Project management remains one of the main elements of a successful business, providing the enterprise with means and tools to recognize, evaluate, and plan the necessary actions for effectively operating a company. Moreover, it often leads to the creation of the new, innovative approaches that can help the company attract investors and increase its share on the market. In the heart of any successful business lies a strategy that allows designing and operating projects in real time. Project development and management skills become more and more important for an efficient manager in any field. Thus, it is crucial to understand how to efficiently implement and operate changes in the workplace to achieve best result.
Project Justification
Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign wealth fund that manages a global portfolio with the aim of generating profit for the shareholder represented by the Government of Abu Dhabi. The company has quite an ambitious vision, claiming that its mission is to reshape and diversify the economy of Abu Dhabi, providing potential for growth and improvement in the business sector. This kind of vision statement, as well as the company’s multi-industry business ambitions, calls for a specific Human Resources Management strategy that would reflect the company’s goals. Thus, the goal of the project would be to design and introduce new HRM practices that would provide the managers with necessary means to operate the workforce more efficiently. The timeline of the proposed project lasts from October 6 to October 27.
Additionally, seeing as the company has highly diverse personnel, its current culture has to translate the concept of unification to all of the staff. However, such an approach from HR might prove to be not so beneficial to the company, as it does not always address the cultural differences between the employees. In many studies, the management of socio-cultural diversity is recognized as a key strategic aspect of international companies. Thus, Mubadala’s culture of unification might prove to be inefficient in the long-term distance, as it is more likely to fail in managing cultural differences; therefore, it also requires adjustments alongside the HRM strategy.
Scope Description
The scope of the project targets the Human Resource department of the company, as it is HR managers who are responsible for introducing new employees into the organization, setting organizational culture, and supporting current employees. Thus, over the proposed timeline, the project will introduce new practices into the work of HR department and provide strategies for adjusting existing organizational culture in the company. The managers would receive training in specific areas, such as inclusivity and diversity management, and collaborate with coaches on the task of changing the culture of the Mubadala Investment Company.
Project Objectives
The first project objective is to modify the approach to employee management, seeing as the current form of leadership in the company does not reflect the company’s vision to the fullest. Ethical leadership has emerged recently as a specific form of human resource management, and for the Mubadala’s organizational culture, it would serve the best. Thus, transforming the approach to leadership in accordance with latest trends is an essential goal for Mubadala’s human resource management, as it would enhance the employees’ performance and attract new professional workforce.
Another objective would target diversity management in the company and organizational culture. A tougher attitude towards equal opportunities and inclusivity would be developed to implement into the HRM strategy. This is due to the fact that the company has a very diverse pool of employees, and the latest trends in HRM practices advise that for diverse teams. Finally, the last objective refers to the organizational culture adopted in the company and the changes it needs. Within this goal, the HR department would be offered strategies to establish a more effective culture that supports innovation and motivates better performance.
Risks
Implementing changes is always associated with certain risks; however, in case of Mubadala Investment Company, they are not high. The project does not introduce any sudden changes and the time of the proposed change allows providing sufficient training for the HR managers to be able to navigate the new working conditions. Mubadala already has a strong organizational culture and fairly efficient HRM practices – the project seeks to reinforce and improve them rather than establishing completely new environment. The culture of high impact adopted in the company facilitates strong employee motivation for personal development, thus it is highly unlikely that HR managers would be adverse to positive changes.
Project Deliverables
A detailed project plan that includes the general strategy of the project, management plan, project charter, list of main stakeholders, project scope statement, planned timetable, and key performance milestones would be the main deliverable. Moreover, any document, policy, statement, or service offer related to the project and the company would also be provided for the pitching of the project. The training program and schedule would be proposed for review, alongside with initial budget and necessary outside sources. Planned outcomes and changes would also be defined and delivered to the main stakeholders before the project implementation.
Criteria for Acceptance
In order to be accepted, the project would need to be accepted by the main stakeholders such as the Mubadala leading management team, head of HR department, and intermediate HR managers and team leaders. It would need to present a reasonable budget and timetable, with achievable goals and measurable key performance indicators. Moreover, it would be necessary for the project to provide significant body of evidence for the need for changes in the existing HRM practices and organizational culture to prove its relevance to the stakeholders.
Exclusions and Constraints
The project targets specifically HR department employees; all other workers of the company would not participate in the training. Moreover, the project would need to attract coaching professionals from the outside to educate and mentor the participating employees. HR managers would not be able to fulfill the full scope of their duties throughout the duration of training. Thus, the project should implement stages to ensure that while one group of managers is in training, the other is able to successfully manage the increased workload.
Assumptions
The project operates on the prediction that positive changes in the company’s existing HRM practices and organizational culture would result in better employee performance and ensure future market success. Organizational culture is rightfully considered one of the main components of a complete and effective management system of team motivation. The diversity of approaches, based on communication, is the key to understanding the concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation, and development, as they are linked with people, organizations, and environment. Adopting a more innovation supportive culture would be highly beneficial for Mubadala Investment Company in the long term.
In terms of personnel management, it must be noted that the concept of the Strong Affirmative Action and its policies is allegedly not truly fitting for Mubadala’s organizational culture. It would create an unnecessary tension between minorities and majorities, as well as provoke humiliating stereotypes about under-represented groups regarding their intellectual and work abilities. While the Strong Affirmative Action does, in fact, help cover the gaps in the minorities’ representation, it cannot be perceived as a way to the race- and sex-blind society. The Weak Affirmative Action that promotes equal opportunities for everyone, giving different people fair chances, should be the company’s choice for the changes.
Budget
This is an investment project – while it would not bring immediate results, it forms active assets in form of upgraded HRM practices and organizational culture that would influence the company’s success in the long run. When planning the costs associated with staff training, one should take into account active cooperation with the heads of departments. Depending on the planned type of training, the cost effectiveness can be assessed in various ways. In case of Mubadala, the project provides training in new HRM approaches and methods of organizational management, aimed at improving the quality of services and reducing employee turnover. To determine the cost effectiveness of the project, the return on investment (ROI) indicator can be used:
ROI (return on investment) = (income – costs) / costs x 100%.
Income would be understood as the economic effect of training: it includes an increase in the number of sales, growth in revenue, management optimization, cost reduction in value terms. Costs would include all expenses that are directly related to the learning process, such as trainers’ payments, employee remuneration during training, stationery and paper, after training certificates, and others. For example, the total cost of training with graduation paper and coach participation would be $3,762 for one employee. Depending on the number of employees and associated secondary expenses, the overall budget would need to be adjusted so that planned ROI would excess 100%, proving positive results of the project implementation.
Sign-Off from Workplace Mentor
The project would require a comprehensive assessment and evaluation from the current mentor before it could be developed further. After the mentor provides feedback, the project should be adjusted according to it and presented to them again. Only after the workplace mentor has evaluated and accepted the project can it be designed in more depth and detail for the initial pitching before the head of HR department.