Crosby Manufacturing Corporation - Essay Example

? Crosby Manufacturing Corporation Synopsis Crossby Manufacturing Corporation needs to modernize their entire Management Cost and Control System (MCCS) to obtain a desired level of competitive advancement to gain government contracts which the organization had failed to obtain in its past endeavors owing to its limitations in terms of feasibility. However, in the recent fiscal year, the government has again decided to offer Crossby with a chance to obtain the contracts. With the aim to avail this opportunity, the President of Crossby has determined to immediately modernize the process of its MCCS approach (Kerzner, 2010). The President decided to hire Tim Emary as the project manager who is again observed to lack managerial experience in the field as well as do not belong to the formal project management group of the company, even though Emary is regarded to posses the capability of effective planning. 1. Livingston’s Selection of Emary as Project Manager was A Mistake or Right Decision The system which is presently being followed in Crossby, concentrating on the Management of Information System (MIS) as well as customer data base management has been criticized as totally obsolete which is no more competent to meet the financial requirements of the clientele. As a result, the organization was unable to obtain three big government contacts which would have represented the success of Crossby rendering it the desired competitive advantages. Even though the President of the organization has taken an objective-oriented plan and an ultimate target of procuring more government contacts, he was unable to identify the root cause of problem within the organization. When assessing the effectiveness of the currently used MCCS process in Crossby, it can be observed that efficiency in the execution process is one of the vital factors for the succession of any project which lacked in the organization. Overlooking such limitations, the President had taken a distinctive appointment structure and selected Tim Emary from the planning group as the project manager for his planned change in the MCCS process of Crossby. He further affirmed that if the organization can modernize its system, it can achieve long term success obtaining government contacts (Kerzner, 2010). The most probable disadvantage of this enrolment can be identified with respect to the proper execution of the planning owing to the limited technical knowledge of Emary regarding Electronic Data Processing (EDP). Even though Emary is regarded as a competent planner, he lacks in sufficient understanding of the technical requirements of projects related to MCCS and therefore might cause trouble in the execution process when performing the roles of project manager, i.e. monitoring and providing suggestions to the functional employees of the EDP department through proper execution of the process, providing approval for the requirement of new systems as well as servers, coordinating and maintaining effective communication flow among all the departments, setting the future requirements of the various departments and making the required contacts of procurements with the suppliers of the IT materials in a cost efficient way (Bainey, 2004). To perform these responsibilities competently, adequate experience is required in the field of project management. Therefore, it can be stated that even though Emary is a competent planner, he is not the right person for the execution of the project. In other words, hiring Emary as the project manager for such a crucial project shall lead to various limitations in terms of functional employee dissatisfaction, cost as well as time constraints. To be precise, from a critical perspective, hiring of Emary shall lead towards another failure to Crossby in obtaining governmental contracts. In order to mitigate this particular limitation, the President can either aim at rendering adequate training to Emary which can again be highly cost as well as time consuming. Or otherwise, the President shall hire an experienced professional for the task allocating the responsibility of planning to Emary, within which he is competent enough. 2. Reaction of the Functional Employees to the Appointment of Emary as Project Manager The decision of the President in Crossby to hire Emary as the project manager is quite likely to cause inevitable conflicts between the functional employees and the management. It is in this context that Emary is observed to be lacking in terms of computer processes owing to which, tracking the effectiveness of the MCCS alteration project and managing the entire team operations shall become a main challenge for him with high probability of failure. To cope with this challenge, he would always need to consult with the team leaders prior to take any decision, which can again hamper the workflow of the entire organization and cause dissatisfaction among the functional employees. However, as much as analysis in terms of communication process is concerned in this case, the President in Crossby has taken a directive nature of the strategy motivating greater commitment from the functional employees who would enthusiastically contribute towards making the project successful with shared vision and values. Nevertheless, the top to down communication process might not always work in the organization over the long run. Owing to these reasons, with the decision of selecting the project manager by the President, who is totally unaware about the execution process of EDP, the team members shall grow disinterest and dissatisfaction in the continuation of the process. 3. The Impact of Cost and Time Constraints on Networking Techniques and Project Schedules Cost is always a vital factor for the success of any kind of project, wherein, the budget of the project must be realistic and achievable in accordance with the financial stance and competencies of the organization. Owing to the engagement of Emary, who is not quite competent in the project management field with respect to MCCS, it might give rise to faults in the execution process which in turn may increase the costs allocated for the project. In the similar context, time management can be regarded as another vital factor with respect to effective project management. The project should be complete within the assigned time. However, as explaining Emary the stages and the related technicalities in detail may take a comprehensive time, thereby extending the complexities of the project execution process, the planning may also face time-constraints. For this reason every project should be dividing into the various parts along with appropriate time allocation for the successful completion of every section in a timely manner (Bainey, 2004). With this concern, either the President should reconsider the position of Emary giving him the sole responsibility of planning allocating the task of project management to an experienced professional; or, Emary should be trained adequately regarding all the essentials, prior to the execution of the project which might again cause delay and cost increase for the ultimate execution. 4. Which Constraints Ultimately Compromise The Project’s Performance Quality From a critical point of view, the most important constraint in this project shall to identify the actual problem behind constructing the project and setting the objectives as per the objectives determined by Crossby. Thus, the President of Crossby has been inclined towards developing a modified matrix system to control its entire organizational process. However, in this case it can be apparently derived that the President of Crossby has lacked in identifying the actual problem of the organization as he has been solely concentrated on satisfying the customer demand without consulting with the functional employees that could have rendered him with more fruitful suggestions. This particular constraint is also quite likely to give rise to the dissatisfaction amid the workforce, which can again be regarded as a major constraint to the project (Lock, 2007). Additionally, time as well as cost can be regarded as another vital constraint in this project. To counter these constraints, Crossby needs to allocate the available resources appropriately with due significance towards short-run as well as long-run sustainability and efficiency. Therefore, in this context, financial analysis and work breakdown can be regarded as quite important for the proper allocation of resources (Lock, 2007). References Kerzner, H. (2010). Project management case studies. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Lock, D. (2007). The essentials of the project management. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Bainey, K. R. (2004). Integrated IT project management: A Model-Centric Approach. Artech House. Read More