Introduction
This is a project charter prepared by the project manager to help in dealing with arising issues that affect the project team. The charter aims at solving agency issues in client-contractor relationships in The Merck Innovation Centre. The charter will highlight the purpose and objectives of the project in context. The requirements needed for the whole project to run will be listed in the charter in order to have a clear definition of the requirement needed in the project (Mucchetti, 2020).
The project will be well explained in the charter and its aim for the center. The known risks of the project that will affect the project will be highlighted and possible solution to the risks will also be highlighted. The project manager who will have to bring together the team that will be involved in the project has to have the skills to lead and this charter will help in definition of what to be done and their capability. The schedule of the project will be defined in the charter and the time for the project completion will be defined; this is to help the contractors and the whole team to plan for the activities to meet the deadline date (Starns, 2019).
Background to the project
The project involves a face lift of the company which is to be unveiled at the celebration of the of the company’s 350-year old anniversary. The project that is the face lift of the company coincides with a new brand, large CAPEX investment in various construction projects. The project involves the development of the Merck Innovation Centre and Employee Restaurant which is scheduled to take four years. The project will be scheduled to start on the year 2014 and end in the year 2018. The year of completion will be the year that the company celebrates its 350-year anniversary where there will be a change in the company’s strategy. The project being a combination of many projects where a large sum investment of US$200million which is to fund the projects. The project must use external contractors because the company does not have qualified contractors for such project hence the external help is needed. The company invested in the Capex world-wide which included a large number of construction projects which will be involved in the project. The company new brand was designed to position the organization as an innovative science and technology company.
Project objectives
The projects which involve a face lift of the company by development of the Innovative Centre and the adjacent Employee Restaurant. The Innovation Centre which will be developed will be used to cooperate temporarily in interdisciplinary teams and to communicate both internally and externally. The project purpose will be the development to take the allocated schedule will take four years for the project to complete. The project will involve various contractors who will help in the project development where to reach their objectives of completion have to plan well for the project. There is a large input of resources which will help to reach the purpose of the project. Proper utilization of the budget to avoid delay of the project which may lead to lack of finance during project development process; this may lead to incompletion of the project. The objectives of a proper communication among the team members will be an objective for the project manager who will make sure that the project runs smoothly. The project aims to inspire the building users through the design of the Innovation Centre and The Employee Restaurant which will lead to a good working environment which will be admirable. If the objectives are met the project will be a success for the company. The design phase will need a lot of input to ensure that the desired outcomes are met (Qazi, Quigley, Dickson & Kirytopoulos, 2016).
Constraints, limitations and risks
There are various constraints, limitations and risks that may face the project. The project may be at risk of a poor scope definition during the planning phase of the project where some of the desired outcomes may be omitted in the scope. Due to poor scope definition the project can be at risk of being completed completely. Poor scope definition may lead to change of schedule where omitted steps in the plan will have to be put in the plan hence affecting the stipulate time. Scope creep may occur in the development phase hence leading to confusion which may lead to the halting of the project to define the scope again (Adam & Danaparamita, 2016).
Poor projection of the cost of the project may also be a limitation to the project; this may arise when there are not proper or structured way of evaluation of the finances required enabling the project. This may lead to lack of enough finance for the project completion because of the poor finance assessment hence leading to delay in the process of acquiring more resources to fund the project (Steffen, 2018).
The risks and limitations can be avoided through proper scope definition and having an experienced team while making a project plan. All the team members should be involved in the planning of the project in order for the team not leave out any detail. The scope definition will be excellent if the contractors are involved in the scope definition, the experienced contractors and other team members will be able to define the scope clearly and efficiently in order to leave no chance of scope creep (Beratan, 2019).
Leadership structure
The project will be head by the project manager who will answer and report to the senior management on all the issues involving the project the company will have given the mandate of managing of the project to the project manager. If the project has to be made a major change the project manager will report to the senior manager and the management will authorize the change. The project manager will be the link between all the senior personnel in the project activities (Ebbers & Wijnberg, 2017).
There will be architect who will be reporting to the project manager. The architect will be involved in the designing of the Innovation Centre and that of the Employee Restaurant. There will be other engineers who will make sure that the construction will be done efficiently. They will also report to the project manager. Structural engineers will be involved to deal with challenging design of the structures (Ahmed & Anantatmula, 2017).
There will also be procurement manger and civil engineers who will be involved through consultation on the project. They will be consulted at the project management level to give their professional view on the project; where they will complement all required competences of the program management team. There will be teams for each manger; where each team will be directed on their construction duties in the project (Scott-Young, Georgy & Grisinger, 2019).
Project risk and mitigation
The project will be at various risks as it is in its developing phase this risks include goal conflict of the project. This may arise due to different understanding of the project end product hence creating disagreement in the project development. The goal conflict may arise among the senior management or the managers of the project who may have different understanding of the project. The goal conflict can be solved by well elaboration of the project and the desired goal for the project. Through proper communication and well understanding of the project, each member will be able to know the desired goal of the project (Gray, Ozer & Rosenthal, 2017).
Risks of opportunist behavior where some of the managers of the project may overprice the materials required in the project in order to gain from the exaggerated prices. This may lead to expansion of the budget which may bring about disagreement among management members due to the shooting of the budget which will require more resources than quoted. The selfish behavior may lead to incompletion of the project. This risk can be avoided by selection of trustees who will survey the prices of the materials in question give proper feedback. Through the survey the project manager will have the proper information to plan for a manageable budget for the project (Liu, Gao, Cheah, & Luo, 2017).
Information asymmetry can be a risk that may lead to failure of the project. The risk can arise when there are no proper forms of communication among the stakeholders in the project development. The process of a project development and management will require proper channel of communication to make sure that the information about the project reaches each and every shareholder in its collect form. A formulation of a good communication channel will be appropriate in an extensive project like this which will ensure that each shareholder is well informed about the project. Through the communication channel every shareholder will be engaged at each step of the project phase and be well informed of the project (Courtney, Dutta & Li, 2017).
There can be a risk of trust when the shareholders lack trust in each other. Trust is very important for the shareholders who will be working on a project together. A project requires team work among all the shareholders working on the project for its success hence trust is import to avoid suspicion which can lead to disagreements among the shareholders. Trust should be considered before assembling of a team where there will be no questioning of the members’ ability to develop the project. Trust can be earned by a comprehensive engagement among the stakeholders before the project management process takes place; this will help the stakeholders to know each other at a personal level which will help gaining of trust. When trust is earned at the initial stage of the project, things will run without a lot of doubts which to completion of the project on time (de Oliveira & Rabechini Jr, 2019).
Project stakeholders
The project stakeholders involve all the members who will affect the project development in any way. Stakeholders involve those who own the project, the developers of the project and those benefiting from the project. The stakeholders of a project will work together to ensure the success of the project. The stakeholders will require interacting at different level either direct or indirectly hence communication is essential. The stakeholders can engage through meeting which will be planned by the project manager who is the link between the shareholders. The project manager has to have good communication and management skills to ensure that the shareholders interact appropriately and in an organized manner (Sperry & Jetter, 2019).
The vision of the project
The project’s vision is to change the face of the company after 350 years of operation. The project will change the company’s image; which will be an innovative science and technology company. The Merck Company wants the project to change its appearance and be more accommodating to the employees through improvement of serves like the restaurant and its appearance through development of Innovation Centre. The company has a vision to provide a spacious internal area on each floor through the project where team communication can take place. As the project manager I would like to lead a team that is driven passion; a team with a goal of achieving the best project they can manage. My ideal team would be a team which can work together and communicate efficiently to ensure the team works in a given strategy which will lead to the success of the project (Wu, Liu, Zhao & Zuo, 2017).
Conclusion
The Merck Company can adapt this project charter which is well elaborated and the risks and their mitigation are well illustrated. The Company can adapt the charter which is strategic and also look into the limitation which can be avoided if the project is carried out by an organized project manager. The project manager requires skills on the project and skills on how to bring people together to work as a team. The success of a project depends on the team and the team leaders who will guide the team to develop a successful project which will run smoothly without hitches. Inclusion of each shareholder in the project management and the whole process will lead to successfully attaining the goal. The goal met when all the shareholders work together in a project will not be questioned and will have satisfied them all (Radujković & Sjekavica, 2017).
References
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