CMI Level 5 Unit 524 Conducting a Management Project Assignment Answer

Aims of the Unit CMI 524

Project management is a very important skill for every manager. The unit is aimed at the knowledge and expertise needed to handle projects effectively and to surmount issues and challenges. It involves the learner to analyse the techniques and instruments of planning the tasks and activities, and be aware of how to execute and control activities of the project, establish relations with the stakeholders, manage the resources and risk, track progress and report results. 

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Learning outcome 1:  Know how to plan a management project

AC 1.1 Develop the aim, objectives and scope of a proposed management project

Answer: 

Proposed Project Title

Ensuring the Enhancement of Organisational Performance by improving Employee Engagement.

Overall Aim

The general focus of this management project is to examine the issues surrounding employee engagement in the organisation and to develop viable recommendations that will increase employee engagement and overall organisational performance over the course of six months.

Employee engagement has received a lot of recognition as one of the biggest factors of organisational success. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the term employee engagement is a conglomeration of organisational citizenship behaviour, motivation and commitment. According to research conducted by Gallup, highly engaged teams are more productive and have lower absenteeism, which provides a clear business justification for this project.

Objectives (SMART)

• To quantify the existing rates of employee engagement with the help of a staff survey in the first month.
• To determine a minimum of three key factors that affect engagement through primary and secondary research by the third month.
• To discuss the connection between engagement rates and performance rates, such as absenteeism and employee turnover, in four months.
• To formulate and deliver a sequence of achievable recommendations to the top management at the expiry of the sixth month.
• These goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based, which conform to the SMART model that was initially created by George T. Doran.

Scope of the Project

In scope:

• Full-time workers of a single department.
• Survey data, interview data and human resource records.
• Existing engagement strategy review.

Out of scope:

• Organisation-wide restructuring
• Salary benchmarking processes.
• Other departments not chosen in the unit.

Research Question

What are the current influences on employee engagement in the department, and what can be done by the management to engage the employees to improve the performance?

Deliverables
Tangible:

• Engagement survey report
• Data analysis findings
• Written management report and recommendations.

Intangible:

• Better knowledge of how to motivate employees.
• Increased interaction with the staff and management.
• Greater organisational culture.

The project is a real performance improvement project in the workplace that would tackle an existing organisational issue.

AC 1.2 Specify a research approach for the proposed management project

Answer:

A research method based on structured and scholarly evidence will be used to examine the influences on employee engagement, as well as to find viable opportunities to improve the situation. The methodology will be based on well-known research paradigms described by Rodney Turner (cited in the literature on project management), Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, and John Gill and Phil Johnson.

Philosophy and Approach of the Research

A deductive method will be used. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012), deductive research assumes that an already existing theory is used and is tested by means of data collection. This project will entail a review of existing theories of employee engagement and motivation, and the primary data will later be gathered to determine whether the theories are relevant in this organisation.

This method is suitable since the project aims at comparing the established concepts of engagement to actual workplace data as opposed to constructing a theory.

Research Design

It will adopt a mixed methods approach that will involve both quantitative and qualitative methods.

• Quantitative research: The engagement level will be measured by means of a structured employee survey in which scaled questions will be used. This makes statistical analysis and comparison of trends possible.
• Qualitative research: Semi-structured interviews with the sampled employees and managers will give a more in-depth insight into perceptions, behaviours and organisational culture.

According to Gill and Johnson (2010), a mix of methods enhances the validity of research, as it offers quantitative and qualitative data and interpretation.

Data Collection

The primary data will consist of surveys and interview results.

• Secondary data will comprise scholarly journal articles, CIPD reports, internal HR data (e.g. turnover and absenteeism) and existing organisational policies.
• The alignment of research design with project objectives is noted by Maylor (2005; 2017), whose general point is that the methods selected should help make decisions and provide practical recommendations.

Literature Review

The study will be based on a structured literature review focused on the engagement theory, research on the influence of leadership and performance management. This makes certain that the project is based on acquired academic knowledge and makes the findings more credible.

On the whole, the research method offers a methodological, evidence-based basis for analysing employee engagement and drawing applicable management recommendations.

AC 1.3 Specify the research methods to be used to collect data and information.

Answer:

In order to ensure that the project produces valid and significant findings, the research methods will be combined to produce both quantitative and qualitative data. Having a combination of a number of techniques increases the validity of the study as advocated by Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill, who insist that the mixed methods enhance richness and precision in research.

1. Questionnaire / Survey

The employees in the department which is going to be selected will be issued a structured questionnaire. It will contain Likert scale questions with closed ends to indicate the degree of engagement, job satisfaction, effectiveness of communication and leadership support.

This technique enables data to be gathered from more people in a small span of time. John W. Creswell argues that a survey is useful in determining patterns, trends and relationships between variables. The quantitative data will be able to conduct statistical analysis and compare the responses.

2.  Semi-Structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviews with a small sample of employees and at least one manager will be performed to gain a deeper insight. The use of interviews enables the participants to elaborate on their experiences and perceptions.

According to Gill and Johnson (2010), the interviews can also prove useful when the study is on attitudes, behaviours and organisational culture since such data is more detailed and rich compared with the surveys alone.

3.  Organisational Documents (Secondary Data) Review.

Absenteeism rates, data on staff turnover and reports on their performance will be evaluated as internal HR records. This documentary review helps to confirm the dominant findings and find connections between engagement and performance outcomes.

4. Justification of Methods

Triangulation of the data is obtained with the help of a combination of surveys and interviews, as well as document analysis. This method generates greater credibility, and it provides the possibility to cross-check findings, which results in higher-quality and evidence-based recommendations to management.

AC 1.4 Analyse the role of stakeholders involved in the management project

Answer

Stakeholders are very vital on the path taken, decisions and success of a management project. According to Friedman and Miles (2006), stakeholders are those individuals or groups of individuals who are interested in or affected by the activities of an organisation. This employee engagement project has various stakeholders that will determine its planning, implementation and results.

Senior Management (Project Sponsor)

The project sponsor will be the senior management with great levels of power and influence. They will be in charge of approving the scope of the project, providing resources and authorising the recommendations. John Friedman and Samantha Miles note that stakeholders who possess high power and interest must be handled very closely. The senior leaders also have the final decision-making powers, and they are responsible for managing risks and aligning the strategies.

Line Managers

Operational line managers enjoy power and control on performance of teams. They involve them in making access to employees easy, aid in data collection, and assist in the implementation of recommendations. They might not endorse budgets, but they shape practices in the day-to-day operations as well as the levels of engagement of employees. Having their experience gives them practical lessons on challenges in the workplace.

Employees

The stakeholders of importance are employees because they are the ones who are directly influenced by the engagement initiatives. They might lack formal power, but they will be able to play an important role through participation and feedback. Their contribution is consistent with the point by Egan (2006) about common interests and partnership in organisational enhancement.

Project Manager (Researcher)

The project manager will be in charge of planning, organising research and providing results. Roles may be explained using the RACI model that was first designed by Anthony Crane:

• Accountable - Project manager (doing research)
• Responsible -Top management (project approval)
• Consulted- Line managers and employees.
• Informed - Wider organisation.

Risk and Decision-Making

The stakeholders help in the identification of risks, especially on confidentiality, data protection and resistance to organisational change. Well-defined lines of authority and communication facilitate the transparent nature of decisions to be made in accordance with the organisational goals.

All in all, the knowledge of the stakeholder power, influence and responsibilities guarantees successful cooperation, decreases fighting and makes the project success more probable.

AC 1.5 Examine the factors that need to be considered when developing a plan for the management project.

Answer:

A project plan is a necessary constituent in developing a management project to ensure that the project is delivered successfully, timely and on scope. According to Saunders and Lewis (2011), careful planning is about balancing resources, time, and risks and at the same time upholding ethics. In the case of the employee engagement project, several factors should be given consideration.

1.  Schedule and Milestones

It is a definite timeline that has set milestones to keep the project on track. The milestones can be the completion of the literature review, surveys distribution, data collection, analysis and submission of recommendations. It is common to use tools like Gantt charts to visualise, depending on the timeline and dependencies, to enable the project manager to monitor the progress (Maylor, 2017).

2.  Deliverables

The deliverables of the project have to be clear to determine success. Some of the tangible results are the report on employee survey, a report on interviews, analysis of data, and the final report to the management. Among intangible deliverables, there is better knowledge of employee motivation and feedback on internal communication.

3.  Resources

The plan has to take into account the available resources, such as the time of staff members, access to HR records, data analysis software and line manager expertise. Resource allocation is done properly to prevent the occurrence of delays, and the project is thus feasible.

4. Ethics, Confidentiality, and Data Protection.

These ethical issues are critical, particularly in gathering information about employees. The surveys and interviews should be carried out under the requirements of the UK Data Protection Act in terms of confidentiality. They should also be given informed consent, and the data needs to be kept in a safe place to guard their privacy.

5.  Assumptions and Constraints.

Some of the assumptions, like the willingness of employees to be involved, the availability of the managers and the correctness of HR records, should be recorded. These constraints can be a lack of time and access to some information and organisational policies that influence project scope.

6.  Risk Analysis

Possible risks, e.g. low response rate of the survey, resistance to change or delay in terms of data collection, should be identified. There should be contingency plans to help deal with such risks.

7.  Communications Strategy

An effective communication plan has the effect of keeping the stakeholders informed and consulted accordingly. This will involve periodic reporting to the top management, line managers on progress, and feedback meetings with employees in order to keep them engaged and informed.

8. Success Criteria

The project should have success criteria that are used to measure the performance of the project. In this project, some of the criteria that can be used include more engagement scores, recommendations to be put in place, and acceptance of proposed initiatives by the management.
In view of these factors, it is guaranteed that the project is planned, controlled, and oriented to organisational goals, which will eventually lead to a successful project.

Learning outcome 2:  Be able to conduct a management project

AC 2.1 Conduct research to deliver the management project

Answer: 

The research phase of a management project entails collecting adequate, up-to-date, authentic, reliable and valid data to respond to the project's aim and objectives. In this employee engagement project, both primary and secondary sources are used to conduct research that is based on the accepted academic frameworks (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012; Maylor, 2017).

Literature Review

In order to investigate important concepts, theories, and assumptions about employee engagement, a thorough literature review was conducted. This involved the analysis of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg's two-factor theory and Kahn's engagement theory, which gives an insight into motivational aspects of engagement in the workplace. Scholarly articles, reports published by professional bodies of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and case studies of engagement programs in similar organisations were also reviewed. This means that the project will be based on the best practices and theoretical frameworks.

Legislation, Policy and Industry Standard Analysis.

Applicable organisational and statutory frameworks were checked in order to guarantee compliance and contextual knowledge. This was topped with data protection laws (UK Data Protection Act 2018) to ensure confidentiality in data collection, internal HR policies to survey the employees and industry standards on engagement measurement.

Primary Research

The primary research was conducted to gather the current organisation-related data:

• Employee survey: Questionnaire that will be given to all departmental employees to assess their current level of engagement and factors that influence it.
• Semi-structured interviews: Are being held with the managers and chosen employees to get qualitative information on motivations, effectiveness of communication, and obstacles to engagement.

The techniques give statistical data to be analysed quantitatively and qualitative data to be understood contextually, hence, triangulation and reliability.

Secondary Research

Secondary research involved analysis of the trends in the market, competitors' benchmarking and scholarly publications. Similar organisations were comparatively analysed to determine the best practices and the innovative strategies that can be used to boost engagement.

Validation and Reliability

Every data was scrutinised on authenticity, relevance and timeliness. The questions were also tested in terms of clarity and reliability, and interview transcripts were cross-checked to ascertain accuracy. This methodological practice will ensure that evidence-based findings are appropriate in informing actionable recommendations.

Altogether, the research offers a solid and strong base to present valuable results in accordance with the project goals and organisational interests.

AC 2.2 Analyse and interpret research findings using relevant tools and techniques

Answer:

After collecting data by use of surveys, interviews, and secondary data, the data was structured towards conducting analysis in order to make sense of the results and make recommendations that were actionable. The analysis used quantitative and qualitative approaches to enable the comprehensive development of the analysis of employee engagement in the organisation.

Quantitative Analysis

The responses obtained in the survey were analysed with the help of Microsoft Excel and the SPSS software to generate descriptive statistics that comprised mean scores of engagement, frequency distributions, and standard deviations. Relationships between variables, e.g. engagement levels and length of service, or engagement and job role, were analysed by cross-tabulation. Most of the trends were visualised with the help of the graphical representation, such as bar graphs and histograms, which made it easier to see the patterns and areas that needed to be addressed.

Also, correlation analysis was performed to identify the existence of statistically significant correlation between engagement scores and the performance indicators of absenteeism and staff turnover. This method is in line with common quantitative methods that are suggested in the research methodology (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012).

Qualitative Analysis

The data of semi-structured interviews were analysed by Framework Analysis (Pope et al., 2000) and Thematic Network Analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001).

This involved:

Familiarisation- Reading and re-reading transcripts to find preliminary ideas.
Coding -Giving key phrases and statements labels.

• Creation of Themes: Codes will be grouped into broader themes as leadership support, communication effectiveness, and workload pressure.
• Interpreting Patterns: comparisons between themes and survey data to gain convergences and divergences to allow triangulation of results.

This qualitative research was triangulated using qualitative themes in cross-referencing them with quantitative survey outcomes and secondary data, which enhanced the reliability and validity of the conclusions.

Interpretation

The cumulative analysis showed that the level of engagement was average in general, and communication and recognition were the issues of concern. The quantitative scores indicated that the engagement was greater in the departments where managers provided feedback regularly, whereas the qualitative information indicated perceived gaps in the career promotion opportunities.

This was an integrated methodology which enabled an evidence-based interpretation whereby the trends of numeric data were correlated with human conditions. It made sure that the research results were statistically valid as well as contextually meaningful, which makes the recommendations of the project firm.

AC 2.3 Use research findings to analyse options to meet the project aim

Answer

After collecting and analysing the data, the findings of the research give a clear foundation on which to assess the possible options to enhance the engagement of the employees and to reach the objective of the project. Several alternatives were taken into consideration, employing standard tools and decision-making models in order to have evidence-based recommendations.

Alternative 1: Organise a Structured Recognition Programme.

The survey and interview results showed that the employees appreciate being recognised as contributors. Engagement gaps could be directly resolved by the introduction of a structured recognition programme, which consists of monthly awards and peer-to-peer recognition.

• Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): The little money spent on recognition awards and time spent on administration as compared to the possible rewards of the enhanced motivation rate, less turnover, and high productivity.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Effectiveness could be assessed by the scores of engagement, absenteeism, and the retention rate of employees.

Alternative Two: Improve the Communication and Feedback Systems.

Qualitative feedback revealed that employees feel that management does not communicate with them in a consistent manner. Some of the alternatives available are the introduction of frequent team briefings, manager check-ins, and the use of digital feedback channels.

• Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964): Employee motivation can go up by enhancing comprehensiveness of communication, and by connecting effort to any kind of meaningful consequence.
• Grid Analysis. In comparison, the comparison between the impact (high) and the complexity of implementation (moderate) reveals that this is a very realistic option with direct rewards.

Option 3: Establish Career Advancement and Learning Prospects.

Results have shown that workers feel that there is less growth potential, and this discourages interest. These can be in-house training and mentoring, and a well-drawn promotion ladder.

• Rational Decision Making (Kepner and Tregoe, 1965): This choice is based on ranking criteria (cost, feasibility, impact, employee satisfaction), which has high points in long-term gains but demands increased investment.
• KPIs: Internal promotions, Training programmes uptake and results of engagement survey.

Alternative 4: Flexibility in Work.

Flexible working was one of the factors proposed by some of the employees as a measure of enhanced engagement. The work-life balance might be enhanced by the introduction of remote work options or flexible schedules.

• OODA Loops (Boyd, 1998): This is an iterative strategy that enables the observation and revision of flexible work policies based on the results and feedback.
• CBA: The cost consequences of infrastructure are moderate, and possible gains in engagement, retention, and productivity.

Analysis and Recommendation.

As part of the comparison with the help of CBA, grid analysis, KPIs, and the motivation theory, it becomes possible to improve communication and feedback mechanisms, which can be considered one of the most actionable and cost-efficient and supplemented by recognition programmes. Longer-term strategies include career development initiatives and flexible working, which must be implemented after a period of engagement improvements have been realised.

This systematic research process will be necessary to select the interventions that will be focused directly on the project objective of enhancing employee engagement and organisational performance.

AC 2.4 Conclude and propose recommendations

Answer:

The study conducted on this project has helped in having a thorough insight into the issues that affect the engagement of the employees in the targeted department. According to both quantitative and qualitative data, there were moderate engagement levels with major themes coming out in terms of recognition, communication, career progression, and work-life balance.

• Recognition: The survey identified that the employees believed that their input was not well appreciated. The lack of systematic feedback and recognition by the managers was pointed out in the interviews.
  
  
• Communication: The barriers to engagement were found to be in consistent updates and poor communication messages by the management.
  
  
• Career Progression: The employees have noted that there is minimal growth or advancement in the company, which affects retention and motivation.
  
  
• Work-Life Balance: Several employees demanded flexible working since it would enhance job satisfaction.

The research design was sound and integrated surveys, interviews and secondary data, thus making it reliable and valid. The weaknesses, however, were a moderate response rate of survey and time constraints that limited longitudinal observation. These limitations can have a minimal impact on the generalisability of the findings, but cannot be used to weaken the overall trends observed.

Recommendations

According to the analysis, the following recommendations can be offered to increase employee engagement and improve organisational performance:

Introduce the Structured Recognition Programme.

• Implement monthly rewards, peer-to-peer recognition and regular feedback by the manager.
• Effect: Increases motivation, strengthens positive behaviour, and has the potential to decrease turnover.

Improve the Communication Channels.

• Periodic team briefings, informative management reports, and electronic feedback systems.
• Impact: Enhances transparency, trust and employee participation in the decision-making process.

Establish Career Advancement and Education.

• Provide mentoring, in-house training courses and well-spelt-out promotion avenues.
• Impact Strengthens skills, retention and long-term engagement.

Implement Flexible Work Practices.

• Remote working by pilots where possible or flexible working.
• Effects: Promotes work-life balance, stress reduction and productivity.

Monitor Progress Using KPIs

• Monitor engagement, non-attendance and retention and involvement in development programmes.
• Impact: Gives objective data of progress and bases future decisions.

The organisation can engage greatly by focusing on recognition and communication programs, planning long-term career development and flexible employment. These suggestions are in line with the project objective and provide a systematic way of improving performance and organisational culture.