Moving the Sales and Marketing Team

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Introduction

Insurance business in Hong Kong is thriving, showing a stable increase in revenues throughout the past several years. For instance, according to the Legislative Council Secretariat Research Office (LCS Research Office 2019), the market has grown by 34% in the previous year. There are 161 authorised insurers, and more than 100,000 insurance agents (LCS Research Office 2019), which makes the competition quite tense.

Therefore, insurance companies are to utilise every possibility to provide the best quality of service and acquire a competitive advantage. According to Pratiwi and Wendri (2019), a neat and modern central office can positively influence customer satisfaction. Moreover, a comfortable and well-equipped workplace, which can be easily reached by public transportation is of extreme importance for employee satisfaction (Leder et al. 2016). Considering all the reasons mentioned above, Company A, a prosperous insurance company situated in Hong Kong, decided to move the entire sales and marketing team (SMT) to a new building in the Central Business district area.

The SMT consists of 500 employees with 250 of them being sales consultants in different levels, including financial consultants, senior financial consultants, managers, a director and a vice president. The other teams are product development, analysis team, events team, and administration team. All the departments have their directors, which report to the vice president. The current office occupied by the SMT can no longer support the extended number of employees due to the lack of offices, cubicles, conference rooms, and bathrooms. Moreover, the furniture is old and of varying design. Customer and employee surveys revealed that the current location of the office is not convenient due to inadequate access to public transportation.

The present report offers a project plan for moving the SMT to a new building. It identifies the scope of the project, provides a statement of work (SOW), work breakdown structure (WBS), and estimates the time and cost of all the subtasks. The report also gives recommendations for assembling a capable project team, assesses possible risks, analyses the dependencies between tasks, and provides quality-monitoring suggestions. Finally, the present report describes a closure procedure to ensure a successful termination of the project.

The stakeholders of the project are numerous due to an extensive number of people in the team. A project manager (PM) is a key actor of the process, who assembles the team and is put in charge of all the negotiations, contracts, and controls. There will be numerous contractors involved in the project, including commercial moving companies, furniture suppliers, renovation companies, and electronics suppliers. Apart from that, the project will be affected by the governing body of Company A and the property owner. The project aims at ensuring the optimal moving procedure by minimising the time and cost of the process.

Project Plan

Identifying the Project

The project is defined as moving the SMT to a new building. The new office will also need to have all the required equipment, facilities, and furniture to support a staff of 500 people that can work simultaneously. Moreover, the new building is to have enough conference rooms of different sizes for seminars, negotiations, and meetings with clients and investors. The office is also required to have enough bathrooms on every floor to support 500 people of staff.

There also needs to be a canteen and a coffee point on every floor with all the required equipment and furniture. Additionally, there should be a break room for employees to relax during their break time and a dressing room on every floor. The building should have separate waiting areas, dressing rooms, and bathrooms for visitors since Company A has a lot of clients and partners coming to the office every day.

All the staff members are to have fully equipped workplace, which may differ depending on their positions. All the employees from the manager position and above need to have a separate office with a door, while the general staff is to have cubicles separated into departments. The total number of dedicated offices with doors is 80, and the number of cubicles is 430. The total includes five extra offices and 25 additional cubicles since the company is growing fast.

Company A decided to purchase new furniture and replace some of the equipment of the employees. Every employee is to have a desk or a cubicle and a chair. The offices should have additional furniture, such as additional chairs and desks for visitors and cabinets. The waiting rooms, conference rooms, dressing rooms, cafeterias, and breakrooms will also need to be appropriately furnished with desks, tables, chairs, sofas, lockers, and cabinets.

The office will require new equipment for cafeterias and coffee points, such as refrigerators, coffee machines, and microwave ovens. The break rooms are to be equipped with wellness chairs, ping-pong tables, TV-sets, game consoles, tables, and board games. The conference rooms need to have projection machines and whiteboards, while the dressing rooms are to be equipped with lockers for employees and hangers for visitors. There will also be required some additional equipment, such as multifunction printers. All the old furniture will be sold, and the money will be used to pay for the new furniture and equipment.

The new office is to be in an optimal location for all the stakeholders. The building should be in the central business district area in Hong Kong and is to be easily reached using public transportation. At the same time, the building should have enough unoccupied space (3-4 floors), an adequate number of bathrooms, and offer renovation if it is needed. The office is to stay cost-efficient to maintain the financial sustainability of the firm. Even though such a place may be challenging to find, Company A is a valuable and stable client, which may help to improve the reputation of any property owner.

Project Objectives, Goals, Mission, and Vision

The importance of mission and vision statements is hard to overstate. According to Taiwo et al. (2016), “the most crucial step in strategic planning is formulating the vision and mission statements” (p. 127). The statements can be used by senior management as a strategic tool to rationalise day-to-day activities and help all the stakeholders understand the purpose of their actions (Taiwo et al. 2016). Moreover, they are vital for identifying the goals and objectives of the project. The mission of the present project is to provide the best quality of service that satisfies the needs of all the stakeholders. The project’s vision is to create the best environment for all the employees, customers, and partners at the new office.

The goals and objectives of the project may be identified using the statements and the description of the project presented in Section 2.1. The project has the following goals:

1. Find a suitable office for Company A to house its SMT;
2. Prepare all the needed furniture and equipment for the new building;
3. Move to the new office.

The goals can be broken down to the following objectives:

1. To assess the needs and requests of the SMT concerning the new office;
2. Identify and review all the offers from property owners in the central business area;
3. Organise a meeting of representatives of all stakeholders to select the best alternative;
4. Ensure the best terms of agreement with the new proprietor;
5. Select the design of the furniture in the new office;
6. Make a complete list of all the needed furniture and equipment;
7. Buy, ship, and set up all the new furniture and equipment;
8. Move the staff into the new office;
9. Sell the old furniture;
10. Terminate the contract with the previous property owner.
11. Evaluate the outcomes in a final report.

Theoretical Framework

The present report describes an organisational change project since it includes the alterations of the environment. Therefore, the application of a relevant conceptual framework is of extreme importance for its success (Kash et al. 2014). Similar to vision and mission statements, theories can guide the process of change, providing useful ideas of efficient project planning, implementation, and evaluation (Burk 2017). Therefore, it is vital to choose an appropriate framework to ensure positive outcomes of the project.

While there are many organisational change theories, the present report offers a short overview of only three of them. One of the most fundamental and simplistic change theories, which has been tested by many scholars and managers is Lewin’s change theory (Cummings & Worley 2014). It consists of three phases: unfreezing, moving, and refreezing (Cummings & Worley 2014). The first step arouses dissatisfaction among stakeholders about the current practice; during the second one shifts the behaviour of the organization towards the desired goal, and the third phase stabilises the new equilibrium of the organisation through supporting mechanisms (Cummings & Worley 2014).

The second framework described by Cummings and Worley (2014) is an action research model. It is a modification of Lewin’s model, which has eight steps, which focuses on gathering and analysing data with all the stakeholders, planning, implementing the plan, and reflecting on the change (Cummings & Worley 2014). While the two models described above can be utilised by the present project; however, the two models are deficit-based, which may be inappropriate for prospering Company A.

The positive model is a viable alternative for the two frameworks described above. The model identifies the strengths of an organization and uses them to promote a positive change (Cummings & Worley 2014). In consists of five steps listed below (Cummings & Worley 2014):

1. Initiate the inquiry (determining the subject of change);
2. Inquire into best practices (gathering information about the “best of what is”);
3. Discover the themes (examining the stories);
4. Envision the preferred future (describing a compelling future base on the findings);
5. Design and deliver ways to create the future (creating and executing the plan).

While the theory is appropriate for the present project, it would benefit from adding the sixth step, which is evaluation. According to Latham (2014), assessment is of extreme importance for a project to have positive long-term implications since it helps to make small alterations based on the short-term results. Moreover, evaluation of every stage of the project is vital to make sure that all the deadlines are met and the budget is not exceeded. In summary, the utilized framework for the present project is a slightly altered positive model.

Work Breakdown Structure

WBS is an excellent tool for project management, which gains increasing popularity among administrative staff. WBS separates a project into groups of tasks to manage the time and cost. According to Burghate (2018), WBS helps to identify the tasks, provides a holistic overview of the project, gives clear instructions to all team members, and helps to measure progress. Even though WBS can be created using specialized software, such as Microsoft Project or Apple Merlin, the WBS for the present project will be given in the form the outline format. WBS presupposes that the project team has been assembled and all the team members are available at the beginning of the project.

WBS

1. Identify the crucial characteristics of a new office
   1. Initiate the inquiry
   2. Inquire into best practices
   3. Discover the themes
   4. Envision the preferred future
   5. Provide a formal report of findings with a list of criteria for the new office
2. Find the needed office
   1. Identify and review all the offers from property owners in the central business area;
   2. Organise a meeting of representatives of all stakeholders to select the best alternative;
   3. Ensure the best terms of agreement with the new proprietor through negotiations
   4. Sign a contract with the new office owner
3. Elaborate the design of the new office
   1. Assess the design of the new office
   2. Gather several possibilities of new furniture design
   3. Decide what design of the furniture will suit the new office
   4. Make a written suggestion for the new office design
4. Buy new furniture and equipment
   1. Make a list of all needed furniture and equipment
   2. Make a list of all the possible suppliers of furniture and equipment
   3. Negotiate with potential suppliers
   4. Select furniture and equipment suppliers
   5. Order the new furniture and equipment
5. Prepare the new office
   1. Make renovations for the design to adhere to the company’s vision and mission
   2. Map the future disposition of employees in the new building
   3. Deliver, assemble, and arrange all the new furniture and equipment
6. Move the staff and equipment into the new office
   1. Make a list of all the commercial moving companies
   2. Negotiate with the companies
   3. Choose a moving company
   4. Move the first-floor employees and their equipment
   5. Move the second-floor employees and their equipment
   6. Move the third-floor employees and their equipment
7. Terminate the project
   1. Sell all the furniture and unneeded equipment
   2. Terminate all the contracts with the previous property owner
   3. Release the project staff
   4. Make a final report

Defining the Deliverables

Project deliverables are an essential tool for measuring the success of the project. According to Walter (2016), project deliverables usually include written reports or documents, developed tools or software, and organized training or conferences. Deliverables can vary according to the project’s specifications and the stakeholders’ requirements. However, all customer and stakeholders want deliverables that wrap up the project at its closure and measure performance throughout the project (Muller 2017). Even though administrative staff often view deliverables as another unnecessary task that consumes time and resources, deliverables help sponsors to make sure that the project is going in the right direction (Walter 2016). According to Muller (2017), project deliverables are closely connected with the project’s objectives. Below is a list of deliverables for the present project with references to stages in WBS provided in Section 2.4 of the present report.

1. A formal report of the needs assessment for the new office. Provided by the end of Stage 1e.
2. A written assessment of all the possible locations for the new office. Provided at the end of Stage 2a.
3. A meeting of representatives of all stakeholders to select the new office. Provided during Stage 2b.
4. A contract with the new property owner. Provided at the end of Stage 2d.
5. A written report concerning the concept of the design of the new office. Provided at the end of Stage 3d.
6. A list of needed furniture and equipment. Provided at the end of Stage 4b.
7. Contracts with suppliers of furniture and equipment. Provided at the end of Stage 4e.
8. Report about the cost of renovation services. Provided at the end of Stage 5a.
9. Contract with the commercial moving company. Provided at the end of Stage 6c.
10. Final report. Provided at the end of Stage 7d.

Project Team Assembling

Project implementation does not require extensive staff to be executed since the contractors will provide the majority of personnel. The project will require a PM, an accountant, a legal consultant, and a design manager. An outside PM and design managers are to be hired by the company, while the project may utilize the services company A’s accountants and legal consultants. Therefore, informal selection may be applied to choosing an accountant and a legal consultant, while formal selection methods are to be used for choosing a designer and a PM. Table 1 and 2 below provide the list of selection criteria for these critical positions based on the article by Hauschildt et al. (2000).

Table 1. Project Manager Selection Criteria.

Table 2. Design Manager Selection Criteria.

The project manager is to be selected by the human resource (HR) department of Company A, while all the other team members are to be hired by the project manager. According to Lock (2016), team building is vital for the efficient performance of a project team. An experienced project manager may already have a team that he or she is comfortable working with. Therefore, a PM should not be required to utilize the services of Company A’s employees. A designated HR manager is not needed since the project team is rather small. However, the number of team members may be altered by the PM if there is a rationale for such a change.

Risk Assessment

The project is associated with minor risks since the possibilities of error are limited. According to Muriana and Vizzini (2017), the risks of any project are associated with the so-called iron triangle, which is cost, quality, and time. The project’s priority is to receive a top-quality office, while minor to medium fluctuations in price and time are of little concern. It is vital to mention that preparations for Stage 6 of the WBS of the present project are crucial. The phase is to take the shortest possible time, and the new office is to have all the needed infrastructure ready for the SMT to arrive. Any deviations and quality or schedule may be associated with considerable damage to Company A’s business processes and image. Therefore, project quality assessment is of extreme importance on all the stages to avert the possible risks.

Project Schedule

The proposed schedule for the project is presented in Table 3 below.

Table 3. Task Dependencies and Duration.

The schedule was elaborated in Microsoft Project 2016, which automatically created a timeline for the project presented in Figure 1. The starting date of the project, January 6, 2020, was selected at random for demonstration purposes. The timeline does not include subtasks.

Estimating the Cost

General Considerations

Cost estimation is crucial for project managers since it helps to find equilibrium between the price and benefits. According to Ganesan (2018), a project cannot start without a budget since it enables all the stakeholders to understand if the project is worth the time and money. The present project will have personnel costs, acquisition costs, and payments for the services of contractors. The cost of labour is estimated, taking into consideration that team members will work 8 hours a day and five days a week. The salary of the PM is $80 per hour, the accountant and design manager are paid $60 an hour, and the legal consultant is paid $50 an hour. The cost estimation provided below is in US dollars converted from HK dollars using XE Currency Converter (n.d.).

Stage 1

During Stage 1, all the subtasks will be performed by the PM; therefore, it will cost the company a total of $14,080. According to Table 3, the PM will have 22 workdays; therefore, the total cost is calculated as follows:

Stage 2

The cost of the second pahse is harder to evaluate since all the staff members will participate in different subtasks. Tasks 8 and 9 from Table 3 are performed by all the team member; therefore, its cost is . Task 10 is performed by everyone except the designer, and Task 11 is performed by the PM and the legal consultant. The costs of these tasks are $7,600 and $1,040 respectively. Therefore, the total cost of Stage 2 is $30,640.

Stage 3

All the subtasks in Stage 3 are performed by the design manager. Therefore, the total cost of the stage is calculated as follows:

Stage 4 and 5

All the subtasks of Stage 4 will be performed by the design manager, while Stage 5 will be implemented under control of the PM. Therefore, the labour cost of these two stages is $8,640 and $20,480 respectively. The renovation costs will depend upon the assessment of the designer. However, the estimated cost of renovations is $100,000 per floor, which is $300,000 in total. The breakdown of the cost of equipment is represented in Table 4. All the estimates are made using the price list of ErgoSeating (n.d.) and Fortress (n.d.). The estimations also include delivery and assembling of furniture and equipment.

Table 4. Needed Furniture and Equipment.

Stage 6

The sixth phase will be performed by the PM, and it will take 22 days. Therefore, the staff costs of the stage are $14,080, similar to Stage 1. The company will also have to spend money on transporting the equipment from one office to the other, which will cost approximately $20,000 (Allied Pickfords n.d.). Therefore, the total cost of Stage 6 is $34,080.

Stage 7

The last phase of the project will be associated with some income since the old furniture will be sold. It is expected that 30% of the cost of new furniture, which is approximately $150,000, will be returned. The total employee-associated costs of the stage are $13,360.

Monitoring the Progress

There are many methods that help to monitor progress, success and quality. The most common tools are Earned Value Analysis, optimization tools, and the design of decision support systems (Hazır 2015). These methods can be used as early warning systems for any problems detected in the process of project implementation (Hazır 2015). For the present project, MS Project will be used to measure the success of the project delivery. In case of any lateness or cost overrun, the program will provide the signal and allow the PM to act according to the contingency plan.

Project Closure

Project closure is a vital part of every project, which is rarely carefully planned. Zohrehvandi et al. (2017) emphasise the importance of the project closure process in mega projects since it helps to address the problems of lack of budget, shortage of required resources, disputes and claims. During the closing stage of the proposed project, the staff will be released, old furniture sold, and the final report created. It will be one of the longer stages since it includes selling the furniture, which is time-consuming. The final report will consist of all the information concerning the project objectives, costs, employees, and outcomes. The report will evaluate the success of the project using appropriate methods chosen by the PM.

Conclusion

The proposed project provides a detailed plan for moving SMT of a large insurance company into a new office. The project is estimated to take up 187 days and cost the company $925,000, out of which $150,000 can be returned after selling the old furniture. Even though the costs and duration are high, the project is expected to positively impact on Company A. The direct outcomes are increased workplace satisfaction and improved company image. The indirect benefits include improved retention rates and employee productivity, which will let Company A stand out from its competitors.

Reference List

Allied Pickfords n.d., Allied Pickfords. Web.

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Cummings, TG & Worley, CG 2014, Organization development and change, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.

ErgoSeating n.d., Ergoseating, Hong Kong. Web.

Fortress n.d., A.S. Watson Group, Hong-Kong. Web.

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Hazır, Ö 2015, ‘A review of analytical models, approaches and decision support tools in project monitoring and control’, International Journal of Project Management, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 808-815.

Ganesan, Y 2018, ‘Project cost: Why is it important for project managers?’ Grey Campus. Web.

Kash, BA, Spaulding, A, Johnson, CE & Gamm, L 2014, ‘Success factors for strategic change initiatives: A qualitative study of healthcare administrators’ perspectives’, Journal of Healthcare Management, vol. 59, no. 1, pp.65-81.

Latham, N 2014, A practical guide to evaluating systems change in a human services system context, Center of Evaluation Information. Web.

Leder, S, Newsham, GR, Veitch, JA, Mancini, S & Charles, KE 2016, ‘Effects of office environment on employee satisfaction: A new analysis’, Building Research & Information, vol. 44, no. 1, pp.34-50.

Legislative Council Secretariat Research Office 2019, Insurance industry in Hong Kong. Web.

Lock, D 2016, The essentials of project management, Routledge, New York, NY.

Muller, R., 2017, Project governance, Routledge, Abingdon, UK.

Muriana, C & Vizzini, G 2017, ‘Project risk management: A deterministic quantitative technique for assessment and mitigation’, International Journal of Project Management, vol. 35, no. 3, pp.320-340.

Pratiwi, NLPMI & Wendri, IGM 2019, ‘The analysis of front office department service quality for customer’s satisfaction at Padma Resort Legian’, Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 66-77.

Taiwo, AA, Lawal, FA & Agwu, E 2016, ‘Vision and mission in organization: Myth or heuristic device?’ The International Journal of Business & Management, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 127-135.

Walter, S 2016, ‘Project deliverables-a waste of time or a chance for knowledge transfer and dissemination?’ in EGU General Assembly Conference, EGU General Assembly, Vienna.

XE Currency Converter n.d. Web.

Zohrehvandi, S, Khalilzadeh, M, Hajizadeh, M & Cheraghi, E 2017, ‘Planning project closure phase in combined cycle power plant projects’, Procedia Computer Science, vol. 121, pp.274-281.

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