Project Management Case Study#5

a fundamental requirement when a contract is eventually signed, or a charter is approved for a management change project, is to be able to refer without ambiguity to the correct revision of the project specification. The correct version is that which defines the project according to the finally agreed intentions. This assurance is known as version control. remember that the latest issue of any document might not be the correct issue.

the only safe way to identify any document is to label it with a unique serial or identifying number, and augment that with a revision number every time the document is re-issued with changes. if there are drawings and other documents that cannot be bound in with the specification document, these attachments must be listed on a contents sheet that is bound into the specification, and the list must give the correct serial and revision number of every such document.

Then everyone can be reasonably confident that the project has been defined.

CASe exAMPle: The AIRlIne CheCk-In DeSkS RePlACeMenT PROjeCT

T h e A i r l i n e s I n v o l v e d

this imaginary case example took place in chinesia, an asian country with a long- established airline called old aire (a legacy carrier). the core business of this line was tourism, carrying mainly second class passengers on short- and long-haul flights to a number of national and international destinations. much of this trade was linked to package holidays.

The higher organizational levels of Old Aire are shown in Figure 2.4, where it is apparent that the company operated three main departments. these were:

finance, marketing, and company administration. flight operations (which included aircrews, stewarding, and catering). Ground operations (which covered check-in desks, security, and aircraft maintenance).

these three departments tended to operate autonomously, with poor intercommunication between them.

In recent years a fast-growing fledgling carrier following the low-cost-carrier business model called new aire airways came into prominence in chinesia. although this smaller and newer company started taking some business from old aire, its specialty was carrying smaller groups of business class passengers for whom the company promised a ‘superior travel experience’ based on on-time performance and superior service for lower fares despite its one class cabin configuration. The original management structure for New aire is also shown in figure 2.4.

Contrasting the two organizations shown in this illustration shows that New Aire enjoyed good formal and informal communications between its different divisions and departments, contrasting with the rigid autonomous separation of old aire’s three principal divisions.

1. 2. 3.

c h a p t e r � • d e f i n i n g t h e p r o j e c t t a s k � �

Flouris, T. G., & Lock, D. (2008). Aviation project management. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from erau on 2018-09-13 11:24:22.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 00

8. R

ou tle

dg e.

A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

C h e c k - i n D e s k D i f f i c u l t i e s F o r O l d A i re

many of old aire’s facilities were either somewhat out-dated or approaching calamitous obsolescence. For example, passengers and check-in staff were complaining of their check-in throughput times. they pointed out that other airlines used bar-coded travel documents and labels, but the Old Aire check-in desks often had long queues, with passengers having to wait longer while their details were keyed into the old fashioned system. all of old aire’s systems had been designed in-house, many years ago, using legacy software designed by their own IT staff.

the vice president of ground operations decided to put a project in hand to update all the check-in systems so that they would recognize bar codes and put an end to all the complaints. He saw no reason for discussing this project with any other manager from his company, since he was used to working autonomously and without consultation. the development costs of the new system would be very high, but the old system obviously had to be replaced. so the ground operations department engaged a small team of temporary IT staff to supplement its own resources and began to design a new check-in system.

M e rg e r N e g o t i a t i o n s

Old Aire’s vice president of finance, marketing, and administration had been casting envious eyes at new aire for some time and she began to conceive the idea of either a takeover or a merger. She felt that by combining their different strengths a world class airline could result. she approached the president of new aire to sound him out on the idea. these two managers agreed that their company’s joint interests would be best served if they could operate in partnership, and they began discussing the possible arrangements. olde aire’s vice president obtained approval from her president, and then the two companies agreed to set up a joint working party to investigate the details. each company was to provide its own project manager to serve on the working party.

the new aire members of the working party were drawn from all parts of the company, and they were warned not to discuss their work outside the joint working party for prudent reasons of commercial confidentiality. But the Old Aire working party delegates were all taken from the finance, marketing, and administration department.

Old Aire Airline

New Aire Airways

Flight operations

(120 aircraft)

Finance, marketing, and

admin

Ground operations

Finance, marketing, and admin division

Operations division

Ground operations

Flight operations (20 aircraft)

Figure 2.4 Chinesia’s two airlines before their merger

a v i a t i o n p r o j e c t m a n a g e m e n t� �

Flouris, T. G., & Lock, D. (2008). Aviation project management. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from erau on 2018-09-13 11:24:22.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 00

8. R

ou tle

dg e.

A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .

Lack of communication between the three different Old Aire departments meant that neither the flight operations crews nor the ground operations staff were made aware of the merger proposals.

A P ro j e c t S a v e d B y C o m m o n S e n s e A n d C h e c k l i s t s

Old Aire’s project manager concerned himself with examining the different market opportunities that the proposed merger would create. He began formulating his business plans. However, he kept himself to himself and worked solely within his own department. He saw no need to discuss or check his strategies with members of the flight operations or ground operations departments. He had never had anything to do with those people directly in the past and saw no reason to change now.

New Aire’s project manager came from a completely different company culture, in which openness and internal communications were encouraged and normal. further, she had some previous project management experience. thus she began compiling checklists on all aspects of the merger project so that she could identify, consider, and define all the tasks that would have to be done before the merger could be successfully completed. Her task was made easier because she was able to discuss all aspects of the project freely with managers in all new aire’s departments. she soon compiled quite detailed pre-project checklists.

one item on her checklist was ‘examine check-in compatibility’. she had long been aware of old aire’s reputation for having out-of-date technology at its check-in desks and she felt that something would need to be done about them before the two merged companies would be able to combine their check-in facilities. so she telephoned old aire’s vice president of ground operations and began asking pertinent questions.

Old Aire’s vice president of operations was astounded at hearing news for the first time of the proposed merger. He arranged to meet new aire’s project manager. When the subject of check-in technology was raised he soon realized that his appropriate course would be to abandon his expensive development project for new check-in desk installations. With the merger they would be unnecessary, because old aire would be able to use the superior existing new aire desks where these were available, and the new merged company could simply install those in places where none previously existed. thus an unnecessary project costing hundreds of thousands of dollars was stopped early in its tracks, and a great deal of money was saved.

in chapter 1 we quoted from professor francis t Hartman’s book in which he declared that a project is successful if all the stakeholders are happy (Hartman, 2000). He gave one section of that work the subtitle ‘[Bad] communication—the only cause of failure’ and wrote, ‘Communication is at the heart of effective project management. It needs to be timely, complete, accurate and verified.’ We endorse Hartman’s statement without reservation and stress that its force takes effect right at the beginning of every project, when the tasks are first defined. We have demonstrated here that checklists are a valuable tool in the process.

ReFeRenCeS

Hartman, f.t. (2000), Don’t Park Your Brain Outside, newtown square, pa., project management institute.

c h a p t e r � • d e f i n i n g t h e p r o j e c t t a s k � �

Flouris, T. G., & Lock, D. (2008). Aviation project management. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from erau on 2018-09-13 11:24:22.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 00

8. R

ou tle

dg e.

A ll

rig ht

s re

se rv

ed .