ABC Company Health and Safety Training
Question
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites.
The project will deliver "capability to provide health and safety training", including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning.
The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy.
The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company's development team.
All course materials will be piloted before they are used.
ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business.
ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years.
The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered.
ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago.
Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company.
It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams.
She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget.
His department organizes courses, venues and trainers.
They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule.
ABC Company's IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products.
She will work with the Operations.
Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model.
Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard.
He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management.
He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director.
She helped establish the company's document management system and now operates it across the business.
She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material.
All account managers and the marketing team report to him.
They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
Is this an appropriate application of the "manage by exception' principle, and why?
Answers
Explanations
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A. B. C. D.B.
The "manage by exception" principle is a project management approach that allows project managers to focus on managing exceptions or deviations from the plan instead of micromanaging every detail of the project. This approach assumes that the team members are capable of delivering the project successfully and that the project manager's role is to monitor progress and intervene only when necessary.
In the case of ABC Company's health and safety training project, the "manage by exception" principle can be an appropriate application, as it allows the project manager to focus on managing exceptions and risks rather than micromanaging every detail of the project.
However, the appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle depends on how the project manager sets the tolerances for each work package. Tolerances are the acceptable range of deviation from the plan that a team can manage without the need for intervention from the project manager or the project board.
Option A, which states that the project manager should set tolerance equally for all work packages in a stage, is not an appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle because it assumes that all work packages are of equal importance and risk, which may not be the case.
Option B, which states that setting appropriate tolerances for work packages will help keep the stage within tolerances, is an appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle. The project manager should set appropriate tolerances based on the importance, risks, and criticality of each work package, and intervene only when the work package exceeds the tolerance range.
Option C, which states that tolerances set by the project manager should be the same as those set by the project board, is not an appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle because it assumes that the project manager has no autonomy or discretion in setting tolerances for work packages.
Option D, which states that the project manager should divide the stage tolerances between the team managers, is not an appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle because it assumes that team managers have equal responsibilities and risks, which may not be the case.
In summary, option B is the most appropriate application of the "manage by exception" principle because it allows the project manager to set appropriate tolerances based on the importance and risks of each work package and intervene only when necessary.
