Lean Management Process for Successful Implementation of FIFA Event
The main aim of this task is to organize the FIFA 2018 Football World Cup tournament with the help of the lean management process and methods. This is an international level sport event and hence, as a project manager, it is important to deliver high quality project as this event has attracted international attention. To successfully implement this project, lean project management has been adopted, as it has the ability to provide all the necessary data that is required to manage the project in a successful manner. The task has explained all the necessary lean management practices that have the ability to help in the successful implementation of the FIFA event. The lean management practice that has been discussed in detail includes PMBOK, PRINCE2, Agile and Lean Six Sigma.
Voice of the Customer (VOC)
Voice of the Customer is a very common term in the field of business and information technology. The main aim of this concept is to find out about the demands and expectations of the customers so that they can get what they want. This can also be seen as a market research technique used by the businesses and project managers so that they can successfully deliver products and services (Qualtrics, 2018).This method helps to reduce cost as well as extra expenses over the project. As this is market research, it also helps in promoting about the product or service being offered which in return has the ability to increase the revenue. This is one of the best models to connect with the customers at the right time with the help of the best channel available (Confirmit, 2018).The data collected with the help of this method helps in improving the performance of the business and enhance the overall productivity of the organizations. Because of the direct connections with the customers, a chain of loyal customers is also developed because of this method (Clarabridge, 2018).
In the case of FIFA event, the managerial staff, the employees, viewers and sponsors of the event are important customers and as a result, it is important to gather information related to their expectations and demands from the event. Accordingly, the project can be framed to satisfy the demands of the customers. The information can be gathered with the help of interviews, surveys, online advertisements, advertisements through traditional methods, etc. Management and the employees can also share relevant information related to the expectations from the event as they are in this business from a long time. Continuous meetings are one of the best ways to gather information from the managements and employees. The information gathered through this method will help to a great extent to deliver what is demanded by the customers.
Customers are at the centre of any business and the project managers and each and everything of a business revolves around customers and is designed according to their requirements and expectations. It’s upon the customers that whether they want to buy the product or service offered to them or not (Survey Methods, 2018).This decision of the customer is highly dependent on the critical customer requirements. Hence, organizations put efforts to find out about the critical customer requirements so that they can manage their business accordingly and provide what is demanded. This will give a competitive edge to the business. In order to describe the customer values more precisely, four different areas have been marked by experts and they are cost, quality, features and availability also abbreviated as CQFA. In order to stand out as a successful business, it is necessary that an organization has perfection in one or more areas mentioned. Though, the level of importance of each area changes on a continuous basis and hence, it is important to analyse these areas depending upon the needs and demands of customers (Six Lean Sigma, 2017).
Voice of the Customer for Improving Customer Satisfaction and Reducing Extra Expenses
In the case of organizing the FIFA event, critical to customer requirements play an important role. With the help of this method, it would be easy to find out about the amount the viewers are willing to pay for the entry tick.et to the stadium, what necessary facilities and services are being expected by them around the event area, how viewers can be connected easily with the food section and the rest rooms of the event area, etc. along with the stadium viewers. This method will also help in knowing about the viewers sitting at their home and watching the FIFA World Cup Tournament over the television set. It is the responsibility of the project manager to make sure that all the necessary arrangements have been done in order to telecast the whole event to the viewers who are not able to come in person to the event.
Quality is the most important quotient in any business. Good quality not only satisfies your customer but also offers an organization a competitive edge in the market (Six Sigma Daily, 2018).Though, it has been seen that there has always been debate over the definition of quality. Hence, critical to quality parameters are used by organizations in order to know about the factors that drive quality of the product or service to customers. This helps the organization to offer the product or service in the same manner and with the same quality as expected by the customer. Critical quality parameters are available in the form of critical to quality trees called CTQ trees (Six Sigma Basics, 2018).This is a diagram-based tool which is used by organizations to produce high quality products and services. This tool is used by the organization in order to convert the customer’s needs into measurable production requirements. This CTQ tree was developed as a part of the six-sigma method (Hendricks, 2018).This is done by first identifying about the needs of the customers as this is what the customer expects to be delivered to them. After identifying the need, the quality drivers attached to that need is identified. This is so because these are the main factors that customers will use to analyse the quality of the product or service delivered. After this, in order to deliver the best high-quality product, the performance requirements of each of the quality drivers are identified. Hence, it can be said that this method will help with a list of quality requirements that are critical to the customers (Mind Tools, 2018).
In the case of FIFA World Cup Tournament, this method can be utilized in order to identify the requirements from the broad list of demands. The critical quality requirements related to a sport event should be identified. And the main drivers of such requirements should be analysed as this will help in gaining in- depth knowledge about the demands of the viewers related to the quality of the event, on the basis of past events. This way, the project manager will be able to deliver an event that will be remembered by the people for years and will set an example for the future sports event.
Analyzing Critical to Customer Requirements for Framing the Project
At the time of implementing lean it is very important to keep in mind that it is best suitable for long term goals and is not able to fix urgent organizational issues. The main motive behind implementing the lean project management is to reduce waste in the organization’s production as well as other processes. This methodology offers the ability for continuous improvement in the project processes by consistently measuring the performance at every level. Hence, the project enjoys benefit from this method on a continuous basis. The principles of lean philosophy are easier and as a result the workers learn to reduce wastage over time. One of the most important principle or goal of lean thinking is to maintain the flow of processes. In order to achieve this project managers need to implement pull approach which will help in waste reduction, reduced costs of inventory, high maintenance of the end products. This approach helps in reducing the overwork done by humans as well as machines.
Some of the best ways to implement lean project management includes waste reduction, considering the value stream, and focusing on the customer, etc. (Moujib, 2007). These points are discussed in detail below:
Seeking out waste reduction: A huge number of wastes are expected in project management. In order to reduce this, the first task that needs to be performed is the identification of waste. Usually, it has been seen that many project managers or methods end up identifying the machine waste only and ignore the human waste. The best thing about lean project management is that it helps in identifying the human waste as well and accordingly necessary actions can be taken that will help in reducing the machine and human waste. First, it is important to understand what is waste? Waste can be understood as anything and everything that does not add value to the customers. If something does not add any value to the customer, then he/she will not willingly like to pay for the product or service which will be directly reflected on the profits of the company and the failure of the project. Hence, it is important to identify waste and take efforts to reduce them.
Focus on Customer: The most important thing in lean project management is to think about the customers first. In case of FIFA world cup, main customers are the football fans who come to watch the world cup matches. It is important to know about the target market that will get the ultimate benefit from the project being implemented. In order to know about the customers and their demands it is important to know about the customer values. This is so because depending upon the customer values the project will be optimized and then the final output will be able to satisfy the final consumer which in this case is the viewers of the world cup, the sponsors and also the government authorities (Anderson, 2017).
Continuous improvement: This is also one of the most important parts of lean project management. Continuous improvement is something that is always seen by the project managers of this approach. This improvement can be achieved with the help of the involvement of team members. Also, training can be provided consistently to avoid any mistakes and learn at every level of the project process. Lean project management makes sure that the result or the output of the project is measured at every stage. Because of this reason this approach is able to achieve continuous improvement as and when required (SmartSheet, 2017).
Identifying Critical Quality Parameters for Offering High Quality Products and Services
The implementation of the lean project management helps the project manager in tremendous ways as discussed above. In the case of organizing the FIFA event it is important to identify the possible wastes that can be avoided. By knowing the needs and demands of the customers of this event the project manager will be able to deliver exactly what is needed by them and hence, will be able to achieve satisfied customers.
PMBOK: PMBOK is one of the best solutions in order to support the project implementation. The principles of PMBOK help in resource optimization as well as cooperate in dynamic ways. PMBOK is used as guide while designing project management. The principles of PMBOK help in resolving the quality issues arising in the project management. The guidelines of PMBOK are so clear and simple that it can be used by an individual project manager or by a team. Hence, it can be said that the guidelines of PMBOK aim to provide a structure to the knowledge required in order undertaking a project successfully. Five basic process groups are identified by PMBOK in almost every project. They are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling. Apart from this, nine different knowledge areas are also identified by PMBOK that are found in every project. Quality management is majorly focused upon by PMBOK in every project and the guidelines and steps are easy to follow. The guidelines of PMBOK can be considered as customer -centred as it majorly focuses on their satisfaction and fulfilment of their requirements. The main difference in PMBOK from other methods is that PMBOK helps in identifying as well as acquiring resources for the completion of the project. It provides the necessary guidance to review the resources depending upon the requirements of the project (Visual Paradigm, 2018).
PMBOK can be used to manage the quality of the FIFA world cup event in a very efficient manner. This is one of the best methods that will keep a check on the quality of the event from the initial stage till the completion of the event. The different process groups identified by PMBOK along with nine knowledge areas will help in implementing the FIFA event in a well-structured manner. FIFA is an international event and hence, has to fulfil the requirements of the international market and therefore, quality of the event is the most important part to be taken care of in this event. PMBOK is the best solution available as project management tool in case of FIFA event.
PRINCE2: PRINCE2 stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments and this is one of the most widely used methods to manage projects. This is one of the best methods that is used by project managers in order to wrap up the projects more efficiently. This method was introduced in order to execute government projects in UK, since then, this method has been used by public as well as private organizations. The main benefit offered by PRINCE2 method is that it helps in recognizing the common causes that may lead to project failure. This method helps the project managers to divide the whole project into small steps and make it more logical and simple to handle. There are majorly 7 basic principles of the PRINCE2 method that helps any project manager. They are providing justification to the business, learning from experience, it clearly defines roles and responsibilities, helps in running the management in stages, managing by exception, and focus on quality of the product, adjusting the approach according to the project (Axelos, 2018).
This method can be used to manage the FIFA event by dividing the whole event into simple steps that can be handled easily. Though this method is not that powerful as compared to PMBOK and hence, this method can be avoided in the implementation of a lean project.
Agile method
Agile method is related to the software development that is used in project management (Drumond, 2018). There are different agile methodologies that are unique in their nature but share common values related to the project management. This method is customer -centred as well as majorly focuses on the results of the project. This method aims to undertake continuous improvement in the project with the help of software development (Stackify, 2017).The main advantage of this method is that it will help in finding about the cause of the failure of any project at a very early stage. This method also helps in understanding the need of the customer and developing the project accordingly so that maximum satisfaction is received (VersionOne, 2018).Hence, it can be said that with the help of this method, the project managers can develop and design the right project product. This helps the companies to gain competitive advantage in the market. This method is best utilized for technical development of the project as a result of which, excellent quality work is delivered by the business (Gonçalves, 2018).
This method can be adopted along with other methodologies. This is so because this method will help to develop software that will link every demand of the project and how it needs to be done in order to undertake the FIFA event in a successful manner. This method will help in developing the design of the project that is the manner in which the project should be undertaken so that the desired objective is achieved. This method will also help in continuously keeping a check over the quality of the project.
With the help of the lean six sigma method, the quality of the products and services are improved as well as the organizations are able to increase their profits. This method provides with various tools to adopt different improvements in the project and also to improve the capability of the project. Lean Six Sigma method in simple words can be understood as a fact based method that uses data in order to improve the defects if any in the project. This method helps in reducing wastage along with time and aims to promote the standardization of the work giving a competitive edge to the businesses in the market (ASQ, 2018). Lean Six Sigma is a blend of both the methods lean and six sigma. It improves the managerial process of the business and hence, is also used to improve the project management process by the project managers (APMG, 2018).This method helps in the development of quality of the product and also adds value to the business by reducing the critical to quality (CTQ) issues of the businesses. It has been seen that with the application of six sigma a considerate improvement has been seen in the quality of the project and because of this reason it has been widely used in the field of project management (Hill, Thomas, Mason-Jones, & El-Kateb, 2018).
This method is though not that supportive for the FIFA event. This is so because the principles of this method are majorly used in manufacturing and production. Though, this method is now being used in almost every field but event management is something that does not require factual information. This is the main feature of this method. Though, it cannot be totally neglected, as this method helps in waste reduction and helps in improving the value of the project. However this advantage is offered by other methods as well like the agile method and PMBOK method.
Conclusion and recommendations
FIFA 2018 Football World Cup tournament is an international event. Hence, it is important to deliver high quality project. Lean project management has been adopted and the necessary lean management practices are implemented to help in the successful implementation of the FIFA event. In order to make the event successful, it is important to understand the needs and the requirements of the customers. Considering the long- term goals of the project is important at the time of implementing the lean practices. The important areas to be focused are reducing waste and focusing upon the customers’ demand. This methodology will help in continuous improvement through measuring the performance continuously at every level. The event’s main customers are the football fans and hence, output will be able to satisfy them. In order to attain the success, it is important to focus on continuous improvement and the training of the team members in order to avoid mistakes. The methodologies that support the lean project implementation are PMBOK, Agile, PRINCE2 and Lean six sigma. Hence, the effective implementation of these methodologies can help in managing the FIFA event in an effective manner. PMBOK helps in the resource optimization and resolving the quality issues. It involves five steps that are: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing for managing the project. PRINCE2 helps in recognizing common causes that lead to project failure. Agile methods help in keeping a check over project quality and also help in understanding customer’s needs and developing the project accordingly. Lean six sigma methods helps in maintaining quality of products and services and increase profits. It also helps in reducing wastage, promoting the standardization as well as helps in improving the value of project. It is recommended that, for the implementation of the lean project management, effective understanding of the requirements of the customers is highly important. Using the combination of the lean methodologies can help in governing the success of the project. Effective planning of the project is important for managing the project and hence using PMBOK can help in attaining the same. In order to identify the issues in the project, PRINCE2 can serve as an effective methodology to be adopted in the FIFA event.
References
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