The following seven mini-case scenarios involve ethical dilemmas associated with project management. How would you respond to each situation and why?
> Sitting in her office, Karin Chung is reviewing the past four months of the large corporate accounting software installation project she has been managing. Everything seemed so well planned before the project started. Each company division had a task for
> Shell Case Fabricators (SCF) designs and builds shell casings that enclose electronic products such as calculators, cell phones, and modems. Typically the cases are plastic or plastic compounds. SCF has six different production lines that cover different
> Franklin Equipment, Ltd. (FEL), with headquarters and main fabrication facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick, was founded 75 years ago to fabricate custom-designed, large machines for construction businesses in the Maritime Provinces. Over the years it
> Tran was taking his dog, Callie, on her evening walk as the sun began to set over the coastal range. He looked forward to this time of the day. It was an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was also a time to review events on the Ajax project a
> Amber Briggs looked nervously at her watch as she sat at the front of a large table in the cafeteria at Kerzner Office Equipment. It was now 10 minutes after 3:00 and only 10 of the 14 members had arrived for the first meeting of the Kerzner anniversary
> Cerberus is a successful producer of specialty chemicals. It operates nine large campus sites in the United States, with a number of different business units on each site. These business units operate independently, with direct reporting to corporate hea
> Tom Bray was mulling over today’s work schedule as he looked across the bay at the storm that was rolling in. It was the second official day of the Pegasus project and now the real work was about to begin. Pegasus was a two-month renovation project for A
> The purpose of this “case exercise” is to provide you with experience in using a project selection process that ranks proposed projects by their contribution to an organization’s mission and strategy.
> Garth Hudson was a 29-year-old graduate of Eastern State University (ESU) with a BS degree in management information systems. After graduation he worked for seven years at Bluegrass Systems in Louisville, Kentucky. While at ESU he worked part time for an
> Several complications arose during the course of trying to meet the deadline of January 20 for the “Now” wedding rehearsal. Since Lauren was adamant on having the wedding on January 21 (as was Connor for obvious reasons), the implications of each of thes
> On December 31 of last year, Lauren burst into the family living room and announced that she and Connor (her college boyfriend) were going to be married. After recovering from the shock, her mother hugged her and asked, “When?” The following conversation
> Rassy and the team were concerned with the results of your analysis. They spent the afternoon brainstorming alternative ways for shortening the project duration. They rejected outsourcing activities because most of the work was developmental in nature an
> You are the assistant project manager to Rassy Brown, who is in charge of the Nightingale project. Nightingale was the code name given to the development of a handheld electronic medical reference guide. Nightingale would be designed for emergency medica
> Each year countries enter their sailing vessels in the nine-month Round the World Whitbread Sailboat Race. In recent years about 14 countries entered sailboats in the race. Each year’s sailboat entries represent the latest technologies
> This case is based on a project introduced in Chapter 6 (p. 209). You will need to use the project plan created in the Ventura Baseball Stadium case to complete this assignment. Ventura Baseball Stadium is a 47,000-seat professional baseball stadium. G&E
> Given the project network derived in Part A of the case from Chapter 7, Appendix 7.1, Beth also wants to be prepared to answer any questions concerning compressing the project duration. This question will almost always be entertained by the Accounting De
> On June 23, 2018, in Thailand, a group of 12 boys aged between 11 and 17 from the local football team, named the Wild Boars, and their 23-year-old assistant coach entered the Tham Luang cave. Tham Luang is a large cave complex in northern Thailand along
> We have great information systems for reporting, tracking, and controlling costs on design projects. Our planning of projects is better than any I have seen at other companies. Our scheduling seemed to serve us well when we were small and we had only a f
> Fatma settled down for lunch at the Yank Sing Chinese restaurant. She was early and took the time to catch up on her e-mail. Soon she would be joined by Jasper and Viktoria, two fellow 2014 grads from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Jasper worked
> What kinds of projects is Agile PM best suited for and why?
> Describe the four phases of the traditional project life cycle. Which phase do you think would be the most difficult one to complete?
> What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the way projects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces on the management of projects?
> Jack and Jill Smith have just retired and want to build a small, basic cabin in the Blue Mountains of Vermont. They have hired Daryl Hannah as the general contractor for the project. She has assembled a team of three workers to complete the project: Tom,
> Define a project. What are five characteristics that help differentiate projects from other functions carried out in the daily operations of the organization?
> How does a Kanban board work?
> Why should an organization be interested in knowing what level they are at in the project maturity model?
> How can outsourcing increase the quality of work performed?
> Trust can actually encourage disagreement and conflict among team members.” Explain why this would be the case.
> Which of the eight traits/skills associated with being an effective project manager is the most important? The least important? Why?
> Define a white elephant in project management. Provide a real-life example.
> What are the eight elements of a typical scope statement?
> The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of the same coin. Explain.
> The Munsters have been saving money in order to buy a house. They figure that, given current interest rates, they could afford a $400,000 home. Before looking at houses on the market they decide to explore the possibility of building a new home. The Muns
> Bill (senior VP of product development): Carlos [project manager], we have to talk. I am concerned about the way we manage project risk here at Futuronics. I just came from an international “Future Mote Devices” meeting at UC Berkeley. [Note: A mote is a
> Calculate the direct and total direct costs of labor for a project team member using the following data: Hourly rate: $50/hr Hours needed: 100 Overhead rate: 30%
> Calculate the direct cost of labor for a project team member using the following data: Hourly rate: $50/hr Hours needed: 120 Overhead rate: 40%
> Safety is a major concern when working on projects abroad. Select a country that you would consider dangerous to work in and look up the travel advisory provided for that country by the U.S. State Department (http://travel.state.gov/). How safe is it to
> Following are four mini-cases from practice. Break into small groups and (1) analyze the case and (2) provide five recommendations for the IT Department.
> Access agilealliance.org and review the subsections Agile 101 and Timeline. What do they have to say about how Agile evolved and gained acceptance in the project management community?
> Use a project you are currently working on to hold a Scrum meeting according to the steps outlined in Figure 15.5. Designate one member to act as the Scrum master and hold a standing meeting that lasts no longer than 15 minutes. Assess the value of such
> Break into small groups and identify at least two real-life examples of projects in which a. The scope and technology are well known. b. The scope is well known but the technology is less well known. c. The scope is not well known but the technology is k
> Interview a project manager who works for an organization that implements multiple projects. Ask the manager what kind of closure procedures are used to complete a project and whether lessons learned are used.
> Given the following project network, baseline, and status information, develop status reports for periods 1–4 and complete the project summary graph (or a similar one). Report the final SV, CV, CPI, and PCIB. Based on your data, what is
> Review the network of stakeholders on p. 358 (Figure 10.1). Choose five different stakeholders and provide examples of why a project manager would need to negotiate with that stakeholder.
> You are a member of the X State University (XSU) student body entertainment committee. Your committee has agreed to sponsor a spring concert. The motive behind this concert is to offer a safe alternative to Hasta Weekend. Hasta Weekend is a spring event
> Break into four groups and review the instructions for a “Get the most you can” exercise provided by your teacher. Complete the exercise. What was your initial strategy? Did it change? If so, why? What does this exercise tell you about our ability to col
> Enter “outsourcing” in an Internet search engine and browse different websites. Who appears to be interested in outsourcing? What are the advantages of outsourcing? What are the disadvantages? Does outsourcing mean the same thing to different people? Wha
> The following activities are based on a current or recently completed group project that you are (were) involved in. This project may be a student project, a work project, or an extracurricular project. a. How strong is the team identity on this project
> The following activities are based on a recently completed group project that you were involved in. This project may have been a student project, a work project, or an extracurricular project. a. Analyze the development of the team in terms of the five-s
> Identify an important relationship (co-worker, boss, friend) in which you are having trouble gaining cooperation. Assess this relationship in terms of the influence currency model. What kinds of influence currency have you been exchanging in this relatio
> You are the project manager responsible for the overall construction of a new international airport. Draw a dependency map identifying the major groups of people that are likely to affect the success of this project. Who do you think will be most coopera
> You are organizing a benefit concert in your hometown that will feature local heavy metal rock groups and guest speakers. Draw a dependency map identifying the major groups of people that are likely to affect the success of this project. Who do you thin
> Access the Project Management Institute website and review the standards contained in the PMI Member Ethical Standards section. How useful is the information for helping someone decide what behavior is appropriate and inappropriate?
> From the following information, compute the early, late, and slack times for each activity. Identify the critical path.
> Trans Systems is a small information systems consulting firm located in Meridian, Louisiana. Trans has just been hired to design and install a local area network (LAN) for the city of Meridian’s social welfare agency. You are the manager for the project,
> Do an Internet search for the Keirsey Temperament Sorter Questionnaire and find a site that appears to have a reputable self-assessment questionnaire. Respond to the questionnaire to identify your temperament type. Read supportive documents associated wi
> Use the following information to compress one time unit per move using the least-cost method. Assume the total indirect cost for the project is $2,000 and there is a savings of $100 per time unit reduced. Calculate the total direct, indirect, and project
> Use the following information contained below to compress one time unit per move using the least-cost method.* Reduce the schedule until you reach the crash point of the network. For each move identify what activity or activities were crashed and the adj
> Suppose instead of assigning Bjorn’s work to Thor, you have the opportunity to hire two new plumbers to perform Bjorn tasks (shortening them by 50 percent). What would the new project estimated completion date be? Show your work.
> Bjorn and Thor are plumbers who have been scheduled to work on the construction of a new school building. Just before the start of the project, Bjorn broke his arm and cannot work on the project. Now Thor has to handle his own activities as well as Bjorn
> Consider a project with the accompanying Gantt chart. Stella is your only electrical engineer and she is responsible for activities 3 and 4, which overlap. Level the project so that Stella is only working a maximum of 8 hours each day. What would the new
> You have been assigned to a project risk team of five members. Because this is the first time your organization has formally set up a risk team for a project, it is hoped that your team will develop a process that can be used on all future projects. Your
> Gather a small team of students. Think of a project most students would understand; the kinds of tasks involved should also be familiar. Identify and assess major and minor risks inherent in the project. Decide on a response type. Develop a contingency p
> Assume you are the project manager for the Tidal 2 software project. You have been asked to calculate the expected cost for the project. Your company’s database indicates that developers can handle eight function points each person-mont
> Your roommate is about to submit a scope statement for a spring concert sponsored by the entertainment council at Western Evergreen State University (WESU). WESU is a residential university with over 22,000 students. This will be the first time in six ye
> You are the president of Silver Fiddle Construction (SFC), which specializes in building high-quality, customized homes in the Grand Junction, Colorado, area. You have just been hired by the Czopeks to build their dream home. You operate as a general con
> Mrs. Publinsky and her husband, Xander, are planning their dream house. The lot for the house sits high on a hill with a beautiful view of the White Mountains. The plans show the size of the house to be 2,900 square feet. The average price for a lot and
> Omega 2 Project. Using the “complexity weighting” scheme shown in Table 5.2 and the following function point complexity weight table, estimate the total function point count. Assume historical data suggest five functio
> Use an example of a project you are familiar with or are interested in. Identify the deliverables and organization units (people) responsible. How would you code your system? Give an example of the work packages in one of your cost accounts.
> Exercise Figure 5.1 is a project WBS with cost apportioned by percentages. If the total project cost is estimated to be $800,000, what are the estimated costs for the following deliverables? a. Design b. Programming c. In-house testing What weaknesses ar
> Check out the Project Management Institute’s home page at www.pmi.org. a. Review general information about PMI as well as membership information. b. See if there is a local PMI chapter. If not, where is the closest one? c. Use the search function at the
> What are one or two lessons you learned from this Snapshot?
> Why was it important to give players and staff a chance to explore London one evening?
> How valuable do you think being certified PMP is?
> If you were a student interested in pursuing a career in project management, how important do you think being a CAPM would be?
> How did H4H reduce the chances of human error on the project?
> You are sitting around the fire at a lodge in Dillingham, Alaska, discussing a fishing expedition you are planning with your colleagues at Great Alaska Adventures (GAA). Earlier in the day you received a fax from the president of BlueNote, Inc. The presi
> What options did Habitat for Humanity(H4H) use to complete the house so quickly?
> What do you think Dan Gold is referring to when he argues that all parties must make a concerted effort to work as partners?
> What benefits do small pharma firms accrue through outsourcing project work?
> If you were Governor Pete Wilson, how would you respond to criticism that C. C. Meyers made too much profit from the project?
> What options for accelerating project completion did C. C. Myers use on the Northridge Earthquake project?
> What do you think would have happened if for some reason it took Samsung three years to release its next-generation smartphone?
> Have you ever responded to a bet? How effective was it?
> Can you think of another product like smartphones that have rapid new-product releases?
> Why would people resist a multi project resource scheduling system?
> Do you agree that geeks are different from other workers?
> The G&E Company is preparing a bid to build the new 47,000-seat Shoreline baseball stadium. The construction must start on June 10, 2019, and be completed in time for the start of the 2022 season. A penalty clause of $500,000 per day of delay beyond Apri
> What do you think would have happened if the Washington Forest Service did not assess the impact of resources on their two-year plan?
> Can you think of other examples where the physical environment constrains project work?
> Why do climbers not turn back at the designated turnaround time?
> How important is it for climbers to join their Sherpas in puja rituals?
> How did Controlled Demolition Inc. respond to the risk?
> What do you think was the greatest risk facing this project?
> How could an RBS like the one featured in Figure 7.3 have prevented the disaster from occurring?
> Why do you think British Airways decided to go fully operational on day 1?
> Does this example support the risk event graph (Figure 7.1)? Explain.
> What kinds of projects should avoid using concurrent engineering?
> Brian Smith, network administrator at Advanced Energy Technology (AET), has been given the responsibility of implementing the migration of a large data center to a new office location. Careful planning is needed because AET operates in the highly competi
> What are the disadvantages of concurrent engineering (fast tracking)?
