Case Study - Chapter 4

For self-reflection

Case study 1 A Not-for-Profit Medical Research Center

You are Alexis, the director of external affairs for a national not-for-profit medical research center that does research on diseases related to ageing. The center's work depends on funding from multiple sources, including the general public, individual estates, and grants from corporations, foundations, and the federal government.

Your department prepares an annual report of the center's accomplishments and financial status for the board of directors. It is mostly texting with a few charts and tables, all black and white, with a simple cover. It is voluminous and pretty dry reading. It is inexpensive to produce other than the effort to pull together the content, which requires time to request and expedite information from the center's other departments.

At the last board meeting, the board members suggested the annual report be "upscaled" into a document that could be used for marketing and promotional purposes. They want you to mail the next annual report to the center's various stakeholders, past donors and targeted high-potential future donors. The board feels that such a document is needed to get the center "in the same league" with other large not-for-profit organizations with which it feels it competes for donations and funds. The board feels that the annual report could be used to inform these stakeholders about the advances the center is making in its research efforts and its strong fiscal management for effectively using the funding and donations it receives.

You will need to produce a shorter, simpler, easy-to-read annual report that shows the benefits of the center's research and the impact on people's lives. You will include pictures from various hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities that are using the results of the center's research. You also will include testimonials from patients and families who have benefited from the center's research. The report must be "eye-catching." It needs to be multicolor, contains a lot of pictures and easy-to-understand graphics, and be written in a style that can be understood by the average adult potential donor.

This is a significant undertaking for your department, which includes three other staff members. You will have to contract out some of the activities and may have to travel to several medical facilities around the country to take photos and get testimonials. You will also need to put the design, printing, and distribution out to bid to various contractors to submit proposals and prices to you. You estimate that approximately 5 million copies need to be printed and mailed.

It is now April 1. The board asks you to come to its next meeting on May 15 to present a detailed plan, schedule, and budget for how you will complete the project. The board wants the annual report "in the mail" by November 15, so potential donors will receive it around the holiday season when they may be in a "giving mood." The center's fiscal year ends September 30, and its financial statements should be available by October 15. However, the non-financial information for the report can start to be pulled together right after the May 15 board meeting.

Fortunately, you are taking a project management course in the evenings at the local university and see this as an opportunity to apply what you have been learning. You know that this is a big project and that the board has high expectations. You want to be sure you meet their expectations and get them to approve the budget that you will need for this project. However, they will only do that if they are confident that you have a detailed plan for how you will get it all done. You and your staff have six weeks to prepare a plan to present to the board on May 15. If approved, you will have six months, from May 15 to November 15, to implement the plan and complete the project.

Your staff consists of Grace, a marketing specialist; Levi, a writer/editor; and Lakysha, a staff assistant whose hobby is photography (she is going to college part-time in the evenings to earn a degree in photojournalism and has won several local photography contests).

CASE QUESTIONS

You and your team need to prepare a plan to present to the board. You must:

1. Establish the project objective, and make a list of your assumptions about the project.
2. Develop a work breakdown structure.
3. a list of the specific activities that need to be performed to accomplish the project objective.
4. For each activity, assign the person who will be responsible.
5. a network diagram that shows the sequence and dependent relationships of all the activities.

Note: This case study will continue in Chapters 5 through 8, so save the results of your work.

CASE STUDY 2 The Wedding

Tony and Peggy Sue graduated from a university in Texas last May. She received a degree in elementary education, and he graduated from culinary school. They both now work in the Dallas area. Peggy Sue is a teacher, and Tony is a chef at a resort hotel restaurant.

It is Christmas Day and Tony asks Peggy Sue to marry him. She excitedly accepts. They set a wedding date of June 30.

Tony is from New York City. He is the only son of "Big Tony" and Carmella. He is known as "Little Tony" to his family. He has three younger sisters, none of whom are yet married. The family owns a restaurant called Big Tony's, and all four children have worked in the restaurant since they were young. They have a large extended family with many relatives, most of whom live in New York City. They also have many friends in the neighbourhood.

Peggy Sue is from Cornfield, Nebraska. She is the youngest of four sisters. She and her sisters worked on the family farm when they were young. Her father passed away several years ago. Her mother, Mildred, now lives alone in the family farmhouse and leases the farmland to a neighbouringg farmer. Peggy Sue's sisters all married local men and all live in Cornfield. All of their weddings were small (about 50 people), simple, and pretty much the same. Mildred has the wedding plans down to almost a standard operating procedure9:00 A.M. ceremony at the small church, followed by a buffet brunch in the church hall, and that is about it. They really could not afford much more elaborate weddings because the income from the farm had been pretty meagre. Peggy Sue's sisters did not go to college, and she had to take out loans to pay for her college expenses.

Tony and Peggy Sue decide to call home and announce the good news about their engagement and the forthcoming wedding.

Tony calls home and tells his mom, Carmella, the news. She replies, "That's great, honey! I've been waiting for this day. I can't believe my little baby is getting married. I'm so excited. We're going to have the biggest, best wedding ever. All our friends and family will come to celebrate. We'll probably have 300 people. And, of course, we'll have the reception at our restaurant; the banquet room should be big enough. I'll tell your cousin Vinnie that you want him to be best man. You grew up together, although you haven't seen much of each other since you went off to college in Texas. I'll call Aunt Lucy as soon as we're done talking and tell her that we want her little Maria and Teresa to be flower girls and little Nicky to be ring bearer. And, oh, I almost forgot the most important thing your sisters, they'll all be bridesmaids. I already know what color their gowns will bea deep rose; they'll be gorgeous. And sweetie, I didn't ask your papa yet, but I know he'll agree with meon Monday, I'm going to call my friend Francine, the travel agent, and get two tickets for you for a two-week honeymoon in Italy. You've never been there, and you must go. It will be a gift from your papa and me. And tell Peggy Lee or Peggy Susie or whatever congratulations. We are so happy for both of you. It's your wedding, and I don't want to interfere. I'll just be here to help. You know what I'm saying. So, my little Tony, whatever you want me to do, you just tell me. And one more thing, I'll see Father Frank after Mass on Sunday and tell him to mark his calendar already for a two o'clock ceremony on June 30. Goodbye, my big boy. I'll tell Papa you called. And I can't wait to start telling everybody to get ready to party on June 30."

Peggy Sue also calls her mom to tell her the news about the upcoming wedding. Mildred responds, "That's wonderful, dear. I'm glad you're finally getting married. You waited so long with going off to college and everything. I'll start getting everything ready. I know how to do this in my sleep by now. I'll mention it to Reverend Johnson after Sunday service. I'll tell your sisters to expect to be bridesmaids again in keeping with the family tradition. I guess Holley will be the matron of honor; it's her turn. By the way, she's expecting her third child probably right around the same time as your wedding, but I don't think that will matter. Well, I guess pretty soon you'll be having babies of your own, like all your sisters. I'm glad you are finally settling down. You should really be thinking about moving back home, now that you are done with college. I saw Emma Miller, your second-grade teacher, at the grocery store the other day. She told me she is retiring. I told her you would be excited to hear that and probably want to apply for her job."

"She said she didn't think they would have too many people applying so you would have a good chance. You could move in with me. The house is so big and lonely. There is plenty of room, and I can help you watch your babies. And your boyfriend, Tonyisn't he a cook or something? I'm sure he could probably get a job at the diner in town. Oh dear, I'm so happy. I've been praying that you would come back ever since you left. I'll tell all your sisters the news when they all come over for family dinner tonight. It won't be long before we're all together again. Goodbye, my dear, and you be careful in that big city."

Tony and Peggy Sue start discussing their wedding. They decide they want a big weddingwith their families and friends, including a lot of their college friends. They want an outdoor ceremony and outdoor reception, including plenty of food, music, and dancing into the night. They are not sure how much it will cost, though, and realize Peggy Sue's mother cannot afford to pay for the wedding, so they will have to pay for it themselves. Both Tony and Peggy Sue have college loans to pay back, but they hope that the monetary gifts they get from the wedding guests will be enough to pay for the wedding expenses and maybe have some leftovers for a honeymoon.

It is now New Year's Day, and Tony and Peggy Sue decide to sit down and start laying out the detailed plan of all the things they need to do to get ready for their wedding.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Make a list of assumptions that will be used as the basis for planning the wedding. And no, it is not acceptable to assume that Tony and Peggy Sue will just elope, no matter how tempting that may be!
2. Develop a work breakdown structure.
3. Make a list of the specific activities that need to be done between now and the wedding day.
4. For each activity, identify the person (Tony, Peggy Sue, and so forth) who will be responsible for seeing that the activity is accomplished.
5. a network diagram that shows the sequence and dependent relationships of all the activities.

Note: This case study will continue in Chapters 5 through 8, so save the results of your work.