Multi Projects, Inc. Case Study

...

According to Kerzner 2009: 108 the project manager has total responsibility and accountability for project success. The functional departments, on the other hand, have functional responsibility to maintain technical excellence on the project. The project environment and functional environment cannot be separated; they must interact. The location of the project and functional unit interface is the focal point for all activities. The functional manager controls departmental resources (i.e., people). This poses a problem because, although the project manager maintains the maximum control (through the line managers) over all resources including cost and personnel, the functional manager must provide staff for the project’s requirements. Jeff needs to understand that it is not his responsibility to allocate staff to the project. Jennifer on the other hand needs to make decisions regarding the assignment of Tyler on the two projects. As a functional manager she needs to discuss with both project managers Jeff and Jullie as well as the Tyler the senior systems engineer and make a decision based on the criticality of the project.

To address this challenge in future, Multi Project Company needs to establish operating guidelines to assure that there is a proper balance of power between project managers and functional managers. This will help the company in terms of clearing unnecessary conflicts between functional and project managers as can be seen between Jeff and Jennifer.

Advantages of matrix structure

Multi Projects Company needs to take advantage of the Matrix structure by utilizing it properly as it can be well suited for multi-project organizations due to the issue of shared resources. Gido and Clements 2015: 446 discuss the advantages of the Matrix organisation as follows:

- Efficient utilization of resources

- Functional expertise available to all projects

- Increased learning and knowledge transfer

- Improved communication

- Customer focus

Project human resources management

Project human resource management forms a very big part of the project as it outline how human resources are allocated to different projects and the reasons why individuals are allocated to certain projects. What is reviled on the Multi Project Company case study is that particular people like Jeff have power to choose who they need to be in their projects. External stakeholders seems to also influence the allocation of human resource as some are giving business to the company if Tyler is assigned to the project. Even though the competition for resource and the fight for the best employees can be expected within the multi project environment, there should be control in place in terms of who decide how resources are allocated to the projects. Multi Project Company needs to develop the Human resource management plan and Responsibility assignment matrix to deal with resources within the projects.

According to PMI 2013: 264 the human resource management plan includes, but not limited to, the following:

• Roles and responsibilities

• Project organization charts.

• Staffing management plan.

Further elaboration

Installing teamwork

According to Gido & Clements 2012: 362 barriers to team effectiveness include unclear goals, unclear definition of roles and responsibilities, lack of project structure, lack of commitment, poor communication, poor leadership, turnover of project team members, and dysfunctional behavior. This was obvious on this case study as there is no teamwork.

The case study shows an atmosphere of undermining each other, where the project manager Jeff is just interested in his own success while not taking into account the decisions that benefit other project. This scenario shows the lack of teamwork between the project managers and functional mangers and has a potential of causing conflicts within teams. Multi Project Company should facilitate cohesive team formation that will enable team development and monitor performance as the teamwork normally provides a platform for discussion, for avoiding mishaps, providing advice, providing feedback and support.

PMI 2013 : 274 states that a high team performance can be achieved by using open and effective communication, creating team building opportunities, developing trust among team members, managing conflicts in a constructive manner, and encouraging collaborative problem solving and decision making.

Strengthening of leadership

On this case study, few problems were encountered that shows lack of management leadership. Multi Project Company should enforce the leaders to promote cooperation, commitment and enhance a shared sense of organisational identity. Another problem that shows lack of leadership was communication as it was not manged well. Even though the reporting lines were clear, Jeff was bullying everyone to get what he wants and twisting words to suit his achievement as he made Julia think that Tyler has already being reassigned to Growin project as he has already spoken to Tyler and Jennifer about the reassignment. No leadership role was demonstrated around that communication.

More info

Establishing a proper project communication management

On this case study, it can be noticed that there is a communication problem among the functional department and the project management department as well as the people involved in the project management.

Proper project communication management will help the Multi Project Company to maintain an organizational structure that has an established flow of communication and will help to distribute the information in a correct and timely manner. This will help bring transparency into the organization keeping everyone abreast of the events and avoid that the processes goes out of control.

More info

Implementation of the Project Management Office (PMO)

According to PMI 2013: 11 project management office (PMO) is a management structure that standardizes the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.