Please answer sicario 3 and 4 questions

FinalExamCaseStudy

PleasereadALLdirectionsbelowbeforestartingyourfinalassignment.INSTRUCTIONS:

Readtheentirecasestudy carefullyandthenrespondtoill!

questionsineachofthefourscenarios.

Develop each answer to the fullest extent possible, including in-text citations ,where applicable, tosupport your arguments.

• Include pagenumbersaccordingtoAPAformatting guidelines.
• Include references inAPAformat attheendofeach answer.

IntroductionandOrganization Overview

DRAPerformanceSolutions (DRAPS) wasfoundedin1992 with thegoaltoimprovehumanperformance using multiple technology avenues.

To improve human performance, DRA PS makes recommendations about how to change workenvironmentstoimproveemployeeperformance, motivationandmorale; anddevelops courseware for skill improvement.

TheTraining SolutionsDivision ofDRA PS developsthe courseware products. Revenue for past year: $25 million.

RevenuefortheTrainingSolutionsDivisionforthepastyear:$10million.

DRAPS total workforce: 650 employees, 260 ofwhom are employed in theTraining Solutions Division.

CaseStudyBackground

TheTraining SolutionsDivision (TSD) ofDRA PS wasrecentlyawarded a $6 million contract to develop a training academy for BTA, a United Statesgovernment organization withhighly educated personnel. The contract is for 36 months. The academy must be up and running in three months and the first classroom course offered at the start ofthe fourth month.

TSDmustdevelopthefollowingbeforethefrrstclassroomcourseisoffered:

1. A project plan andtimeline fortheacademy'sdevelopment, including websitedesignandlaunch, course development and repeat course cycles.
2. Paper-basedtrainingandeducationalproducts.
3. Web-basedtrainingandeducationalproducts.
4. Digitizedvideotraining andeducationalproducts.
5. Marketingbrochures, postersande-mail announcements.
6. Eventlogisticsplans.
7. Deliveryschedules for15courses.
8. Traininganalysesforthefirstand secondcourses.
9. Instructionaldesignplans.
10. Aninstructor's guide, participant manualandPowerPointpresentation withavarietyofmultimedia components such as graphics, animations and videos for the first course.
11. Anexaminationforthefirstcourse.

The training academy will be completely virtual. All academy marketing, courses and attendee registration willoccuronline.Inaddition, theacademy websitewillhousecourse materials and records for attendee access, and an interactive forum for academy member collaboration.

The contract requires TSD to develop 15 classroom-based courses that are highly interactive and useinnovative multimedia approaches. Afterall thecoursesaredeveloped anddelivered onetime,theywillberepeated during thelastyearofthethree-year project.

ProjectPhases

Projectdevelopmentwilloccurintwophases:

Phase 1: Create the training academy (3 months).Implement organizationalstructure.

Developandlaunchweb site.

Developandimplement brandingfortheacademy. Develop and distribute marketing materials.

Developthefirstcourse.

Deliverthefirstcourse.

Begindevelopmentofthesecondcourse throughtheanalysisphase.

Phase2:Maintainacademyoperations,develop andimplementremainingcourses,andoffer repeatsessions(2yearsand9months).Completedevelopmentofthesecondcourse.

Deliverthesecondcourse.

Implementdevelopmentschedule forthenext13courses.

Offerrepeatcoursesduring lastyearofthecontract.Continue tomanage the academy,maintain the web site and market the courses.

OrganizationaIStructure

DRAPS'scurrentorganizationalstructure:

ExecutiveOfficer (5 employees)

FinancialOfficer(12employees) OperationsOfficer (10 employees)

TrainingSolutions Division

(260employees)

AnalysisDivision (162employees)

EvaluationDivision (167 employees)

HumanResources (16 employees)

Contracts(4employees)

Business Development(14employees)

Project Management

Instructional Design

GraphicDesign

Programming

Document Production

Logistics

Multimedia

TheTraining SolutionsDivisionisamatrixorganization* dividedintothefollowing branches: Project Management

InstructionalDesign Graphic Design Programming DocumentProduction Logistics

Multimedia

*Amatrixorganizationusesa multiplechain-of-commandsystem.Inamatrixorganization,employees typicallyreporttoa managerwith profitor overall projectresponsibility andtotheirfunctionalmanager whois responsibleformaintaining

productqualityandfunctional performance.

CurrentTSDStaffing

All 260 employees in theTraining Solutions Division arealready assigned to projects. Thenew contract will require TSD to determine how many employees they will need for each division branch and for each project. They will need to take into account when current

projects areending; whocan be moved from thoseprojects tothe new project;and how many new employees will be needed.

Scenario1:IncreasingStaffto

completetheFirst Phase

ReadtheIntroductionof DRAPS.

Additional Scenario Information MRG HPI Policies and Guidelines for Assigning Employees to Projects

DRA PS is committed to maintaining a highly qualified talent pool. Therefore,all DRA PS employees must beconsidered fornewworkopportunities before being terminated duetolack of an available, relevant assignment.

New employeesmustbehired to supportexisting workloads. Full-time position requests must include verificationof the project assignment;a budget to support the position;and the durationoftheassignment.Ifproject willbeshort in duration,term hires must beconsidered or even the use of a consultant or subcontractor.

The additionofa new positionrequires writtenapprovalfrom the projectmanager,branch chief, thevice president oftheTraining Solutions Division, thechiefoperating officer, the chief financial officer and the vice president of Human Resources.

Subcontractor hiring requires written approval from the projectmanager,branch chief,ofthe vice president of the Training Solutions Division,the vice president of Contracts, the chief operating officer, the chief financial officer and the vice president of Human Resources.

Staff reassignments require written approval from the branch chief,thevice president of theTraining Solutions Division,thechief operating officer,thechief financial officer, the vice president of Human Resources and the chief executive officer.

Scenario2:TheEffectofFiringtheProgramManager on Staffing for theSecondPhaseoftheProject

ReadtheIntroductionof DRAPS.

AdditionalScenarioInformation

Work is well underway. ATaskManagementEducationalPlanis being written to articulatethescope,work breakdown, processes, schedulesandassignmentsateachproject phase.This plan mustbe done within thefirst month ofthe project start date. DRA PShired a new program manager from outside the organization to oversee the new project.

DRA PS hired her based on her college degree and years ofexperience in the field and needs her to get up to speed quickly. An existing program manager who worked on the projectproposal and whohas mettheclient is assigned theproject's principalinstructional designer.

Client'sRequirements

The client expects the program manager to conduct weekly status meetings with them; communicatewiththemonadaily basis throughe-mailsandtelephonecalls; andtomeet established deadlines for product delivery. The client will conduct quality assurance reviews immediately to keep the schedule on time.

Scheduleand WorkloadRequirements

The team is organized into three divisions: course development, marketing, and web site development. Eachdivision hasaleadteammember. Theprogrammanagerhas oversight ofthe entire project.

Thewebsitemustbedesigned andlaunchedtwomonthsaftertheproject startdate.

Amarketingplanandbranding campaignmustbedesignedbefore thewebsitecanlaunch. Marketing products must beready for distribution at the same timeas the web site launch.

The firstcourse mustbe delivered atthe startofthe fourth month fromthe project start date.

Thecoursereviewandrehearsalmustbereadytwomonths aftertheproject startdate.

Analysisworkforthesecondcoursemuststarttwomonths aftertheproject startdate.

ProgramManager'sActions

The program manager seems friendlybut does not seem to be leading the team. Sheholds weekly statusmeetings with theclientbutdoesn't say anythingduring thosemeetings. She responds only by e-mail to client communications and calls only to confirm meetings.

The client is not impressed with the program manager's performance and notices thatthe lead instructional designer is actually filling both the program manager and instructionaldesignerroles. Onemonthintotheproject, theclientmentionstheprogram manager's performance to the vice president ofthe division.The vice presidentpromises to talk to the program manager and help her improve her performance.

By the end ofthe second month, the analysis for the second course has started. The first courseis readyforreviewandrehearsal, whichmeansallmaterialshavebeendeveloped andarereadyfor instructorreview. The preliminary branding campaign wascompleted, marketing materials are ready for approval, and the first version ofthe web site has launched.

The vicepresidentofthe division phones the clientandasks for feedbackonthe project accomplishments to date and the program manager's performance.

Theclientpraises theprogressmadeinsuchashorttime but thinksithashappened inspite ofthe program manager. The client informs the vice president that the program manager missed the deadline for delivery oftheTaskManagementEducationalPlan.When it was finally delivered, the client sent it back as unsatisfactory. Also, the client feels that the program manager has been uncommunicative; she has not said a dozen words in the past eight weekly progress meetings. The client is not pleased with the program manager's performance. At the end ofthe third month, DRA PS decides to replace the program manager.

In spiteofthis, teamleadershavemadesure thatthefirstcourseis ready, thewebsiteis launched, and the marketing plan is developed and implemented on schedule.

Anewprogrammanager isneededright away.:Answerthefollowing:

Scenario3: The Effectof Losing StaffMembersduringaStaffReduction

ReadtheIntroductionofDRAPS.

AdditionalScenarioInformation

Six months intotheproject, theclient reviewstheprogress andissues astop-work order. The main issues identified during their review:

Thereweredifferent expectations about thecomplexity ofgraphicsincourse development and course materials.

Thereweredifferent opinionsabout thelevel ofmarketing required (marketingacourse versus the entire academy,no post-coursepromos, etc.).

Therewereissues withinstructors. Therewereinstanceswhereinstructorshadrescheduled on multiple occasions or cancelled.

There were concerns about thesubject matter experts (SMEs).SMEs had been hired outsideofthebudgeted amount.Therewerealsoconcerns abouttheSMEs not providing the level of technical writing expertise required, which resulted in having to hire additional technical writers.

DRA PS addressed some of these concerns by removing the videotaping requirement during theanalysis phaseandremoving therepeatcourses thatweregoing to beoffered during the final contract year.

Byeliminating videotaping andrepeatcourses,theremaining coursestobedeveloped and presented were stretched over the rest of the contract (2 years).

Thismeansthatinstead ofdeveloping and offering the15coursesusing two teams ina staggeredfashion over twoyears,DRAPSmust reduce staff.Currently therearethree senior instructional designers, six graphic artists, three document specialists,six technical writers, three subject matter experts, and two editors assigned to the teams.Your subject matter experts are consultants under contract.

Youdon'twanttoloseyourstaff,butyoumay have nochoicebuttoletsomego.

Someoftheemployees resignwhen theyhearthenews.T hreeinstructional designersquit and the remaining three are searching for new jobs. All your technical writers have resumes out topotential employers. Yourseniorgraphics lead,aperson youcount on, has a job offer with another organization.

What will you do to maintain astaff to meet the contractual changes and ensure a quality product?What canyou do toretainyouremployees and instillconfidence thattheprogram is stable? Answer the following:

1. Whatcanbedonetoretainexisting employees?
2. Howwillyoumotivatethecurrentteam?
3. How will yougoabout replacing theoneswho haveleft(positions thatarestill needed)?

Scenario4:TheEffectofAdditional WorkloadonContinuingOperations

ReadtheIntroductionofDRAPS.

AdditionalScenarioInformation

The issues that caused the work-stop order were satisfactorilyaddressed and work on the project resumed.The client is impressed with DRAPS'swork products and with how they addressed somedifficult issuesduring thedevelopmentanddeliveryofthelastsixorseven courses.The client wants toadd repeat courses back into the schedule and add four new courses.The client wants tostart thenew courses immediately and wants them completed within thenext 12 months. The current work must continue and not be affected by the additionalwork.

Current ScheduleandWorkloadRequirements

Onecourseisscheduledtobecompleted thisyear.Threemorecourses areto bedeveloped next year. It takes 6 months to develop each course. The three-year contract ends September 30 next year. All of the additional work must be completed by that date.

Currentstaffing consistsof:

Oneseniorin strnctionaldesigner Three graphic artists

Onedirector/videographer

Onesubcontractedsoundtechnician

One media specialistOnelogistics coordinator One web programmer Two technical writers

Onesubcontracted subjectmatterexpert One editor

Onedocument specialist

CurrentOrganizationalStructure

Thetrainingacademy isnow two yearsold.DRA PShasdeveloped seven courses; the last one was the most challenging to develop and yet one of the most successful. The success rejuvenatedthe team, which wasstruggling after thetermination of the program manager,the three-monthwork stoppage,a change to theworkload and schedule requirements, and the loss of co-workers. Developmentand deliveryschedules were tight and required a great deal of commitment and hard work. The teams'moods have run the gamut from devastation to euphoria. The current mood is somewhere in between.

RetentionandRecruitmentIssues

In the previous scenario, somestaff members were looking foremployment elsewhere.Motivationissues still persist.

Additional staffing isneeded because ofthenewwork.A staffing analysis concluded that seventeams willbenecessarytoaccomplishtheadditionalwork.Staffadditions include:

Threegraphicartists Two logistics staff

Threedocumentspecialists Two editors

Fourteentechnicalwriters

Seven instructional designers (thesewill be negotiated with thesubcontractor)Answer the following:

1. What internal and/orexternal methodscouldbeusedtorecruitandstaffqualityteams?
2. How will you ensure afair,equitable,and market competitive compensation and reward strategy?
3. Proposetwostrategiestoquicklyintegrate thenewteamsintotheexistingworkforce.
4. Discusstwowaysyouwillproactivelymanageanypotentialperformanceissues.