You have recently been appointed by a large property investor in the UK who wishes to renovate a house. To keep his costs to a minimum he likes to have only one worker working on each activity. The property renovation involves various tasks which he estimates will take one worker the times shown in the table below:
| Activity | Time needed to complete |
| Substantial repairs to the roof | 5 days |
| Internal structural work | 7 days |
| Electrical work | 5 days |
| Plumbing | 2 days |
| Plastering | 3 days |
| Installing a new kitchen | 3 days |
| Installing a new bathroom | 4 days |
| Internal decoration | 6 days |
| Garden | 4 days |
| Change windows | 2 day |
| Fitting carpets | 2 day |
| Outside paintwork | 5 days |
The roof and structural work must be completed before any other activities (inside or outside) can commence. Once these are done, the other tasks can happen at any stage. However, inside the house, the plumbing and electrics must be completed before the plastering can be done. The plastering must be complete before the new kitchen and bathroom can be installed. Decoration can only happen once the kitchen and bathroom are in place, and carpets can only be fitted after decorating. The windows have to be changed before the outside paintwork is started.
The property developer knows that to keep his budget on target, all work needs to be completed in 6 weeks. His team only works from Monday to Friday. Can it be done? Which activities is it most important for the property developer to keep on track?
The developer has several other projects on the go at the same time and decides that he can only spare two of his team to work on this project. By assigning activities to Worker 1 and Worker 2 show how this is possible.
There are three (3) parts to this assignment, and each is worth a percentage of the final assignment mark.
Part 1 – 30%
- Create a network diagram with the critical path clearly marked.
- What are the advantages to the property developer in using critical path analysis to plan this project?
- How realistic is the idea of using only two workers to complete the project given the deadline of six weeks?
You do not need any specialist knowledge of construction to answer this question.
Part 2 – 30%
Review the case above of The House with regard to risk management.
- Identify at least 5 risks relevant to this project and create a simple risk table showing how you would manage these risks with appropriate risk controls.
- Discuss how you would derive a risk score for each of these risks explaining what evidence you could access to support you calculation of impact and probability.
- What are the opportunities available and how would you categorize these strategies?
Note that you are being assessed on your understanding of risk management and not the discovery of the ‘correct answer’.
Part 3 – 40%
You have recently hired Kevin, a retired ex-lecturer in project management, to work as part of your project team on the house build. He is very good at solving technical project problems but seems to find working in the team very difficult and gives constant negative feedback on his co-workers. His performance and temper has become progressively worse over time. He seems to lack motivation and you may have to consider ending his employment. Why might Kevin lack motivation? Discuss with reference to appropriate theories and case examples; suggest ways in which Kevin may be motivated.
Marking scheme
| Criteria | Marks |
| Part 1 | 30 |
| – A. network diagram | 10 |
| – B. critical path discussion | 10 |
| – C. discussion of 2 workers/6 weeks constraint | 10 |
| Part 2 | 30 |
| – A. risk analysis | 10 |
| – B. risk score discussion | 10 |
| – C. opportunities discussion | 10 |
| Part 3 | 40 |
| – Review of theory relating to leadership and motivation | 20 |
| – Examples | 10 |
| – Conclusion on ways to motivate Kevin | 10 |
NB:
- Add the assignment name and your student identity number to the title page of the report.
- Ensure you put your word count on your title page as well.
- University lateness and plagiarism rules apply.
Follow a report format. Therefore, you should have a title page, contents page, sections and sub sections, page numbers, appendix section etc. Please note if you are uncertain on how to present and structure a report then visit the university library website or ask your tutor for assistance.
Do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.
Try to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory and learn from in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.
You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. using the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or your academic librarian(s) for this module.
