Reference:
Barkley, B.T. (2004). Project risk management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
The Case Study:
In January 2008 the board of directors of SEITZ corp. met in Milwaukee with several important questions on the agenda. Among the decisions to be made was the selection of investment projects to be executed during the next fiscal year. After a detailed presentation, one of the proposed investments, the construction of a new plant in Huntsville Alabama, was approved. Janis Clark was selected to be the project manager. In the memo, which informed her of the board's approval she was given authorization to spend $2,750,000.00 and was given a target of June 2010 for completion of the plant and first shipment of product.
Besides being provided with funds in excess of the original request, Clark was given access to the other functional elements of the corporation's Midwest plant and headquarters for assistance in the project. Steve Pokorski, the Vice President of Operations, and Joe Downs, the Director of Plant Engineering, (who had submitted an alternate proposal which the board had rejected as being "reactionary and backward in thinking"), were instructed by the board to provide Clark with whatever she needed, even if it meant that their own performance would suffer. Down's prototype was, of course, turned over to Clark so that she could use the technology in the new plant.
Clark immediately called in her regional sales manager and her marketing director to assist her in initiating the project. They decided that the first objective was to put in place an appropriate organizational structure and to staff it with the required personnel recruited from both internal departments and from outside the company. Being a marketing and sales organization, they were a little thin on people with technical skills, but they expected to utilize the best and brightest from Down's and Pokorski's organizations because as Clark said "They don't really need much talent to run their operations anyway. We can offer their best people higher level management positions on the project team and then at the new Huntsville plant." When one of her staff questioned if these people would all be willing to move to Alabama, even for a promotion, she replied "who in their right mind would want to stay in Milwaukee when they could move to Alabama; and with a promotion too!"
Clark and her assistants drafted a preliminary list of the tasks which they felt were needed to accomplish the project, together with precedence relationships and durations. Clark had decided that one of the products to be produced in the new plant would be a new plastic container for wine products. She felt that glass bottles were on the way out as wine containers and that this was a ground floor opportunity to capture a major new market segment. In order to introduce the product properly, however, she felt the plant would have to be ready no later than the end of 2009.
Janis was ready to begin her project, when her project sponsor, Mark Green, from the board of directors asked her for her project charter, scope statement and WBS. Janis was stunned. After quickly reviewing some of her old project management books, she discovered that the project charter was typically written by the project sponsor. Since she had already created a task list, she decided to build her charter based on the task list and seek approval on it. Then, she determined to build her scope statement based on the charter. Last of all, she decided to use her task list as her WBS.
Project Task List
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Task Number
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Task Name
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1
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"HUNTSVILLE - Project"
|
|
2
|
Planning Phase
|
|
3
|
Select Architect
|
|
4
|
Recruit & Train Managers
|
|
5
|
Select Real Estate Consultant
|
|
6
|
Pre-Production Plan
|
|
7
|
Create Production Plan
|
|
8
|
Building Concept
|
|
9
|
Building Design
|
|
10
|
Site Procurement
|
|
11
|
Select General Contractor
|
|
12
|
Permits & Approvals
|
|
13
|
Preparation Phase
|
|
14
|
Site Preparation
|
|
15
|
Building Construction
|
|
16
|
Landscaping
|
|
17
|
Plant Readiness Phase
|
|
18
|
Plant Personnel Recruiting
|
|
19
|
Equipment Procurement
|
|
20
|
Raw Material Procurement
|
|
21
|
Equipment Installation
|
|
22
|
Product Distribution Plan
|
|
23
|
Truck Fleet Procurement
|
|
24
|
Pre-Production Run
|
|
25
|
Production Phase
|
|
26
|
Production Start-Up
|
|
27
|
Distribution
|
Write an essay that fully answers the following questions.
Question 1: From the case study above: “After quickly reviewing some of her old project management books, she discovered that the project charter was typically written by the project sponsor. Since she had already created a task list, she decided to build her charter based on the task list and seek approval on it. Then, she determined to build her scope statement based on the charter. Last of all, she decided to use her task list as her WBS.”
• Do you think Janis should pursue this course of action?
• Do you see any potential problems with it?
• What would you do to minimize any potential problems with this course of action?
Question 2. Discuss any potential conflicts between Clark, Downs and Pokorski.
• Identify the effect these conflicts may have on the project,
• And (most importantly), how they might be resolved.
Your paper should be at least one full page and to a maximum of three pages. Remember, your paper should be readily understood by the executive management of this project; in other words do not repeat the questions, use headings to denote the topics.
Support your analysis with properly formatted in-text citations and references from the textbook, PMBOK, library journals, or other juried sources (Wikipedia, discussions, blogs, and other unsubstantiated sources are not appropriate for academic purpose).
Your paper should include a cover sheet and a reference page. Remember to use APA format, double-spacing, one inch margins, 12-point Arial font.