Only answer all of section 4 in green below on second page.
Expanding an information and communications technology infrastructure and information system (Group Project)
In Weeks 3 and 4, you began a group project where you had to rebuild/expand your company's information and communications technology infrastructure and information system. You agreed upon a proposed change that required several steps to implement and planned a
change presentation.
In this week, you learn that the board of governors has approved your proposal. They have also decided that the change must be global and will be applied to all of your company branches. The board also stated that the proposal must be guided and controlled by a special problemsolving team, and its implementation plan must be developed. Your company's headquarters are on one continent (your group should specify which continent), but there are also branches around other continents.
For the next two weeks, you and your group will specify the composition of the problem-solving team and will draft the implementation plan.
1 Discuss the right composition of the problem-solving team:
1 Decide on the number of members of the problem-solving team. Specify functions and roles of its individual members. Give reasons for your choice.
2 Do you prefer appointing its leader or keeping the team self-managed? Explain why.
3 How will you coordinate your activities, make your decisions and handle your occasional disagreements? How will you organise your reporting to the board of governors?
4 How will you measure each team member's performance? Do you prefer measuring the performance of each individual and/or of the group as a whole? Why?
5 What sort of individual and/or group rewards do you recommend? Explain your reasons.
6 Presume that very few of the team members meet with each other. What methods do you recommend to increase their mutual trust and open communication?
2 Specify the implementation plan.
3 Elaborate into your goals in terms of:
1 Purchasing/leasing/outsourcing hardware versus purchasing/licensing software (including its multilingual versions).
2 User and administrator training.
3 Your priorities in all above issues.
4 The forms of collaboration of your company with the supplier, ways of communication and your liaison officer(s).
5 Set up deadlines and responsibilities of the problem-solving team's members.
4 Prepare your negotiation strategy with your suppliers (see items 2.1 and 2.2).
Anticipate your suppliers' position concerning:
1 To what degree its position to the above items might correspond to your interests.
2 Is your supplier eager to accept your proposal? Why or why not? What points of your proposal are potentially difficult to negotiate for your supplier?
3 What sort of penalties will you ask for violating the conditions of the agreement?
4 Who will supposedly represent the supplier? What is his/her/their decisional power in the partner's organisation? Develop a list of actions you might conceivably take if no agreement is reached (i.e. so-called Plan B).
Only answer all of section 4 in green above. Your document should have 450 words for this section.