Workplace Energy Conservation Project Management

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Table of Contents

A work related situation that can be improved
Proposal
Project costs
Challenges facing Carly and the rest of her team

The project is to implement an energy conservation program within the workplace. This was necessitated by the following needs: the need to improve performance within the workplace hence boost profitability of the firm. Secondly, there is the need to reduce costs of operation in this firm. In close association with the latter is the need to lower maintenance costs brought on by poor or misguided energy use. Lastly, this company’s employees need to work in a comfortable environment that can best be achieved through the use of efficient energy in the workplace.

The project objective is: “to make the workplace a more efficient institution through reduction of energy consumption.” Efficiency in this case refers to both environmental as well as commercial realms. This energy conservation program is likely to yield substantial cost reductions as well as boost productivity levels such that overall profitability in the firm will go up. Besides that, this project is also likely to make the company more environmentally friendly. This means that it will contribute towards overall global sustenance initiatives and it will also boost the organization’s capacity as a corporate social responsibility citizen.

There are two major assumptions that could possibly affect this project’s outcome. First of all, it is assumed that members of the organization will be enthusiastic about this project and that they will play their part in implementing it. This project is dependent on all members of the institution. Failure of one group to meet their obligations could result in poor performance for the entire institution. The other major assumption is that the company chosen for the equipment supplies will deliver the said cost savings.

All departments will be involved in this project. The supplies and procurement department will be responsible for the purchase of new energy saving equipment. The accounts team will be responsible for calculating all the cost savings that will come out of the initiative. The production team will be responsible for carrying out the day to day steps that will contribute towards energy sustenance. The human resource department will be responsible for educating all staff members about their role in saving energy. It will also be responsible for choosing the project leaders. The administration will be responsible for disbursing funds for the project and motivating members towards realization of the project’s objectives. A construction team from outside will also be involved to install new devices and equipment centered at reducing work energy expenditure. Lastly, the IT will be responsible for the reconfiguration of the entire workplace system to be in line with these new objectives.

There are several risks that will be involved in this process. First of all, some of the estimates made on equipment and building costs may be understated and there may be a need to look for alternative sources of funds while still trying to complete the project. On top of that, there may be difficulties in team work and coordination while implementing these changes and the overall success of the project could therefore be undermined.

This project will be considered a project because it will last only for a certain time frame i.e. two years. It is different from the regular job tasks because it is designed to achieve a certain objective that can only be done within a preset time period. Besides that, it will involve representatives from various departments in the work place thus showing that it is not just part of the normal work routine. The project will result in a different way of doing things in the workplace or it will lead to the achievement of tangible objectives. Consequently, it is a real project.

Proposal

Project objectives

Cut expenditures in the workplace by twenty percent through energy costs
Improve the work environment for employees by making the workplace comfortable
Improve corporate social responsibility performance for the institution
Boost productivity levels in the firm by five percent

Deliverables

It is likely that this project will yield the following deliverables: improve profit through high cost savings, enhance comfort in the workplace, boost sales due to a better CSR rating and heighten the rate of productivity through the use of more efficient energy technologies.

Milestones

This project will be divided into three major milestones. The first is completion of a training and planning program for all members of the institution. This will be necessary in order to ensure that the stakeholders have a direction against which they will be going. The second milestone will be implementation of all the short term workplace steps that minimize energy expenditure. The smaller measures are likely to be completed two months after the training because they entail minor adjustments in people’s work habits. The third milestone will be installation of building and equipments that are energy friendly. This aspect may take longer than the others because a renovation for the entire workplace premises will be necessary.

Technical requirements

Work habit changes like turning off lights when leaving rooms, using day lighting, turning off computers when not being used, programming computers to switch off at a certain time in the night, getting printers to be double sided, improving desks from windows to minimize heat loss from people, closing drapes at the day’s end to minimize heat loss and lastly introduction of an energy monitoring system designed to detect abnormal energy usage.

Major equipment and infrastructural changes also need to be put in place and they include: installation of task lights that will complement overhead lights, de-lamping fixtures that cause excessive lighting, replacement of incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones that will reduce lighting use by thirty three percent, replacement of energy consuming devices with appliances that have an energy star rating, replacement of air filters, wrapping water heaters with insulation jackets, plugging windows and doors with weatherizing equipment, replacing current windows with double glazed ones, painting the office with warm colors for summer and vice versa for winter and lastly planting trees to reduce the need for coolers during the summer.

Limits and exclusions

This project will not involve other local environmental groups working towards reducing energy wastage. Instead, the project will be an exclusive brainchild of this particular workplace. Aside from that, the project will not include changes in motor related operations as the major focus is on what employees use while at the workplace. It will also not deal with other environmental concerns such as recycling and reduction of waste emissions. The main concern is energy expenditure as it has been shown that this can contribute towards tremendous savings. If other issues such as environmental degradation were addressed in this project then it would be too wide for implementation within the set time frame.

The project priorities can be summarized as follows in this order: implementation of the training phase that will assist people in having a direction, implementation of building changes, reinstatement of energy efficient equipment and workplace habit changes that will reduce costs.

Work breakdown structure

Responsibility matrix

	Project Director	Project manager	Project team	Steering committee
Project plan	A	C	R	A
Project training	A	C	R	A
Technical requirements	A	R	C	A
Status update	R	C	R	R

Key:

A- approve,
R- review,
C- create.

Project costs

The following are the costs of the project; Project overhead costs: administrative support costs like salaries – $ 1000, Research – $ 500, Office expenses – $ 350, maintenance – $ 700. Total indirect costs = $ 2550.

The latter costs will last throughout the entire project i.e. two years:

Direct costs

(Each item in the direct cost list will last for two months each such that all twelve items will be competed after two years): IT equipment reconfiguration – $ 400, Installation of energy monitoring device – $ 400, installation of task lights – $ 600 , de-lamping fixtures that cause excessive lighting – $250, replacement of incandescent bulbs with fluorescent ones – $ 600, replacement of energy consuming devices with appliances that have an energy star rating – $ 3,000, replacement of air filters – $ 300, wrapping water heaters with insulation jackets – $ 200, plugging windows and doors with weatherizing equipment – $ 100 , replacing current windows with double glazed ones – $ 1, 000, painting the office with warm colors for summer and vice versa for winter -$ 200 and lastly planting trees to reduce the need for coolers during the summer – $ 1, 000. Total direct costs = 8050

Total project costs – $ 10, 600

Some of the areas that cost cutting can be carried out include: payment of salaries to construction personnel as well as purchase of equipment. The project team can do adequate research on who have the most consumer friendly prices so as to minimize building related costs. Also, the organization can also look for affordable devices and equipment that can save money. One minor risk inherent in the project is poor implementation of workplace habit changes. This can mitigated by carrying out reviews for all employees after every two months to keep them on point. One major risk is poor sourcing of construction personnel who may do a poor job of installing the building and equipment changes. The contingency plan will to spare some emergency funds for contracting another company.

Challenges facing Carly and the rest of her team

Carly may not have come sooner to discuss the project delays owing to the fact that she may already have known that she was more to blame for the delays than her counterpart Morris. She may have been afraid of reprove from higher authority or she may have thought that the problem was large enough for her to handle on her own. Alternatively, this may just be part of her personality i.e. she may not be a good communicator.

Carly may not have had a conversation with Morris if she went to him because of the high level of tension that exists between them. They may be afraid of making the situation worse by confronting it. It is likely that if they had a conversation with one another, then both team members would simply try to defend themselves. However, it is also likely that Carly would have been the more aggressive one of the two – as it has been stated earlier, Morris is regarded as a threat by Carly and she has therefore been venting out these insecurities on him. Unless the conversation involved a neutral party, chances are that Morris’ point of view may have been downplayed.

The biggest problem with the way these team members interact is their fear of confrontation. Other project members are well aware that Carly was being unfair yet they failed to engage in a conversation with her about it. Morris also failed to confront a higher authority on his team leader’s unfairness. Carly also let the problem catapult into a very serious one without consulting the head of the firm. She waited until she was asked about the delays before responding.

This problem can be solved by first analyzing the real problems behind project members’ behavior. For instance, it could be possible that Carly is dealing with too many projects or challenges at the same time and this could be making her overwhelmed. The project team can look for ways in which it could address some of her personal needs. But if it is found that there is no real issue disturbing Carly and that she is being problematic, then there will be a need to be firm with her. She will have to be told that she is imagining those insubordinations and needs to think of ways in which she can handle them.

She can be given a probation period of two months where she ought to change and if project team members report that there is no change in habit, then a new project team leader will have to be appointed. Also, in order to get the project back on track, team members need to be reminded of their targets as well as all the necessary work that will be involved in making some of their work schedules more plausible in the future. Care will be taken while addressing team members on these changes as a high degree of firmness will be necessary. Nonetheless, this does not mean that one must be impolite with any of the team members as that is the nature of projects.

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Workplace Energy Conservation Project Management

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