You are a project manager for an international organization and you have an excellent track record of always meeting expected performance and hitting your goals/targets. Because of your stellar performance on past projects, your organization has decided to have you lead a 10-year campaign to provide service to one of your clients in the region. This is a $30 million dollar deal that would employ 300+ FTEs.

Four years into the campaign your sponsor calls you into a meeting to discuss urgent matters. The sponsor has just gotten a report from the clients and it seems that the clients are not satisfied with how the campaign is progressing. Although the project started off well, the report shows a dip in performance at the start of year 3 and has stayed that way since. The report specifically states that production deadlines are not being met, costs are constantly exceeding previously agreed-upon limits, and overall production quality has declined. Your sponsor informs you that if costs cannot be brought under control, production increases by 20% and overall quality is brought back to contract standards within six months, this project will most likely be terminated. This would mean that all 300+ FTEs would be terminated.

However, if the new conditions are met, the client has agreed to extend the campaign an extra 3 years, and that all jobs would be secure. As indicated by your sponsor, “if we can get your team to perform over the next six months, this would guarantee that we keep the contract. But if we don’t, we can expect the client to terminate the project immediately. I would like you to call a meeting with your team today to inform them of this urgent matter”.

If you were the project manager for this campaign, how would you discuss and present the news to your team? How would you motivate your workers to meet their new targets? What immediate action items will you ask the team to do? How will you get team buy-in? Outline the meeting.

Grade categories (what I expect to see):

• An explanation on using one or a combination of the different leadership styles (autocratic, democratic, or free-rein).
• An explanation on using one or a combination of the different XLQ leadership qualities.
• An explanation on using the different motivation theories discussed in class to motivate your team.
• A basic outline of how you would structure your meeting (talking points).