Group Assignment Case Study
Group Assignment Case Study
CASE STUDY
Source: Larson E.W. & Gray C. F. (2018). Project Management: The
Managerial Process (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill International Edition
Contents
CASE 0: A Day in the Life..........................................................................................................2
Case 1: The Hokies Lunch Group (Chapter 1)...................................................................4
Case 2: Hector Gaming Company (Chapter 2)...................................................................8
Case 3: Film Prioritization (Chapter 2)..................................................................................9
Case 4: Fund Raising Project Selection (Chapter 2)..................................................... 12
Case 5: Moss and McAdams Accounting Firm (Chapter 3)........................................15
Case 6: Horizon Consulting (Chapter 3).............................................................................18
Case 7: Advantage Energy Technology Data Center Migration (Chapter 6).........21
Case 8: XSU Spring Concert (Chapter 7)...........................................................................23
Case 9: Alaska Fly-Fishing Expedition (Chapter 7).......................................................25
Case 10: Kerzner Office Equipment (Chapter 11)...........................................................27
Case 11: Maximum Megahertz Project (Chapter 14)......................................................30
Case 12: The Blue Sky Project (Chapter 10).....................................................................31
racks arrive, Brian can begin installing them. It will take one week to install the
ventilation system and three weeks to install the racks. The renovation of the new
data center can begin as soon as the contractors have been hired. The
contractors tell Brian that construction will take 20 days. Once the construction
begins and after Brian installs the ventilation system and racks, the city inspector
must approve the construction of the raised floor.
Brian is happy that everything has gone well thus far and is convinced that the
move will go just as smoothly. Now that an official date is set, the network will be
shut down for a day. Brian must move all of the network components to the new
data center. Brian will do the move over the weekend—two days—when user
traffic is at low point.
ASSIGNMENT
1. Generate a priority matrix for AET’s system move.
2. Develop a WBS for Brian’s project. Include duration (days) and predecessors.
3. Using a project planning tool, generate a network diagram for this project.
Note: Base your plan on the following guidelines: eight-hour days, five-day weeks
except for when Brian moves the network components over a weekend, no
holiday breaks, March 1, 2010, is the project start date. Ordering Ventilation
System, New Racks, and Power Supplies/Cables takes only one actual day of
work. The remaining days are the time necessary for the vendors to fill and ship
the order to Brian. So use Finish to Start lags here. Assume that five days after
the start of the Renovation of the Data Center that the raised floor will be ready for
inspection (a Start-toStart lag).
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
To organize and lead a five-day fly-fishing expedition down the Tikchik River system
in Alaska from June 21 to 25 at a cost not to exceed $35,000.
DELIVERABLES ∙ Provide air transportation from Dillingham, Alaska, to Camp I
and from Camp II back to Dillingham. ∙ Provide river transportation consisting of two
eight-man drift boats with outboard motors. ∙ Provide three meals a day for the five days
spent on the river. ∙ Provide four hours fly-fishing instruction. ∙ Provide overnight
accommodations at the Dillingham lodge plus three four-man tents with cots, bedding,
and lanterns. ∙ Provide four experienced river guides who are also fly fishermen. ∙
Provide fishing licenses for all guests.
CUSTOMER REVIEW
The president of BlueNote, Inc.
+ After the meeting is ended, she should have a time for the next meeting with a specific and
clear time, avoiding the case of late members.
+ The meeting should take place in the company's meeting room, not outside for many reasons.
The first is that the members' commuting will be easier, they will feel better when they don't
have to travel far and the delay is also solved. Second, they will realize the importance of this
project more when meeting at the company.
b. What barriers can she face until the completion of this project?
- Briggs's barrier in project implementation is the lack of cohesion and initial cooperation,
the project team which she is responsible must not be chosen by her members and being
selected. The working time of members is limited due to the work of separate departments. The
inspiration for the project and the work responsibilities as this is an established group based on
the choice of another non-project individual and non-voluntary members. Project power is not
high due to the different parts, only the manager is responsible for the project without any strict
constraints.
c. What can she do to overcome these barriers?
- Briggs plans again the entire project in steps specifically; Proposing to the parent
company to reduce administrative working time of team members to compensate for the time of
project operation (low approval rate); Proposal inspiration by providing motivation with project
team; Proposing to re-establish the project team by Briggs himself adding or reshaping the
project team with new members with organizational and time experience. (pretty good because
she trains and hires employees); Proposing to hire staffs to organize external events for more
appropriate advice.
d. What should she do from now until the next meeting?
- Get a specific meeting place in the company; Select a fixed time frame that all members
can attend to report what has been done; Re-start the project by re-planning the project with the
first step of identifying the project goals and defining the work of the project; Division of work
in accordance with the members; There is a set time for each job assigned to the members;
Proposing to reward and commend members for completing the best work.
questions: when, where, what, who, and how much? She created a stir in the
group when she responded to a question about cost by informing them that top
management was willing to pay up to $150,000 for the event. Megan quipped,
“This is going to be one hell of a party.” Briggs then turned the group’s attention to
identifying a common meeting time. After jousting for 15 minutes, she terminated
the discussion by requesting that each member submit a schedule of free time
over the next month by Friday. She would use this information and a new planning
software to identify optimal times. She ended the meeting by thanking the
members for coming and asking them to begin soliciting ideas from co-workers
about how this event should be celebrated. She announced that she would meet
individually with each of them to discuss their role on the project. The meeting
was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
1. Critique Briggs’s management of the first meeting. What, if anything, should she
have done differently?
2. What barriers is she likely to encounter in completing this project?
3. What can she do to overcome these barriers?
4. What should she do between now and the next meeting?
Garth Hudson was a 29-year-old graduate of Eastern State University (ESU) with
a B.S. degree in management information systems. After graduation he worked
for seven years at Bluegrass Systems in Louisville, Kentucky. While at ESU he
worked part time for an oceanography professor, Ahmet Green, creating a
customized database for a research project he was conducting. Green was
recently appointed director of Eastern Oceanography Institute (EOI), and Hudson
was confident that this prior experience was instrumental in his getting the job as
information services (IS) director at the Institute. Although he took a significant
pay cut, he jumped at the opportunity to return to his alma mater. His job at
Bluegrass Systems had been very demanding. The long hours and extensive
traveling had created tension in his marriage. He was looking forward to a normal
job with reasonable hours. Besides, Jenna, his wife, would be busy pursuing her
MBA at Eastern State University. While at Bluegrass, Hudson worked on a wide
range of IS projects. He was confident that he had the requisite technical
expertise to excel at his new job.
in doubt, leave it out. The actual migration only took a couple of days. Training
proved to be more problematic. The staff sent by OpenRange appeared to be
straight out of college. While enthusiastic, they were inexperienced in the art of
getting older staff to accept and use new technology. Many trainers had the habit
of simply doing things for the staff instead of showing them how to do it
themselves. It all came to a head when a power outage at the OpenRange
storage system shut down and disrupted operations at the Institute for 36 hours.
Ahmet held an emergency meeting. Hudson reported that the power outage
occurred in North East India and that OpenRange was expanding their back-up
systems. Several members argued that the Institute should switch to one of the
bigger providers. When this came up Hudson looked at Jackson and was relieved
when he remained silent. In the end, Ahmet announced that it would be too costly
to switch providers and Hudson and his staff would have to make the conversion
work. Jackson stepped forward and volunteered to manage the training. Everyone
agreed that the Institute should hire 3 more part-time assistants to help the staff
with the transition. Hudson worked behind the scenes, coordinating with his
counterparts at OpenRange and planning the conversion of the next segment of
the project. Jackson worked closely with the OpenRange trainers and refocused
their attention on teaching. Resistance was pretty high at first. Jackson used his
personal contacts within the Institute to rally support for the change. He
persuaded Hudson to change the conversion schedule to begin with those
projects in which the leads were most supportive of the change. Training
improved and Jackson created some useful training materials, including short
videos on how to access the virtual machines. One problem that occurred early in
the process involved a graduate research assistant who mistakenly hit the wrong
commands and terminated her virtual machine instead of logging off. This resulted
in complete loss of that machine’s data in the cloud. Fortunately, the Institute still
had back-up and Jackson was able recover the work. Collaborating with some
programmers at OpenRange, Jackson wrote a program that triggered a pop-up
message on the screen warning users not to terminate their virtual machine when
logging off. Assistants were always on call to address any problem or question.
Hudson spent most of his time interacting with the OpenRange counterparts and
rarely ventured out of his office
assistants were always on call to address any problem or question. Hudson spent
most of his time interacting with the OpenRange counterparts and rarely ventured
out of his office. He had his student assistants collect information from staff so he
could configure the new virtual machines to exactly match staff needs. He put in
long hours so that customized databases would work in the new environment.
This proved to be a very difficult task and he was quite pleased with his work.
Twice OpenRange experienced momentary power shortages at their server
facility which disrupted work at the Institute. Hudson was happy to report that
OpenRange was breaking ground on an alternative server system in Ukraine.
When the Institute conducted a retrospective (project review) on the Blue Sky
project, some still questioned the choice of OpenRange as a cloud service
provider, but praised Jackson’s work on helping the staff make the transition.
Despite the criticism over the choice of OpenRange, Hudson felt good about the
project. The system was up and running and the staff was beginning to enjoy the
flexibility it provided. Besides, the Institute would achieve real savings from the
new system. Soon after the retrospective, Hudson was surprised when Ahmet
walked into his office and closed the door. Ahmet began by thanking Hudson for
his work on the project. He then cleared his throat and said, “You know, Garth,
one of the consequences of Blue Sky is reducing our IT staff. Grant Hill is needed
for the data library project. So it comes down to you or Jackson. Frankly there is
general agreement among the Associate Directors that Jackson is essential to the
Institute. I know this might come as a surprise to you, and before I make a
decision I want to give you a chance to change my mind.”
1. If you were Hudson, how would you respond to the director?
Remind Ahmet of the initial reason why he offered Hudson the position of manager
(skills, experience). Point out important tasks which Hudson has done before as well
as during Blue Sky project. Accept critism to realize how to eliminate disadvantages
of Hudson’s management approaches
2. What mistakes did Hudson make?
Hudson hasn’t fulfilled his role as a manager: not tackle his conflicts with Jackson,
not determine goals clearly and not listen to his team members’ contribution ideas
when making decisions.
3. What are the lessons to be learned from this case?
Management by Wandering Around (MBWA), Managing Upward Relation, Leading
by Example, Influence as Exchange, Building Trust: the key to enhance influence,
buid characteristics of an effective manager, build relationships before you need
them, Trust is sustained throught frequent face-to-face contact.