The Management Control Freak

The company hired a new vice president for the Engineering Department, Richard Cramer. Unlike his predecessor, Richard ruled with an iron fist and was a true micromanager. This played havoc with the project managers in the department because Richard wanted to be involved in all decisions, regardless of how small.

Anne was an experienced project manager who had been with the company for more than 20 years. She had a reputation for being an excellent project manager, and people wanted to work on her projects. She knew how to get the most out of her team and delegated as much decision making as possible to team members. Her people skills were second to none. A few months before Richard was hired, Anne was assigned to a two-year project for one of the company's most important clients. Anne had worked on projects for this client previously, and the results had been well received. The client actually requested that Anne be assigned to this project. Almost all of Anne's team members had worked for her before. Some had even asked to work for her on this project. Anne knew some of the people personally and trusted their decision-making skills. Having people assigned who have worked with you previously is certainly considered a plus. Work progressed smoothly until about the third week after Richard Cramer came on board. In a meeting with Anne, Richard commented: "I have established a policy that I will be the project sponsor for all projects where the project managers report to someone in Engineering. I know that the vice president for marketing had been your sponsor for previous projects with this client, but all of that will now change. I have talked with the vice president for marketing, and he understands that I will now be your sponsor. I just cannot allow anyone from outside of Engineering to be a sponsor of a project that involves critical engineering decisions and where the project managers come from Engineering. So, Anne, I will be your sponsor from now on, and I want you to talk to my secretary and setup weekly briefings for me on the status of your project. This is how I did it in my previous company, and it worked quite well. "These comments didn't please Anne. The vice president for marketing was quite friendly with the client, and now things were changing. Anne understood Richard's reasons for wanting to do this but certainly was not happy about it. Over the next month, Anne found that her working relationship with Richard was getting progressively worse, and it was taking its toll on the project. Richard was usurping Anne's authority and decision making. On previous projects, Anne would meet with the sponsor about every two weeks for about 15 minutes. Her meetings with Richard were now weekly and were lasting for more than one hour. Richard wanted to see all of the detailed schedules and wanted a signature block for himself on all documents that involved engineering decisions. There was no question in Anne's mind that Richard was a true micromanager. At the next full team meeting, some workers complained that Richard was calling them directly, without going through Anne, and making some decisions that Anne did not know about. The workers were receiving directions from Richard that conflicted with Anne's directions. Anne could tell that morale was low and heard people mumbling about wanting to get off of this project. At Anne's next meeting with Richard, she made it quite clear about how upset she was with his micromanagement of the project. If this continued, she would have a very unhappy client. Richard again asserted how he had to be involved in all technical decisions and that this was his way of managing. He also stated that, if Anne was unhappy, he could find someone else to take over her job as the project manager. Something had to be done. This situation could not be allowed to continue without damaging the project further. Anne thought about taking her concerns directly to the president but realized that nothing would probably change. And if that happened, Anne could be worse off. Anne then came up with a plan. She would allow Richard to micromanage and even help him to do so. There was a risk in doing this, and Anne could very well lose her job. But she decided to go ahead with her plan. For the next several weeks, Anne and all team members refused to make even the smallest decisions themselves. Instead, they brought all of the decisions directly to Richard. Richard was even getting phone calls at home from the team members on weekends, during the dinner hour, late at night, and early Sunday mornings. Richard was now being swamped with information overload and was spending a large portion of his time making mundane decisions on Anne's project. In the next team sponsor briefing meeting with Anne, Richard stated: "I guess that you've taught me a lesson. If it's not broken, then there isn't any reason to fix it. I guess that I came across too strong and made things worse. What can we do to repair the damage I may have done? "Anne could not believe that Richard was saying these words. She was speechless. An hour later, Anne and Richard came to an agreement on what each other's responsibilities should be. Anne walked out of Richard's office somewhat relieved that she was still employed.

QUESTIONS

1. When someone hires into a company, is there any way of telling whether he or she is a control freak?
2. If someone higher in rank than you turns out to be a control freak, how long should you wait before confronting them?
3. Do you believe that Anne handled the situation correctly?
4. Could Anne's decision on how to handle the situation result in her getting removed as a project manager or even fired?
5. What other ways were available to Anne for handling the situation?
6. Based on the topics covered in class, which communication tool would help in this dilemma? Name one communication tool and state the reason why it would be helpful in this situation (Your answer here should be different from the answers you provided on previous case studies).
7. Draft a sample of this tool and fill it out