Reference no: EM132795539 , Length: word count:1200

BU4113-G6 Project Management

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY: MACON, INC.

Macon was a fifty-year-old company in the business of developing test equipmentfor the tire industry. The company had a history of segregated departments withvery focused functional line managers. The company had two major technical departments:mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Both departmentsreported to a vice president for engineering, whose background was always mechanicalengineering. For this reason, the company focused all projects from a mechanicalengineering perspective. The significance of the test equipment's electricalcontrol system was often minimized when, in reality, the electrical controlsystems were what made Macon's equipment outperform that of the competition.

Because of the strong autonomy of the departments, internal competition existed.Line managers were frequently competing with one another rather than focusingon the best interest of Macon. Each would hope the other would be thecause for project delays instead of working together to avoid project delays altogether.Once dates slipped, fingers were pointed and the problem would worsenover time.

One of Macon's customers had a service department that always blamed engineeringfor all of their problems. If the machine was not assembled correctly, itwas engineering's fault for not documenting it clearly enough. If a componentfailed, it was engineering's fault for not designing it correctly. No matter whatproblem occurred in the field, customer service would always put the blame onengineering.

As might be expected, engineering would blame most problems on productionclaiming that production did not assemble the equipment correctly and didnot maintain the proper level of quality. Engineering would design a product andthen throw it over the fence to production without ever going down to the manufacturingfloor to help with its assembly. Errors or suggestions reported from productionto engineering were being ignored. Engineers often perceived the assemblersas incapable of improving the design.

Production ultimately assembled the product and shipped it out to the customer.Oftentimes during assembly, the production people would change the designas they saw fit without involving engineering. This would cause severe problemswith documentation. Customer service would later inform engineering that the documentationwas incorrect, once again causing conflict among all departments.

The president of Macon was a strong believer in project management.Unfortunately, his preaching fell upon deaf ears. The culture was just too strong.Projects were failing miserably. Some failures were attributed to the lack of sponsorshipor commitment from line managers. One project failed as the result of aproject leader who failed to control scope. Each day the project would fall furtherbehind because work was being added with very little regard for the project's completiondate. Project estimates were based upon a "gut feel" rather than upon soundquantitative data.

The delay in shipping dates was creating more and more frustration for thecustomers. The customers began assigning their own project managers as "watchdogs"to look out for their companies' best interests. The primary function ofthese "watchdog" project managers was to ensure that the equipment purchasedwould be delivered on time and complete. This involvement by the customers wasbecoming more prominent than ever before.The president decided that action was needed to achieve some degree of excellencein project management. The question was what action to take, and when.

QUESTIONS

1. Where will the greatest resistance for excellence in project management come from?

2. What plan should be developed for achieving excellence in project management?

3. How long will it take to achieve some degree of excellence?

4. Explain the potential risks to Macon if the customer's experience with project management increases while Macon's knowledge remains stagnant.

Attachment:- Project Management.rar