Executive Summary
In this report is the background information of the company, the past activities of the company in their previous place of operation. Here the paper will discuss the disadvantages of the former place of operation and the shortcomings that accompanied the place. The paper will evaluate the operations of the company at the former base and try to relate that to the activities they are likely to engage in at the new base of operation. This will be done through the assessment of the two bases of operation considering the differences and ways of harmonizing the two. It will focus on the likely effects that might be faced by the company due to their change of base. The advantages the company will enjoy to the same.
These will be discussed in stages as of the following; financial factors that are likely to affect the company due to the migration or change of base. Will the change lead to a positive effects or negative effects, if the effects are negative then how can this be reversed or reduced to ensure the transition if base by the company is done in an easy and quick manner. This will be viewed along other factors including economical impacts, technological, operational and schedule among other factors that are likely to affect the company.
The paper will then provide a summary of the various recommendations that should be considered when changing the base, the factors that should be put in place to ensure the transition is successful. A conclusion to give the project manager’s opinion on the transition will be discussed in relation to the change of base. How to ensure they get grip of the clients and how to get new ones, how the company can fit into the new environment successfully.
Background Information
The company majorly deals with the installation of water quality chemical control systems. These materials sell and install the amperometric and redox chemical controllers. The controllers are essential items of plant in the management of swimming pools both in the United Kingdom and the other parts of Europe and America. The company’s major clients in the former base include the local authorities which require the services for public pools, schools, commercial clubs, holiday parks and homes. The company’s employment structure includes 1 manager, 3 Assistant Managers, 2 Admin Officers, 2 Designers and 8 Sales staff. The structure indicates a small team which makes the change of base easier since a smaller team is usually not bulky and is thus flexible allowing for easy movement. The company transfer will include its staff and the activities, this should be a smooth process and the challenges that are likely to arise from it should be insulated by reason and discovering of new ways of operations.
The area to which the company is transferring to seems large enough to accommodate this kind of population easily and comfortably. These will ease the congestion which might arise from the transfer from the previous locations. The company is seeking to employ a new employ to maintain the lab and thus increasing the number of employees by one. It should however be noted that the company will use most of the purchased space of 1,500 sq meters will be used by the company to also store the facilities that the employees will use for their operations (vaus 2001).
Activities to manage the project
For a proper understanding of the activities that should be engaged into by the company, the activities will be discussed in bits:
Technological and systems check
The technological bit of the transfer is very important. The company should ensure the activities of the company are recorded, the technology used by the company at the former base including the software and the hardware involved in their processes in the former base and evaluate if they would wish to change the systems or not. It would be wise to try maintaining the system to avoid much shock by the employees from what they are used to. The fact that they will be transferring the employees from their former location instead of employing new ones means they will need to maintain a lot of their style of operation as from the previous base. This is to ensure easy transition for the employees in order to cope with the new environment. The arrangement of units and operational style should be kept much the same from their former method of operation. An employ that is used to having certain software for the completion of a certain task, will definitely difficult to cope with new software to do the same functions given that the company will have moved. The stage of the technological change should therefore be done in terms of departmental. One department should be transferred at a moment to ensure a fully operational unit before moving to the next solving any arising problems as they present themselves during the process of transfer (Creswell 2003)
Legal activities
T he operations of one area may be legal in that area but totally illegal in another. This means that it would be rational for the company to go thought legal check up of the new area of operation and check the legality of the procedures. The tax systems should be put in place and any other factors that will ensure the company is on the good side of the law should be reviewed and made present before operations kick off. Partnering with the necessary local authority for the legal procedures in setting up the business at that point and the by-laws governing the same should adequately be ensured (Mark L. Mitchell 2009)
Schedule activities
Schedule here means the time the project is going to take to finish. When a project takes long to be completed, it may lead lack of interest in the project which may impact negatively towards the employees. The employees should feel psyched up by the project and a delay might not be good to the company insofar as goes. The time that the project is likely to take can be determined through payback calculations and other related methods. The time should be reasonable and should not take too long.
Operational activities
Here, the project is analyzed whether it is going to satisfy the intention which it is carried. The company might have proposed the change of base due to different reasons. The reasons might range from legal or social problems at the former facility, technical problems like electrical hiccups and water problems or may be the clients were not buying the products anymore or even there was a bigger competition in the former area and they stood to enjoy mono[poly in the other (Creswell 2003)
The reason could likely be size of the facility in the former area of operation which might be small as compared to the facility they were seeking to move to.
Market
This is a very crucial factor in the project as it aids in the determination of the importance of the business in the new base. The market of the new location is crucial, since without an active market then the business is not likely to succeed making the whole project a failure. The market potential of the new location is thus evaluated in the course of the project to decipher the position of the company and its services in the area. The market should be viable enough to consume the products and services of the company, as it is through this that the company will be able to gain revenue as well as make profits( Vaus 2001).
Dominance of the market is also a crucial factor being considered in the project. The company should have minimal competitors in the new base to enhance its monopoly of the market, and win the consumers loyalty as well as confidence before any competitors in the same industry move into the market. This is meant to give them an upper hand concerning the marketing of their products in the new base. A potential market is thus a crucial factor to be considered in the execution of the project.
Resources
This focuses on the amount of resources required in the exercising of the project. By evaluating, the resources required towards the successful fulfillment of the project it is easy to know whether the acquisition or securing of these resources will temper or interfere with the normal business operation of the company in their old base.
In the event that securing of resources for the project amounts to interruption of the normal flow of activities in the parent base, then the project is regarded as a risky one as it might jeopardize the production as well as the profits of the company. Therefore, Resources required for the completion of the project ought to be accessible without the interruption or distraction of the normal flow activities of the older base. The new base dependency on the older one should be kept at the minimum to prevent losses or decrease in production on the old base. The project should strive to make the new base independent in its operations (Creswell 2003).
Culture
The cultural aspect of the projects concentrates on how the execution of the project is likely to affect the enterprise culture of the company especially with the change in environment. If the project interferes with the culture of the company rather than maintaining it, then there is a great risk in executing the project. This is do because with change in culture the staff supposed to work on the new base are likely to be subjected to new ways of doing things which may take time for them to adjust to.
It is this period of adjustment that is of great risk to the company, since the employees who are shifted from the older base are likely to be less productive since most of their energy and time is focused on adjusting to the new culture found in the new base. It is thus crucial that the cultural aspects of the company be maintained even in the new base so that the staffs that are a very crucial resource are not tempered with and their production levels are kept constant even in the new base.
Finance
Financial viability of the project is very critical for the success of the project. This is so because almost every aspect or element of the project is dependent on finance in one way or another. Therefore, the financial aspect of the project ought to be addressed from different angles, spheres or facets. Following is a brief evaluation of the different facets upon which the financial viability of the project is evaluated;
Total estimated cost of the project
The estimated cost of the whole project should be authentic enough, or a representation of the actual amount that is required to run the whole projects successfully. The budget of the project should thus be flexible enough to cater for even emergencies that may be encountered in the course of exercising the project. The finance allocated for the project must be adequate to cater for every phase in the project if it is to be executed so as not to abandon the project along the way.
Projected profits
The amount of investment channeled to the project should be rational in comparison to the profits expected upon implementation of the project. If the profits to be gained do not match the investment directed to a project then, it will be irrational to execute the project, as this will lead to massive losses on the part of the company.
Recommendation
Many factors come into play concerning the execution of the project; hence, keen evaluation should be done to ensure that the rationality of the execution of the project is maintained. The project must be within budget and the budget must be flexible enough to adjust to changes that are likely to arise during the exercising of the project.
The company must also consider maintaining their culture even in their new base to ensure that the staff performance is not affected by the shift into the new base. This will ensure that the production rate of the company is kept constant and not influenced by factors such as employee adjustment ability or morale.
Availability of potential market in the new base should also be put into consideration since; they are the backbone of the company without which the business will not be successful. The project should thus be able to win the company more market in the new base (Mark L, Mitchell 2009).
Conclusion
From the forgoing, it is evident that, despite the feasibility of the project a number of other factors are to be considered before its execution takes place. If the above-mentioned factors are not given keen evaluation as well as analysis, the project is likely to fail or cause havoc to the company’s productivity and profits. Objectivity as well as critical examination of the project and its viability is thus very crucial.
However, if appropriate measures are taken, the project can be a huge success since the company can use their knowhow of the operations they had at the other base which they can modify in the new base to ensure they make the necessary corrections to the mistakes made during the settlement in the former base.
I then would encourage the company to take the initiative and do the transfer but should follow the right procedure which ensures smooth resettlement.
References
Creswell, J. W. 2003. Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Chicago: Sage.
Mark L. Mitchell, J. M. 2009. Research design explained. New York: Cengage.
Vaus, D. D. 2001. Researh design in social research. Chicago: Sage.