Quantum Bank Inc. is a regional bank with branches throughout the southeast. In early 1999 the bank launched a website that provides its customers with the ability to check the balance of their accounts, and obtain information about the bank's various services, obtain contact information, email questions, and link to a variety of other useful sources of information. Given the site's tremendous success, competition from both traditional and non-traditional organizations, and the desire to expand its presence beyond its current geographical area, Quantum decided to significantly expand its online offerings. More specifically, Quantum would like to expand its website to include an online bill payment service, allow customers to apply for credit cards and loans online, open accounts, and manage their investment portfolios online. Vice-President of Information Systems, Stacey Thomas, has been charged with overseeing the project.
One of her first tasks was to select the project manager. Because of the strategic importance of the project, she had a strong preference for staffing the project internally as opposed to employing the services of one of the many consulting firms available that specialize in these types of projects. After developing a list of ten or so possible candidates to serve as project manager, she finally pared the list down to the two finalists described below.
Bill Fence: Bill joined Quantum in 1995 after graduating from a well-respected small private school with a degree in computer science. His first assignment as a member of the bank's help desk provided him with exposure to a variety of areas in the hank. He quickly gained a reputation for capable solving difficult technical problems. In addition, users of the bank's various computer systems were often heard commenting on how service-oriented Bill was and on his ability to describe concepts in nontechnical terms.
Because of both his technical knowledge related to hardware and his ability to program, Bill was selected to develop the bank's website in 1998. Bill worked alone on this project and had frequent meetings with one of the bank's directors of Information Systems, who supervised the project. Initially, the director did most of the design work and Bill did the computer programming. Bill often proposed alternative ways for incorporating key features into the website, and the director would choose among the options Bill identified. Toward the end of the development project, Bill began to take a more active role in proposing features to include in the site.
The development projects was largely completed on time and on budget considering the changes in the scope that were made as the project progressed. Several suggestions that would have extended the site's functionality were tabled to be considered after the site was officially launched.
In his current position as webmaster, Bill is in charge of maintaining the bank's website. Although Bill's reports now include a programmer and a hardware specialist, his approach is very much hands on, staying involved with all technical aspects of the site. Bill has developed an excellent rapport with his two direct reports, and they have emulated much of Bill's style including working long hours and even competing to see who can accumulate the largest number of soft drink cans, empty candy wrappers, and computer printouts on one desk.Andy Dover: Andy also joined the bank in 1995 after completing his MBA at a large public university.
Andy entered graduate school immediately after graduating with a Civil Engineering undergraduate degree at the same university. Andy spent his first year rotating between various departments in the bank's management training program. After completing this training, Andy requested a permanent assignment to the operations group. His initial assignment was to oversee the check encoding operation.
After implementing several process improvements, Andy was promoted to senior operations analyst and worked on several large process improvement projects.
Performance evaluations of Andy suggested that one his greatest strengths was his ability to step back from a problem and understand how the various issues were interrelated. His evaluations further recognized him as "a highly motivated self-starter with very good organizational skills." His organizational skills also helped him present effectively information, and he was often requested to make short presentations related to a particular project's status to senior management.
By almost all accounts, Andy was considered highly competent, completing assigned tasks in a timely fashion with little or no direct supervision. At the same time, Andy always made it a point to communicate regularly with other project team members to keep them abreast of his progress. He was often passionate about his ideas and could typically get buy-in from other team members for his ideas.
Andy is almost always seen carrying his planner. As an avid stock investor, he makes it a point to stay abreast of trends in technology. He has a basic understanding of how the Internet works and knows all the important buzzwords. While he has fooled around and created a couple of web pages, he knows very little about more sophisticated programming languages such as Java, and knows even less about computer hardware beyond its basic purpose.
Questions:
1. Who would you recommend Stacey Thomas select to serve as project manager? Why?
2. How would you recommend this project be organized? Functional project? Pure project? Matrix? Why?
3. Do you agree with Ms. Thomas's decision that the project should be staffed internally? Why?
4. What are the major advantages of staffing the project with Quantum employees?
5. Are there any advantages to utilizing the services of an outside consulting firm? Describe the pros and cons of using outside consultants.