PLEASE HELP ME TACKLE MY ASSIGNMENT

1.

Recommendations:

For each of the five positions identify:

• The internal candidate recommended for each position, and why.
• A brief discussion about any candidate not chosen for a leadership position at this time, with justification for this decision.
• If any of the positions cannot be filled by the current candidate pool, describe why an external search is recommended.
• If any of the positions cannot be filled by the current candidate pool, briefly describe the qualities that you feel the Biotech recruiting team should look for in the external candidate for this position.

Position 1:Sales Director, Middle East

Location: Saudi Arabia

Answers to: Executive Director, Asia Division

Biotech's Asia Division will be opening its first Middle East location in Saudi Arabia in the next 12 months. A Sales Director will be needed to head up this new division. A team of local salespeople will need to be recruited, hired, and trained by this leader. It is expected that this sales team may be largely men.

Two sources that are recommended for more information about doing business in Saudi Arabia are:

Guide to Saudi Arabia Etiquette, Customs, Culture, and Business

Saudi Arabia Management Guide

Position 2:Director of Research and Development (R&D)

Location: Headquarters, Yonkers, NY

Answers to: VP of Headquarter Operations

R&D is at the heart of Biotech's success and, indeed, it's future. The leader of Research and Development will lead a group of scientists and innovators but does not need to be a scientist himself/herself. R&D is located centrally at Biotech Headquarters because R&D coordinates with all other departments and divisions. This is a high profile position.

Position 3:VP of Headquarter Operations

Location: Headquarters, Yonkers, NY

Answers to: President and CEO

The Headquarters houses R&D, HR, IT, Purchasing, and Finance. Each of these departments has its own "subculture", and each department is fairly distinct from each other. The young, youthful subculture of IT often clashes with the conservative subculture of the Finance department, for example. Many of the members of the Finance and HR teams are baby boomers and are near retirement. This leader oversees the smooth operation of all of these departments and ensures the coordination of these departments with each other and with each of the four geographic divisions across the world.

Position 4:Executive Director, North American Division

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Answers to: President and CEO

This leader will head up the largest and most profitable division of Biotech. This division is seen as the "flagship" by the other divisions since Biotech's roots are in the United States. This Executive Director has the "ear" of the CEO and spends a lot of time with the Barney family. This leader is faced with spearheading the future direction of Biotech in North America and is challenged with filling openings throughout the United States and Canada caused by fast growth and a retiring Baby Boomer population.

Position 5:Director of Finance

Location: Headquarters, Yonkers, NY

Answers to: Chief Financial Officer

This leader oversees the day-to-day operations of the finance department. This leader is expected to aid in strategic planning with the executive team of Biotech. Although a finance background is not required, this person is expected to bring a conservative approach to the strategic planning table, to balance out the high-risk tolerance of the rest of the leadership at Biotech. A "big picture" perspective is definitely needed here.

Candidate 1 - Jackie Johnson - Current Position - Director of Purchasing

Jackie Johnson currently works as Director of Purchasing and obtained this job directly after serving in the military. She is a graduate of UMGC's business administration program. Johnson entered the interview room all smiles and with a firm handshake. The interviewer admitted to being impressed by the firm handshake and the constant eye contact throughout the interview. Johnson was very prepared to discuss her future with the company. She had completed extensive research on all four geographic divisions prior to the interview. Johnson had also spoken with current employees throughout Headquarters. Johnson indicated that, as Director of Purchasing, she had worked very hard to make a small business "subculture" within her department. She felt that her employees were empowered to make their own decisions, which freed her to think strategically about purchasing for Biotech. She admits that this "free-rein" approach to leadership has sometimes allowed her department to have missteps in distribution with divisions outside of North America. She has worked hard to overcome that image by altering her leadership style according to the situation or the employee she is dealing with. Her approach to leading is to look for leadership opportunities and encourage employees to act upon them, if possible. Johnson believes she is positive about the future and while she admits to only having worked in the purchasing department, she feels that she can bring a big picture perspective to the company, having worked with both suppliers and customers in purchasing. When asked about her risk tolerance, she replied, "I believe that is demonstrated in the small-business, entrepreneurial subculture I created in purchasing. At the end of the day, I'm more risk-tolerant than cautious." Johnson said she sees herself as a transformational leader.

Candidate 2- Henrietta Higgins - Current Position - Assistant Director of Purchasing

Henrietta currently works at Biotech Headquarters in the Purchasing Department. She is 28 years old with 3 years of college. Henrietta is a business administration major and expects to graduate in about one year. She is friendly and has a quiet demeanor. She does not tolerate much nonsense from people, hates surprises, and wants people to be brief in talking with her. When asked what she likes about her current position, she replied that she likes the feeling of a small-business that her boss has created within the purchasing department. She appreciates that it makes her feel in control in such an environment. She likes the idea of the collaborative environment of Biotech and responded well to the idea that her opinions and suggestions were always welcome. However, she expressed some concern that the youthful employees of IT, and some other departments, had plenty of opinions but not a lot of discipline in their work ethic. She has found that structure, procedures, and rules have worked better than asking for input. When asked how her staff perceived her, she laughed and said they called her a first type The interviewer noted that during this statement, it was only one of two times during the interview that she held his gaze for any length of time. When asked what characteristics she thought a leader needed to possess to succeed in the 21st century she replied, "...objective, practical, controlled and fair." Higgins said her leadership style was transactional but the interviewer was not sure if it was not more authoritarian. When asked what leadership theory she thought was most likely to work in the 21st century her reply was "Great Man because it emphasizes the characteristics of a person like honesty and trust." Higgins's knowledge of the business was sound but when asked if anyone could be a leader she said no.Higgins did understand that sustainability was very important to the business. She said she had some ideas on how to make the process aspects of Biotech better and more efficient while saving cost. She also thought that being eco-friendly was important but realized that was the other meaning of the word sustainability in business.

Candidate 3 - Mohammad Darvish - Current position - Marketing Manager, Homeopathic Division (Corporate Headquarters) Darvish currently manages the sales of the Homeopathic Division. He enjoys working with a customer until they are satisfied and regrets having to short change the time he spends with customers today. He also feels that the company culture has become more rigid over the past few years. When asked to elaborate, he responded, "Folks are scared of making mistakes. If there has been anything I've been seeking to change in the homeopathic division, it's that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them." When asked what characteristics he thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21st century, he replied, "...flexible, risk-tolerant, insightful and honest." He liked the collaborative culture of Biotech and showed signs of having done his homework on the other divisions, particularly Asia. Biotech, he said, would do well if the company made sure that this division continued its existing culture because it encouraged creativity. When asked how he created followers among his employees, Darvish replied that he liked to use incentive motivational techniques and would sometimes empower workers, if they demonstrated the ability to take risks. Darvish said he was sometimes a laissez-faire leader because it encouraged freedom of thinking. He said he would solve problems largely through "good teaming and collaboration".

Candidate 4- Marg Simpson - Current position - Sales Director, Chicago Office

Marg Simpson is 36 years old. She is a single mother of two. She was a nurse for 8 years before coming to work at Biotech in the marketing area of the sales division in Chicago. She has been working for the company for four years. Her immediate manager reported that Marg is highly motivated and competent at her job. Her manager said that Marg's biggest asset is that she "looked at challenges as opportunities and often found creative solutions to problems that others had not considered." Simpson's nursing years were spent at the University of Chicago in Orlando Park. Surrounded by a large Muslim community the hospital gave classes in Arabic and Simpson found it very useful in her work to attend Arabic classes. She learned not only how to carry on a conversation with non-English speaking patients but the names of many drugs and over-the-counter treatments. Simpson enjoyed her time in Orlando Park and found the culture of the families very compatible with her own ideas of family. When asked if she was risk-tolerant or risk-averse, she answered: "I occasionally reward risk-taking in the work environment. I do not think the poorly planned risk is wise, but sometimes you have to take a chance in sales. It is not for the faint-hearted. But at the end of the day, I'd describe myself as more risk-averse than tolerant." Having read about the opportunity through Biotech's HR division website, Simpson was excited about the possibility of moving her career forward. When asked if she were to relocate to other regions, such as the Middle East if it would present problems for her, she hesitantly stated: "Initially, but if I plan things out well, surround myself with good people and learn about my clients, I am sure I could overcome the cultural drawbacks to being a woman." While she describes herself as being very familiar with Muslim cultures, Simpson freely admits that she knows little about Europe or South America. She has read some information and thinks she could learn another language if she is given help and the time needed to learn. Simpson has many innovative ideas about increasing sales. Simpson's evaluations are superior and she works well with her team. Her colleagues suggest that she is flexible and a people-first person. She describes her leadership style as "a blend of situational and transformational" and describes herself as a relational leader.

Candidate 5 - Rafael Mendez - Current Position - Director of Sales, New Mexico

Mendez currently is the Director of the New Mexico sales division at Biotech. He was Biotech's top salesman before taking over the Director position. Mendez is 32 years old. A recent divorce from his wife has made him eager to make a change in his career. Mendez's wife was Brazilian. Mendez is fluent in Portuguese. When asked if he was open to moving outside of the United States, Mendez replied that he was "open to adventure." He had not traveled excessively but had gone to Brazil regularly with his wife when they were together. He was familiar with the problems of a developing country. Mendez enjoys working with customers and spends a lot of time with them making sure they are satisfied. Mendez enjoys Biotech's collaborative culture. He feels that one of the secrets to his own sales success is the ability to coordinate with other departments within Biotech, including purchasing, IT, R&D, and HR. As part of his 360-degree performance appraisal, his team gave him glowing reviews. He got equally high ratings from senior salespeople (i.e., Baby Boomers) and younger salespeople (i.e., Millennials). When asked what characteristics he thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21st century, he replied, "...you need to be a good listener, first and foremost." He felt a good leader should change rapidly in a crisis and should be direct and assertive when dealing with people. When asked about the idea of the competitive edge he said "A leader has to worry about making money every day. It is important to have immediate results for all to see especially in sales. Even customers prefer to deal with successful salespeople than those that plod along."Mendez believes he could do well in another country if the company ensured he received language and cultural training. He knew that understanding how people thought about business and their products was important but more likely the sale would be clinched if he knew what was and wasn't culturally acceptable in the country in which he was selling. He stated, "Knowing your clients is everything in sales, so I suspect it is a very important part of the leadership at Biotech as well." When asked how he created followers among his employees, Mendez replied he liked to have rules but also room for deviation and flexibility --- while always remaining results-driven. Mendez said he was a situational leader because it encouraged freedom, and allowed him to use different leadership styles with a diverse group of employees.

2.

Thomas Motor Company

John Thomas is the Managing Director of the Thomas Motor Company. He succeeded to the position of Managing Director after his father Martin Thomas died four years ago.Martin Thomas was the founder of the Thomas Motor Company.He started off as an apprentice mechanic in a suburban area of Melbourne when he was only eighteen working as an assistant to Fred Luthans, proprietor of Luthans Automotive Repairs. Martin learnt all he knew about vehicle mechanics from him. He was a keen and enthusiastic learner and Luthans liked people like that. He saw a lot of potential in Martin and once remarked to a fellow worker after Martin completed a job in record time, "That kid is going to be someone someday. By the age of twenty-one, Martin had become one of the fastest and most skilful mechanics that Luthans had ever taught.

Five years later, Martin left Luthans Automotive Repairs and opened up his own garage in Geelong, a city 70kms west of Melbourne. With his natural knack for vehicle mechanics, Martin's small business prospered, expanded and grew into the well-known Thomas Motor Company of today.

It had been taken for granted that John Thomas would one day succeed his father Martin as Managing Director of the Thomas Motor Company.Martin was conscious of this and he wanted young John to have a solid background in vehicle mechanics and sent him off to automotive technical school. He did not want John to be taking on a job which would be beyond his capabilities when he took over the business.

The company's office where John Thomas was located was based in downtown Geelong, but the workshop was situated some kilometres away in an industrial estate on the outskirts of town. Working in the workshop were the five mechanics employed in the business. Steve Robbins, aged forty-five, the Foreman in charge of the workshop, was a veteran at the Thomas Motor Company. He had been Martin's long-time friend and had been with the Thomas Motor Company since the day it was formed. He was the most experienced and skilled worker there.

Robbins basically did some administrative work besides the usual repair tasks at the workshop. He was the one who sorted out the work of the other mechanics, although there was no formal job description for his job. Robbins was an informal sort of leader. He would often join in the fun with the others and treated them as his equal. Everyone at the workshop was a member of a closely knit group and there was little need for Robbins to keep them in line. The atmosphere suited him extremely well.

Bob Johnson, aged thirty-four, was the next most senior mechanic on the floor. He had been with the company for the last fifteen years, and in many ways was considered a veteran too. Like Foreman Robbins, he was fast and very competent in his job.

Dik Kelly, aged thirty, had been with the company for the last ten years. He was just as skilful as both Robbins and Johnson but lacked the years of experience which made the other two men faster.

Jim Richards, aged twenty-one, was the only apprentice in the workshop. The workshop was at the moment short of one mechanic. The last one, Dave Hines, had left for Melbourne, preferring the glamour of a bigger city. His unexpected departure left the workshop one man short. As mechanics were not easy to come by, Robbins decided to train a mechanic himself. Richards the Apprentice, therefore, was supposed to learn, while helping either Robbins, Johnson or Kelly. He had been in the workshop for the last year.

Finally, there was Ralph Turner, aged thirty-six, and a newcomer to the workshop. Hired just three months ago, Turner had been working for his father at the Turner Trucking Company's Workshop. The Turner Workshop had initially handled their own trucks and some trucks from other firms. Lately, however, the Turner Trucking Company contracts with several firms had expired. The firms refused to enter into new contracts. Soon Turner found that the Workshop section of his business was, in fact, operating at a loss. This was due to the fact that they were only servicing their own trucks fixing and maintaining the reduced Turner Truck Fleet. Eventually, Turner senior decided to close down the Workshop part of the business and signed a contract with Thomas Motor Company to service his remaining trucks. This, however, left young Ralph Turner without a job. Turner thus approached Robbins and asked him if there was a vacancy for a mechanic in his workshop. As Richards was still a novice, and since the workshop really needed another mechanic, Robbins the Foreman agreed and Ralph Turner was hired.

In the beginning, Robbins has told Turner about the way in which things were done around the place. Turner seemed very understanding and accommodating. He seemed quite happy and enthusiastic about his newly found job. This was despite the fact that he was the second lowest paid worker there. The pay was calculated by computer, based on both seniority and skill. Turner, of course, lost out on seniority, but he appeared not to mind this. Robbins thought that it was probably because he felt lucky to even have a job.

The workshop opens at 8.00 am daily and the mechanics are assigned jobs by Robbins. At 10:00 am there is an unofficial coffee-break where the entire crew would go across the street for a cup of coffee. This is looked upon as a social gathering, where the men would get to know each other better. Being an unofficial coffee-break, it is agreed that anyone who does not complete his first job by 10:00 am has to forego his coffee-break for the day.

Now, Ralph Turner seemed to constantly miss his coffee breaks. Although skilful, he was not as fast as either, Johnson, Kelly or Robbins. During his first three weeks there, he only managed to attend one coffee-break.

By the end of the fourth week, trouble was brewing. Turner had become quite alienated and dissatisfied with his job. He tried to hurry through his work so that he could make it to these social gatherings. Also, he did not want to appear to be the slowest around. His haste, however, led to one of the trucks which he repaired breaking down because of a faulty gasket.

Hearing about this, Robbins spoke to Turner in his usual mild-mannered fashion. He basically advised Turner to be more careful with his work and to take his time. Turner acknowledged this with an unfriendly shrug of his shoulders.

Over the next few days, Turner's dissatisfaction grew even more as he tried to hurry his work, yet making an effort to be careful. Unfortunately, he still missed his coffee-breaks. At lunch, he chose not to associate with the rest of the crew and there was little communication between him and the others.

Soon, Turner began complaining about various things. He went up to Robbins and told him that the workshop was too dirty. So dirty, that he found it hard to work in it. Robbins tried to explain to Turner that they were understaffed at the moment and, besides, workshops were naturally dirty. Turner responded by saying, 'It was always clean at my father's workshop'. Not long after that incident, Turner complained about the noise from the loudspeakers. The men had always worked with the radio on so that they could keep up with the football scores and the racing. Turner once shouted, "Turn off that thing! How's a man supposed to work in this kind of noise?"

By this time the rest of the men had quite enough of Turner and his temperamental behaviour. They ostracised Turner from their activities, which led him to believe that they were talking about him behind his back. One thing led to another, and things gradually went from bad to worse. Turner started spying on the others when they worked on his father's trucks and he also complained about Apprentice Richards to Foreman Robbins. Turner told Robbins that Richards was more concerned about going off for the coffee-break and was not at all interested in his work or learning from the more experienced staff.

These two incidents led the others to dislike Turner even more. His spying on them implied his suspicions that they were not doing their work properly. This insulted the men.

Gradually, Turner became bolder about his suspicions and constantly lurked around his father's trucks. He insisted that he, and only he, should work on the Turner trucks. Robbins replied that this was quite impossible, as sometimes two or three Turner trucks were in at the same time. Turner's reply was that he would work on as many of them as he possibly could.

As a result of all these commotions, Turner's competence as a mechanic fell drastically. He seemed to be more careless in his jobs and paid little attention to work other than that on his fathers' trucks.

The final showdown came when one of the trucks which Turner had worked on broke down again. This time the front axle was dislocated. Turner had apparently not tightened the nuts properly. The accident could have been fatal if the driver had been driving at a faster speed. To make matters worse, the truck belonged to the same owner of the truck which had broken down before. Robbins the Foreman got an ultimatum from the customer.

The following day, John Thomas paid an impromptu visit to the workshop. There he met the staff and Robbins took the opportunity to tell John Thomas what had happened. Robbins mentioned that Turner had reached the point where he would do more harm than good to the company, but on the other hand, the Turner account was quite a large one. Firing Turner would mean losing the Turner account, and thus quite a substantial amount of business. But Robbins quickly added, 'If we don't fire him, he may be the cause of us losing even more accounts. I'd prefer to lose one account, large though it may be, but still remain in business, rather than keep one substantial account and eventually go bankrupt'.

Question: What is the background of this case and identify the issues.

2. what are the key management and business or organizational issue?

3. what theories are on change, on leadership, motivation and on planning.

4. What are your objectives to save the company?

5. Implementation of action plans.

3.

SHORT QUESTION (ESSAY / CASE STUDY / EXERCISE)

PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

MODULE: PROJECT MANAGEMENT (known as Business Administration 3C)

YEAR :3

INTAKE: JANUARY 2020 SEMESTER 2

MARKS: 20

Read the following case study and answer the question that follows. [20 MARKS]

Article: A TALE OF TWO PROJECTS

A business tale of what it takes to turn around troubled projects. The year is 2015 and times are good. The business environment is vibrant and the economy is strong. Large businesses are committing large amounts of capital and resources to implement new strategies, establish new capabilities, and open new markets. It was no different at PintCo, where Jack works as a Director of Customer Relationship Management.

Jack walked into work on Monday morning like any other. He dropped his briefcase in his office, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed down the hall to meet with his boss, Brandon, about one of the company's troubled projects. Although Jack had substantial experience, he had only recently joined PintCo after being hired away from a chief competitor. He was still learning about some of the nuances of his current employer.

After the typical morning banter, Brandon and Jack got to the topic at hand. "Jack, I'll get straight to the point. I need to you to take over the Customer Master File project from Paul", Brandon said. He continued, "We hired you because of your significant project management expertise. I know that you've turned around a lot more difficult situations than this". Over an hour later, Jack emerged from Brandon's office and set out to learn more about the challenge that Brandon had posed to him. Jack was an experienced business leader and project manager. He had seen more than his fair share of ugly projects; some he turned around while others had spun hopelessly out of control. He would be able to tell very quickly how this one would go based on the makeup and culture of the project team.

Trouble Waters

Over the course of the next few weeks, Jack took over the Customer Master File project, met with key project team members, and conducted dozens of interviews with key stakeholders. It was only a few weeks since Brandon had handed the keys to him for this troubled project, and now Jack was back in Brandon's office to give a rather stark update on the situation.

"Brandon, I've talked to the project team and to key stakeholders, and I know why this project is in trouble", Jack started. "If you truly want me to turn this project around, I'll need your support to make some critical changes." Brandon, a 20-year veteran at PintCo, knew what was coming. He had seen too many projects start, flounder, and then fail at the company. He didn't want to hear that another project was on the brink of failure, but he asked anyway, "What did you find out, Jack, and what can I do to help?"

Jack drew a deep breath and began to explain his findings. "Brandon, as you know this project has been in flight for nearly six months now and it is already behind schedule and over budget". Jack went on, "In talking to the project team and other stakeholders, I don't see the situation getting better without making some pretty significant changes."

Jack's experience helped him to quickly identify a number of critical issues with the project, which he carefully outlined for Brandon:

The scope of the project is not well defined,

The IT architects are sitting in their ivory towers and disagree with the project's direction,

The project team is not functioning as a team,

There is a lack of clear executive sponsorship, and

Steve from Marketing is trying to manipulate this project for his own political gain.

"I'm not going to sugar coat this for you Brandon", Jack explained. "I've seen this situation far too often in my career, and if we don't change the situation this project will fail in glorious fashion."

Foundations for Success

Brandon knew that what Jack said was true, and he also knew that changing the situation would be difficult, painful, and potentially costly. He reluctantly agreed with Jack, and together they laid out several key changes.

"Thanks for working with me on this Brandon", Jack said. "Just to confirm, let me summarise the changes that we agreed to implement: First, we're going to stop the current project and provide aclear and well-defined scope and get consensus buy-in on the new scope. Second, we're going to end the architectural holy wars by assigning key IT architects to the project on a full time basis. Third, we're going to co-locate the team and assign members to a full-time basis on the project. No more part-time participation. Fourth, Brandon, you agree to be much more visible and an active participant to drive key decisions for the project, and finally, Brandon - you are going to have a heart- 2 to-heart with Steve and if necessary his boss - to eliminate any political agendas that could derail the project."

Brandon and Jack both agreed with the plan. Jack knew that some of these changes would be unpopular, but without them the project would be doomed. He left Brandon's office with a sense of relief and apprehension. There was still a lot of hard work and heavy lifting yet to be done...

Celebrations

Six months later, Jack ran into Brandon in the break room as they both were angling for their morning coffee refill. "Jack!", Brandon shouted while patting Jack on the back. "Congratulations on getting the Customer Master File project into pilot. By all accounts, it has been a resounding success!" Brandon crowed.

"Thank you", Jack smiled and answered, "but you know it was pretty touch and go after we met in your office to plan the project turnaround. There were a lot of unhappy campers and several of them didn't like the idea of being assigned 100% to the project if you recall. But we quickly converted them - and now I see a project team that is hitting on all cylinders", Jack added. "In fact, Sharon told me she was ready to quit six months ago - and now she's happier than ever and up for promotion." Jack explained.

"I love it when a plan comes together", Jack said proudly as he turned to walk away and take on his next big project.

Source: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/a-tale-of-two-projects.php

QUESTION (20 Marks)

A loose scope is potential for dragging a project astray. Critically discuss, with reference to the case study, the common problems that project teams encounter when dealing with scope-change management.