Tim Aston had changed employers three months ago. His new position was project manager.

Question # 00205185 Posted By: kimwood Updated on: 02/24/2016 09:07 PM Due on: 03/25/2016
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Project Management Chapters

Chapter 6 ( Case study)

THE RELUCTANT WORKERS

Tim Aston had changed employers three months ago. His new position was project manager. At first he had stars in his eyes about becoming the best project manager that his company had ever seen. Now, he wasn’t sure if project management was worth the effort. He made an appointment to see Phil Davies, director of project management.

Tim Aston: “Phil, I’m a little unhappy about the way things are going. I just can’t seem to moti-

vate my people. Every day, at 4:30 P.M., all of my people clean off their desks and go home. I’ve had people walk out of late afternoon team meetings because they were afraid that they’d miss their car pool. I have to schedule morning team meetings.”

Phil Davies: “Look, Tim. You’re going to have to realize that in a project environment, people think that they come first and that the project is second. This is a way of life in our organiza-tional form.”

Tim Aston: “I’ve continually asked my people to come to me if they have problems. I find that the people do not think that they need help and, therefore, do not want it. I just can’t get my people to communicate more.”

Phil Davies: “The average age of our employees is about forty-six. Most of our people have been here for twenty years. They’re set in their ways. You’re the first person that we’ve hired in the past three years. Some of our people may just resent seeing a thirty-year-old project manager.”

Tim Aston: “I found one guy in the accounting department who has an excellent head on his shoulders. He’s very interested in project management. I asked his boss if he’d release him for a position in project management, and his boss just laughed at me, saying something to the effect that as long as that guy is doing a good job for him, he’ll never be released for an assignment elsewhere in the company. His boss seems more worried about his personal empire than he does in what’s best for the company.

“We had a test scheduled for last week. The customer’s top management was planning on flying in for firsthand observations. Two of my people said that they had programmed vacation days coming, and that they would not change, under any conditions. One guy was going fishing and the other guy was planning to spend a few days working with fatherless children in our community. Surely, these guys could change their plans for the test.”

Phil Davies: “Many of our people have social responsibilities and outside interests. We encourage social responsibilities and only hope that the outside interests do not interfere with their jobs. “There’s one thing you should understand about our people. With an average age of forty-six, many of our people are at the top of their pay grades and have no place to go. They must look elsewhere for interests. These are the people you have to work with and motivate. Perhaps you should do some reading on human behavior.”

Chapter 12 case study

CROSBY MANUFACTURING CORPORATION

“I’ve called this meeting to resolve a major problem with our management cost and control sys-tem (MCCS),” remarked Wilfred Livingston, president. “We’re having one hell of a time trying to meet competition with our antiquated MCCS reporting procedures. Last year we were considered nonresponsive to three large government contracts because we could not adhere to the customer’s financial reporting requirements. The government has recently shown a renewed interest in Crosby Manufacturing Corporation. If we can computerize our project financial reporting procedure, we’ll be in great shape to meet the competition head-on. The customer might even waive the financial reporting requirements if we show our immediate intent to convert.”

Crosby Manufacturing was a $250-million-a-year electronics component manufacturing firm in 2005, at which time Wilfred “Willy” Livingston became president. His first major act was to reorganize the 700 employees into a modified matrix structure. This reorganization was the first step in Livingston’s long-range plan to obtain large government contracts. The matrix provided the customer focal point policy that government agencies prefer. After three years, the matrix seemed to be working. Now they could begin the second phase, an improved MCCS policy.

On October 20, 2007, Livingston called a meeting with department managers from project management, cost accounting, MIS, data processing, and planning. Livingston: “We have to replace our present computer with a more advanced model so as to update our MCCS reporting procedures. In order for us to grow, we’ll have to develop capabilities for keeping two or even three different sets of books for our customers. Our present computer does not have this capability. We’re talking about a sizable cash outlay, not necessarily to impress our customers, but to increase our business base and grow. We need weekly, or even daily, cost data so as to better control our projects.”

MIS Manager: “I guess the first step in the design, development, and implementation process would be the feasibility study. I have prepared a list of the major topics which are normally included in a feasibility study of this sort” (see Exhibit 12–1).

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NETWORK SCHEDULING TECHNIQUES

CASE STUDY

Exhibit 12–1. Feasibility study

•Objectives of the study

•Costs

•Benefits

•Manual or computer-based solution?

•Objectives of the system

•Input requirements

•Output requirements

•Processing requirements

•Preliminary system description

•Evaluation of bids from vendors

•Financial analysis

•Conclusions

Livingston: “What kind of costs are you considering in the feasibility study?”MIS Manager: “The major cost items include input–output demands; processing; storage capacity; rental, purchase or lease of a system; nonrecurring expenditures; recurring expenditures; cost of supplies; facility requirements; and training requirements. We’ll have to get a lot of this information from the EDP department.”

EDP Manager: “You must remember that, for a short period of time, we’ll end up with two computer systems in operation at the same time. This cannot be helped. However, I have pre-pared a typical (abbreviated) schedule of my own (see Exhibit 12–2). You’ll notice from the right-hand column that I’m somewhat optimistic as to how long it should take us.”

Livingston: “Have we prepared a checklist on how to evaluate a vendor?”EDP Manager: “Besides the ‘benchmark’ test, I have prepared a list of topics that we must include in evaluation of any vendor (see Exhibit 12–3). We should plan to call on or visit other installations that have purchased the same equipment and see the system in action.

Unfortunately, we may have to commit real early and begin developing software packages.

Case Study

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Exhibit 12–2. Typical schedule (in months)

Normal

Time to

Crash Time

Activity

Complete

to Complete

Management go-ahead

0

0

Release of preliminary system specs

6

2

Receipt of bids on specs

2

1

Order hardware and systems software

2

1

Flowcharts completed

2

2

Applications programs completed

3

6

Receipt of hardware and systems software

3

3

Testing and debugging done

2

2

Documentation, if required

2

2

Changeover completed

22

15*

*This assumes that some of the activities can be run in parallel, instead of series.

Exhibit 12–3. Vendor support evaluation factors

•Availability of hardware and software packages

•Hardware performance, delivery, and past track record

•Vendor proximity and service-and-support record

•Emergency backup procedure

•Availability of applications programs and their compatibility with our other systems

•Capacity for expansion

•Documentation

•Availability of consultants for systems programming and general training

•Who burdens training cost?

•Risk of obsolescence

•Ease of use

As a matter of fact, using the principle of concurrency, we should begin developing our soft-

ware packages right now.” Livingston: “Because of the importance of this project, I’m going to violate our normal structure and appoint Tim Emary from our planning group as project leader. He’s not as knowledgeable as you people are in regard to computers, but he does know how to lay out a schedule and get the job done. I’m sure your people will give him all the necessary support he needs. Remember, I’ll be behind this project all the way. We’re going to convene again one week from today, at which time I expect to see a detailed schedule with all major milestones, team meetings, design review meetings, etc., shown and identified. I’d like the project to be complete in eighteen months, if possible. If there are risks in the schedule, identify them. Any questions?”

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