Individual Management Portfolio & Reflective Statement (Essay Sample)

Creative Project Management Portfolio
By (Name)
Course
Professor
Institution’s Name
The Date Submitted
Introduction and Background
About this Individual Management Portfolio
The ambition to attain better skills and grow my professional life in all aspects of the creative industry has always been the parameter on all my academic, management and professional decisions. On being selected late November, 2016 as the manager to launch a new eco clothing line in H & M, a company that operates on the global scale, I did believe the forthcoming months that involved launching, and managing the creative project would not only bring me tougher practices with the creative industry focus and real-world research but also form me as an overall project manager of a new project and a team leader. I also anticipate that the chance would sharpen me in my future career in the fields pertaining, real business environment in creative industry that plays a major role in the UK economy – that provides the world with different clothing lines for the women, men and children. On the other hand, this Company’s move to select me as the project manager was my fine moment draw a lot of skills in relation to ‘seven commitments’ of H & M alongside the Company’s reputation in sustainability and methods of production, which shape consumers in a much more proactive method and create more fashionable eco clothing lines CITATION KAl01 \l 1033 (Allan & Shaw, 2001). Hence, I also anticipated to have a challenging but then again exciting time from the project management duration. Nevertheless, things do not frequently happen as we imagine them to be in the real business environment where solutions must be created for the ever-emerging problems, especially in the stage of launching and managing a business project. I did find it hard to deal with some of the challenges that emerged at some time during the time I was managing the project. Managing every stage of the business project seemed to be far from the aspects I expected, consequently I once thought of giving up with this business project, earlier December. Providentially, I managed to develop some of the essential skills that helped me run the project efficiently.
H & M is a Swedish clothing-retail company, dealing in its fast-fashion clothing for women, men, teenagers as well as children, operating on a global scale. H&M together with its associated brands carry out their business operations in sixty-two countries with over four thousand retail stores furthermore, as of 2015, hire about one hundred and thirty-two thousand individuals. It is considered as second largest worldwide clothing retailer, behind Inditex, a company that is based in Spain CITATION Bri98 \l 1033 (British Council, 1998). The firm has a noticeable online existence, with such online services as shopping readily available in thirty-two countries, COS in nineteen states, Weekday and Monki in eighteen countries each, moreover, other retail stories in thirteen nations, as well as Cheap Monday in five countries CITATION Cal93 \l 1033 (Calhoun, et al., 1993).
The Company’s vision’s which states, “Our vision is that all our operations are run in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable,” influences most of its operation in the creative industry CITATION Thr01 \l 1033 (Throsby, 2001). On the other hand, the CEO – Karl- Johan Person iterates that, “We at H & M have set ourselves a challenge of ultimately making fashion sustainable and sustainability fashionable” CITATION Cav00 \l 1033 (Caves , 2000). It is obvious that the company continues to push the bar as far as its ‘seven commitments’ are concerned (H & M sustainability report 2015).
However, to carry on with its initiative and increase its development in the aspects of sustainability, I was selected in early November, 2016 to manage the launch of a brand-new line of clothing that would be released to the market in early spring 2017.
Hence in this portfolio, I will discuss about this project management that I undertook in a set of three parts: The first section, description of the new eco clothing line project, will be about my experiences during the launching of the project, while the second section will involve post-project reflective statement will indicate how these experiences turned to lessons and realizations attained. Then, the last will point out the strategies of my future career in creative industry.
Description of the Project
Defining the Creative Fashion Project
The main aim of this project was to produce brand-new clothing line that is fashionable, sustainable and eco-friendly. The new eco clothing line suggested by H & M Company would be the first one regarding all the requirements and outcomes CITATION How01 \l 1033 (Howkins, 2001). Even though, the Company has maintained its commitment to manufacturing clothing lines that are eco- friendly since 1990s, this project was expected to be better than the ones produced in the past decades. There was no existing supporting infrastructure for the new eco clothing line in the Company. During the launching phase of the creative project, as a project manager, I focused on defining and identifying a creative leadership team with skills, knowledge and experience to manage such a huge complex creative project in H & M Company. The project team succeed in setting up two offices. One office was meant for the coordination of all the activities of the project while the other one had a larger floor for working area where all the materials, equipment and labour forces would assemble.
Designing the Project Process
Proposal
H & M Company proposed a new eco clothing line project that I was to manage from the launching phase until it closing phase. While the new eco clothing line was supposed to enhance the market for H & M products, the commitments of the company were the driving pillars of the project. Also, the needs of consumers (men, women, and children) and their satisfaction levels for the new clothing line project initiative were to be attained. The project was meant to be particularly crucial in the Company’s decision to satisfy the consumers’ fashion needs while maintaining sustainability. We would also be able to determine the potential success of the product by seeking opinions from consumers, shareholders, stakeholders and my creative team. After steering focus groups and surveys, my creative team would present an informed analysis of the project team preference and make recommendations based on the results. The clothing line would then pass through different stages of modifications to ensure that it is perfect. Thereafter, the closing phase where the product would be handed over to the manager of H & M Company.
Framework for the Creative Project Management
Project Integration
As the project manager, I ensured that my project team had one shared goal: to do the work of the project for the reason of attaining the project’s aims and objectives. During first phase, which underpins the initiation phase, the project objectives were identified quite well; the objectives involved a business opportunity of capturing the need of new eco clothing line for consumers of H & M products. A suitable response to the need of the design in line with the fashion was documented in a business case with suggested solution options from my creative team. Consequently, I managed the activities of a feasibility study which were conducted to evaluate whether every option mainly addresses the fundamental project objective and a final recommended solution is determined.
Once the recommended design solutions were approved, the project was initiated to fulfil the approved recommended solutions in line with the eco clothing line. After I had assessed all the initial phase, the project would then be moved onto the planning phase.
The planning phase, was where the project solution was further advanced in as much aspect as possible and the activities necessary to attain the project’s aims and objective were planned. In this phase, my team identified all the work to be done. The project’s activities and resource necessities were identified, together with the approach for producing them. The project plan was developed to outline the activities, tasks, dependencies, as well as the timeframes. As the project manager, I coordinated the preparation of a project budget by offering cost estimates for the labour, materials and equipment costs. I used the budget to monitor and regulate cost expenditures throughout project implementation phase.
Staffing the creative project with the appropriate skills, at the right time and place was my responsibility as the core project manager. Once my project team had identified the work, organised the schedule, and projected the costs, the three important components of the planning procedure were complete. Therefore, it was an excellent time to find and attempt to deal with any challenge that might pose a risk to the successful accomplishment of the project. At this stage of risk management in a project, “high-threat” potential difficulties are pointed out along with the step that is to be taken on every high-threat potential challenge, either to diminish the likelihood that the problem will arise or to decrease the impact on the creative project if it does arise. As a manager, I managed to identify all project stakeholders and develop a communication action plan showing the information required and the delivery process to be used to keep all the identified stakeholders informed.
Schedule and Time Management
The project was scheduled to be launched by the early December. According to the agreement, the Company ex...