ASSIGNMENT 2

Management of Projects

Management of Projects

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures relating to the review and design of project organization. In this paper, the execution and design of project is divided in to two tasks. First, the author will plan the most appropriate organizational structure, carry out the control and co-ordination of a project, and plan specific human resources and requirements for a project. Second, the author will design the project organization with reference to prepared project management plans, use project scheduling and cost control techniques, report the methods used to measure project performance, and discuss the outcomes of the project and make recommendations.

Project Description

The mechanical engineering project plan we are reviewing in this assignment is of hybrid car project. This project was recently executed by a German local company to manufacture environmental friendly cars. For this project, the company has planned to build a manufacturing facility where these hybrid vehicles will be built and maintained. Hybrid cars manufactured in this facility consist of energy converter and the energy from an operating fuel tank and a memory device (in vehicle) relates to electrical energy. The hybrid electric drive to the motor vehicle operation is one of many possible hybrid drives of different compositions and uses. But this particular hybrid drive can be configured in many different variations. The hybrid drive is used in volume production, the efficiency to improve, the fossil fuel consumption to reduce or increase the power at low engine speed range. In vehicles such as trucks, cars and buses, the hybrid drive is also referred to as a hybrid engine. In a narrower sense, hybrid engines are internal combustion engines. The advantage of hybrid cars is the optimization of fuel consumption. These dual-mode vehicles are required, as long as the network of filling stations for natural gas is not yet sufficiently developed (Bergiel, 2008, p. 99-110).

Task One- Organizational Structure

Organizational structure refers to the allocation of tasks and responsibilities among individuals and departments. One categorization of organizational structure is to differentiate between centralized (i.e., decisions made by upper management) and decentralized (i.e., decisions made by lower levels) organizations. It is argued that centralized organizations tend to use job-focused employment relationships - defined as having explicit tasks and requirements - whereas decentralized organizations are more likely to use organization-focused relationships that are geared towards broadly-defined tasks and employee involvement. In relation, the inferences for HRM that are derived from an organization's structure of departmentalizing by product or departmentalizing by function (Turner, 1999, pp. 102-121).

There are several types of organizational structure that a company can adapt i.e. flat structure, matrix structure, hierarchical structure etc. A flat structure and short decision-making process allows shorter and faster information flow which can improve communication; a low degree of specialization (generalist) results in having a broader perspective of issues and problems rather than narrow specialist functional views--better in providing improvement ideas.

The organizational structure we are planning to adapt for this ...