Traditionally organizations used to maintain separate system for each of their business functions like finance, human resource, etc. Nestle and Bradley also followed same old-fashioned system. However due to rapid change in technology and business environment they realised that these systems have become obsolete since they are incapable of matching current requirements.
Now days businesses require such technology which can help them to bridge the gap between their employees and business process. To run large organisations especially global firms who has their presence different parts of world ERP system plays a supporting tool as it helps to integrate different business functions into one single software. Nestlé and Bradley corporation have also implemented ERP software. However, the above case study shows that it was not an easy task for them.
The entire process was a blend of some good and bad practices for both the organisations. The case study of Nestle clearly shows it lacked in initial stage of project as it had a poor pre-study. They failed to understand what would be the appropriate workforce for the project by not including key employees. The chairman of the company along with other important stakeholders were not clearly aware about the outcome and impact of project on the business which indicates they had lack of stake holder involvement.
Another important element that organizations need to look at while implementing a new system is that providing employees with appropriate training about the system so that they familiar with it and can work more efficiently once it is implemented which was not visible in the Nestle. Their employees had absolutely no idea about the system which created disinterest amongst them to work eventually leading to turnovers of employees. Furthermore, in haste of completing the project time they were unsuccessful in integrating different modules resulting in poor co ordinations within the functions. However, keeping these poor practices aside Nestle also shows some positives in its working. A key element for the success of any project is setting proper time frame for its completion and pushing it employees to achieve it. When a beginner seeking advice and not taking too many risk is always advisable.
Organization should be very careful while taking risk as it may back fire sometimes especially with culture. These qualities of setting time frame, seeking advice and taking minimum risk is evident from above case study in Nestles working culture. On the other side Bradleys case study demonstrates that it had done more satisfactory level of pre-study work as compared to Nestle. They had a clear vision of integrating all the functions of business with system and not just focusing on technology like Nestle. They chose a relevant team lead by a leader who had required skills and competencies in them. Bradley understood the importance of educating its employees about the new system and conducted a lot of seminar, workshops and meeting for the same.
Moreover, they also reviewed the performance of their employees. A distinctive feature in their ERP implementation was that they took more steady approach by installing new system in smaller unit before installing it in larger unit which enabled them to find the loopholes and according fix them. Although It was considered to be success Bradley had to face many problems. They lacked in customer service due to more focus on employee training and developing software.
Furthermore, they were running two different software at a same time which their sales team found difficult to cope up with resulting to errors and misplacing data. The process was also timing consuming due to which worker had to overtime just to do their basic job. Nevertheless, in the end both the organisations were able to take appropriate measure to streamline their process and are reaping profits out of it. Thus, from the above case study we can make out that project planning is not an easy task.
Both the organisation showed different way of handling project with few good and bad practices which indicates an organisation can different approach for the project however as project manager it is imperative for him or her to consider some key factors like having an appropriate road map, resources and timely testing the project in order to achieve the desired goals. Review of Cayenne simulation Project planning is technique of guiding and controlling the execution of a particular project. The main objective of the project planning is to determine the time, resources required for the project and also to define individual task. In the Cayenne’s simulation we had to play the role of project team of an organization who were facing certain issues with their I.T system. The project had different stages and in each stage, we had to take few decisions which would impact our key players and key performance measures. Based on assumptions our key players were the steering group, the project team and the organization whereas our performance measures were business value, cost and timeline.
We were later divided into different groups, every group working separately as a project team. During the course of activity and having a general discussion after every stages I realised that there are many important factors that play a vital role in success of the project. However, one important thing which stood out to me was depending upon the situations not only the impact of our decisions on key players and the performance measures were constantly changing but also our priorities were changing. It is also very crucial to have a between business value, time and cost.so a useful learning we can obtain is that we should change or build our strategy based on demand of circumstances and accordingly set our priorities.
Another essential element in project planning which I would also like to apply in nestle is team work. For any project to succeed it requires team effort. Working in a team at one point of time helps us to learn from each other mistakes as well as develop required skills. It keeps the member of the team motivated which is a determining factor because if the employees lack motivation they will no longer have any reason to work ultimately leading to failure of project which was seen in Nestle as they had to halt their project. Furthermore, having clear vision along with appropriate guidelines is critical and sharing it with key stakeholder is even more important as it develops trust which is essential for the success of project.
So overall the Cayenne simulation was truly fruitful as it highlighted some of the major factors which leads to failure or success of the projects. Thus, to conclude project planning is like driving a car which requires set destination along with time frame and cost to reach there. Hence every project manager should have a proper plan in terms of resources, budget, time etc. He should not only follow his plan but also monitor from time to time in order to be successful.
