On February 13, 2004, American Electronics International (AEI) was awarded a $30 million contract for R&D and production qualification for an advanced type of guidance system. During an experimental program that preceded this award and was funded by the same agency, AEI identified new materials with advanced capabilities that could easily replace existing field units. The program, entitled the Mask Project, would be 30 months in length, requiring the testing of 15 units. The Mask Project was longer than any other project that AEI had ever worked on. AEI personnel were now concerned about what kind of staffing problems there would be.

BACKGROUND

In June 2002, AEI won a one-year research project for new material development. Blen Carty was chosen as project manager. He had 25 years of experience with the company in both project management and project engineering positions. During the past five years, Blen had successfully performed as the project manager on R&D projects. AEI used the matrix approach to structuring project management. Blen was well aware of the problems that can be encountered with this organizational form. When it became apparent that a follow-on contract would be available, Blen felt that functional managers would be reluctant to assign key personnel full time to his project and lose their services for 30 months. Likewise, difficulties could be expected in staffing the project office. During the proposal stage of the Mask Project, a meeting was held with Blen Carty; John Wallace, the director of project management; and Dr. Albert Runnels, the director of engineering. The purpose of the meeting was to satisfy a customer requirement that all key project members be identified in the management volume of the proposal. John Wallace: "I'm a little reluctant to make any firm commitment. By the time your program gets off the ground, four of our other projects are terminating and several new projects are starting up. I think it's a little early to make firm selections." Blen Carty: "But we have a proposal requirement. Thirty months is a long time to assign personnel for. We should consider this problem now." Dr. Runnels: "Let's put the names of our top people into the proposal. We'll add several Ph.D.'s from our engineering community. That should beef up our management volume. As soon as we're notified of contract go-ahead, we'll see who's available and make the necessary assignments. This is a common practice in the industry."

COMPLETION OF THE MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

The material development program was a total success. From its inception, everything went smoothly. Blen staffed the project office with Richard Flag, a Ph.D. in engineering, to serve as project engineer. This was a risky move at first, because Richard had been a research scientist during his previous four years with the company. During the development project, however, Richard demonstrated that he could divorce himself from R&D and perform the necessary functions of a project engineer assigned to the project office. Blen was pleased with the way that Richard controlled project costs and directed activities. Richard had developed excellent working relations with development lab personnel and managers. Richard permitted lab personnel to work at their own rate of speed provided that schedule dates were kept. Richard spent 10 minutes each week with each of the department managers informing them of the status of the project. The department managers liked this approach because they received firsthand (nonfiltered) information concerning the total picture, not necessarily on their own activities, and because they did not have to spend "wasted hours" in team meetings. When it became evident that a follow-up contract might be available, Blen spent a large percentage of his time traveling to the customer, working out the details for future business. Richard then served as both project manager and project engineer.

The customer's project office was quite pleased with Richard's work. Information, both good and bad, was transmitted as soon as it became available. Nothing was hidden or disguised. Richard became familiar with all of the customer's project office personnel through the monthly technical interchange meetings. At completion of the material development project, Blen and John decided to search for project office personnel and make recommendations to upper-level management. Blen wanted to keep Richard on board as chief project engineer. He would be assigned six engineers and would have to control all engineering activities within time, cost, and performance specifications. Although this would be a new experience for Richard, Blen felt that he could easily handle it. Unfortunately, the grapevine was saying that Larry Gilbert was going to be assigned as chief project engineer for the Mask Project.

SELECTION PROBLEMS

On November 15, Dr. Runnels and Blen Carty had a meeting to select the key members of the project team. Dr. Runnels: "Well, Blen, the time has come to decide on your staff. I want to assign Larry Gilbert as chief engineer. He's a good man and has 15 years' experience. What are your feelings on that? Blen Carty: "I was hoping to keep Richard Flag on. He has performed well, and the customer likes working with him." Dr. Runnels: "Richard does not have the experience necessary for that position. We can still assign him to Larry Gilbert and keep him in the project office." Blen Carty: "I'd like to have Larry Gilbert working for Richard Flag, but I don't suppose that we'd ever get approval to have a grade-9 engineer working for a grade-7 engineer. Personally, I'm worried about Gilbert's ability to work with people. He has been so regimented in his ways that our people in the functional units have refused to work with him. He treats them as kids, always walking around with a big stick. One department manager said that if Gilbert becomes the boss, then it will probably result in cutting the umbilical cord between the project office and his department. His people refuse to work for a dictator. I have heard the same from other managers." Dr. Runnels: "Gilbert gets the job done. You'll have to teach him how to be a Theory Y manager. You know, Blen, we don't have very many grade-9 engineering positions in this company. I think we should have a responsibility to our employees. I can't demote Gilbert into a lower slot. If I were to promote Flag and the project gets canceled, where would I reassign him? He can't go back to functional engineering. That would be a step down." Blen Carty: "But Gilbert is so set in his ways. He's just totally inflexible. In addition, 30 months is a long time to maintain a project office. If he screws up, we'll never be able to replace positions in time without totally upsetting the customer. There seem to be an awful lot of people volunteering to work on the Mask Project. Is there anyone else available?" Dr. Runnels: "People always volunteer for long-duration projects because it gives them a feeling of security. This even occurs among our dedicated personnel. Unfortunately, we have no other grade-9 engineers available. We could reassign one from another program, but I hate to do it. Our engineers like to carry a project through from start to finish. I think you had better spend some time with the functional managers making sure that you get good people." Blen Carty: "I've tried that and am having trouble. The functional managers will not surrender their key people full time for 30 months. One manager wants to assign two employees to our project so that they can get on-the-job training. I told him that this project is considered strategic by our management and that we must have good people. The manager just laughed at me and walked away." Dr. Runnels: "You know, Blen, you cannot have all top people. Our other projects must be manned. Also, if you were to use all seasoned veterans, the cost would exceed what we put into the proposal. You're just going to have to make do with what you can get. Prepare a list of the people you want and I'll see what I can do." As Blen left the office, he wondered if Dr. Runnels would help him in obtaining key personnel.

QUESTIONS

1. Whose responsibility is it to staff the office?

2. What should be Blen Carty's role and Dr. Runnels's role?

3. Should Larry Gilbert be assigned?

4. How would you negotiate with the functional managers?

Requirements:

• Your submission should be a minimum of five pages. Your analysis will be considered complete, if it addresses each of the 4 components outlined above.
• A minimum of 4 sources (excluding the course textbook) from scholarly articles or business periodicals is required.
• Include your best critical thinking and analysis to arrive at your justification.