Relocation Letter

Being an employee at Shosheam Logistics in Denver, Colorado, I am required to relocate to Thailand in the next six months. As such, this paper provides the necessary activities that I have to accomplish the move project efficiently.

            Upon receiving the news on the relocation requirement, I will need to carry out a series of activities, especially because I am to move with my family of four. To begin with, I will need to inform my family about the move and that I would love to carry them with me. As such, I will have to organize for a  family dinner that will double as a celebration for the achievement. I will take them out for dinner in a week’s time.

            While organizing for dinner, I will also conduct a research on the requirements to make such a move possible. Since my passport is bound to expire in four months. I will have to apply for a new one while applying for the family’s passports. The process of preparing a checklist of the required documentation for a family relocation to Thailand. Before acquiring a visa I will have to apply for passports. These passports can take between six and eight weeks.

            Due to the new change of the working conditions and the job descriptions, the company’s management provided a new contract that adjusts that terms and conditions to suit the new workplace. The said contract will be ready within two weeks. While the human resource department prepares the contract, it will also request or the approval letter from the ministry of labor. Whole process could take about a month. The human resource department will also provide all the company details that will facilitate the application and processing of the visa and work permit. Since my children have two dog pets, I will need a health certificate for the dogs even as I research on other requirements for relocating animals to Thailand.  

            Relocating to another country could have significant financial implications. First, my spouse will have to resign from work to accompany me to Thailand. Also, the cost of living in Thailand is different from Denver. Finally, the tax requirements for a foreigner in Thailand will vary. Luckily, I negotiated my salary net of tax and any deductions. However, I will need a financial management plan to handle the family needs. Some of the things to consider include changing my bank to a bank that can serve me even in Thailand.

            I will also need to transfer the children from their local schools here in Denver to Thai schools. As such, I will notify their current schools of the pending transfer to another country.  The schools will provide transfer certificates that will help in the school transfer process. More so, I will engage various friends in Thailand to find the schools where the children’s adopted school culture will be least affected. Specifically, I will look for schools, which provide the American curriculum. Upon settling on the preferred schools, I will write application letters for the children to be admitted. At some point, I might have to use the US embassy in Thailand for follow-up and admission assistance.

            Soon after commencing the school transfer process, I will hand over my responsibilities in Denver. The passports will be ready by then. As such, I will apply for the category B visa for my spouse and I. In addition, I will sponsor my children and apply for visas for the them. After submitting the application, I will travel to Bangkok, Thailand to familiarize with the area. I will use my US passport for this trip and will tour the area for about a month. Upon returning, I will book are ticket for the whole family. We will then finalize on the packing list and check that we have all the legal documentations ready for the journey. The packing process will begin. I will contract an international moving company and start shipping the items that I will need in Bangkok after verifying all the checklists. In the final week, I will through about three farewell parties for my colleagues at work, my family members and friends, and for the children. Soon after we will travel to Thailand and I will commence work in a week. Below is a chronological flow of the above discussed activities.

1. Informing family

2. Research on visa requirement

3. Prepare a checklist for the required documentation

4. Apply for passports

5. Signing the new contract

6. Obtaining the letter of approval from the company

7. Obtaining the company details for the work permit processing

8. Health certificates

9. Financial planning

10. Arrange for the children’s school transfer

11. Handover responsibilities at Denver, Colorado

12. Apply for Thailand’s category B visa and work permit

13. Booking air tickets

14. Preparing a packing list

15. Complying to the legal requirements like driving license, and insurance

16. Packing things that are not needed until after relocation

17. Putting the family care on sale

18. Contract international moving company and start the shipping process after verifying the checklists.

19. Farewell parties

20. Travelling to Thailand

21. Settle in Thailand.

Monitor, Organize, Analyze

            The cost of relocating to Thailand is approximately nineteen thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight. However, the cost of carrying out this project can significantly increase if the duration is reduced. For instance, if the project duration is to reduce to by one and half months, I will have to incur agency costs to facilitate the project completion. Some activities like facilitating the transfer of children from the schools here in Denver to Thailand and facilitating the travelling requirements could be accomplished in a record time before the previously budgeted. The overall cost will grow to approximately twenty-six thousand four hundred and fifty-eight dollars.

            Advantages of project crashing

            To begin with, the main aim of project crashing is to get the job done faster than the expected time. Sometimes the allowable time for the project is less than the time that the project would take on normal occasions. As such, project crashing helps project manager facilitate the completion of the project.

            Also, an activity in the project can jeopardize its progress. As such, the project manager could opt to crash a specific activity to save the project. As such, project crashing can be a risk mitigation process. Projects often change based on unforeseen occurrences. When dealing with fixed date projects, unforeseen circumstances can cause significant delays on the project completion (Hanya, Georgiana, Ian, & Vanessa, 2016).  Instead of compromising one’s reputation for being unable to complete the project within the stipulated time, the project manager can use extra resources to ensure that the project finishes in time.  

            Project crashing also helps in resource optimization, especially when a new resource is available. This rationale for project crashing can only be applied when the opportunity cost of leaving the resource to lying idle is less than its contribution (Xin, Yao, & Ching-Yu, 2016). On the other hand, project crashing can help in freeing up resources that can help in completing other projects. For instance, crashing projects can help free up human capital for other projects.

            Disadvantages of Crashing Projects

            An attempt to crash projects increases the chances of compromising on some procedures. If the project managers fail to take caution when choosing the projects to reduce, then an attempt to fasten an activity completion can lead to significant delays to the project (Borse & Biswas, 2016). As a result, the client could cancel the whole contract because project manager cannot deliver.

            The project manager also risks losing the project float. The manager can use project float to give individual assignments more time to complete tasks and keep the project running smoothly. Accelerating a project can erase this time so that the manager is restricted to project deadlines  for the entire operation. In other words, if the project managers uses all the project float, he risks affecting the overall duration of the project unforeseen delays occur (Kerzner, 2017). As such, crashing a project can bring significant pressure on the people working on it.

            With any reduced project completion time, the project manager will have to forgo more money. The implications of project crashing could include increased salaries because more people will need to accomplish specific activities. Costs can also include indirect costs such as increased administrative costs. As such, crashing projects can reduce the overall profit margin, especially when the client does not cover any costs.

            Finally, an attempt to crash a project to free up resources can lead to project manager concentrating on activities that do not affect the project duration. In this case, the additional cost of reduced activity duration reduces the projected returns and wastes project float.

Project Control and Closeout

            Once all the activities included in the project are complete, the project closeout activities commence. Some of the activities performed during the project closeout include transferring the project ownership to the client. Normally, project closeout procedures include final approval by the client that includes understanding the client’s satisfaction level.  After the client signs his final approval, the project manager creates a process evaluation report that allows the team members to evaluate the project in its entirety. The lessons learned from the project evaluation phase help the project manager to develop more effective project management strategies (Marziye, Hamed, & Zeynab, 2017).  During the project closeout phase archiving project records is imperative. These records include the project plan, the notes on the meetings, financial documents, customer, internal correspondence, status reports, materials acquisitions, and others files. Finally, the disbursement of resources to the rightful owners. Financial resources are redirected to other projects while the contractors get the remainder of their money as both the client and the contractors go through the clearance processes.

            For the relocation project, the closeout procedures will include taking my family for a tour around Bangkok and trying to help them settle. Also, I will ensure that the children get enrolled in schools. Afterwards, I go for an introductory party with my new colleagues. The party will double as the beginning of the week’s orientation that will help me blend with the rest of the workforce. As part of the orientation process, I will also try to drive around in Bangkok to familiarize myself with the main routes and the driving culture around the city.

References

Borse, S., & Biswas, A. P. (2016). Schedule Forecasting of Project ;. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 3(5): 2819-2823.

Hanya, P., Georgiana, E., Ian, R., & Vanessa, M. (2016). Events Project Management. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons.

Marziye, M. N., Hamed, R. T., & Zeynab, S. (2017). Payment scheduling under project crashing based on project progress . Iranian Journal of Numerical Analysis and Optimization, 7(2): 39-56.

Xin, X., Yao, Z., & Ching-Yu, C. (2016). Project-driven supply chains: integrating safety-stock and crashing decisions for recurrent projects. Annals of Operations Research, 2(1): 225-247.