Project Trans had been in trouble since theinitiation. Crowley, who had been an assistant project manager, wasinvolved with the project from its conception. When the TransProject was accepted by the company, Crowley was assigned as theproject manager. The program schedules started to slip from dayone, and expenditures were excessive. Crowley found that thefunctional managers were charging direct labor time to his projectbut working on their own pet projects.
When he complained of this, he was told not to meddlein the functional manager’s allocation of resources and budgetedexpenditures. After approximately six months, Crowley was requestedto make a progress report directly to corporate and divisionstaffs. Crowley took this opportunity to bare his soul. The reportsubstantiated that the project was forecasted to be one completeyear behind schedule. Crowley’s staff, as supplied by the linemanagers, was inadequate to maintain the current pace, let alonemake up any time that had already been lost.
The estimated cost at completion at this intervalshowed a cost overrun of at least 20 percent. This was Crowley’sfirst opportunity to tell his story to people who were in aposition to correct the situation. The result of Crowley’s frank,candid evaluation of the Trans Project was very predictable.Nonbelievers finally saw the light, and line managers realized thatthey had a role to play in the completion of the project. Most ofthe problems were now out in the open and could be corrected withadequate staffing and resources. Corporate staff ordered immediateremedial action and staff support to provide Crowley a chance tobail out his program.
The results were not at all what Crowley had expected.He no longer reported to the project office; he now reporteddirectly to the operations manager. Corporate staff’s interest inthe project became very intense, requiring a 7:00 a.m. meetingevery Monday for complete review of the project status and plansfor recovery. Crowley found himself spending more time preparingpaperwork, reports, and projections for his Monday morning meetingsthan he did administering the Trans Project. The main concern ofcorporate was to get the project back on schedule. Crowley spentmany hours preparing the recovery plan and establishing manpowerrequirements to bring the program back onto the originalschedule.
Group staff, in order to closely track the progress ofthe Trans Project, assigned an assistant program manager. Theassistant program manager determined that a sure cure for the TransProject would be to computerize the various problems and track theprogress through a very complex computer program. Corporateprovided Crowley with 12 additional staff members to work on thecomputer program. In the meantime, nothing changed. The functionalmanagers still did not provide adequate staff for recovery, as theyassumed that the additional manpower Crowley had received fromcorporate would accomplish that task.
After approximately $50,000 was spent on the computerprogram to track the problems, it was found that the computer couldnot handle the program objectives. Crowley discussed this problemwith a computer supplier and found that $15,000 more was requiredfor programming and additional storage capacity. It would take twomonths for installation of the additional storage capacity andcompletion of the programming. At this point, the decision was madeto abandon the computer program.
Crowley was now a year and a half into the programwith no prototype units completed. The program was still ninemonths behind schedule with the overrun projected at 40 percent ofbudget. The customer had been receiving reports on a timely basisand was well aware that the Trans Project was behind schedule.Crowley had spent a great deal of time with the customer explainingthe problems and the plan for recovery.
Another problem that Crowley had to contend with wasthat the vendors who were supplying components for the project werealso running behind schedule. One Sunday morning, while Crowley wasin his office putting together a report for the client, a corporatevice president came in. “Crowley,” he said, “in any project I lookat the top sheet of paper, and the man whose name appears at thetop of the sheet is the one I hold responsible. For this project,your name appears at the top of the sheet. If you cannot bail thisthing out, you are in serious trouble in this corporation.” Crowleydid not know which way to turn or what to say. He had no controlover the functional managers who were creating the problems, but hewas the person who was being held responsible.
After another three months, the customer, becomingimpatient, realized that the Trans Project was in serious troubleand requested that the division general manager and his entirestaff visit the customer’s plant to give a progress report within aweek. The division general manager called Crowley into his officeand said, “Crowley, go visit our customer. Take three or fourfunctional line people with you and try to placate him withwhatever you feel is necessary.” Crowley and four functional linepeople visited the customer and gave a four-and-a-half-hourpresentation defining the problems and the progress to thatpoint.
The customer was very polite and even commented thatit was an excellent presentation, but the content was totallyunacceptable. The program was still six to eight months late, andthe customer demanded progress reports on a weekly basis. Thecustomer made arrangements to assign a representative in Crowley’sdepartment to be on-site at the project on a daily basis and tointerface with Crowley and his staff as required. After this turnof events, the program became very hectic. The customerrepresentative demanded constant updates and problem identificationand then became involved in attempting to solve these problems.This involvement created many changes in the program and theproduct in order to eliminate some of the problems.
Crowley had trouble with the customer and did notagree with the changes in the program. He expressed hisdisagreement vocally when, in many cases, the customer felt thechanges were at no cost. This caused a deterioration of therelationship between client and producer. One morning Crowley wascalled into the division general manager’s office and introduced toMr. Bartley. Crowley was told to turn over the reins of the TransProject to Bartley immediately. “Crowley, you will be temporarilyreassigned to some other division within the corporation. I suggestyou start looking outside the company for another job.” Crowleylooked at Bartley and asked, “Who did this? Who shot me down?”Bartley was program manager on the Trans Project for approximatelysix months, after which, by mutual agreement, he was replaced by athird project manager. The customer reassigned his local programmanager to another project. With the new team, the Trans Projectwas finally completed one year behind schedule and at a 40 percentcost overrun.
QUESTION 1
What are the major problems of The Trans Project?Critically discuss your answers based on the case study.
