Module M2 Assignment 2 - Trophy Projects - V2

Advanced Diploma in Project Management Module 2 Programme Managing Organisational Performance and Innovative Improvement Group Assignment Case Study: Trophy Project Declaration: We hereby declare that this assignment is entirely our own work, and that it has not previously been submitted to any Higher Education Institution. We also declare that all published and unpublished sources have been fully acknowledged and properly referenced. This included figures, tables exhibits. Where modified by us, this has also been indicated.

Group Members: Name Sydney Mosate Keletso Maikano Morake Thiite David Kgakole Delic Sehunwe

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Table of Contents Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary....................................................................................................3 Problem Analysis........................................................................................................4 Organisational Structure.........................................................................................4 Interpersonal Skills..................................................................................................5 Leadership Behaviour..............................................................................................5 Consideration....................................................................................................... 6 Initiation Structures..............................................................................................6 Implementation strategy.........................................................................................6 Balanced Scorecard.................................................................................................8 Customer Perspective..........................................................................................8 Internal Processes Perspectives:..........................................................................9 Innovation and Learning (Learning and Growth) Perspective.............................10 Financial Perspective..........................................................................................11 Project Planning.....................................................................................................11 Risk Management...............................................................................................11 Project Control....................................................................................................13 Recommendations ...................................................................................................15 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 17 Bibliography.............................................................................................................18

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Executive Summary In a perfect world, the project manager would simply implement the project plan and the project would be completed. The project manager would work with others to formulate a schedule, organise a project team, keep track of progress, and announce what needs to be done next, and then everyone would charge along. Of course no one lives in a perfect world, and rarely does everything go according to plan. Project participants get testy; they fail to complement each other; other departments are unable to fulfil their commitments; technical glitches arise; work takes longer than expected. Gray and Larson (2008:315)

Reichart was an assistant project manager who had been involved with the Trophy Project from its conception. This was project which had problems right from day one. He was then assigned the Project Manager when the company accepted the project. The Trophy project started encountering problems which emanated from a number of issues such as organizational, behavioural ,interpersonal skills, leadership skills, project planning and balanced score card.

The problems of the case study will be evaluated and prioritised in a systematic manner and the analysis motivated. This will cover the identification of the problems, their causes, and the recommendations shall be put forward.

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Problem Analysis Gray and Larson (2008:315) state that project success does not just depend on the performance of the project team. Success or failure often depends on the contributions of top management, functional managers, customers, suppliers (or vendors), contractors, and others.

In the case study, it is clear that the Trophy Project stakeholders’ (both internal and external) working relationship is undeveloped. This could have been attributed by poor leadership skills/values that are evidenced by performance of organisational structure, interpersonal skills, leadership behaviour, implementation strategy, as well as balanced scorecard.

Organisational Structure The structure of the organisation was also a problem. The case study depicts a dysfunctional matrix-type organisation. This is so because a matrix structure allows for sharing of resources by having individuals from different functional units to work on a particular project. This can sometimes be disadvantageous to the progress of the project when resources are not properly prioritised.

Reichart had no power of authority; his resources were controlled by the functional managers. Reichart realised that functional managers were charging direct labour time to his project but working on their own ‘pet’ projects. This shows that there was an ineffective Project Office. Management never took Reichart’s complaints seriously. He had to write a report directly to corporate and division staffs. He had inadequate staff to stay at the required pace, let alone make up any time that had already been lost. Reichart was denied additional staff. He no longer reported to the project office but 4

directly to the operations manager. It is evident that the organisational structure is shaky; it’s like its not being observed

Interpersonal Skills According to Clement and Gido (2009:310), the project manager needs to establish clear expectations of members of the project team so that everybody knows the importance of his or her role in achieving the project objective. They go on to say that the project manager has to involve the team in developing the project plan that shows which people are assigned to which tasks and how those tasks fit together. In the case study, it is not clear how the different tasks were distributed and to be achieved.

Clement and Gido (2009:311), state that a project manager needs good interpersonal skills to try to influence the thinking and actions of others. Throughout the project, the project manager will have to persuade and negotiate with the customer, the project team, and the company’s upper management.

Reichart was given too much responsibility for a problematic project when he had little experience of managing a project; he had been an Assistant Project Manager. Because of his inexperience, Reichart was unable to articulate himself well, hence lacked in problem solving skills. For instance, he failed to identify the problems and call a problem solving meeting as a matter of urgency but instead waited for the request for him to write a progress report for him to voice his concerns. Clement and Gido (2009:379) state that, when a problem or potential problem is identified by an individual project team member, that person should promptly call a problem solving meeting with other appropriate individuals and not wait for a future status review meeting.

Leadership Behaviour 5

The Ohio State Studies, Steyn P. and Schmikl E. (2010:63), identified two dimensions of leadership behaviour. Consideration

This refers to creating mutual respect and trust with followers. This is the degree to which a leader acts in a friendly and supportive manner towards his or her subordinates. In the case study, Reichart was unceremoniously dismissed from the Trophy Project and replaced by Mr. “Red” Baron. This showed blatant lack of respect for his feelings and confidence in his performance. Having worked in the project since its conception, his replacement should have been done in a more diplomatic manner to show consideration for his feelings. In addition, this does not even show learning and growth even in the part of the organization, which might be the reason why Mr. “Red” Baron did not even last in the project because there was no continuity.

Initiation Structures

This refers to organising and defining what group members should be doing. It is the degree to which a leader defines and structures his or her role and the roles of the subordinates towards achieving the goals of the group. The management of the organization failed to define the roles of the different project stakeholder, especially the functional units, at the beginning of the project such that Reichart and his project team are given the necessary support to achieve the project objective. This is evidenced by the functional managers’ lack of commitment to the project progress. It is also shown by the way the reporting structures could be changed anyhow. The customer’s representative was also fitted into the structure of the organization, which further negatively affected the project performance.

Implementation strategy 6

According to the case study, the ill-fated Trophy Project was in trouble right from the start. There is no clearly defined project roadmap for the project. “The Stage-Gate Process is a conceptual and operational roadmap for moving a new-product project from idea to launch. Stage-Gate divides the effort into distinct stages separated by management decision gates.

Cross-functional teams must successfully complete a prescribed set of related crossfunctional tasks in each stage prior to obtaining management approval to proceed to the next stage of product development” (online), ref figure 1. Project validation has not been adequately done, because the functional managers do not give support to the Trophy Project. Corporate’s management style also leaves a lot to be desired, they did not seem to be ready for the project to be implemented, it was only later when it was decided that Reichart reports directly to the Operations manager so they can micro manage the project. Clearly, the relevant functional departments were not committed to the project. The project should have not been implemented before the internal problems were sorted out, such as contractually committing all the relevant resources to the project.

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Figure 1: The Stage-Gate Process [adapted from online]

Balanced Scorecard Balanced score card is a disciplined, practical approach to developing a strategic planning and management system. Gray and Larson (2008:532) state that the scorecard model limits measures of performance to goals in four main areas: Customer, Internally, Innovation and learning, Financial measures. These four perspectives and performance measures keep vision and strategy at the forefront of employees’ actions. These perspectives are not addressed in the case study in the following manner:

Customer Perspective

The customer’s expectation was that the project was to be delivered on time. This was not the case as the program schedules started to slip from day one and expenditures were excessive. At one point the project was reported to be one year behind schedule. At the height of the problems, the customer also got involved in trying to solve the problems since he was not happy with the project progress. The customer then 8

demanded weekly progress reports and made arrangements to assign a representative in Reichart’s dept to be ‘on-site’ at the project daily and to interface with Reichart and his staff as required.

After this turn of events, the program became very hectic. The customer representative demanded updates and problem identification and they became involved in attempting to solve these problems. Their involvement created many changes to the program and the product in order to eliminate some of the problems. Reichart had trouble with the customer and did not agree with the changes in the program. He expressed his disagreement verbally (instead of in writing) when, in many cases, the customer felt the changes were at no cost. This then dented the relationship between client and producer.

The customer perspective, as defined in the balanced scorecard tool, was not fully exploited to provide synergy between the client as an external customer, and the line managers as internal customers.

Internal Processes Perspectives:

There was no role clarity between the organisational units. The cross functional linkages were not being observed. Reporting structures became haphazard. The recovery interventions brought about by top management deviated the project from its original objective and further stretched the available resources. For instance, Corporate staff required regular meetings (7am every Monday), and Reichart got derailed since he was now spending more time preparing paperwork, reports, and projections for the meetings than he did in administering the project. The main concern of corporate was to get the project back on schedule. This showed lack of organisational strategy, and that the organisation was not looking at the bigger picture. 9

Reichart spent many hours preparing the recovery plan and establishing manpower requirements to bring the program back onto the original schedule. There was then an Assistant Program Manager assigned by Group staff, to closely track the progress of the project. The Assistant Program Manager determined the need for a very complex computerised system to track progress and 12 additional staff members were provided to Reichart to work on the computer program, and in the meantime, nothing changed. There should have been some element of trust and confidence towards the project manager (Reichart). The employment of the Assistant Program Manager was ill conceived since there was no evidence of lack of capacity in the project manager’s office. The functional managers still did not provide adequate staff for recovery, assuming that the additional manpower Reichart had received from corporate would accomplish the task.

Innovation and Learning (Learning and Growth) Perspective

The organisation showed lack of innovation when faced with serious challenges. This is evidenced by the organisation allowing the client to send his representatives to go and join the team. Lots of money was spent on an ineffective computer program. The program objectives could not be handled by the computer. More funds were to be pumped onto the programming and additional storage capacity.

More time was needed to get the computers ready, and by this time a decision was made to abandon the computer system. This showed poor planning and uninformed decision making. Reichart was now a year and a half into the program with no prototype units completed. Vendors who were supplying components for the project were also running behind schedule. Reichart was facing being fired and yet he had no control over the functional managers who were creating the problems, and yet he was the one being held responsible 10

Financial Perspective

Six months into the project implementation, the cost overrun was estimated at 20%. As if this was not enough, lots of money was spent on an ineffective computer program. The program objectives could not be handled by the computer and more funds were to be pumped onto the programming and additional storage capacity. More time was needed to get the computers ready, and by this time a decision was made to abandon the computer system. At this stage, the Program was still 9 months behind schedule with the overrun projected at 40% of budget.

Project Planning Project planning is a crucial aspect of a project. Clements and Gido (2009:112) define project planning as a stage that covers determining what activities need to be done, who will be responsible for them, and in what sequence they will be carried out. Project planning in the case study is quite questionable in the sense that there does not seem to be enough detail on the projects’ implementation strategy and sharing of resources.

The existence of a baseline is evidenced by the ability of the project team to compare actual project performance against the planned project performance. This not withstanding, the critical success factors are not clearly defined since the strategy map seems to be imperfect. This then hinders the development of key performance indicators. There is still no evidence of planned interventions such as risk management and project control. Risk Management

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A risk is an event or an occurrence (internal to or external to the project) that may potentially adversely affect the project in terms of its ability to deliver on time, budget or the requisite quality. The use of the word potentially is important in that the event or occurrence has not happened yet. The achievement of project objectives is always subject to influences beyond project managers’ direct control (assumptions and risks). It is therefore important to monitor this ‘external’ environment to identify whether or not the assumptions that have already been made are likely to hold true, what new risks may be emerging, and to take action to manage or mitigate these risks where possible before they become issues.

Clements and Gido (2009:474), define risk management as the identification, assessment, and response to project risks, in order to minimise the likelihood and impact of the consequences of adverse events on the achievement of the project objective. The case study depicts lack of risk management in that there was no risk identification process hence the reactive response to the problems as compared to proactive responses associated with proper risk planning. For instance, the project has had problems from day one and then started encountering budgetary problems that had not been forecasted.

Reichart did not even have a contingency plan. A contingency plan, as defined by Clements and Gido (2009:90), is a predefined set of actions that would be implemented if the risk event occurs. Reichart met a lot of problems in his project implementation and is so happened that the interventions suggested for the problems were inappropriate. The budgetary implications of the interventions were never even considered. Reference can be made to the decision to purchase the new complex computer system. A lot of factors were never considered, such as budget constraints, compatibility of the system with the existing hardware, as well as time/schedule constraints.

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Project Control

Project Control, as defined by Clements and Gido (2009:473), refers to regularly gathering data on actual project performance, comparing actual performance to planned performance, and taking corrective measures if actual performance is behind planned performance. Figure 2 depicts the project control process.

The project control process depends largely on the baseline plan, which should be agreed upon by the customer and the project team. All the tasks and resources included in the baseline plan form a yard stick with which performance and project data will be measured to allow the project manager to determine the performance of the project and institute timeous interventions where necessary.

The project control process does not appear to be used in the case study in that the progress reports are being produced regularly, but it does not seem to add any value to the project progress. For instance, when Reichart was made to produce weekly reports after the change in the reporting structure, it then deviated his project progress since he was then spending more time preparing paperwork, reports, and projections for the weekly meetings that were required by Corporate, than he did administering the Trophy Project.

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Figure 2: Project Control Process - Clements and Gido (2009:93) Establish Baseline plan (schedule, budget) Start project Wait until next report period During each report period

Collect data on actual performance (schedule, costs)

Incorporate changes into project plan (scope, schedule, budget)

Calculate updated project schedule, budget, and forecasts Analyse current status compared to plan (schedule, budget)

No

Are corrective actions needed?

Yes

Identify corrective actions and incorporate associated changes 14

Recommendations A number of suggestions can be made to tackle Trophy Project problem.

1. The organisation should apply change management to remedy the matrix type organisation that already exists in their structure. They should move from the lightweight matrix to heavyweight matrix, where team member from the functional units will be fully seconded to the project for the whole duration of the project. 2. Communication channels need to be improved in the organisation as a whole.

They need to come up with checks and balanced to review their communication strategy. The Harvey and Brown model of organisational improvement, shown in Figure 3, could be used by the organisation to achieve the strategy transformation. The behavioural, structural, and operational changes should take place congruently and in harmony in order to achieve improved performance. This will in turn curb the project cost and time overruns.

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Figure 3: Organisational Improvement: adapted from Harvey and Brown - Steyn P. and Schmikl E. (2010:80) Organisational Strategy

Behaviour al Strategy

Change Attitudes & Values

New Behaviours

Structural Strategy

Change Architecture & Design

New Relationships

Operations Strategy

Change Operations & Methods

New Processes

TRANSFORMED ORGANIZATION & IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

3. The organisation can make use of the Balance Score Card to come up with a

strategic plan for project implementation. The organisation needs to transform from a bureaucracy to a learning organisation, where the leadership consideration for both the “Initiating Structure” and “Consideration” (Ohio study) are high. 4. The organisation needs to emphasise more on skills transfer. This could have

been achieved through under-study as well as mentoring and coaching.

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Conclusion Project success is dependant upon good organizational and behavioural structures which may be achieved by the use of transformational tools such as the balanced score card. It is imperative that project objectives should be aligned to the organizational project implementation strategy.

Problems in the Trophy project were attributed to undesirable leadership behaviour, dysfunctional organizational structure, poor interpersonal skills, non structured communication channels, poor contract administration as well as poor implementation of balanced score card.

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Bibliography 1. Clements J. P. and Gido J., Effective Project Management, 2009, 4th Edition,

South-Western Cengage Learning 2. Gray C. F. And Larson E. W., Project Management – The Managing Process,

2008, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin 3. Melodies in Marketing, Playfully Exploring Innovation, 25 February 2008,

http://www.melodiesinmarketing.com/2008/02/25/the-stage-gate-model-ofproduct-development/, [Accessed on 30th November 2011] 4. Stage Gate International, 2000 – 2011, http://www.stage-

gate.com/knowledge_pipwhat.php, [Accessed on 30th November 2011]

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