Project Management Techniques Adopted by The Arup Company - Case Study Example

Project Management for Business Executive Summary: The present report aims to assess the project management practices adopted and exercised by Arup Project Management team to achieve success by overcoming the challenges the company had to undergo during the enforcement of its strategic schemes. The report has been written in light of the project management theories applied and adopted by the Arup Company, which have been mentioned in the given case study. The report has concentrated upon project planning, project monitoring and control. The report has evaluated the outstanding vision and well-knitted teamwork demonstrated by Arup management with the help of consulting the technical experts from engineering, management and mechanical departments, whose collaborative planning and implementations of the same could turn out to be triumphant in making the Olympic event as a great accomplishment in the eyes of jury, participants, spectators and experts alike. The report on the foundation of the given case study has reached the conclusion that Arup’s hiring services and consultation of skilled and proficient experts as well as taking risks out of their expertise has also contributed to the extraordinary success of the project they had articulated and presented on the eve of Olympic Games held in China, and hence won first prize from association of project management (APM) subsequently. 1.1 Introduction to the Report: This report has been created by making evaluation of the Water Cube project, which had been planned, managed, introduced and presented by Arup project management team as a venue for conducting of Summer Olympic competitions 2008 (Arup, 2008). One of the most essential reasons behind writing this report includes the exploration of project management by paying particular heed to the project planning, and project monitoring and control. Support has also been sought from the theories associated with the under-examination projects on one side, and practical steps taken by Arup for the successful accomplishments of their Water Cube project on the other (APM, 2008). Two theoretical frameworks including Project Constraints and Project Lifecycle have been included in this report, both of which had been selected by Arup management while planning, executing and administering their under-examination project. 1.2 Project and Project Management: A project simply refers to a unique, transient endeavour undertaken to achieve planned objectives (APM, 2012). A project is a temporary organisation created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case (Team FME 2013, p. 9). In other terms, project mirrors a venture to be executed on short-term or long-term basis for reaching targets and obtaining goals have been established for business purposes (Jenkins 2005, p. 4). In the same way, project management refers to administering of all the affairs related to a project; it includes devising, revising and implementation of strategic schemes and plans articulated by some individuals, corporate firms or authorities for personal, social, economic, political or religious purposes (Jenkins 2005, pp. 3-4). Hence, objectives are attained in wake of comprehensive planning and thorough analysis of the situation by allocating resources and making investment of time, money and energies towards the right direction and within specific time-frame determined for the completion of a project (Portny 2011. p. 10). Therefore, services of most appropriate, proficient and skilled individuals are hired to make the established schemes and plans to be a success eventually (Johnson & Scholes 1993, p. 128). Hence, project management reflects the schemes articulated and enforced for the successful launching of a project, and carries the concepts of choosing of project, budgeting, distribution of responsibilities, analysis of risks and measures to increase the chances of success and reduce the probabilities of losses in its fold (Portny 2011, p. 24). Since projects need to be administered to meet their objectives, these could be defined in terms of expectations of time, cost and quality, which make three points of a project triangle (Team FME 2013, p.15). The present report is interested in elaborating the plans developed by Arup, where the first challenge before its management included the developing and finalising of design, colour combination and structure of the venue to be prepared for Summer Olympics 2008, brief overview of which has been discussed in the following lines: 1.3 Brief Background of the Project: The project under the title Water Cube has obtained profound popularity in the swimming competitions in wake of the Olympic Games held in Beijing in summer 2008 (Farrar, 2010). Hence, not only this that the Water Cube projects, also called National Acquatics Centre, earned considerable reputation and fame for Arup, but also introduced and popularised the latest trends of innovative architectural designing and management attributed to the contemporary era through their unique scheming and manipulation presented in Summer Olympics 2008. The project fulfilled the requirements of a 50metre competition pool, a 33metre diving pool and a 50metre warm up pool as per the instructions made by APM for a standardised venue for the conducting of Olympic Games to be held in Beijing (APM, 2008). At first, 17,000 seats had been planned for conducting of the aquatic games, which later were reduced to 7,000 by increasing the capacity for the participants and athletes (APM 2008, p. 2). The arrangements of the project, portraying fabulous structure and design, not only seemed dazzling for the participants and spectators alike, but also looked to be multiplying the passion of the athletes to win the competitions in an enthusiastic way. The venue had been decorated with the help of colour-contrast, where red colour had been selected for the area specified for the sitting of spectators, while blue colour had been adopted for the water cube design for the conducting of swimming competition. As a result, the contrast of red and blue presented the image of fire and water respectively for the viewers (APM, 2008). Consequently, twenty-five world records were observed to be broken during the mega event, along with the participants’ demonstrating outstanding individual performances during the Olympics (Reid, 2008). It was reported that Water Cube had been selected from ten proposals in an international competition. The project had been designed by two Australian companies including PTW Architects and Arup Australasia engineering group in collaboration with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and the CSCEC Shenzhen Design Institute (Rogers, 2004).As a result, APM did not have any choice other than declaring Arup’s arrangements to be at the top in comparison with its nine selected competitor companies in the architectural competition organised by APM (APM, 2008). 1.4 Main discussion on two topics: The topics selected for carrying out the present research include: 1. Project Planning 2. Project Monitoring and Control 1.4.1 Project Planning: Project planning refers to the schemes devised while preparation of the project under-consideration. It is a fact beyond suspicion that every activity performed to extract desired outcomes requires thorough examination of pros and cons associated with it. As a result, plans are schemed to escape hurdles and obstacles arising on the way of achieving the targets. It also includes targeting the audience or consumers for which the product or services are going to be launched (Lamb et al 2005, p. 186). Keeping in view the significance of planning, theorists have articulated different planning models through their theoretical frameworks. Maylor (2010, p.98) has also presented his model of planning, which concentrates upon the following phenomena: Recruitment and placement of proficient and qualified staff having relevant experience and expertise of the execution of plan Analysis of corporate environment by focusing on the competitors, partners and stakeholders Examination of potential customers and clients and their demands and requirements as well under the state of perfect competition Analysis of the characteristics of suppliers providing raw and finished products, and quality and quantity of their products Carrying out research on the project has been planned by making its in-depth investigation in all aspects for maximisation of sales and profits volumes, and minimisation of losses and failures through monitoring and control during its execution. By having a thorough investigation of the above points raised by Maylor (2010) while elaborating the essential elements for successful launching of a project, it becomes evident that Arup Company had sought support from CCDI through its experts, where the design, colour and shape of Water Cube structure were finalised after getting examined in all aspects (APM 2008, p.2). Moreover, the company management has explored the tastes of the potential customers by critically examining the designs had been created in previous games and had turned out to be alluring for the spectators and athletes alike. Hence, all the above-described factors added their share for the successful launching of Water Cube. 1.4.2 Project Monitoring and Control: As the title suggests, project monitoring and control mirrors the supervision and regulating all activities associated with the successful, timely and within budget launching of the project (Maylor, 2010). It also includes monitoring the activities of the personnel, suppliers and stakeholders having interest in or responsible for the conducting of the project. Since there is always difference in the planned and actual performance, every step of project requires close monitoring and supervision, without which a project would not turn out to be fulfilling the requirements of the project had been introduced on the eve of planning. Since execution of a project in accordance with the plans is really a hard nut to crack, partly because of the planners’ having no exact idea of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental developments that could appear during the execution of the same, all projects require strict and keen monitoring for their completing the journey from floating of concept to its developing into a concrete form subsequently (Portny, 2011). 1.5 Theories involved in the Report: 1.5.1 Project Constraints Theory: Project constraints can be defined as the restrictions or limitations on the way of project management; consequently, budget limit, time-frame, available quality of supplied material and scope of the project being executed come under the categories of project constraints. Articulated by Eli Goldratt in his novel The Goal (1984), Constraint theory is based on five steps, which include identifying of system’s constraints, deciding exploiting of system’s constraints, subordinating everything else to the above decision, elevating the system’s constraints, and going back to step 1 in case a constraint has been broken, without allowing inertia to cause a system’s constraint (Rand 2004, p.174). In the under-analysis Arup project, venue, number of participants, number of spectators and the time on which the Olympics were going to be started served as project constraints. In addition, since project had to concentrate upon aquatics, the management had to construct the structure in accordance with the requirements of water competitive sports to be conducted and organised over there. As a result, Water Cube idea served as one of the best possible concepts that could be selected for the mega event for winning the hearts of the spectators on one side, and best management award for Arup on the other. 1.5.2 Life Cycle Theory: Team FME (2013, p.32) has presented the above-described life cycle attributed to a project, according to which a project generally consists of four phases including starting, planning, executing and closing. Among them, every phase requires in-depth analysis from beginning to the end. For instance, taking initiative is indirectly dependent of the three subsequent phases, estimation of which is observed by the beginning of the project. In other words, the business experts and investors have developed a rough roadmap of all phases attributed to project at the beginning, on the basis of which further planning is made and executed subsequently (Patel & Morris 1999, p.52). Same is equally applied to Arup, where the company had selected Water Cube as its project for the Olympics 2008. The management consulted China Construction Design International (CCDI), one of the most reputed construction companies of the country for the selection and structure of venue design for athletics (AMP 2008, p.2). CCDI involved its experienced architects, who discussed different designs, colour-combinations and shapes before finalising the same. Hence, pros and cons associated with different ideas were brought to table. The experts also evaluated the designs adopted by other companies in the previous Olympics, and thus reached the conclusion that Water Cube design would be most suitable one for the mega sports event to be held in China (APM 2008, pp.2-3). Some of the experts take execution and control as two separate entities; as a result, execution of plan is kept separate from control. In the control phase, plan is reviewed and critically monitored for turning it to be error-free in all regards. In case the management fails to supervise and monitor the plan, it will not be in position of being executed in the lines it had been organised and schemed. The same arguments are made while defining and elaborating monitoring and control. 1.6 Conclusion: To conclude, it becomes evident that the present study aimed to analyse the performance made by Arup team management while participating in mega event project management competition, where the company had earned first prize against the fabulous arrangement it had made for the Summer Olympics 2008 (APM, 2008). Theories adopted by Arup in their project have also been elaborated in this report. It looks crystal clear that appropriate planning of projects by hiring the services of competent, experienced and visionary personnel tends to turn project to be a success. In addition, constraint theory rightly maintains that regular monitoring and control of projects maintains its valuable share in overcoming the hurdles on the way. Implementation of life cycle perspective appears to be beneficial and supportive for the smooth execution of the project in the lines of planning developed before the beginning of the project. In case one single step is ignored or left without monitoring and supervision, it could turn the future of entire project into jeopardy (Maylor, 2010). References Association for Project Management 2008. “APM Project Management Awards: Winner’s Case Study.” Pp. 1-9. Retrieved from https://www.apm.org.uk/project-case-studies Arup. 2008. Chinese National Aquatics Centre. Retrieved from http://www.arup.com/Projects/Chinese_National_Aquatics_Center.aspx Farrar, Lara. 2010. “Beijing’s Water Cube now has slides, rides, a wave pool and spa.” Travel CNN. August 11. Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/play/beijings-watercube-water-park-now-open-040746?hpt=C2. Jenkins, Nick. 2005. A Project Management Primer or “a guide on how to make projects work.” California: Creative Commons (Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike) San Francisco, California, 94105, pp. 3-39. Johnson, Gerry & Scholes, Kevan. 1993. Exploring corporate Strategy. Pennsylvania: Prentice Hall Lamb, Charles W., Hair, Joe F., & McDanial, Carl. 2012. Essentials of Marketing. 7th Edition. New York: Cengage. Maylor, Dr. Harvey. 2010. Project Management. New York: Financial Times/Prentice Hall; 4 edition. Patel, M. B. & Prof. P.G. W. Morris. 1999. “Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.” Centre for Research in the Management of Projects, University of Manchester, UK, p. 52. Portny, Stanley, E. 2011. Project Management for Dummies. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Rand, Graham K. 2004. “Critical chain: the theory of constraints applied to project management.” Department of Management Science, International Journal of Project Management 18, The Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK. PERGAMON. (2000) 173-177. Reid, Scott M. 2008. “25 world records broken at Beijing's Water Cube.” The Orange Country Register, August 18. Retrieved from http://www.ocregister.com/articles/swimming-91015-world-record.html Rogers, Peter. 2004. “Welcome to WaterCube, the experiment that thinks it’s a swimming pool.” The Guardian May 06. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/may/06/research.science1 Team FME. 2013. “Project Management Principals: Project Management Skills.” Free Management E-books, pp. 4-61. Retrieved from www.free-management-ebooks.com. Read More