PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT - LEADERSHIP

 

CASE STUDY : The Trophy Project

The ill-fated Trophy Project was in trouble right from the start. Reichart, who had been an assistant project manager,
was involved with the project from its conception. When the Trophy Project was accepted by the company, Reichart
was assigned as the project manager. The program schedules started to slip from day one, and expenditures were
excessive. Reichart found that the functional managers were charging direct labor time to his project but working
on their own "pet" projects. When Reichart complained of this, he was told not to meddle in the functional manager's
allocation of resources and budgeted expenditures. After approximately six months, Reichart was requested to
make a progress report directly to corporate and division staffs.

Reichart took this opportunity to bare his soul. The report substantiated that the project was forecasted to be one
complete year behind schedule. Reichart’s staff, as supplied by the line managers, was inadequate to stay at the
required pace, let alone make up any time that had already been lost. The estimated cost at completion at this
interval showed a cost overrun of at least 20 percent. This was Reichart’s first opportunity to tell his story to people
who were in a position to correct the situation. The result of Reichart’s frank, candid evaluation of the Trophy Project
was very predictable. Nonbelievers finally saw the light, and the line managers realized that they had a role to play
in the completion of the project. Most of the problems were now out in the open and could be corrected by providing
adequate staffing and resources. Corporate staff ordered immediate remedial action and staff support to provide
Reichart a chance to bail out his program.

The results were not at all what Reichart had expected. He no longer reported to the project office; he now reported
directly to the operations manager. Corporate staff’s interest in the project became very intense, requiring a 7:00
a.m. meeting every Monday morning for complete review of the project status and plans for recovery. Reichart
found himself spending more time preparing paperwork, reports, and projections for his Monday morning meetings
than he did administering the Trophy Project. The main concern of corporate was to get the project back on
schedule. Reichart spent many hours preparing the recovery plan and establishing manpower requirements to bring
the program back onto the original schedule.

Group staff, in order to closely track the progress of the Trophy Project, assigned an assistant program manager.
The assistant program manager determined that a sure cure for the Trophy Project would be to computerize the
various problems and track the progress through a very complex computer program. Corporate provided Reichart
with twelve additional staff members to work on the computer program. In the meantime, nothing changed. The
functional managers still did not provide adequate staff for recovery, assuming that the additional manpower
Reichart had received from corporate would accomplish that task.

After approximately $50,000 was spent on the computer program to track the problems, it was found that the
program objectives could not be handled by the computer. Reichart discussed this problem with a computer supplier
and found that $15,000 more was required for programming and additional storage capacity. It would take two
months for installation of the additional storage capacity and the completion of the programming. At this point, the
decision was made to abandon the computer program.

Reichart was now a year and a half into the program with no prototype units completed. The program was still nine
months behind schedule with the overrun projected at 40 percent of budget. The customer had been receiving his
reports on a timely basis and was well aware of the fact that the Trophy Project was behind schedule. Reichart had
spent a great deal of time with the customer explaining the problems and the plan for recovery. Another problem
that Reichart had to contend with was that the vendors who were supplying components for the project were also
running behind schedule.

 
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One Sunday morning, while Reichart was in his office putting together a report for the client, a corporate vice
president came into his office. “Reichart,” he said, "in any project I look at the top sheet of paper and the man whose
name appears at the top of the sheet is the one I hold responsible. For this project your name appears at the top
of the sheet. If you cannot bail this thing out, you are in serious trouble in this corporation." Reichart did not know
which way to turn or what to say. He had no control over the functional managers who were creating the problems,
but he was the person who was being held responsible.

After another three months the customer, becoming impatient, realized that the Trophy Project was in serious
trouble and requested that the division general manager and his entire staff visit the customer’s plant to give a
progress and “get well’’ report within a week. The division general manager called Reichart into his office and said,
"Reichart, go visit our customer. Take three or four functional line people with you and try to placate him with
whatever you feel is necessary.” Reichart and four functional line people visited the customer and gave a four-and-
a-half-hour presentation defining the problems and the progress to that point. The customer was very polite and
even commented that it was an excellent presentation, but the content was totally unacceptable. The program was
still six to eight months late, and the customer demanded progress reports on a weekly basis. The customer made
arrangements to assign a representative in Reichart's department to be “on-site” at the project on a daily basis and
to interface with Reichart and his staff as required. After this turn of events, the program became very hectic.

The customer representative demanded constant updates and problem identification and then became involved in
attempting to solve these problems. This involvement created many changes in 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 vocally when, in many cases, the customer felt the changes were
at no cost. This caused a deterioration of the relationship between client and producer.

One morning Reichart was called into the division general manager’s office and introduced to Mr. “Red” Baron.
Reichart was told to turn over the reins of the Trophy Project to Red immediately. “Reichart, you will be temporarily
reassigned to some other division within the corporation. I suggest you start looking outside the company for
another job.” Reichart looked at Red and asked, “Who did this? Who shot me down?”

Red was program manager on the Trophy Project for approximately six months, after which, by mutual agreement,
he was replaced by a third project manager. The customer reassigned his local program manager to another
project. With the new team the Trophy Project was finally completed one year behind schedule and at a 40 percent
cost overrun.

   

 
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LEADERSHIP EFECTIVENESS (A)

Instructions

The tabulation form on page 7 is concerned with a comparison of personal supervisory styles. Indicate your
preference to the two alternatives after each item by writing appropriate figures in the blanks. Some of the
alternatives may seem equally attractive or unattractive to you. Nevertheless, please attempt to choose the
alternative that is relatively more characteristic of you. For each question given, you have three (3) points that you
may distribute in any of the following combinations:

A. If you agree with alternative (a) and disagree with (b), write 3 in the top blank and 0 in bottom blank.

a: 3
b: 0

B. If you agree with (b) and disagree with (a), write:

a: 0
b: 3

C. If you have a slight preference for (a) over (b), write:

a: 2
b: 1

D. If you have a slight preference for (b) over (a), write:

a: 1
b: 2

Important—Use only the combinations shown above. Try to relate each item to your own personal experience.
Please make a choice from every pair of alternatives.

 
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1. On the job, a project manager should make a decision and ...

a. ...tell his team to carry it out.

b. ...“tell” his team about the decision and then try to “sell” it.

2. After a project manager has arrived at a decision ...

a. ...he should try to reduce the team’s resistance to his decision by indicating what they have to gain.

b. ...he should provide an opportunity for his team to get a fuller explanation of his ideas.

3. When a project manager presents a problem to his subordinates ...

a. ...he should get suggestions from them and then make a decision.

b. ...he should define it and request that the group make a decision.

4. A project manager ...

a. ...is paid to make all the decisions affecting the work of his team.

b. ...should commit himself in advance to assist in implementing whatever decision his team selects when
they are asked to solve a problem.

5. A project manager should ...

a. ...permit his team an opportunity to exert some influence on decisions but reserve final decisions for
himself.

b. ...participate with his team in group decision-making but attempt to do so with a minimum of authority.

6. In making a decision concerning the work situation, a project manager should ...

a. ...present his decision and ideas and engage in a “give-and-take” session with his team to allow them
to fully explore the implications of the decision.

b. ...present the problem to his team, get suggestions, and then make a decision.

7. A good work situation is one in which the project manager ...

a. ...“tells” his team about a decision and then tries to “sell” it to them.

b. ...calls his team together, presents a problem, defines the problem, and requests they solve the problem
with the understanding that he will support their decision(s).

8. A well-run project will include ...

a. ...efforts by the project manager to reduce the team’s resistance to his decisions by indicating what they
have to gain from them.

b. ...“give-and take” sessions to enable the project manager and team to explore more fully the implications
of the project manager’s decisions.

9. A good way to deal with people in a work situation is ...

a. ...to present problems to your team as they arise, get suggestions, and then make a decision.

 
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

b. ...to permit the team to make decisions, with the understanding that the project manager will assist in
implementing whatever decision they make.

10. A good project manager is one who takes ...

a. ...the responsibility for locating problems and arriving at solutions, then tries to persuade his team to
accept them.

b. ...the opportunity to collect ideas from his team about problems, then he makes his decision.

11. A project manager ...

a. ...should make the decisions in his organization and tell his team to carry them out.

b. ...should work closely with his team in solving problems, and attempt to do so with a minimum of
authority.

12. To do a good job, a project manager should ...

a. ...present solutions for his team’s reaction.

b. ...present the problem and collect from the team suggested solutions, then make a decision
based on the best solution offered.

13. A good method for a project manager is ...

a. ...to “tell" and then try to “sell” his decision.

b. ...to define the problem for his team, then pass them the right to make decisions.

14. On the job, a project manager ...

a. ...need not give consideration to what his team will think or feel about his decisions.

b. ...should present his decisions and engage in a “give-and-take” session to enable everyone concerned
to explore, more fully, the implications of the decisions.

15. A project manager...

a. ...should make all decisions himself.

b....should present the problem to his team, get suggestions, and then make a decision.

16. It is good ...

a. ...to permit the team an opportunity to exert some influence on decisions, but the project manager should
reserve final decisions for himself.

b. ...for the project manager to participate with his team in group decision-making with as little authority as
possible.

17. The project manager who gets the most from his team is the one who ...

a. ...exercises direct authority.

b. ...seeks possible solutions from them and then makes a decision.

 
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18. An effective project manager should ...

a. ...make the decisions on his project and tell his team to carry them out.

b. ...make the decisions and then try to persuade his team to accept them.

19. A good way for a project manager to handle work problems is to ...

a. ...implement decisions without giving any consideration to what his team will think or feel.

b. ...permit the team an opportunity to exert some influence on decisions but reserve the final decision for
himself.

20. Project managers ...

a. ..should seek to reduce the team’s resistance to their decisions by indicating what they have to gain
from them.

b. ...should seek possible solutions from their team when problems arise and then make a decision from
the list of alternatives.

 
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LEADERSHIP QUESTIONNAIRE

Tabulation Forum

1 2 3 4 5

1 a: b:

2 a: b:

3 a: b:

4 a: b:

5 a: b:

6 a: b:

7 a: b:

8 a: b:

9 a: b:

10 a: b:

11 a: b:

12 a: b:

13 a: b:

14 a: b:

15 a: b:

16 a: b:

17 a: b:

18 a: b:

19 a: b:

20 a: b:

TOTAL