1. What are some of the major problems facing the management of Hyten in accepting formalized
project
management? (Include
attitude problems/
personality problems.) There are many problems faced by Hyten Corporation due to accepting formalized project management.
One of the major problems, there will be conflict between functional manager and project manager. There should be at the same grade level and neither one has authority over the other, but let’s say there is a situation where the two of them disagree as to either direction or quality of work. This situation will lead the functional employee in an awkward position. Any employee will have the tendency of bending toward the individual who signs his or her promotion and evaluation form. This can influence the project manager into recommending an evaluation below par regardless of how the functional employee performs. There is also the situation where the employee is on the project for only a couple of weeks, and spends most of his or her time working alone, never getting a chance to know the project manager. The project manager will probably give the functional employee an average rating, even though the employee has done an excellent job. There also will be affected when the project manage allows personal feelings to influence his or her evaluation of a functional employee. A project manager who knows the functional employee personally might be tempted to give a strong or weak recommendation regardless of performance.
There will be personnel problems involved that project management might bring. The example of situation that might occur is the project manager makes an excellent recommendation to the functional manager. The functional employee is aware of the appraisal and feels he or she should be given an above average pay increase to match the excellent job appraisal, but the functional manager fails to do so. One personnel manager from another company incorporating project management ran into problems when the project manager gave an employee of one grad level responsibilities of a higher grade level. the functional manager gave an average evaluation and argued that the project manager had no business giving the functional employee added responsibility without first checking with him. Also there are some functional managers who will only give above average pay increases to those employees who stay in the functional department and make that manager look good.
There also will be problem for project manager on when they should fill out his or her evaluation during or after project completion. It would have to go after project completion. That way an employee who felt unfairly evaluated would not feel tempted to screw up the project. If an employee felt the work wasn’t justly evaluated, the employee might decide not to show up for a few days. This few days of absence could be most crucial for timely project completion.
Other than that there will be problem in handling evaluation of employees who work on several projects at the same time. This could be a problem if employees are really enthusiastic about one project over another. They could do a terrific job on the project they are interested in and slack off on another projects. There also have functional people working on departmental jobs but charging their time to the project overheads. 2. Do any of the managers appear to have valid arguments for their beliefs as to why formal project management should not be considered ?
Yes. Only one manager, Fred Kuncl, plant engineering was worried about the trade-offs involved in implementing formal project management at Hyten and feel that plant engineering cannot live with them.
Our departmental activities are centered around highly unpredictable circumstances, which sometimes involve rapidly changing priorities related to the production function. We in plant engineering must be able to respond quickly and appropriately to maintenance activities directly related to manufacturing activities. Plant engineering is also responsible for carrying out critical preventive maintenance and plant construction projects.
Project management would hinder our activities because project management responsibilities would burden our manpower with additional tasks. I am against project management because I feel that it is not in the best interest of Hyten. Project management would weaken our department’s functional specialization because it would require cross-utilization of resources, manpower, and negotiation for the services critical to plant engineering.
3. Are there any good reasons why Hyten should go to formal project management?
Introduction of a more formal type of project management than has been used in the past so that all departments who are involved will actively participate in the planning cycle of the project. That way they will remain aware of how they affect the function of other departments and prevent overlapping of work. We should be able to stay on schedule and get better cooperation. The Product Design group starts making changes that require new cost figures and lead times. These changes result in cost overruns and in not meeting schedule dates. Typically, these changes continue right up to the production start date. Manufacturing appears to be the bad guy for not meeting the scheduled start date. We need someone to coordinate the work of various departments to prevent this continuous redoing of various jobs. We will at least have a chance at meeting the schedule, reducing cost, and improving the attitude of my people.” 4. Discuss whether formal project management give employees more room for personal growth? By implementing formal project management to the corporation will give employees more room for personal growth. Formal project management can improve the chances of completing a project successfully. By implement this formal project management employees tend to learn more new things and tend to work in a formal way. There also will be proper formal communication among employees. Employees tend to learn extra skill and learn new things. For example the employee should learn on how to write the cost commitment report which needs extra skill. Other than that the formal project management will provide more structured workplace where the employees tend to work in structured work and lead them finishing the task on time. 5. Will formalized project management make it appear as though business development has taken power away from other groups? Manpower for the Business Development Department was taken from both outside the company and from within the division. This was done to honor the Corporation’s commitment to hire people from the outside only after it was determined that there were no qualified people internally (an area that for years has been a sore spot to the younger managers and engineers).
When the Business Development Department was organized, its level of authority and responsibility was limited. However, the Department’s authority and responsibility have subsequently expanded, though at a slow rate. This was done so as not to alienate the functional managers who were concerned that project management would undermine their “empire.” 6. Were the MBAs exposed to project management? Yes. Several MBA people working here at Hyten who have been exposed to project management. 7. Explain whether the organizational personnel focusing more on the problems or merits of project management? The organizational personnel focus more on the problems rather than merits of projects managements. Most of the department has problems with formalized projects management. As one of the personnel said, “Changing over would not be an easy road. There are several matters to be taken under consideration.” Should stop going to outside sources for competent people to manage new projects that are established within Business Development. There are several competent people at Hyten who have MBA’s in Systems/Project Management. With that background and their familiarity with company operations, it would be to the company’s advantage if we selected personnel from within our organization. 8. What basic fears do employees have in considering organizational change to formal project management?
Trade-offs involved in implementing formal project management.
Additional Tasks.
Utilization of resources.
Manpower and negotiation.
Allow schedules and project costs
Hiring Outsiders
9. Discuss the need to sell the idea of project management prior to its implementation? The corporation should sell the idea of project management to each department so that each department will have the basic knowledge on project management before they implement it. The corporation can sell the idea of project management by providing training and seminars to each department. By doing this the employees wont feel awkward when the corporation introducing the formal project management. The employees will be ready and prepared before the implementation of the formal project management. The corporation should convince the employees and giving talks on the advantage of the formal project management. This lead to change the employees mind and all departments will be prepared to face the challenges after implementation of the project management. By selling ideas of project management to all department, at least the employees get to know the formal project management structure. 10. Is it possible that some of the support groups cannot give immediate attention to such an organizational change? Yes, Is it possible that some of the support groups cannot give immediate attention to such an organizational change. 11. Discuss whether the functional managers risk a loss of employee loyalty with the new change. Hyten Corporation was management to examine the idea of changing the organization structure from informal project management to formal project management. Many changes will have to be made when Hyten Corporation introduces formal project management for it to be beneficial. The main issue that would affect employee loyalty would be their appraisal or evaluation as this will be very crucial to the happiness of the employees and the success of projects. Employees must feel they are being given a square deal, especially in the evaluation procedure. This is where the role of the functional managers would collide with that of the project managers. In the formal project management model project managers would also be key players in the evaluation process. In fact in the formal project management structure, project managers would be responsible for accomplishing the stated project
objectives. A functional manager is a person who has management authority over an organizational unit - such as a department - within a business, company, or other organization. Functional managers have ongoing responsibilities, and are not usually directly affiliated with project teams, other than ensuring that goals and objectives are aligned with the organization's overall strategy and vision. Who will do the evaluation? If any given organization does not adequately define roles and ensure harmony, it will result in territorial struggles and other foolishness. For instance, both managers may feel it’s their role to give a performance evaluation and fight with each other. Approval for various things like replacement equipment, forms, etc. may become contentious. This question decides where the bias of the employee would be. Any disagreement between the two managers concerned would put the employee in a difficult position. The squabbling over the evaluation would lead to unhappiness on the part of the employee if he feels his evaluation are below his expectations.
The movement of the employee to a higher grade level with a
proportionate salary increase or promotion would be affected. This would demoralize the employee because the employee’s future is closely tied to his or her appraisalpromotions, pay raises, and continuation of employment are among the most obvious outcomes. Employee loyalty can be defined as employees being committed to the success of the organization and believing that working for this organization is their best option. Thus if in the transformation to a formal project management structure, the interface between project managers and functional managers are not clearly defined, then this could lead to lower employee loyalty. This in turn would mean that the employees would only plan not to remain with the organization. They then would actively search for alternative employment and would be responsive to offers from other employers. 12. What recommendation would you make to Hyten Corporation on the implementation of formal project management ? The challenge in implementing formal project management in Hyten Corporation is bigger than just telling everyone on the team to do things a certain way. People who aren’t used to working within a formal structure and framework can sometimes rebel when they are asked to do it for the first time. These people will first tend to negatively view the new processes before starting to (grudgingly) see their value.
If Hyten Corporation were trying to help implement a project management discipline throughout the entire organization, the job would be much more complex and time-consuming. In that kind of initiative, Hyten Corporation would be trying to perform a culture change with project managers, team members, functional managers, and clients. I would make the following recommendations to Hyten Corporation before the implementation of formal project management:Leadership Hyten Corporation would first of all have to appoint a project manager, someone who is the primary person to lead this change. This project manager will have to set the priorities and the tone for how the project is run. It would be better if a capable candidate is chosen from within the ranks of the present qualified staff. If the project manager defines and plans the project well, and then executes and control the project using good techniques, the other team members should follow his lead. If project team members see that the project leader is not communicating well, or if they see the project manager accepting new scope requirements on his own, or if they see confusion on team members’ roles, they’ll obviously question what they’re doing. This should not be allowed to happen. A project manager should talk the talk and walk the walk. Project management advocate The project team leader or project manager would have to find someone on every team at Hyten Corporation who can be an inside partner. The teams at Hyten Corporation would accept the new processes more quickly if there’s another team member on their side. This person should be a senior individual whom the rest of the team respects. The person doesn’t have to be a cheerleader but will set a good example and encourage the rest of the team to follow the work processes established for the project team. Communication Introducing a culture change without a frequent, ongoing, and consistent message is difficult. Hyten Corporation and the project manager in particular should make sure the team is aware of what is being done and why. The perceived value and benefit of the project should be explained the teams and this message should be repeated often. This type of communication can take many shapes over time. For
example, if any team members does something right regarding the project management procedures, they should be praised for their effort. The project manager should also track and publicize how the team is doing in terms of meeting commitments for schedule, cost, and quality. Management fears the loss of control If Hyten Corporation really want to effectively implement a project management discipline at their company, they must give a level of control and authority to the project manager. Some management, middle managers especially, don’t want to lose that control. They may want people to coordinate the projects, but they want to make all the decisions and exercise all the control themselves. Project Managers should and have to change the attitudes of these people. Processes and procedures Hyten Corporation cannot successfully introduce a good project management discipline without implementing a set of processes that everyone can see and understand. This starts off with the planning processes. With a project their size, I think it should be understood that Hyten Corporation need, for example, a Project Definition and a work plan. Hyten Corporation also need to have processes for managing issues, scope, risk, and communication. These don’t have to be long, tedious procedures, but they have to be at a level where people understand what is expected of them and how the project management processes work. Training Finally, after Hyten Corporation have dealt successfully with the staff dynamics and the required processes, make sure that no one has difficulty understanding project management skills. Hyten Corporation must invest in a long term training regiment. They must think about providing short training to the entire team to familiarize them with project management processes, and then sending Hyten Corporationr team leaders or other project managers to more formal project management training.
