Case Study:

Matrix CC is a medium-sized company that designs and manufactures electronic systems for the mass transit industry. It competes with other firms to win contracts to provide such systems. When Matrix CC receives a contract, it creates a project to complete the work. Most projects range from R140 million to R700 million in cost and between one and three years in duration. Matrix CC can have six to 12 projects going on at any one time, in various stages of completionsome just starting and others finishing. Matrix CC has a handful of project managers who report to the general manager; other people report to their functional manager. For example, the electronics engineers all report to the manager of electrical engineering, who reports to the general manager. The functional manager assigns particular individuals to work on various projects. Some people work full time on a project, whereas others split their time among two or three projects. Although individuals are assigned to work for a project manager on a specific project, administratively they still report to their functional manager. Sibani Cele has been with the company for about 12 years, since graduating from university with a BSc. in electronic engineering. He has worked his way up to senior electronics engineer and reports to the manager of electrical engineering. He has worked on many projects and is well respected within the company. Sibani has been asking for an opportunity to be a project manager. When Matrix CC is awarded a R210 million contract to design and manufacture an advanced electronics system for a new aircraft, the general manager promotes Sibani to project manager and asks him to run this project. Sibani works with the functional managers to get the best people available assigned to the project. Most of the people are buddies who have worked with Sibani on previous projects. However, with Sibanis position as senior electronics engineer vacant, the manager of electrical engineering has no one with the appropriate level of expertise to assign to Sibanis project. So, the manager hires a new person, Alicia Kingsway. Lured away from a competitor, Alicia has a PhD. in electronic engineering and eight years experience. She was able to command a high salary more than Sibani is earning. She is assigned to Sibanis project full time as the senior electronics engineer. Sibani takes a special interest in Alicias work and asks to meet with her to discuss her design approaches. Most of these meetings turn into monologues, with Sibani suggesting how Alicia should do the design and paying little attention to what she says. Finally, Alicia asks Sibani why he is spending so much more time reviewing her work than that of the other engineers on the project. He responds, I dont have to check theirs. I know how they work. I have worked with them on other projects. Youre the new kid on the block, and I want to be sure you understand the way we do things here, which may be different than at your previous employer. On another occasion, Alicia shows Sibani what she thinks is a creative design approach that will result in a lower-cost system. Sibani tells her, I dont even have a PhD. and I can see that that wont work. Dont be so esoteric; just stick to basic sound engineering. During a business trip with Moosa Khan, another engineer assigned to the project who has known Sibani for six years, Alicia says that she is frustrated with the way Sibani treats her. Sibani is acting more like the electronics engineer for the project than the project manager, she tells Moosa. Besides, I have forgotten more about designing electronics than Sibani ever knew! He really isnt up to date on electronic design methodologies. She also tells Moosa that shes planning to discuss the matter with the manager of electrical engineering and that she would never have taken the job with Matrix CC if she had known it was going to be like this.

QUESTION:

In point format. 20 marks

A) Provide a critique of Sibanis interaction with Alicia with a focus on its impact in a project set up?

B) Analyse and discuss Sibanis readiness and preparedness for the project management appointment and make the necessary recommendations if need be.