Problem Statement:

Problem statement refers to a brief statement that states the main problem or concern that requires the undertaking of a project to address the issue.

Rising obesity among the people along with limited ability of the Mount Pleasant’s hospital is the principle problem to be addressed by the current project.

Project Aim and Goals:

Aim indicates the principle focus of a concerned project whereas the focus of a project when broken down into small objectives are termed as project goals. Setting of specific and clear aims & goals for a project is important as it provides a guideline to the entire project.

The current project is aimed at increasing the capacity of Mount Pleasant’s hospital to tackle the problem of growing number of obesity cases among the people which could further result in reduction of obesity among patients.

The key goals that the undertaken project seeks to achieve are presented below:

• To increase Mount Pleasant’s hospital’s capability to treat rising number of patients suffering from obesity
• To reduce and control obesity among people
• To spread awareness among the masses regarding obesity

Project Strategies:

Strategy to meet objective number 1:

Strategy to meet objective number 2:

Strategy to meet objective number 3:

Work Breakdown Structure:

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) refers to a formal diagram that indicates the segregation of a major project into small tasks that that are somehow inter-related and inter0dependant in nature. In other words, WBS can be defined as the formal chart depicting the critical tasks that are necessary to achieve for the attainment of main aim & objectives of a concerned project.

The WBS for the current project is presented below:

Project Tasks Prioritization:

Gantt Chart:

Gantt chart refers to a chart that indicates the completion of different tasks involved in a project. A Gantt chart is very simple in nature and easily understandable by all. This makes Gantt chart popular among the project managers. In this context, Eskerod and Vaagaasar (2014) stated that a Gantt chart is a useful tool of time management in context of managing project. Gantt chart helps in setting deadlines for each project tasks.

Risk Analysis and Contingency Plans:

Risk refers to the probability of occurrence of an event in future that could bring negative impacts on a particular project. Risk management is the application of a set of ideas, strategies, tools, techniques and action plans to identify risks beforehand and developing suitable action plans for the same. The main objective of risk management is to protect a project from future risks through developing appropriate contingency plans. In this context, Marcella and Rowley (2015) viewed that risk management is concerned with reducing both financial and non-financial impacts related to potential risks. The main phases of risk management are mentioned below:

Risk Identification:

This is the first stage in which a project manager is mainly concerned with scanning the environment and identifying potential risks that could arise in future. A list of potential risks is prepared at this stage.

Risk Assessment:

Risk assessment is the quantitative evaluation of potential risks to understand the strength of the identified risks. In general, probability and impact associated with each risk are considered for this and multiplying the two indicates the total strength of a risk.

Development of Riisk Mitigation Strategies:

Post identification and assessment of each risk, the next step is to develop suitable strategies to deal with the risks. This is followed by the selection of most appropriate risk mitigation strategies that meets both project goals and capability of the organization.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The final step is to monitor the progress of the implementation of the risk management strategies and evaluating the progress of the same. This can help in enhancing the effectiveness of the risk management strategies adopted by the project manager.

In the view of Comeig et al. (2014), a risk register is useful in managing potential risks as it indicates both the causes and mitigation plans against each identified risks.

The risk register for the current project is presented below:

 

In addition, the hospital would follow the PDCA cycle. This is briefed as below:

Plan:

The first stage is concerned with planning for the project goals and developing strategies to achieve the goals. Contingency plans are also developed at this stage to tackle the potential risks.

Do:

This stage is concerned with implementing the strategies devised the previous stage for achieving the goals of the project.

Check:

This is the third stage in which the implanted action plans are evaluated if the same have been able to meet pre-determined goals or not.

Act:

This is the final stage at which corrective actions are taken against the deviations identified in the earlier stage.

This is a continuous cycle of operations that would be followed for the current scenario.

Project resources plan:

In the view of Frame (2014), organizational resources can be mainly classified into physical, financial and human resources. The major resources required for the current project are discussed below:

Financial resources:

It is necessary to have the necessary money available for investing in the current project. In other words, the total costs as estimated by the budget needs to be arranged by the hospital beforehand. Funds are required for purchasing the required equipment, medicine and other clinical items that are necessary for running the obesity clinic.

Physical resources:

The main physical resources required for the current project are two separate rooms and diagnosing equipment. Space is crucial for the current project as it would be started as a new primary clinic. Two separate rooms are required as in one room diagnosing would be conducted whereas in the other room consultation between doctors and patients would take place. On the other hand, several equipment and tools are required for conducting diagnosis of the patients.

Human resources:

Additional staffs are required to meet the increased number of patients suffering from obesity and run the new primary clinic. In this context, Frame (2014) stated that inadequate number of staffs could often hamper the smooth running of a project. Thus, it is important to conduct a suitable manpower planning before starting a project and arranging for the staffs to ensure that the project operates without any interruption.

The manpower requirement planning for the current project is presented below:

Budget:

Monitoring and Communications:

Monitoring refers to the responsibility and tasks of the management to keep a track on the functioning of a project to ensure that the project is able to meet its pre-determined goals. Monitoring is concerned with reviewing the actual performance in context of a project to ensure that the project is able to deliver the expected outcomes. This is also important to take corrective actions in case of negative deviations.

In current scenario, the project manager can use the following tools to monitor & control the progress and performance of the project:

Traffic Light Approach (TPA):

This system is quite interesting and involves the use of different colors to indicate the progress of a project. Three basic colors are used for this purpose. Green, Yellow and Red. Activities that are ahead of the set schedule are marked as Green indicating a safe zone for those tasks whereas activities that are neither behind nor ahead of the schedule are marked Yellow to indicate cautiousness required. On the other hand, project tasks that are lagging behind schedule are marked Red to indicate danger zone.

Milestone Analysis:

This is a qualitative form of control which is mainly based on participative leadership style and employee participation. The project manager is required to conduct regular meetings with the team members to discuss about the progress of the project, issues faced by them and develop suitable strategies to overcome the issues.

Variance Analysis:

This is a quantitative control measure that is mainly focused on identifying differences or variance between target and actual performance level. This is a popular control measure that helps in identifying negative deviations and understanding the root causes of the same.

Communication Strategy:

Communication refers to the exchange or sharing of message from one party to another one or multiple parties. According to (), effective communication is one of the major keys to the success of a project as it determines the degree of coordination among stakeholders.

Communication can be internal or external. Messages communicated by an organization with its internal stakeholders like employees, investors and others are termed as internal communication whereas messages shared with external parties like suppliers and customers are known as external communication.

The three main stakeholders to the current project are:

Internal Employees:

The project manager would use a two-way communication process with a blend of verbal and written communication techniques to speed up the process of communication.

Suppliers:

Suppliers would be communicated mainly through emails for ordering equipment or other materials followed by a telephonic reminder.

Patients:

The project manager would use an Integrated Marketing Communication strategy to promote the new primary clinic as presented below:

Communication strategy for promotion: