Project management case study

Prepared by: Ms Samira Baho Moderated by: Dr Karthik Nagarajan April, 2018

Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines

Unit Code BN205 Unit Title Trimester 1, 2018 - Project Management Assessment Type Assignment 1 Assessment Title Individual Assignment Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping)

This assignment assesses the below Unit Learning Outcomes; students should be able to demonstrate their achievements in them:  Demonstrate project leadership skills; identify and assess risk in designing and executing major projects;  Reflect on current project management ethics, research, theory and practice; Weight 15%

Total Marks 50 Word limit 1000 Due Date Week 7 ( Wednesday 02/05/2018, 5:00 PM) Submission Guidelines  All work must be submitted on Moodle by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page.

 The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body) font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings.  Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using APA referencing style.

Extension  If an extension of time to submit work is required, a Special Consideration Application must be submitted directly to the School's Administration Officer, in Melbourne on Level 6 or in Sydney on Level 7. You must submit this application three working days prior to the due date of the assignment. Further information is available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about-mit/institute-publications/policies-procedures-and-guidelines/specialconsiderationdeferment Academic Misconduct

 Academic Misconduct is a serious offence. Depending on the seriousness of the case, penalties can vary from a written warning or zero marks to exclusion from the course or rescinding the degree. Students should make themselves familiar with the full policy and procedure available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about-mit/institute-publications/policies-procedures-and-guidelines/Plagiarism-Academic-Misconduct-Policy-Procedure. For further information, please refer to the Academic Integrity Section in your Unit Description.

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Prepared by: Ms Samira Baho Moderated by: Dr Karthik Nagarajan April, 2018

Purpose of the assessment: As a project manager, your career will be driven by decisions, often dozens or more per day. Some decisions are small and barely noticed while others are more prominent and could have serious ramifications on yourself, your organisation and your stakeholders. Decisions like this will most likely require deep thought as they involve people, resources and the environment. Sometimes these factors are in conflict, creating a dilemma and perhaps significant risks where your knowledge of risk management and Ethical issues in a professional setting will be vital. To guide ethical behaviour and help with tough decisions, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and an Ethical Decision-Making Framework. This assessment will require you to use your knowledge of project risk management and the PMI code of ethics and apply it in a real life case study. Altex Corporation - Case Study BACKGROUND Following World War 11, the United States entered into a Cold War with Russia. To win this Cold War, the United States had to develop sophisticated weapon systems with such destructive power that any aggressor knew that the retaliatory capability of the United States could and would inflict vast destruction. Hundreds of millions of dollars were committed to ideas concerning technology that had not been developed as yet. Aerospace and defence contractors were growing without bounds, thanks to cost-plus-percentage-of-cost contract awards. Speed and technological capability were judged to be significantly more important than cost. To make matters worse, contracts were often awarded to the second or third most qualified bidder for the sole purpose of maintaining competition and maximizing the total number of defence contractors. CONTRACT AWARD During this period Altex Corporation was elated when it learned that it had just been awarded the R&D phase of the Advanced Tactical Missile Program (ATMP). The terms of the contract specified that Altex had to submit to the Army, within 60 days after contract award, a formal project plan for the two-year ATMP effort. Contracts at that time did not require that a risk management plan be developed. A meeting was held with project manager of R&D to assess the risks in the ATMP effort. PM: "I'm in the process of developing the project plan. Should I also develop a risk management plan as part of the project plan?" Sponsor-: “Absolutely not! Most new weapon systems requirements are established by military personnel who have no sense of reality about what it takes to develop a weapon system based upon technology that doesn't even exist yet. We'll be lucky if we can deliver 60-70 percent of the specification imposed upon us.” PM: "But that's not what we stated in our proposal. I wasn't brought on board until after we won the award, so I wasn't privileged to know the thought process that went into the proposal. The proposal even went so far as to imply that we might be able to exceed the specification limits, and now you're saying that we should be happy with 60-70 percent." Sponsor: “We say what we have to say to win the bid. Everyone does it. It is common practice. Whoever wins the R&D portion of the contract will also be first in line for the manufacturing effort and that's where

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Prepared by: Ms Samira Baho Moderated by: Dr Karthik Nagarajan April, 2018

the megabucks come from! If we can achieve 60-70 percent of specifications, it should placate the Army enough to give us a follow-on contract. If we told the Army the true cost of developing the technology to meet the specification limits, we would never get the contract. The program might even be cancelled. The military people want this weapon system. They're not stupid! They know what is happening and they do not want to go to their superiors for more money until later on, downstream, after approval by DoD and project kickoff. The government wants the lowest cost and we want long-term, follow-on production contracts, which can generate huge profits.” PM: "Aren't we simply telling lies in our proposal?" Sponsor: "My engineers and scientists are highly optimistic and believe they can do the impossible. This is how technological breakthroughs are made. I prefer to call it 'over-optimism of technical capability' rather than 'telling lies.' If my engineers and scientists have to develop a risk management plan, they may become pessimistic, and that's not good for us!" PM: "The problem with letting your engineers and scientists be optimistic is that they become reactive rather than proactive thinkers. Without proactive thinkers, we end up with virtually no risk management or contingency plans. When problems surface that require significantly more in the way of resources than we budgeted for, we will be forced to accept crisis management as a way of life. Our costs will increase and that's not going to make the Army happy." Sponsor: "But the Army won't penalize us for failing to meet cost or for allowing the schedule to slip. If we fail to meet at least 60-70 percent of the specification limits, however, then we may well be in trouble. The Army knows there will be a follow-on contract request if we cannot meet specification limits. I consider 60-70 percent of the specifications to be the minimum acceptable limits for the Army. The Army wants the program kicked off right now. "Another important point is that long-term contracts and follow-on production contracts allow us to build up a good working relationship with the Army. This is critical. Once we get the initial contract, as we did, the Army will always work with us for follow-on efforts. Whoever gets the R&D effort will almost always get the lucrative production contract. Military officers are under pressure to work with us because their careers may be in jeopardy if they have to tell their superiors that millions of dollars were awarded to the wrong defence contractor. From a career standpoint, the military officers are better off allowing us to downgrade the requirements than admitting that a mistake was made." PM: "I'm just a little nervous managing a project that is so optimistic that major advances in the state of the art must occur to meet specifications. This is why I want to prepare a risk management plan." Sponsor "You don't need a risk management plan when you know you can spend as much as you want and also let the schedule slip. If you prepare a risk management plan, you will end up exposing a multitude of risks, especially technical risks. The Army might not know about many of these risks, so why expose them and open up Pandora's box'? Personally, I believe that the Army does already know many of these risks, but does not want them publicized to their superiors”. "If you want to develop a risk management plan, then do it by yourself, and I really mean by yourself. Past experience has shown that our employees will be talking informally to Army personnel at least two to three times a week. I don't want anyone telling the customer that we have a risk management plan. The customer will obviously want to see it, and that's not good for us”. "If you are so incensed that you feel obligated to tell the customer what you're doing, then wait about a year and a half. By that time, the Army will have made a considerable investment in both us and the project, and they'll be locked into us for follow-on work. Because of the strategic timing and additional costs, they will never want to qualify a second supplier so late in the game. Just keep the risk management plan to yourself for now”.

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Prepared by: Ms Samira Baho Moderated by: Dr Karthik Nagarajan April, 2018

"If it looks like the Army might cancel the program, then we'll show them the risk management plan, and perhaps that will keep the program alive." References: Kerzner, H 2003, Project Management Case Study, John Wiley & Sons. Inc. Retrieved April, 7 2018 http://213.55.83.214:8181/Project%20mgt%20bks1/Project%20management%20case%20studies.pdf

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Task Prepare a report of about 1000 words that includes an ethical analysis of the issues raised in the case study. Your report should at least include the following:

 Executive Summary o You should provide a brief summary of your main findings and research so that the reader can know its main purpose.

 Introduction o In this section you should (briefly) state the case study being analysed. You should discuss the purpose and scope of the report and the sources of the information that you have used. That is, you should provide an overview of what you intend to write about in your report, so that the reader can anticipate how you are going to present the material and what it will consist of.

 Analysis of the case study o Identify the ethical issues that arise in this case study. o Identify the potential consequences to the stakeholders of accepting this aggressive bid and risks involved in this project. o Identify the potential breaches of the Project Management Institute (PMI) ethical standards by the Project team. Examine the PMI code of ethics and identify requirements that are relevant to this case study. o Identify the potential consequences of implementing the project without a risk management plan. o Based on the case study, at which point of the project life cycle should the risk management plan be prepared o The project manager is attempting to resolve the ethical dilemma that they have. Having completed your ethical analysis, how do you recommend they should proceed?

 Conclusion o Provide short concluding comments that remind the reader the main purpose of the assessment, how you went about addressing the ethical issues of the case study, what references you used and what the main findings were.

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Submission guidelines: The report should have a consistent, professional, and well-organized appearance. Create the report (Minimum 1000 Words). 1. Your report should include the following:  The cover page must identify students’ (name and number), teaching staff, and assignment.  The assignment must use 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body) font with appropriate section headings.  The report must include executive summary, table of contents, introduction, discussions (with heading/sub-headings to address the requirements listed above), conclusion and references.  Reference sources (APA style) must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list. 2. The assignment must be submitted in soft (electronic) copy on Moodle drop box. The pages of the assignment must be clear on each page.

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Marking criteria: Marks are allocated as follows: Section to be included in the report Description of the section Marks

Executive summary A brief summary of your main findings and research so that the reader can know its main purpose. 5

Introduction

-In this section you should (briefly) state the case study being analysed. You should also discuss the purpose and scope of the report and the sources of the information that you have used. That is, you should provide an overview of what you intend to write about in your report, so that the reader can anticipate how you are going to present the material and what it will consist of.

5

Analysis of the case study

- Identify the PM ethical issues in the case study. - Identify the potential consequences to the stakeholders of accepting this aggressive bid without risk management plan. - Identify the potential breaches of the Project Management Institute (PMI) ethical standards by the Project team. Examine the PMI code and identify requirements that are relevant to this case study. - Identify the potential consequences of implementing the project without risk management plan.

5 6 8 5

Recommendations

The project manager is attempting to resolve the ethical dilemma. Having completed your ethical analysis, provide advice as to how he should proceed.

5 Conclusion

Provide short concluding comments that remind the reader the main purpose of the assessment, how you went about addressing the ethical issues of the case study, what references you used and what the main findings were.

5

Reference and appendices APA Style referencing 2 Report logical structure, grammar and spelling Report easy to follow, context clear and no grammatical/spelling errors

4 Total Marks 50

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Prepared by: Ms Samira Baho Moderated by: Dr Karthik Nagarajan April, 2018

Marking Rubric:

Grade Mark HD 80 % +

D 70%-69%

CR 60%-69%

P 50%-59%

Fail < 50%

Executive Summary /5

Complete in all respects; reflects all requirement s

Complete in most respects; reflects most requirements

Incomplet e in many respects; reflects few requirem ents

Incomplete in most respects; does not reflect requirements

Incomplete in all aspects; does not reflect requirements

Introduction /5

Demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the case study and issues

Demonstr ates an accomplis hed understan ding of the case study and issues

Demonstrates an acceptable understanding of the topic(s) and issues

Demonstrates an inadequate understanding of the case study and issues

Does not demonstrate d understandin g to the topics and issues.

Case Study Analysis /24

Presents an insightful and thorough analysis of all issues identified; includes all necessary information

Presents a thorough analysis of most issues identified; includes most necessary information

Presents a superficial analysis of some of the issues identified; omits necessary information

Presents an incomplete analysis of the issues identified

Analysis not related to the case study presented.

Makes appropriate and powerful connections between the issues identified and the risk management/c ode of ethics concepts studied in PM.

Makes appropriate connections between the issues identified and the risk management/code of ethics concepts studied in PM.

Makes appropriate but somewhat vague connections between the issues and the risk management/cod e of ethics concepts studied in PM.

Makes little or no connection between the issues identified and the risk management/c ode of ethics concepts studied in PM.

No connection between the issues identified PM concepts studied

Recommendations/conclusion /10 Presents detailed, realistic, and appropriate recommendatio ns clearly supported by the information presented and PM concepts

Presents specific, realistic, and appropriate recommendations supported by the information presented and PM concepts

Presents realistic or appropriate recommendatio ns supported by the information presented and PM concepts

Presents realistic or appropriate recommendatio ns with little, if any, support from the information presented and PM concepts

No Recommendati ons presented

Report Layout and presentation /4 Writing demonstrates a sophisticated clarity, conciseness, and correctness; includes thorough details and relevant data and information; extremely well- organized

Writing is accomplished in terms of clarity and conciseness and contains only a few errors; includes sufficient details and relevant data and information; well- organized

Writing lacks clarity or conciseness and contains numerous errors; gives insufficient detail and relevant data and information; lacks organization

Writing is unfocused, rambling, or contains serious errors; lacks detail and relevant data and information; poorly organized

Report unfocused, contains grammatical and spelling errors. Very hard to understand.

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Reference /2 Uses IEEE guidelines accurately and consistently to cite sources

Uses IEEE guidelines with minor violations to cite sources

Reflect s incomp lete knowle dge of IEE guideli nes

Does not use IEEE guidelines No Reference