Jeena parked her car in the driveway and walked towards the home. Unlocked it, saw some mails in postbox. Saw a letter from the higher commission of Pakistan, curiously opened it and smiled. This is something her brain was suggesting that she would receive some type of acknowledgement. She took shower and set in rocking chair to enjoy hot coffee. She sips and had again glance at the letter on the table, her brain said, "it is time to review the chain of events on the Spade project and strategize her next venture".

Spade Project was the name of high-tech security system project developed in collaboration by Pakistan Higher Authority and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). This project was funded and approved by Federal Government of Pakistan, Islamabad. Jeena being the project manager, led the team of 25 professional hardware and 20 software engineers.

Jeena was born in a Christian family in Pakistan, but her family migrated to United States when she was only 9 years old. Turning 18, she joined the U.S Air Force and used the education stipend to complete her dual (electrical and mechanical engineering) degree program. She joined the Delta Corporation (DC) huge defense company with over $40 billion annual sales and workforce of 1500 professionals. It was a wing of U.S Department of Defense after graduation and worked on several projects. After few years of experience on multiple projects, she moved to the management and persuaded MBA, specializing in project management. Money was the key motivator behind her decision to become a project manger because she felt confident that she is good at it. After working on couple of the projects, she got an opportunity disguised in challenge when she was offered by DC to lead a project - Spade and was grouped with 45 professionals (20 hardware experts from DC and 5 from Pakistan, while 15 software engineers from DC and 5 from Pakistan). Among those, there were some she knew since her internship days while some she will meet for the first time (especially professionals from Pakistan) when she officially consents to lead the Project Spade. She got this opportunity because she was always ahead of schedules and completion time. She was a single mother but was proud of her professional growth and financial stability to send her only son to state university for medicines.

She was often watching news regularly and the situation of suicide bombing and extremist groups under the wing of Pakistan Taliban were operating in the Northern part of Pakistan, KPK having shoulder border with Afghanistan. She always thought about it that being from minority in Pakistan, how it would have been if she was still in Pakistan? However, she did not know that fate will take her again to the land of her birth.

DC under the contract with DoD informed her that there is a strategic collaboration between DoD and Pakistan High Commission, and in different phases she would be required frequent travel Pakistan for this project. Delta Corporation was renowned for sending employees worldwide on international projects. Their key business areas were Defense and Security Mechanism, Information and Technology Services, and Electronic Systems. Delta Corporation saw the strategic collaboration as an opportunity to grow as a major player in the market because of its political affiliations and technical expertise. Spade was one such project that was to design, develop and install a security system for government of Pakistan, at the heart of war against terror.

Jeena was overwhelmed with the excitement, but her concerns were rational before even she starts the project Spade. Few of the concerns were leaving her son behind while she was travelling back and forth. Multiplied with anxiety of going to a land that was highly unsecured for people, she followed the news of the kidnaping and murdering of a Jewish (minority) journalist (Daniel Peal). She somehow managed to deal with those issued but her stress became evident with growing professional concerns.

Dealing with the project team members, having practical field knowledge but cultural differences and English as second language may pose communication challenges. These were concerns of a personal nature. The other type of concern was technical inherent risks in the project. Theoretically, design fundamentals were realistic, and Delta has a 100% success rate, reflecting strong proven technology. The residual risks were often covered from corner to corner by Risk Analysis Wing (ARW). However, the technology was never applied in the field of Defense and Security Mechanism across the national boundaries. Hence, this was first of its own kind of a project. Jeena knew from professional experience that real world applications and simulations (lab preparations) are entirely different things. She knew that there will be times that will not only test her temperament, but also the patience and determination of her cross-cultural team. Later, this turned out to be true.

The involvement of her team was also a grave concern. Like a grid, team was split in various ways, such as having local and foreigner team members, having hardware and software engineers. Their approaches and set of skills were different thus while dealing with problem, they had natural distinct approach. Moreover, there were new interns and seniors, reflecting generational gap among members and sub-teams. With passage of time many differences became visible. Interestingly, hardware engineers on both end, U.S and Pakistan were all former military personnel with strong patriotism, deep religious beliefs, and conservative family values, reflecting collectivism stance in work patterns. These matured members were mostly calm and focused on their tasks. On the other hand, electrical engineers were civilians with more secular stance, modern lifestyles, and individualistic nature. These individuals were single, noisy, and carefree in their manners. Former army personnel were more into world economic, political changes, playing chess, physical activities, daily exercises, and impact of globalization whereas young personnel were more about music, smart gadgets, movies, play stations, playing online games, efficiency cars, and watching Tik Toks.

There was also a feeling of resentment among hardware employees in the U.S side because of no raise in the salary package for them while electrical engineers got premium hike and facilities. On the other hand, In Pakistan, the electrical engineers were not happy due to little raise while hardware engineers were given all privileges and good salary packages. Though, it was not Jeena's direct concern, but a protest and demotivating behavior of electrical engineers were affecting the project. However, Jeena clarified to demotivate employees on east and west coast that they will make more money from the incentives of finishing the project on time. At least, she was successful in ensuring that team members were meeting the deadlines and achieving the milestones in timely manner.

Jeena did one thing right from the start that she kept meeting her team (in-person as well as on Zoom) to ensure they are on the same page. She arranged different team-building activities and distributed roles and responsibilities among members so there is no overlap and no interference in one another's domain. Jeena always carried were portfolio and boxes. She had clear project plan. She hired a long-term regional soccer coach to develop a high-performance team that would also help in finding ways to deal with cross-cultural and cross-generational issues. After few interactive sessions, Jeena saw more team coordination and sense of unity among team members. It helped her in carrying out the project and the entire team stood together united to complete the project in timely manner and were ready to overcome the technical challenges. Teams and sub-teams work together to accomplish project goals.

Project followed total quality management technique (TQM), this reflects on checking the project on different stages and ensuring that rigorous tests are carried out before proceeding to the next stage. Thought, it is time consuming but there is no compromise over the quality, especially when money and reputation is on stake. From initial designing to verification of total system performance, everything was check. The key milestones were accomplished through testing each development within the project. The curiosity among members were visible in each stage and often displayed range of emotions from disappointment (due to minor technical glitches) to joy (due to resolving the issues through collaboration and coordination). Team worked tirelessly to make it for the time lost and had to make a lot of compromises on their family and personal time. Jeena also had to go through same. She was away from her son during travels and long working hours to ensure she stayed with her team in their thick and thin times.

Second test was carried out on schedule and this time team was prepared that errors can occur. Unfortunately, the system failed to function properly. It took almost a month to fix the reoccurring issue. The agitation was very visible among the team members, despite being trained for such situations. There was also the strain feeling as west coast team (U.S) blaming the east coast team (Pakistan) for their laziness. Jeena was in Pakistan working closely with the team.In fifth week, system performed functionality to perfection. This was the first time when there was a celebration among members and the workspace became a talent show. Team members from different age bracket showed their dance move while team members joining on Zoom (from Pakistan) were eagerly playing drums on table. Jeena was still in Pakistan, happy for her team but was missing her son terribly. She knew there are compromises she had to make but she was smiling and happy to see the younger teammates teaching use of smart gadgets to old members while somewhere another young employee was listening and enjoying the conversation among two oldies about geo-politics in Europe.

Jeena received a call from her son's college about decline in his grades. This was another issue that Jeena had to go through alone. She could not let her personal life problems affect her adversely. She must find a way to balance personal and professional commitments. Despite those issues, she started her day with status meetings, giving guidance to those seeking and reviewing their performance. The objectives were clearly set for teams, and they were given general guidelines to achieve those new objectives. Despite some whispers she firmly believed and continued with the meetings as she thought it helps in the directions, positive attitude building, and reminding the team members about their final goal. Like a jugular, she had to juggle between personal and professional responsibilities. However, she ensured that she never miss out on the meetings. She stood her team and encouraged them. There were times that her team was going through personal tragedies (such as a member from Pakistan's electrical team lost his younger brother in a tragic bomb blast). Jeena ensured she is there for her all-team members to pass through their difficult phases.

Jeena, despite having deep internal fears about the last testing stages remain calm and composed. The clock was ticking, and her team was racing against the time. In the final test, the system launched. Her heartbeat was faster, and she was not sure if it would be success. The young member pressed the button and system worked. There were joys and celebrations again. From west to east coast team members were chanting"Jeena Jeena - together we did it".

In present, looking at the appreciation letter, she was happy. However, the son's grade was worrisome, but that she thought it's time to sleep. She will deal with it. As she turned off the light to retire to the bed, a text message pop-up on screen, it reads,"Project Club has stuck, we need you to takeover from the current project manager".

1.What were the risks associated with this project? Inherent andresidual risks should be explained from case study 500 words). 

2. Do you think Jeena was given too many responsibilities with too little experience? Justify your answer ( 300 words) 

3. According to you what could be some of the behavioural and emotional consequences Jeena would develop after the project ends? Justify your approach ( 300 words)

 

give answer 3 questions ?