrammatic picture of the different steps involved in the process. Flowcharts describe the inputs, activities, decision points, and outputs for the process. These flowcharts are very useful for improving the quality of process. Once the management team created the flowchart for different activities in the project, the monitoring of the process will become easy to control. Also, design of proper flowchart reduces the miscommunications between the different departments of the project.

Main Reasons for Project Failure

Control Chart: Control charts are very useful for maintaining the quality of the products. This is a run chart which indicates an amount and nature of variation in the process over time. By using this control chart we can check whether the process is lies within statistical control or not. These control charts are defined by the upper control limit and lower control limit. If any observation is out of these control limits, then process would be check for possible reasons for quality management. In the view of statistical quality control, the study of variations in the values of observations plays an important role in the quality control.  

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