a) What do you think Olaf Gundersen, the CEO of Wireless Telecom Company should

Question

a) What do you think Olaf Gundersen, the CEO of Wireless Telecom Company should do? Use what you know from the case and the course to build the arguments? (The answer will not be graded based on right or wrong but how the arguments are developed.)

b) What are some potential conflicts that could result from the steps in recommended in a? How could you apply change management or conflict avoidance/resolution techniques to avoid or resolve these?

c) Based on what you have learned in this class, what could have been done so that the project problems would have been avoided? (Of course, you do not have complete information but use what is here and what you have learned is best practice in managing projects.)

d) Costs and deadlines of the projects escalated in the Maximum Megahertz project. Why are accurate estimates critical to project management? What would you advise Olaf about his problems with estimate? How to develop a process that would result in more realistic estimates?

e) How should Olaf improve project management in his organization?

Explanation / Answer

Answer :

1. I rather recommend Mr. Guderson to review the project (to check whether there is a substantial improvement being made or are they close to adding some value as they claim to be) and check whether the promise which they are currently making is achievable and feasible (Ask for a detailed plan, justifying the investment being made along with the timelines and milestones on a frequent intervals).

Since most of the managers believe that the power pack problem can definitely be resolved, he can work on the cost benefit analysis for fixing that problem (Considering the worst outcome of having only that problem being fixed).

Along with that he should also request for the reasons for the projects not being completed in time needs to be evaluated. Having a third party to monitor the project to keep up with deadlines needs to maintained and frequent reviews and intermittent reviews needs to be conducted, to have a close eye on the project.

2. Considering the fact that the above stream which we are discussing is R&D, there will conflict in frequent reviews on the progress being made. There might be conflicts in providing exact plan along with milestones as we can see that the project management process in place is very weak.

Mr. Guderson can use a third party to address the conflicts which might arise. Third party is recommended as it is also mentioned in the case that, he does not want to have bad blood with his star employees. Third party person will recommend and also provide suggestions for minimizing the deviation and the conflict can be suppressed by effectively communicating the reasons for the same.

I would go for a 3-strike rule.

Firstly, clearly communicating the reasons for the new process along with the benefits to the project

Secondly, communicating how it will ease the project activities and in turn will help the organization

Third, imposing the change on them

3. Basis the case, following are the things that I would have done differently:

a. It was very clear from the first sentence that Mr. Guderson did not have clear knowledge of the project. I would have called a SME (Subject Matter Expert) for our discussion and had a clear understanding and then evaluated the proposal given.

b. It is mentioned that he took a gamble considering the cost is less. If I feel the cost quoted is very less, I want to evaluate the plan. Usually there will be a error in the planning, mainly because project management aspects are not clearly considered. I would also consider evaluating the similar projects executed and see whether the cost quoted is same or different from the one in hand. This will help in understanding the dynamics.

c. Since already company have wasted their money in similar projects, I would have taken a proactive approach to evaluate the reasons for failure and rectifying it,and then getting into work, rather than simply initiating the project just because the cost quoted is less.

d. Usually R&D project will have one manager, I would suggest a Technical manager, managing technical stuffs and a project manager, to keep track on project management related activities.

e. I would provide clear training to the resources to understand the importance of project management frameworks, rather than pushing them at the last instance.

4. Technically speaking Cost variance and Schedule variance are the two most important metrics when it comes to Project Management.

Considering the fact the most of the organizations penultimate goal is to earn profits, no one will like to spend more cost that what is required. And also considering the fact that the business is changing very frequently and competitors are also trying to resolve the problems in hand, moving into market quickly is a necessity for having competitive advantage. Along with that schedule variance is directly proportional cost incurred. Hence these 2 metrics are very critical in Project Management.

Having not evaluated the over all reason, I believe the issue might be because of the planning. Seems like the cost was extremely low for the project of that magnitude. Or there might be issue of clear understanding of underlying costs and time of the project. I would advice Olaf to have clear understanding of the project and also review the project plan in a detailed fashion, before giving nod.

Mr. Olaf can use similar previously executed successful projects as an example to estimate the Project management metrics.

5. He can improve Project Management in following ways:

a. Use a Project Management experts to provide trainings to the employees, showcasing examples and its benefits

b. Have clearly stated metrics to monitor the activities, on whether the same being followed or not

c. Have a audit team, to conduct audits as a individual body to sustain the implementation

d. Make it mandatory to follow the framework

e. Reward the people who performs good with the metrics.

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