Leatty: assessment report

Hello everyone,

After the holidays, we had to hand in a graded assessment report for English. For this report, you had to work in couples. The subject was the company Leatty, which is a major property developer. The company has been involved in several projects in China. Now, however, it is experiencing problems with their latest project in China. For instance, they are behind schedule and the costs of the project seem to be too high. Like I already mentioned, we had to work in couples. Lennard and I (managers of Leatty) had a meeting with another couple. We had to devise a rescue strategy, to save the multinational project in Shanghai. We incorperated our suggestions in the assesment report, which I posted below.

I hope you'll like the report!

Memo/Asessment Report

To:                         CEO of Leatty

From:                   Rick van der Werf – manager Leatty

Date:                    8-1-2012

Subject:               Devise strategy to rescue Leatty’s project in Shanghai

Introduction

On 12 December 2011, the management of Shanghai works and the representatives of Leatty discussed suggestions for a strategic plan to rescue Leatty’s project in Shanghai. Because of nationality differences in our team, there are communication, coordination and internal problems to overcome in order to rescue the project in Shanghai. In this memo report, we will focus on these problems as well as what can be learned from the first phase of the project.

Communication and coordination

In order to improve the task coordination and information exchange, we suggest using video conferences at Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8.00 am. This time is most applicable to overcome the time difference. Furthermore, videoconferences are more personal, which will lead to more confidence for participants to speak up. Moreover, we suggest implementing an online ‘Blackboard’ system. This is a website, which will be accessible for every member. In this way, it will be easier to coordinate tasks and responsibilities.

Morale and atmosphere

The morale as well as the atmosphere among members of the company is damaged. In order to overcome this problem and enhancing the team spirit, we suggest creating a stronger culture by organising ‘get-togethers’ and discussing problems personal with employees by bringing them together. Furthermore, we advise ensuring jobs. This will have a reassuring effect on employees which will lead to a better atmosphere.

Working practices

The working schedules concerning this project are not very realistic and acceptable. This lead to demotivation and will work out ineffective. Therefore, we propose creating realistic schedules. Furthermore, we suggest implementing extrinsic rewards. For instance, implementing a bonus-system for employees, will lead to more motivation and effectiveness.

Learning cycle

The first phase of the project brought a lot of problems across. In order to prevent these problems to occur in the second and third phase, we suggest improving the coordination by applying the strategy mentioned above. Furthermore, we propose creating a backup-plan. This means consulting more subcontractors in order to prevent large delivery delays.

Conclusion

Taking everything into consideration, the project management of the Chinese subcontractor realises that the changes mentioned above might bring across relatively high costs. But taking these costs into perspective with the costs of an unsuccessful project will show that the changes will be more efficient. We strongly recommend implementing these changes in order to rescue the project. We are confident that this will lead to a successful end of the project.

We are looking forward to your reaction and we hope our recommendations will contribute to the company's new strategy.

Rick van der Werf
Manager of ‘Leatty’