Beijing EAPs Consulting Company

Introduction

The case study about the EAPs consulting company in Beijing looks into the management project structures, communication between staff and managers and project plans. This particular project plan, like other project plans, has both strengths and weaknesses which the plan should put into action in order to ensure that it is completed on time, safeguarded and insured. This case study seeks to discuss the above amongst many other related topics.

Conducting a Project Plan

From the departmental and projects manager’s point of view, the project should be conducted within the organizational structure. The structure should, therefore, involve or comprise of the organizational structure, divisional structure and functional structure styles. Conducting a project plan through an organizational structure has many benefits, namely specialization within the organization, good communication between the staff and managers, utilizing cross functional areas, proper exploitation of resources and flexibility within the organization. In this way, the managers and the departmental heads are able to make satisfactory ideas or effectively utilize and focus on the strengths of the company. This simply means that this structure permits flexibility and persuades communication within the company structure (Beijing EAPs Consulting Case Study, 2009).

On the other hand, if the structure management is not handled in the proper manner it might cause confusion, increase complexity and overload, create challenges for employees and managers with excessive work. Additionally, it may increase overhead costs of the organization. It is necessary to note that, before the year 2006, the company used an informal and organic structure which was established during this time. In this way, the company used procedures, policies and loose rules in order to strengthen work commitment in the organization. The implications in this case are mainly due to the lack or limited authority and man power, which would help to successfully complete the projects (Ulrich 1997).

Strengths

The Beijing EAPs consulting form project has many advantages. The advantaged include the following: there exists a strong relationship between the project managers and the company’s members, the employees are able to learn new things and help other employees in regards to new technology and advanced work systems, since every employee works on more than two tasks, they all feel like an important part of the organization, and the project encourages and enhances job satisfaction.

Weakness

The Beijing project has many advantages but also has some disadvantages. These advantages include the lack of strengthened relationship that would help in encouraging respect and support within the organization. It is also a problem that the project method allows the use of sanctions and penalties to ensure that employees conform to the company’s norms and punish those employees who deviate from the same. Thus, the employees had to work longer hours in order to complete their assignments, while other employees worked on more than 8 to 10 tasks within a stipulated and limited time. There are additional issues of double management, the project structure reduces professionalism, and there is a delay within the project due to the lack of human resources.

Team Behavior Classification

Beijing EAPs Consulting Company is growing at a remarkably fast rate and thus employing more workers each year. In this case, the company needs to employ specific team behaviors in order to balance the management and the expansion of the company. The team behaviors should include adapting a project management system, which will help the managers to coordinate different departments within the company. In this way the company will be able to contain and handle the expansion. Similarly, the employees should be assigned more than one project in order to finish, reduce and clear the existing work load. In order to ensure that the project runs smoothly, the department and project managers should collaborate management between different projects to ensure smooth running of the same. This simply means that the executive manager should put together efforts in order to improve and balance problems within different departments in the organization.

The most effective team behavior also includes classifying and assigning different responsibilities to different departments. For example, the marketing department assigned responsibilities such as expanding the company’s image, selling products and services to the target markets, promoting the company’s brand name and managing partner, industry and media relations. The consultant department is assigned duties such as conducting and developing quality service management systems, providing customer based consultancy services and conducting external contacts and internal promotions. The research and development department is assigned with duties like analyzing data, writing research plans and reports, managing the project documents, designing plans, processes, templates and training employees (Franklin, 2008). The training department is assigned with duties and responsibilities including developing publications and books, customizing various customer training sessions, initiating assistance and programs for employees, developing and designing training programs. The administrative department is in charge of conducting and carrying out financial functions, daily administration functions, and developing reward, development and human resource plans.

Safeguards to Ensure the Project is Completed on Time

In order to ensure that the project is finished on time, the project and departmental managers should take into consideration acceptance of their roles by the employees. This means that a conflict between two or more managers may result in the delay of the project. This scenario would also frustrate the managers and ultimately affect functional departments. In the year 2006, the company restructured different departments in order to ensure that projects were completed on time. These departments include the marketing department, administration department, research and development department and project department in a bid to ensure timely projects.

This project management approach helped to inspire the employees, set high expectations, enhance commitment, share the company’s vision with the employees and managers, and provide high levels of performance within the organization. The project management approach that was adopted in 2006 encouraged the managers to work out a plan that would safeguard actual processes and procedures in every department. This would in turn allow and encourage employees to become more familiar with work processes and become more focused in their work. In this way, the company would save more time in relation to preparation work assignments in order to ensure that the project is completed on time.

Adopting a new business structure would also be a way, in which the company would ensure that the project would be completed on time. The new business structure in this case is developing a same level corporate ladder. This simply means that all the managers within the organization will be on the same level. In other words, no manager will be higher or lower in position than the other. In this way, all the projects are co-conducted to ensure that the work is completed within the stipulated time (Phillips, 2005). However, ineffective management of the new business structure may lead to inefficiency, misunderstanding and frustrations within the organization, thus delaying the completion of the project. Utilizing the resources available is also extremely beneficial. This is because it helps managers within the department to focus on their strengths. In this way, the project is completed on time.

Conclusion

During the historic times, many founders lacked business focus, experience and strategies. The successful growth and expansion of the Beijing EAPs Consulting Company called for a clear structure within the organization in order to safeguard the plan and ensure that the projects are completed on time. This included adopting a new business structure, utilizing available resources, enhancing commitment, share company vision with employees and setting high expectations in the company. Team development has also helped to effectively run the project.