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Question 1: What are some specific challenges faced by Banyan Tree Resorts and Hotels in on
time and on budget completion of a project that are specific to this industry? Explain any two.
Why does inclusion of specialists in a project management team make this challenge even
more daunting? Limit to 300 words. *
Delays in Construction were one of the challenges faced by Banyan Tree Resorts and Hotels to
complete the project on time. Although the main motivation for contractors to keep to the schedule
was through the structure of their tender contracts, dates usually tended to slip, and there were
often delays in the construction stage. Impediments to work progress often came in the form of
wrong manpower and materials by the contractors, delays in shipments due to changes in
government regulations and unfavourable weather conditions.
Another challenge that Banyan Tree Resorts and Hotels faced was in the completion of a project in
a set budget. Tenders were not necessarily awarded to the lowest bidder as price was not the sole
factor under consideration: Other factors such as the quality of work, capability, financial strength
and experience in hotel building were also considered. In cases where local contractors were too
small or incapable of handling the job, international contractors would be hired. The challenging task
was to create a design that delivered the best value based on the budget, skimmed on non-crucial
aspects of the resort while maximising the budget on more important aspects like interior décor of
the villas.
Inclusion of more specialists in a project management team would possibly mean more conflicts to
settle and issues to resolve as expert of each area would have his or her own interest in the project
for which he or she would not be willing to compromise. In the face of this, taking out a solution
that best serves everybody’s interests would be too time consuming.

Question 2: Explain any four innovative strategies Banyan Tree Resorts & Hotels has
adopted for ensuring on time and on budget completion of its projects. Could these
strategies be adopted by any other project manager for any other project? Why or
why not? Limit to 300 words. *
In house construction management and architectural design capabilities reduced red-tapism from
contractual obligations and ensured shorter response times. Project managers used the computer
programme Microsoft Project to track the project schedule. To monitor work progress, the project
manager would set weekly targets. If these were not met, he would look at the problems and think
of ways to overcome them. Depending on the problem, he could approach ADP to make
simplifications to the design or hire extra contractors to finish the job.
Though there were usually four main tender packages: structural & architectural tender, mechanical
& electrical tender, interior design tender, and landscape tender, any specialised tenders would
usually be sent out separately and then subsumed under a main contractor as a nominated
subcontractor. This made it easier to manage the contractors, and to keep track of their work
progress.
The decision making process during the construction stage was hastened by the formation of a GX
group which met regularly and had the authority to make overall project decisions below a certain
financial limit without the need for approval from K P Ho. The GX group usually consisted of the
project manager, the project architect, the spa manager, the general manager, and the purchasing
manager.
To construct a resort in optimum time and keeping to the schedule a ‘fast-track’ schedule was
pursued by using various ways to build faster, for instance by using a pre-fabrication method; or
engage more than one contractor so that different parts of the resort could be built simultaneously.
Local contractors were often small in size and had limited capabilities. Sometimes, they would also
embark on a ‘crash programme’, where construction with was being tendered out according to the
sequence of work, without waiting for all areas of design to be ready.

Question 3: Keeping all the stakeholders internal and external to the organization in agreement
with progress of the project is one more strategy that leads to on time and on budget
completion of a project. Give one example of how BTR achieves this for internal stakeholders.
Give one example of how BTR achieves this for external stakeholders. Limit to 300 words. *
An example of how BTR achieves this with internal stakeholders would be in the pre project
evaluation phase in the project management process of building a Banyan Tree resort that usually
begins with a site visit by representatives from ADP, BTR Ops and BTR Mktg who conduct a site
feasibility evaluation. ADP looks into areas such as the view of the site, the quality of the land, its
price and current ownership plus conditions of sale etc. BTR Ops checks the local cost conditions for
operating a resort, the availability of local staff, as well as room rates charged and occupancy rates
of existing hotels in the vicinity etc. As for BTR Mktg, it assesses the market potential of the site for a
luxury resort, the room rates etc. A decision on whether to develop a resort on the proposed site is
made after combining all the inputs from these three groups which are BTR’s internal stakeholders.
An example of relationship with external stakeholders would be BTR’s liaisons with the local
governments. Sometimes, new laws and regulations would adversely affect the progress of a
project. Abiding with local Government Bylaws is essential since BTRs resorts are located in different
countries, so it had to familiarise itself with local governmental bylaws and manage its relationship
with the local government. It had a full-time government liaison staff for its Phuket operations, and
engaged a local law firm to represent it in Maldives. As for it operations in Bintan, government
liaison was accomplished through Bintan Resort Management Re Ltd, the master developer of all
resorts in Bintan.

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