Executive Summary
After working as a project engineer for 14 years at Scientific Engineering Corporation (SEC) with great success, Gary Allison accepted a position as Project Manager on the Orion Shield Project. This was one decision that would change Gary’s career at SEC dramatically, as from being the best engineer in the plant ten months ago, we would be fired from the company. Let’s take a close look at the identify and discuss the technical, ethical, legal, contractual and other project management issues that Gary faced during the Orion Shield project.
Throughout the Orion Shield project, Gary faced numerous technical, ethical, legal, contractual and other project management issues. Gary’s lack of project management experience was
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Nevertheless, Gary should have followed up on his ethical concern and should have told the customer the truth, let the chips fall where they may and start over.
Legal Issues
On day when Gary came into the lab to monitor the morning testing, he found Paula Arnold and Henry Larsen testing a new material, JXB-3. As Larsen admits himself, he and Paula have been testing the new material, JXB3 for couple of weeks. According to the contract with STI, they were not allowed to spend STI money to test the new material. Therefore, if SDI found out about these procedures, they would cancel the contract. Larsen goes on and tell Gary to lie to STI by telling them that they used their own IR&D money for this testing.
Time-Management Issue
As Gary was worried that the test matrix in the technical volume of the proposal would not generate acceptable results, he decided to let the other project office staff manage the administrative work and run weekly team meetings, while he would have Paula work with him in the research lab until they got satisfactory results. The issue here is that by spending 3 weeks 12 hours a day working in the lab he was either unavailable or had to be paged in the lab whenever Space Technology Industries tried to get in touch with him. He was not even
4) Inability to build and lead a team: As per the case, there is no fact to suggest that Erik Peterson made efforts to unite his team to achieve a very ambitious goal of launching the catheter in the stated period. He didn’t try
The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on
The Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London (UCL) identified five principals as the guideline of a successful project. The five principals are: ‘principles govern process’, ‘seek alternative systems perspectives’, ‘understand the enterprise context’, ‘integrate systems engineering and project management’, and ‘invest in the early stages of projects’. In this article, the application of the principals on NASA SGSS project is being evaluated.
“Projects account for about one fourth of the U.S. and the world’s gross domestic product” (Schwalbe 2012). With that said, there are many challenges and issues that hinder the ultimate success or completion of a project. So is evident in the case of the Orion Shield Project, whose execution faced issues of technical, ethical, legal, contractual and interpersonal natures. Taking on a role that assumes responsibilities in stark contrast to newly appointed project manager Gary Allison’s professional background and experience doomed the project from the start. Not only did Gary not have the experience, he failed to research and prepare himself, prior to the project’s
Grants pass (50 high school students) will not attend Demo Day and the GP contact only gave AHO two days’ notice. It was surprising since John had been working with Daniel in advance of the event. Expectantly, and then the task was given to a third party person that declined.
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Using this definition, it is made evident that the parties involved in the Denver International Airport (DIA) Baggage System project in the 1990’s failed at applying basic organizational practices towards managing the triple constraint of scope, time, and cost goals. The combination of inherent risks, uncertainties, and dysfunctional decision making geared the project towards disappointment while simultaneously designating it as a text book example of what not do when taking on a complex project. By looking at the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats we can
This case study covers a Navy backed project that was cancelled after billions of dollars were spent in research and development. The project cancellation was announced after the construction of only two ships was completed. The decision to cancel the project was made because, the project had an extremely high cost, was highly controversial and was conducted with poor management. I would insist that before starting the project, that all research and development should be completed and evaluated to be certain that all criteria are met. The evaluation should support the project by validating that the primary goal of the project can be accomplished. satisfy the core mission and objective. The primary goal of the project should be reviewed and
The Trophy Project was fundamentally mismanaged from the start. The management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, controlling and directing personnel and resources were poorly executed by both senior and project level management. Customer expectations were not well defined and scope creep was allowed to take place without proper administration. There did not appear to be a corporate champion for this project who could mentor and resolve conflicts that were beyond the authority of the project manager. Plus, the project manager appeared to be inexperienced and was not very adept at negotiating with upper level and functional management to obtain the proper resources necessary to achieve the project
The Telstar scenario describes a conflict with multiple failings. Firstly it resulted in a faulty product. Secondly, it reduced the relationship between the Structures Manager (SM) and the Project Manager (PM). It appears that neither party tailored conflict management techniques to the conflict.
o There is only a 10% chance the entire project will fail; therefore, Orion should take the risk in developing the product.
Question 1. What project selection method described in the chapter will ABI probably employ for this proposal? Answer According to the description, the project selection method is profitability of numeric model. We might see the points from the business strategy 1) Bid only on good margin products that have the potential for maintaining their margins over a long term. 2) Pursue only new products. 3) Utilize the most advanced technology in new projects. “ project champion” approach to innovation and creativity. no more than 480 employees. 4) Foster the
Even though the price would be lowered because of the bad weather as per the tying in price and weather policy, not everyone would still want to go away. Either it needs to be explained clearly on the website that undesirable weather will not entitle any customer to a refund or to change or cancel their booking without penalty; or the policy must be clear in whatever the company decides is fair. For example, it may state that if the weather is unpleasant can change (but not cancel) the booking to another time.
Parks Corporation should have appointed an experienced project manager to run the Blue Spider project and Gary Anderson, who was an experienced engineer, should have been made the assistant project manager with the responsibility of managing the project’s R&D activities. Anderson was too inexperienced as a project manager and really had no clue what the true responsibilities were for managing a project except what he might have learned in his MBA program. 2. Project requirements needed to be clear and specific. In order to achieve successful project management and implementation, Anderson needed to ensure the requirements for the Blue Spider Project were clearly stated and written down in detail, so everyone involved in the project clearly understood the requirements. And, everyone needed to know what was not included in the Blue Spider Project. 3. Regular and effective communication was needed. If effective communication channels were established that let team members share their knowledge and skills Anderson could have delivered the right understanding of the project requirements to all the team members involved. All types of communication helps build a bridge between team members and stakeholders who have the responsibility to detect potential problems, clarify details, and maintain trust. 4.
The VP of marketing, Lori, selected Elliot Wood as the project manager for the Video Game Market Research Project. Elliot had previous project management and market research experience within the company, and he also was an avid video game enthusiast. He still had the Atari system he used to play in high school, and he enjoyed playing newer games with his two children. Elliot, however, was wary of doing business on the Internet and refused to make any of his own purchases online. He also did not let his grade school children use the Internet unless they were
This report was compiled by a team of professional project managers and gives an objective insight to the project in full.