A Trophy Project

Table of Contents

Executive Summary……………………….........................……………………………………………2

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Problem Identification…………………………………………………………………………………....3

Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………….......14

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….17

References……………………………………………………………………………………………….18

Executive Summary

The trophy project case study reflects a project manager, who has been entrusted with the task of seeing the project to success but has no control and authority over his own project, resulting to no control over budget and the staff that was allocated to his project. It is evident that there is minimal support from the leadership of the organization. This creates a poor psychological climate in the workplace and lack of strategic direction. This could be addressed by looking at leadership in the company and applying strategies to improve leadership behaviour and attitude.

This organisation is currently experiencing poor communication, and addressed by working in multi-functional groups which will reduce the mis-communication and lack of information transfer in the company. Functional managers lack understanding of their roles and responsibilities, hence the failure to meet project demands. All of the responsibility and accountability was place on Reichart’s shoulders. The absence of integration between behavioural, structural and operational strategies is a product of poor leadership. The project was behind schedule and over budget which indicates that there was a lack of proper project planning, monitoring and control from the very beginning. There should have been a programme office set up by the executives to set up strategies to handle the current project issues and prioritise projects to allocate resources accordingly. This company clearly has no focus on their balance scorecard, programme management or systems thinking; all of which is needed for successful strategy execution and change management. No proper strategies where developed to address the forecast, budget and resource issue. It was only after 6 months that leadership gained interest in tracking progress of the project. This is the reason for the failure of the new computerised system.

Introduction

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.

The ill-treated Trophy project was in trouble from the start, assistant project manager Reichart who was involved from the start was made project manager when the trophy project was accepted by the company. The project schedule started slipping from day one and the expenditure was excessive, due to functional managers charging direct labour to Reichart’s project, but working on their own projects.  When he complained about what the functional managers were doing he was told not to meddle with the functional managers’ allocations of resources and budgeted expenditures.

After a year, Reichart was removed from the project and was replaced by another project manager called Red Baron without an explanation. Same thing happened to Mr. Red, at the end the project was completed by a new team one year behind the schedule and with 40 per cent cost over as Reichart projected.

Problem Identification of the trophy project

1. There is lack of senior management support. From the analysis of the case study, when Reichart conducted the first review of the project, he identified that the main issue was that the resources that were allocated from the functional departments were not working on the trophy project as they should. Instead the functional managers allocated them to their pet projects. He also identified that even if they worked on the project they were still not adequate. At this point senior management should have intervened.

Senior Management did not appear to be very supportive or committed to this project. They did not provide vested leadership to guide and enable the project manager and his team to succeed. When the problems were identified early on, resources were dispatched to the project but they served to be a bigger detriment than an aide to achieve the project objectives. Informing the senior management of problems at an early stage should render support and encouragement that will serve all the interests of the project team. However, this senior management team provided threats and intimidating management methods. Resources are commonly shared by a number of projects and distributing of critical resources will usually be made by senior / upper management. This did not appear to happen in this case.    

It must be realised that as a senior manager, you are responsible for everything that goes on in the organisation. This lack of leadership led to a host of other problems such as a poor psychological climate in the organisation, lack of trust, poor communication and no cohesion and collaboration between departments. Good leaders focus both on strategy and the people in the organisation. Executives, together with HR, should take the time to develop an understanding of their employees and place them in roles based on their cognitive and conative strengths. The executives should build on the strengths of their employees and send them for training to acquire the skills necessary for performing their duties. This will show that senior management is supporting the learning and growth perspective of the company’s balanced scorecard. This will facilitate in creating high performance teams which will lead to overall improved performance. In order for leaders to bring about change in behaviour and attitude in the functional managers and other employees in the organisation they first have to internalise and emit those qualities themselves. Senior management has to realise that the employees of the organisation are the foundation of value creation. In order to create a culture of trust and support, top management must implement decentralised managerial decision making. This will empower the employees and gain their commitment on the project and future projects. When staff feel as if senior management trusts and supports them, this will have a significant positive influence on their behaviour. Once the trust and support issue is sorted out, this will lead to the organisational climate and culture improving. Creating this environment will promote cohesion and teamwork, create high performance teams, improve communication and reduce frustration and distrust. With the guidance of the executives and a stronger focus on the mission and vision of the company, this will enhance the company’s value system.