- 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 8 days
Internal structural work 4 days
Electrical work 7 days
Plumbing 6 days
Installing a new kitchen 3 days
Installing a new bathroom 4 days
Garden 5 days
Plastering 4 days
Internal decoration 5 days
Fitting carpets 1 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 external jobs 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 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.
Project Management Leadership and Skills: Planning and Control –Assignment 2
3
Assignment 2 RKC Sem 2 2017 - 2018
There are three (3) parts to this assignment, and each is worth 33% of the final
assignment mark.
Part 1 – 33%
A. Create a network diagram with the critical path clearly marked
B. What are the advantages to the property developer in using critical path
analysis to plan this project?
C. 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 - 33%
Review the case above of The House with regard to risk management.
A. 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
B. 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
C. What are the opportunities available and how would you categorise these
strategies?
Please note that you are being assessed on your understanding of risk
management and not the discovery of the ‘correct answer’.
Part 3 – 34%
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.
