LibGuides: Knowledge Management Group: DEFM550

Week Seven Case Study

INSTRUCTIONS

Please read the following case study and then review the questions on the right (second column) and select your answers on the far right (third column)

You are a program manager for a large established company that does a lot of military sub-contracting. Your company has been engaged to design the next generation of supply vessels to support military operations in other nations. However, this vessel needs to be designed with two important differentiations than a normal warship. First, it needs to be designed so that it can convert from a supply vessel, to a troop transport to a medical vessel to a vessel to support relief operations. Second, the vessel needs to be designed in a manner where it can be built in modules in different shipyards and then assembled in one location. Due to the complexity of the design and engineering of this vessel, the US has commissioned a five year design program to develop the vessel that accommodates these needs.

As the program manager for this company, you have been tasked with building a team of ten professionals from any part of the company to handle each of the following aspects of the engineering program:

Lead Engineer

Contract Manager

Financial Manager

Creative Design

Client Support

You will need to select a primary and a secondary for each role in the event that some of the key people leave the company, or are pulled from the project. Since this design will span five years, your experience tells you that you need to have a primary and a secondary to make sure that there is continuity throughout the five years of the program. This program is considered high profile and so you need to have someone in client support to assist with making sure that the client is kept appraised of progress. Although this is your permanent assignment, you know that you will also be tasked with other requirements by the company.

Company details

The company is called Superior Ship Design and your company specializes in multipurpose military vessels. The company has 15 years of service to the military and other shipping companies. The primary business has been with military and the company does work in the US and Internationally.

The company is based in the Houston area, but some of the employees are located in other areas as the company has a tradition of hiring home based employees to gather the best talent available without relocating them. This strategy has proven very successful as the company can keep costs down while keeping employee satisfaction up. The company has a number of different people available to work with you, however, all of them will ultimately report to you. You are based in Houston and the company has given you this role as long as you remain in Houston as the owners want to be in continual contact with you to ensure that this program is successful.

Summary of Employees

Jason Anders

Jason has been with the company for ten years and has been the project head of several successful projects. He is well liked and well regarding in the organization. He is considered to be organized and driven. He has a strong customer focus and he is known to be able to handle the toughest clients. He can have a short temper with others internally but he is known for getting the tough jobs done. He does not get along with Cindy Jolive and is vocal about not wanting to work on the same project as her. He is currently located in Seattle, WA.

Bob Bennancourt

Bob has five years with the company and is considered by many as a great engineer. He is known for finding good solutions to complex problems. Most people can work with him and he can be a good mentor to new engineers. He has been known to overdesign ships and sometimes needs to be monitored closely. He has worked for NASA in the past and often refers to that experience. He is based in the Houston area.

Carl Clear

Ten years with the company and he is considered by many as a top engineer. He has been on many successful projects, most of them related to design. He is respected by most people in the company and he is a great team player. He can resist change to his design for cost reasons, but he is known to be good for completing the job on time. He is based on the Dallas area.

Dom Franks

Dom has nine years with the company and has been involved with several successful projects. He is considered a good financial controller and can garner stakeholder support. He is not afraid to spend money to save it in the long run. He is a hard worker and dedicated but he can get distracted with pet projects. He works well on his own and sometimes resists being part of a team. He is based in Orlando, FL.

Tom Gardener

Tom is has only been with the company for two years and has little experience with leading a full program. He has done some contract management work with another company for five years and it considered a good negotiator. He has clashed with Carl Clear in the past over some engineer costs and vendor selection. Tom is based in Houston.

Cindy Jolive

Cindy has ten years with the company and has been a successful project manager for a number of larger programs. She has five years of experience as a contract manager with another company and although she has done well for the company she can be very direct with people. Her demeanor has put off some clients in the past but she always gets results. Her and Jason Anders do not get along and will actively avoid one another. Cindy is based in Houston.

Tammy Mason

Tammy has been with the company for four years and is mostly involved with creative design. Her designs have won several awards in the past and she is considered to be well organized and most people enjoy working with her, except Carl Clear. She can be very social and she has many positive reviews from clients. Tammy is currently based out of New York City,

Ron Nieber

Ron has eight years of contract management experience and has been with the company for ten years. Ron started in finance but quickly worked towards contract management. Ron has a good reputation within the company and can work with everyone. Ralph likes to work with Carl Clear and the two of them have been on some successful programs together. Ralph is based out of Houston

Todd Morison

Todd has fifteen years of experience with programs and has led a few successful programs. He was a contract manager during in his last program and in addition to this role he did a good job filing in for the program manager when he was unavailable. Todd is very easy going but can come down hard on poor performers. Todd can accept things running a little late but he cannot accept people that do not put in long hours. He feels that people like that are lazy and this has put off several people in the past. He is based out of Atlanta.

Paul Paulson

Paul has four years of experience with the company as an engineer. He has worked with a couple other competitors prior to joining the company and he has some diverse experience. He is considered creative and can work with everyone. He can be financially focused if directed that way, but can overdesign if left unmonitored. Pat is a relatively untested leader, but most believe that he could do well given the right team. Paul is based out of Houston.

Sam Roberson

Sam has seven years of client services experience with the company, and another five of those with another company. Sam is viewed as a good client services support person and has worked on several large programs. Sam is good with smoothing things over with clients and he tends to over communicated with the customer. He is a very motivated individual and he thinks highly of Paul Paulson. Sam is based out of Dallas.

Rod Smith

Rod has twelve years of experience with the company in finance. In addition to his financial background he is focused upon safety. He has been involved with a few successful programs and enjoys working with Carl Clear. He is a driven employee that is seen as getting results. He is based out of Houston.

Larry Tandle

Larry has ten years in finance with the company and is considered a financial wizard by many in the company. He is known to make the numbers look better than anyone else to the client. He has worked hard to keep his reputation solid and is well liked within the organization. He is based out of San Diego, but has spoken about moving to Houston in the near future.

Julie Tyler

Julie has four years of design experience with the company and has also served as a financial manager in the past. She is very focused on the financial health of a program, but also enjoys design. She has done some solid design work but most of her work recently has been in finance. She prefers not work with Rod Smith as they did not work well together on the last program. Julie is based out of Erie, PA.

Linda Vera

Linda is a new employee to the company and was doing design for a competitor for ten years before moving to the company. She is considered strong willed and determined and although people feel that she will contribute great new designs in the future. She has not been part of a team yet in the company but most people like her. She is based out of Houston and has expressed a keen interest to be a part of this program.

Thomas Walters

Thomas has ten years with the company and is very financially driven. He is good with numbers and is seen as an asset by many due to his ability to handle the accounting problems. He is a professional finance person but has been known to get involved with contracts. He is shy in meetings but he is good at working behinds the scenes to get things done. He is not always good with clients because they see his shyness as being unable to communicate. He does not like to work with Bob Bennancourt because he feels that Bob brags more than works. Thomas is based out of Houston.

Program Organization Chart

Case Study Questions

Given the program and the company information, identify the people and the succession plan for the following roles. Select a primary choice (lead) and a secondary choice (alternate)

Lead Engineer

Contract Manager

Financial Manager

Creative Design

Client Support

All of the members selected will be part of your team so try to build the strongest team possible in order to build a successful program.

Remember to keep track of your team selections so that you can discuss the team that you selected with the class in the Week 7 Discussion section.

Knowledge Management Group: DEFM550

Week Seven Case Study

Program Organization Chart

Case Study Questions

Lead Engineer Selections

Contract Manager Selections

Financial Manager Selections

Creative Design Selections

Client Support Selections