The cardboard house:

CONFIDENTIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENRIQUE

You are Mr. Enrique Mendoza, a small businessman. He is 47 years old and after a lot of work and savings he decides to build his house on land he acquired five years ago in the Flor de Lis urbanization. To this end, it entered into a construction contract with the engineer Juan Harman, agreed to for eight months, which began in May and ended in December of the same year. In order not to incur higher costs, he agrees with the owner of the house that he currently rents that he would deliver it on December 31, to spend the new year in his new house. His family consists of three children aged 18, 15 and 11. Your wife is a household chores and you are a hard worker who longs to have the house of your dreams. He has always wanted to have a house of his own. His eldest son attends university and the two youngest are still in school: they were registered with difficulties in one of the Flor de Lis urbanization, near their new home, for the cycle that is about to begin. You assumed a penalty with the owner of your current home, in such a way that if you did not deliver the apartment on December 23, you had to pay a penalty of US$20 per day after the expiration of the contract. To date, the months of January and February have passed, and the month of March began five days ago. The boys will start classes at the new school next week, his wife joins her new job today, ten hours a day, and they still haven't delivered the house. This whole situation has caused them serious problems and has put them in a serious economic crisis, since they no longer have the money to continue paying defaults to the owner, who no longer believes the promise that "next week" he will deliver the house. You are really tired of the situation, and you no longer believe the words of the engineer Harman, who tells you over and over again that there is little left to finish the work.

Furious and bored by the chaos in which his family finds itself, pressured in turn by his wife's demanding new job, and without savings to face the rent arrears, he decides not to wait another day and demands that Juan Harman retire. of the work and that he deliver his house in the state in which it is, in addition to not paying him a penny more and asking him to reimburse him for all the extra expenses incurred due to his fault. You have already talked with an architect friend who would be willing to help you solve your problem with the work and, in addition, give you payment facilities so that you have a real house, and not the cardboard model that adorns the living room of your current home.

CONFIDENTIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOHN

You are the engineer Juan Harman; He is 50 years old, married, has three children and has been dedicated to his profession for 25 years. In addition to teaching, he has an interesting professional prestige, increased by experience in the construction of houses designed with suitable materials for the country's coastal area. Two months ago they contacted him to build houses in the Flor de Lis urbanization, on the outskirts of the city, so he is especially interested in his latest pending work - Mr. Enrique Mendoza's house - being a good example of his professional capacity. and keep your good name. Mr. Mendoza hired him early last year to build his long-awaited home. According to the contract, the work would begin in May and should be finished in December. It is a two-story house, with first-class materials. However, the month of March has already begun and the work has not been completed. In turn, Mr. Mendoza must leave the apartment he has rented, which is why he has called him repeatedly to speed up the work. You work as fast as you can and you think you can hopefully finish in ten days at most. However, with the last request of the owner, he has realized that the owner does not believe him, that he is very angry and that he thinks that the delay is his fault.

But you have different arguments, because the delay in the work was due to the fact that Mr. Mendoza did not give you the advances on time for the purchase of materials that, according to the contract, he was in charge of. Indeed, the first payment on account should have been received at the signing of the contract at the beginning of May, but it was received only fifteen days later, which delayed the purchase of materials, and therefore, the start of the work in fifteen days. In turn, the last of the advances was also delivered by Mendoza fifteen days later, so the installation of the taps, tiles and toilets took two more weeks. It is also true that, due to unexpected climatic changes caused by the El Nio phenomenon, he has not been able to work for ten days. Therefore, only five days of those that remain can be attributed to direct causes. On the other hand, this happened when he was out of town, on a vacation trip with his family, although he had left his assistant to continue the work. That is why it is unfair and erroneous to consider that what happened is due only to their negligence. He is very worried and what matters most to him is to finish the work as soon as possible, because he fears that otherwise his prestige will be affected and he will lose other jobs in the urbanization that must be requested in the next few days. You know that the shareholder company, owner of the project, is relying on your professional background to decide whether to hire you in other constructions. Although he is seeking contacts with the firm so that what happens to Mr. Mendoza's home does not have a negative influence on the possibility of receiving the order for new constructions, the situation worries him and he wants to fix things as best as possible. Of course, he does not intend to tell Enrique Mendoza about this situation so that the delinquency does not transcend, because if it does not, it will be absolutely in his hands. The house is well built, but if the problem spreads among the other owners of the urbanization - most of them small businessmen without their own home -, you will end up as the builder of a cardboard house, since it will be the last one you build in the urbanization.

Analyze the situation.

1-Form a criterion and make a decision.

2-Identify the action alternatives and examine the advantages of each.

3-Choose the alternative that solves the problem with the least cost and time.