While the ‘No Employee Escapes’ project has not been approved (refer to the written assignment for Week 2), there are a number of project risks that Jim will have to manage. List 3 potential risks you see so far. Which of the three do you think is the most significant and why?
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Some risks I see so far in this project are:
1) The SME chosen for this project, Juanita Lopez, is the manager of one of the company’s busiest stores. I feel that having only Juanita be a part of the team is a risk because the rest of the project team does not get a diverse sample of other types of stores and their customer relations. Having store managers from the busiest, a medium busy, and a quiet store would be a better sample and help the project team better asses the needs of the company holistically.
2) The employees chosen to be a part of this project all have other commitments. Although the employees chosen to be a part of this project are excited to be a part of it, the narrative mentions that they are all very busy with their normal responsibilities meaning that they may not be able to dedicate a bulk of their time to the project.
3) Another risk Jim will have to manage is making sure the end goal of the project is clear in the executive’s eyes. This project is for customer relations but the marketing director referred to it as being the “no employee escapes” rather than “no customer escapes”. This is a common risk in projects where different key people are not caught up and have a different view on what the end goal is.
I think the most significant risk for Jim is making sure that enough time is dedicated to this project from all team members. It is a very important project for the life of the company so it is important that everyone involved give it their all so the desired end result is achieved.
Hi Ami,
You bring up a some great points especially in regards to the risk of the SME chosen. In addition to Juanita Lopez’s store representing an anomaly, the team will need SME(s) who are readily available for questions and to review proposed ideas during the project. With Juanita’s limited availability and biased sample representation they may want to consider additional or a more diverse set of SMEs, as you mentioned.
Hi Ami,
You did a great analysis about the employees may not be able to dedicate a lot of their time to the project, which is Jim needed to worry about. Also Jim as a new employee in this company, he would face lots pressure as a team leader.
Good point Mengqiao, Jim been new employee is a possible risk. Though Jim comes with his new ideal and thought process, there are lot of things he needs to learn and understand (policy, team members, stakeholders, environment, etc.). This will help with communication, scheduling, and other relationship.
Hi Ami. Thank you for your thoughtful analysis. I completely agree with you. Juanita Lopez definitely has an extremely busy schedule as a manage in one of the busiest store in the company. Besides, different stores might manage customer relationship in different ways, therefore, it is better to make the project team more diverse to general a more comprehensive project plan.
Hi Ami.
I agree with all of your points. Reasonable time management would be one of the biggest risks among his team members that may hinder the process of Jim’s project. Jim can establish a work timeline for every member to enforce each member to engage in the project with enough efforts and time. Providing rewards or incentives would also be good ways if the budget permit.
Yeah I agree with you Jing. However, even if Jim makes timeline for the team members. It still hard for them to put the project over their own tasks and roles. It still would be a huge risk.
I agree with your comments especially about the small sample of stores. Jim only chooses the manager from top store is not enough to initiate the project. This project should be practical and efficient including stores where are not that popular. Only focusing on the top store and gaining insights from top store manager may narrow the scope of the project.
I agree with you! Jim want Juanita Lopez do the manger on the team but Juanita is very busy because he work in the Irvine, which is the one of their top stores. that indicate Juanita must be very busy which is not suit for the team.
Hi everyone,
I understand the risk of overloading team members on the project which is a high risk.
What if the team is selected based on key stakeholders interest? If you remove any team member, you lose one stakeholder support. Meanwhile, team members are always not available due to other engagement.
Looking at the importance of the project, could it be okay to find an able lieutenant to proxy for those in question and allow them time for the project if the project is rally important?
“Prioritizing the priority”
Hi Pascal,
This is an interesting point. The key team members are usually selected specifically based on stakeholder interest. In terms of dealing with the hands that are dealt, this will turkey be a test of Jim’s stakeholder management skills. He will have to identify the relevant information for each persons role and their expectations upfront to tailor his communication approach. He will also want to focus on the project governance structure to decide how often and in depth to communicate with each stakeholder.
Hi Ami,
I definitely agree with your statement and good catch on the “No Employee Escapes”. However, I do believe it was just a typo. Or at least I hope it was because the first reading stated “Customer”.
Nevertheless, I liked your idea of pulling managers from different stores with ranging customer base. However, I think that for this project they are trying to retain and attract customers so it may be best to use the store that services the most customers. This will allow the project team to understand why this location is so popular.
Good point lezlie,
I actually thought about that for a while, why would Jim want Juanita Lopez who is about 84 miles away, when Petrie Electronics has lots of stores in the same geographic location, why Juanita Lopez ? and now it makes some sense, Juanita Lopez is the store manager at one of the top stores, and can provide insight into issues that might arise with retaining customers.
Looks like Jim had been doing some research on this
Hi Ami,
I really see your point about the level of other various commitments that the Team Members seem to have. This was one of the risks that jumped out to me as well. It occurred to me that with a project being stated as so critical to Petrie’s survival, lack of focus or energy around that type of project could have dire consequences. This seems to me as one of those instances where the team has to get it right, and Jim, being the Project Manager has a steep learning curve based on his tenure with Petrie and his experience in this role.
Thanks for your points!
Hi Amy
You bring up a some great point, the risk of the SME chosen. Juanita Lopez’s manages one of the busiest store , and relying on just her for customer service perspective could mislead, therefore they indeed need the input of a medium busy, and a less busy store to make it more diverse as you mentioned.
Great Point, Time management, may be a challenge to the project if not effectively handled. Since the team members have full-time responsibilities, they may devote more time to it. However, with proper planning, they can still participate effectively in the project.
Given that ‘No Employee Escapes” gets approved by Petrie IS steering committee, there can be a few potential risks to carry out the project. They are as below:
– Time management: One of the main risks that can be identified in this project is time management. Ella Whinston, the COO, has selected great team members for the project who are likely to struggle with time management. Jim being the team lead/ project manager will also have to focus on his role as the assistant director of information technology at Petrie Electronics. Similarly, another member, Juanita Lopez, may have to struggle with time management given her role as the store manager of the busiest store at Irvine, California
– Coordination: It is unclear as to why John Smith, the head of marketing, referred to the project as ‘No Employee Escapes’. When Ella, the COO mentioned about the project to Jim she referred to it as No Customer Escapes.’ It looks as though the senior management lacks coordination. If the trend continues then it can be difficult for Jim to successfully carry out the project.
– Jim just joined as an assistant director of information technology at Petrie Electronics. Clearly, he is new to the management and may not have fully immersed into the company culture. Assigning a project that is deemed as the number one priority of the company, may be a bit overwhelming for Jim. Consequently, Jim may not be able demonstrate his expertise to make the project successful.
I believe time management is the most significant risk. Jim is new to the company and it looks like he still needs to go through the training. With his current role as the new assistant director of IT, it can be difficult for him to dedicate time to the project assigned. And if the project manager struggles to manage time then proper task delegation cannot be achieved which can result to poor performance in the project.
Hi Binju,
I agree with your points on the potential risks that the company is facing regarding this project. I also agree that time management is extremely important in this project because a project of this magnitude requires commitment from all of its members even though they may have other responsibilities.
Hi Binju,
I agree your first opinion about time management risk. Every team member had their own role in this company, they had their duty and responsibility for their departments. Time management for Jim is really a big concern.
I agree with you Binju. Everyone is busy in that tem. It is important for Jim to have flexibility of time to make everyone work together. Jim is a new employee in the organization, so he has a lot of things to learn to get moe experience.
Yeah good point. It is impossible for a new team leader to lead a team that he does not know and the project he does not familiar. Moreover, the team members are all from different departments and they do not want to put the project over their own tasks. It could hurt the project and be a huge risk.
Hi Binju, Thank you for your thoughtful analysis. I totally agree with you. The project has been approved by the company, the team member from different departments may not be willing to devote time and energy to the project since they all have different objectives and priorities at their departments. The biggest challenge for Jim is to help team members understand the importance of the project and make a schedule that works for the majority.
Hi binju,
You mentioned a good point of the coordination. Coordination with the work procedures, goals and objectives would be very important in a group work, which should be clearly defined in the initial meetings, record properly in the minutes, and project workbook to ensure subsequent activities work effectively.
I agree with you. Time management is a risk for this project. Obviously, almost every member involved in this project has regular job, so that the time they can contribute to the project is very limit. It is harder to fit in every member’s schedule so there might be obstacles for Jim to efficiently communicate with his team members.
Hello Binju,
I agree with you ! Jim is new to this project and team leader and may not have fully immersed into the company culture.
Great point Binju, Jim might spend most of his time learning the company culture and others things then managing the project.
He might be able to get rid of the risk of favoritism or preferential treatment of stakeholders, but then again that is a recipe for disaster. If Jim does not relate to stakeholder according, the project will suffer. Jim needs to know all stakeholders, learn the company policy, and understand the company culture.
Hi Binju,
Great catch on the No Employee/Customer Escapes differences. I believed that this was just a typo, but in reading your comment I can see how it may not be a typo. The difference is employee and customer is a huge red flag for project failure. In my opinion, there was no clear plan (scope) identified, and without it, a project can fail. This type of slipup is a clear indication that even upper management is not clear on the business’ objectives as it relates to this project.
Hi
I agree with your point regarding Jim not being qualified to handle such a big project. He is new to this management role and may still need more time to fully experience the culture. And so you are right, it is too risky to assign the company’s number priority project to Jim. This may be a little overwhelming to him. It is also a point that I brought up in my own comment. I think this is the first thing that people think of in term of risk to the project.
Hi Binju,
I agree with your points on the potential risks that the company is facing regarding this project. I also agree that time management is extremely important in this project because a project of this magnitude requires commitment from all of its members even though they may have other responsibilities.
Three potential risks I see so far are:
• Scope Creep: While changes in scope are frequent in projects, and typically inevitable, the potential for many uncontrolled and continuous recommendations from management are evident with this initiative . I don’t think the initial requirements will be well defined by management. Creating the opportunity for scope adjustments that would require drastic changes to come into play.
• Scheduling Risks: There are already several mentions of the burden this initiative will be in addition to individuals’ already busy workloads. Sally mentions this directly and Juanita is the store manager of one of the busiest stores. Even basic communications and attempts to meet milestone deadlines may be hindered by the time limitations of the project team itself. It will be difficult for many project team members to commit the amount of time this project requires.
• Executive & Functional Managers Disengagement: Ella and John both bought in additional resources to represent them on their behalf. While Bob and Sally will both make valuable additions to the project team, the lack of direct involvement, commitment, and support from these key stakeholders is a crucial risk. Their support is critical in ensuring progression and is necessary for the success of this project.
I believe the risk of Executive & Functional Managers disengagement would be most significant as it has the power to negatively affect the cost, schedule, and performance of the project. As this project is important to the organization, the requirements need to be clearly defined by these key stakeholders to help achieve project objectives and ensure success.
Hi Iyana,
You did a great job of analyzing the risk of Executive & Functional Managers disengagement. I agree with you. The supporting and commitment from these people is really important to the success of this project.
Right, outside of the busy workloads, those relatively lighter workloads may only be available to busy people, and Ella attend meetings on the phone, with John and the busiest stores One of the store managers Juanita is also unlikely to have time to help Jim to complete the project. Experienced executive hands-off project is very dangerous for this project.
Hi Iyana,
Great point with your comment about managers disengagement. I noticed that as well No one from the management team is participating directly in this project. There is no real true buy-in and in reading both scenarios there are issues that have set this project up for failure and I believe this is also one of them.
Hi Iyana,
In regards to your point about “Scope Creep”, I didn’t originally consider the door opening later for sweeping changes and project adjustments. However, I believe you make a terrific point. I continue coming back to the “critical” nature of the project. This is definitely a project where the team needs to get it right from the very beginning of the planning stages, to the deepest extent possible. Although, I didn’t notice the possible opening for changes, I did have a feeling that if I were in Jim’s position I might feel that Management was pressing in on me a bit to much by assigning a Team Member to update on my progress. I can also see where Management may continue to get involved in this same manner as the project moves on through various stages.
Thanks for making these points.
Totally on point Iyana,
Ella and John, the COO and head of marketing, are bringing in “their representatives” While Sally will definitely be able to contribute to the project team, I wonder what Bob ill be bringing to the table, because nowhere does it mention even his position/title/anything within the company.
Management has to be on board every step of the way to make projects successful.
Hi
because this is such a big project there are high chances that there might be many uncontrolled and continuous recommendations from management because this is such a high priority project. I also raised a similar issue in my post earlier. Good point. I totally agree.
The three potential risks I can see so far are scheduling risk, leadership risk, and scope risk.
-Scheduling risk: This is due to the project had not been approved by Petrie IS steering committee yet, the project might not proceed as Jim Watanabe expected. The project was about the proposed customer relationship. These might be unexpected delays in natural factors, errors in estimation, etc. Sally Fukuyama, as she played the role of assistant director of marketing, might struggle with time management and the balance between her own job and the project. In addition, Jim suggested Juanita Lopez, the manager of the store in Irvine, to be the part of his team. Lopez is busy, so the team might experience a delay in the process of the project.
-Leadership risk: As this project would be Jim’s first big project to manage at Petrie, and he was very new to the company. Jim might not be aware of many things or people that would engage in this project. As he was the assistant director of information technology, his position was not higher than his teammate. Jim might experience a poor leadership. Bob Petroski, represented Ella in the team, would give more pressure to Jim. Sally Fukuyama, the assistant director of marketing, she already said that she still had her regular job to worry about. Although she said she was excited about working on this project, when the hard work began, and she might not be so interested in all of that. Juanita Lopez, as the manager of one of the store of Petrie, who is really busy as well.
-Scope risk: The definition of scope creep is “changes, continuous or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope, at any point after the project begins. This can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled” (Wikipedia). When the project grows in complexity as the resource of customer relationship was getting bigger and customer loyalty might develop from many aspects. With the in-depth investigation, the proposal might have to be changed again and again.
I think leadership risk is the most significant risk for Jim. As a new face in this company, he needed to lead those qualified senior staff, the skill to negotiate and manage is very important to Jim.
Scope Management techniques enable project managers and supervisors to allocate just the right amount of work necessary to successfully complete a project—concerned primarily with controlling what is and what is not part of the project’s scope.
You’re right, range is one of the potential risks. Some of the client’s resources are lost before the scope and goals of the project have been identified, and the extent of the loss will increase over time.
I agree with you, because Jim lacks of experience in project manager role, so it is hard for him to design the working process of this project. In addition, he should allocate resources based on the important of each task.
Mengqiao, I also think the scope changing could be a potential risk in this project. there are at least four different departments involved in this project, and each of them has their own expectation. If they keep giving recommendations, the project scope will be changed.
yes your point is great. If too much departments involved in this project. There would be too much ideas and it will hurt the project and make it failed.
Hello Mengqiao,
Thank you for sharing your idea! I agree with you that Scope risk. When the project grows in complexity as the resource of customer relationship was getting bigger and customer loyalty might develop from many aspects. With the in-depth investigation, the proposal might have to be changed again and again.
Great point about the leadership risk. I agree with you that Jim might not be aware of many things or people that would engage in this project. Although it has some benefits that a systems analyst new to a company would not have the preconceived attitude to company’s information system, it might have dissatisfaction with leader.
Three potential risks I see so far in the project are as below:
-Jim, as the project manager, is not familiar with each team member. For example, Bob and Sally represent the COO and the head of the marketing respectively, but Jim does not know them until the first meeting. Without knowing team members well, such as their professional skills and abilities, will be hard to effectively collaborate in a short time.
-Many team members in this project are busy with other work. This situation will significantly reduce the effectiveness of the project if team members cannot allocate time reasonably. In addition, Jim plans to have a store manager from one of the busiest stores to join this project, which may not help much for this project. What’s worse, it may make the process slower since limited time and energy of one person.
-Unclear and inconsistent goal. When the time Ella designated Jim as the project manager, Ella called the project “No Customer Escapes,” which aims to develop closer relationships with company’s customers. But the head of the marketing mentioned the project as “No Employee Escapes” when introducing Sally to Jim. This would be a big problem if people without understanding their goal when doing the project together.
I think the most significant problem would be without a consistent goal. Even though a project manager is familiar with each team member, assign each member with proper works and with a perfect timeline, the project would not succeed if each member has different objectives. When a project started, the goal should be clearly identified and understood by each team member so that ensure all the efforts putting into the project are toward one direction.
Yes. Ineffective communication causes conflicts also. If none of those having disagreements will try to work out the problem, any group work will not result in anything at all. That lower the productivity.
I agree with you, because Jim is new staff here. The first thing he needs to do is to know the new colleagues better. Each teammate should have different way to get alone with.
I agree with your point. Jim needs time to know his new colleague and figure out how to get along with them. As the article mentioned, Jim is actually working this project under supervision from several people, which gives more pressure to Jim. So how to collaborate with them and how to manage his team member efficiently are questions he needs to figure out.
Great observation Jing. The first meeting the project was to be called “No customer escapes, now it has changed to “no employee escapes” . This makes us wonder what the project objectives are. Like you rightfully said, probably the best idea will be for everyone to seat down and decide exactly what they hope to achieve from the project before a decision of who can be called on board can be made.
As you said engaging people who are already too busy is also a bomb waiting to explode. Not only will it be difficult to get them to allocate time to the project but it might cause delays in the project as they do not do the assigned tasks on time.
Hi Jing. Thank you for bring great point to us. I totally agree with you. Jim does not familiar with his team members would be a big risk because if he does not know the guys he work with, it would be impossible for him to lead the project. He is the leader, and he cannot lead “strangers”.
I didn’t catch the difference in plan names. Great job! I have a feeling later on in this project we will see scope creep due to a lack of defined goals. It seems that John Smith and Ella Whinston have some ideas of what they want out of this project. This mindset could lead to them suggesting or recommending changes to the project based on their particular vision. If that does occur then Jim is in trouble.
Well said Jing. Since the purpose of this project is to increase the retention of customer, it must waste no time because every minute they spend there has possibility that customer defecting to other competitors. If their team has problem with schedule a meeting, the time for this project to be finished would be extended.
Hi Jing,
To your point about Jim – I agree he is at a real disadvantage in this situation. Due to his short tenure at Petrie, it will be very difficult for him to come up to speed on his Team Members and their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities in the short-term. Also, being in a new role seems that it would compound that challenge.
Thanks for your input.
Good job, Jing, you stated a critical issues Jim is totally lacking of the understanding to this company without even knowing the leader of each department, how could you expect such a person to know the details about other departments.
The unclear and inconsistent goal is a risk I definitely agree with. There needs to be a clear scope for a project to run effectively. Without it people would be completing tasks without understanding what they are doing. I think that somebody like Jim or another higher-up needs to create clear goals for the project, and this should eventually lead to success.
Hi Jiang
You mentioned the fact that Jim does not know his teammates on the project as a risk. I believe this in itself would not be too big of an issue even tho he just met Bob and Sally who represent the COO and the head of the marketing respectively. However I do believe that Bob representing the COO and being present in the project will represent a major pressure for Jim just as he said it and the fact that they did not know each other prior to this project will not help.
Unequal Participation-It causes resentment in the workplace, if you as a team leader recognize the efforts of one team member and not all of the team.
Conflict among Team Members-ineffective communication causes conflicts . Besides, if someone no longer feels happy about working as a team, it will affect parties will be unable to focus on the project.
Low Working Efficiency-When people with different backgrounds and personalities work collaboratively, there is increased potential for strife, conflict and low morale. It will increase the cost of time to deal with those conflicts.
It could be low working efficiency to work with different persons with different background. However, there should be different tasks fulfill the role he each person plays. The project needs different background person to engage, so if Jim can deal with the relationship between the teammates, it is good for the project.
Hi Zhixin,
You make clear points about the risks that may occur during a project. Low work efficiency can result from different reasons. In the case, it can be the busy work schedule among team members; the project manager is new to the company, without fully understanding of the company’s culture and each team member’s background; the ineffective communication among team members as you mentioned.
I agree with you especially for the third point you mentioned, low working efficiency. Jim is a new employee in this company, and this project involves several colleagues that he didn’t know previously. And his work is actually under the supervision from these people. So he needs to get along with them well to avoid conflicts that waste time and cost. Managing people is an ability for a project manager.
You not only consider about the communication issues, you think more deeply to consider about what will happen if communication issues happen. Yes, you are right. A bad communication will make the teammates get conflicts and make the work becomes inefficiency.
I agree with you that people have different background, and they present different people, if they don’t communicate well, it may cause lower working Efficiency.
Like you, I also sense a real possibility for team conflict as this project moves on. When Ella assigns someone to update her on Jim’s progress he expressed that he felt additional pressure. A display of leadership in that way, seems that it would cause friction (even if under the surface for the time being) for a Project Manager who is most likely experiencing a high degree of pressure already.
Thanks for your contribution!
Well down, Zhixin, you made a good analysis on each of risks and I totally agree with you on the idea of unequal participations the unfair efforts recognition raise more issues in the future.
I think the unequal participation point is something that is important. I think we all have been a victim of not being appreciated properly for our contributions to something. It is especially important to encourage and reward team members for their hard work. There is often a risk of lowered effort if somebody feels that what they are doing does not matter in the grand scheme of things.
I think these are all important risks to consider and showcase the potential effects of not conducting stakeholder analysis and a communication plan. An important technique for dealing these risk will be effective delegation. Jim will have to work with the team to really understand their key strengths and assign tasks accordingly.
The 3 potential risks I can see are the following:
1. Competing Priorities / Schedule of Project Members.
The project manager should ensure that the project meets the organizations needs and is delivered within budget and time constraints. While budget might ultimately get approved, the project has to be completed within the allocated time.
Jim is working with 4 people, and these Employees/Members that are being brought on board for this project (Bob Petroski – representing the COO; Sally Fukuyama- Assistant Director of Marketing; Sanjay Agarwal – heads of Systems Integration; Juanita Lopez – Store Manager) all have full time jobs and are supposedly taking on additional duties as a major part of the project management team. The Project management will involve setting deadlines, time frames etc; the odds of successfully completing the project under steep deadlines might not be feasible for this team. Jim as the Project manager has to provide direction at every step of the project, so each team member knows what’s expected, but how can this be done effectively if the other team members are too busy with their other full time job to be productive/effective?
The Project management team will have to be able to frequently meet at some set intervals of the project, Juanita Lopez who is the store manager in Irvine is 84 miles away (1 hour 19 minutes) from the rest of the team in San Diego, the probability that she will be able to meet in person with the rest of the team is very slim.
2. Poor Communication/ Project Member Disengagement
Communication is a challenge that cannot be underestimated. A disinterested team member or a team member that is not paying close attention (An example is John Smith, Head of marketing, calling the project ‘No Employee Escapes’ which is a wrong name) can have an adverse effect on the project. The project manager not only needs to be in touch with the other team members, he needs to carry then along every step of the way. The members of the project management team cannot disregard/ignore project communications and meetings. Effective communication to everyone involved in the project is crucial to its successful completion.
3. Performance problem / Inexperience of the Project Manager
Jim Watanabe just joined Petrie Electronics as the assistant director of information technology, and already they are expecting him to hit the ground running on a major (and first) project? and putting pressure on him at the same time?
Nothing in Jim’s previous Job suggests that he handled any such major project (He worked for five years at Broadway Entertainment Company as a senior systems analyst, and it was clear that he was not going to be promoted there, hence the reason he posted his resume on Monster.com and got a bigger salary and a “great job with more responsibility”).
So there is the performance risk that the project will fail to produce results consistent with project specifications due to the inexperience of the Project Manager Jim.
I agree with you, because every group member plays important role in their own department, and they also need to join the project team. It is difficult for Jim to deal with the schedule conflicts. Jim needs strong communication methods to lead the team.
Good analysis, Folake.
Busy work schedule, the lack of related project experience, and ineffective communication are all important points which would impact the result of the project. For the busy schedule, I think Jim should to know and understand each member’s job, and require each team member to establish weekly work schedule, then allocate tasks based on the schedule may work to deal with the time conflicts in a small team.
Thank you for your sharing. It is very important that you mentioned about the time if Juanita Lopez wants to meet with Jim and his teammates. It needs to take one hour and nineteen to meet with other, it is hard for Juanita to do again and again. If the emergency event happen, the team can not wait her so long.
Great attention to detail there Folake! I think communication will be a pivotal part of this project. This is because although the different expertise of each team member may help the team, this can also hurt the team as well. For example, without proper communication mechanisms, it might be difficult for the IT knowledgeable team members to communicate technical issues to the less knowledgeable team members.
I think the most significant of the risk would be Competing Priorities / Schedule of Project Members, and this is also directly proportional to the risk of Poor Communication/ Project Member Disengagement.
Like I said earlier, Jim as the Project manager has to provide direction at every step of the project, so each team member knows what’s expected, but how can this be done effectively if the other team members are too busy with their other full-time job to be productive/effective?
The Project management team will have to be able to frequently meet at some set intervals of the project, Juanita Lopez who is the store manager in Irvine is 84 miles away (1 hour 19 minutes) from the rest of the team in San Diego, what is the probability that she will be able to meet in person with the rest of the team?
What is the probability that these very busy people will have time/be free at the same time to all sit together/WebEx/have a phone conference on this project ?
I agree with your good analysis. Time management is a little bit hard to handle in this project since almost every team member has regular job to work. As you said, Juanita Lopez is busy for the top store, it might not be that easy to fit schedule. In this way, Jim needs to figure out the efficient way to communicate with his team member so that the efficiency of project will not be slow down.
Thank you for your idea. I really like the way you use the question to show the risk. The issues relate to Juanita Lopez involved many other issues like human resource management, schedule planning, team communication, and so on.
The three potential risks I have seen so far are:
1. Jim, the assistant director of information technology at Petrie Electronics, is still a new employee, although he has five years as a senior systems analyst, he has not mastered the leadership and connections of the new company, The company culture, which is a big challenge for Jim, who has just started to take over the new project.
2. Shoppers like Juanita, one of the busiest stores, and COO Ella and marketing director John have no time to participate directly in the project, even though Jim, the deputy director of marketing and Bob, helped get Jim out of the way To the greatest extent possible, this is a greater risk to newbie Jim.
3. Marketing Director John said the project was “No Employee Escape,” while chief operating officer Ella said it was “customerless escape” and the lack of effective communication between project management team members is a risk Jim will face.
I think it is most important to have effective communication among these three risks. Without proper communication, even experienced technicians will not help.
Thank you for your sharing, Chenhui. In the other word, I think we can also decides the second risk as the human resource risk. For that, Jim need to hire more employees with the experience or professional knowledge to help him finish the project.
Good thoughts Chenhui. I agree with you, the key risk that needs attention is communication. Communication in a project is used to express the project objectives. The need to be clear and easily understood by everyone. Communication lines also need to be clearly defined. Ella is already saying Bob will keep her updated, is this something that will continue throughout the project? does this mean Jim will have to go through Bob? This are some questions that come to mind.
Great communication also helps alleviate any misunderstanding on deliverables, ensuring that everyone contributes and delivers on time and within budget.
1. Coordination risk: the ‘No Employee Escapes’ project involves cooperation among various departments, including operation department, marketing, IT department, and store management. It might be difficult to get all departments to agree on the direction of a project that requires cross-department effort because each department has different objectives and priorities from each other. Therefore, the more departments get involved in a project, the more time and effort will be needed to set a feasible plan.
2. Lack of experience as a project manager. Jim’s current position at Petrie Electronics is assistant director of information technology; besides, he is new to the company and he might not have fully merged into the new company and his position. The above factors might give Jim difficulties in managing a project that requires coordination and effort from various departments. the
3. Schedule feasibility. The project requires a cross-department corporation. Even Jim managed to get people involved in the project from desired departments which include IT, marketing, operation, and store management, the project has not been approved yet and lack of commitment from the top management. People from other departments might not be willing to divert too much time and effort from priorities in their departments. For instance, Juanita Lopez will be joining the project team to bring insights about customer relationships, but she is the manager at one of the busiest store in the company, her schedule is likely to be very inflexible.
I agree with you Haitao. I think the schedule conflict could be a potential risk in this project. the team is formed by different departments, and each of the department has its own schedule. in addition, the store manager is from the busiest store, therefore, finding suitable meeting times will be challenging for Jim
Well said about the risk of coordination. There is one point that I figure out is related to this risk, When there are different departments involved in this project, who should this team reported to?
Well said Haitao! I think you have a great point about Jim being new to the company. When you think about it, I think this might come back to hurt the company since he hasn’t fully merged into the company mission, vision, and values.
Hello Haitao, you got a good advice for the coordination risk. I absolutely agree on your idea that a feasible plan should be settled for all departments according to the time line for each of them.
There are three main potential risks that Jim’s team may face to.
First of all, Jim lacks of experience to work as a team leader (project manager). Although Jim works as assistant director of information technology in Petrie Electronics. However, he enters into a new company, the position and colleagues are new. He needs more time to get familiar with all of the things here.
Second, the communication problem. Marketing Director John said the project is “No employee escape”, but the COO Ella said that the project is “customerless escape” which shows that there are communication problems between teammates.
Finally, the scheduling risk. There are two parts in this risk: 1. Juanita is the store manager of one of the busiest stores; 2. The project had not been approved by Petrie IS steering committee, which may causes unexpected problems that extends the expected time.
To add into the comment, for me, I think the communication issue is the most risky one that Jim’s team needs to pay more attention. For the experience, Jim can take some time to know about the new situation and colleagues. For scheduling risk, it is based on the communication, if Jim wants to deal with this problem, he needs to communicate with Juanita. Furthermore, communication problems can be a long-term risk that can directly makes damage to the project.
I agree with you, because it is hard for Jim o communicate with his new teammates. He is new here, and does not have enough experience in the organization. His new colleagues may be more familiar with this organization.
Hi Hanqing,
I agree with all of your points. Something you brought up that I did not think about at first is Jim’s lack of experience. Because he is new to the job, it may be difficult for him to be thrown into a new project right off the bat. I think him getting some more time to adjust would be a good idea.
Hanqing, thank you for your sharing. I didn’t think about lacking experience could be a risk in this project before, but I agree with you. Jim came to the company in a very short time, he is not familiar with the company operations and the employees. As a good project manager, Jim should understand the business, and why they need this project.
I honestly think that the biggest risk presented in the reading is the involvement of Juanita Lopez. As you said she manages one of the largest and most successful stores. Management may momentarily see the positives of having Juanita involved. If the store’s revenue suffers then she may get pulled off the team. It seems like a risky move to depend on her as a full-fledged team member.
There are three significant risks for Jim in this project.
1) The first risk is time conflicts. Everyone has multiple tasks to do. They not only engage in this project, nut also have other tasks in their department to do. This is difficult for Jim schedule time to have meetings. Sometimes they have conflict in the schedule, so it is important for Jim to deal with this problem. In addition, they have a lot of work to do, so Jim need to motivate them to pay attention to this project as well.
2)The second risk is that Jim is a new employee in this organization, it is hard for him to be a leader in this group. The new staff is promoted when he just work for this company for a short time. It is more important for Jim to show his working abilities to his new colleagues. It is hard to make these employees follow a new employee’s leadership. Especially these employees did good jobs in this company. Therefore, hoe to make these employees follow the leadership is another problem.
3)The third risk is lack of experience in project manager. Jim did play this role in the past, so it is a challenge for him in this new organization. If he is not familiar with what he needs to do as a project manager, it is difficult to make the team work together. Jim needs to learn the policy of the organization, the tasks he need s to do to higher the working efficiency.
Thank you for your sharing Xinteng. I agree with your idea about the “lack of the experience.” It is right that if a person is not familiar with the new position, and new situation, it is hard for him to start his works. He needs to take a brunch of time to know everything he should know.
Well said, Xinteng.
I agree with you that as a new stuff in the company, to be a project manager need to take more efforts to persuade team members to coordinate under his lead. It is a challenge which can lead to the failure of projects if Jim can not gain enough support from his team.
Well said about the risk of lack of experience in project manager. Jim is new to this company, and other team members didn’t know what kind of capabilities that Jim possess; likewise, Jim didn’t know much about his teammates. It is hard to allocate the tasks to someone you didn’t know about.
Jim is not only new to the company, but also new to project management. He definitely need time to be familiar with the different departments in the company since his team have employees from different background. Also, he need to improve his project management skills both soft and hard skills to ensure that he can manage the large scale project and his team.
Interesting points, Chen! Time conflict will indeed be an issue for the implementation of the project. Each and every team member of the projects have important responsibilities in the company which may create time conflicts for the project.
which risk you listed you think should be the most important ? as far as I am concerned, Experience risk would be the most important risk, because if Jim has enough experience, he would how to arrange the time and how to lead the every one in the team.
The 3 potential risks I have seen so far are following:
1. Managing people: As the reading mentioned, Jim is new to Petrie Electronics and “No Customer Escape” project might be his first big project in new company. Ella Whinston, the COO of Petrie Electronics assigned Bob Petroski to represent her to participate the project. John Smith, the head of marketing, also assigned Sally Fukuyama to the project representing marketing department and himself. As a new employee, Jim’s plan and action are actually under the supervision from these people, so how to get along with new colleagues and how to collaborate with them are questions need time to answer. This is one of the potential risks that lower the performance of initiating a new project.
2. Time and Resource Constraints: As it mentioned, all participants involved in this project have their regular job to work, including Jim himself. How to allocate time and resources to “No Customer Escape” project and how much each participant will input are uncertain. This is potential risk that may be an obstacle for Jim to manage the project well.
3. Small Sample: In the end, Jim suggested that Juanita Lopez, the manager of Irvine store, to join the project team. Irvine store is one of the top stores for Petrie Electronics and Juanita Lopez is busy too. Although Lopez may have many insight into the issues related to keeping customers, she may not fully understand the situation of other stores, where are not that popular and are not with high sales volume. So the sample Is too small, the insight only from top store may ignore general situation and narrow the overview for the project.
Hi Yingyan,
You bring up some great points on some risks that Jim may face as he undertakes this project. I too feel that having Juanita be the only person being consulted about the stores is not a good idea because she is busy with handling her responsibilities at the store and may not be able to dedicate much time to this project. Furthermore, getting different perspectives from other store managers who have different customer volumes may give the team a more holistic view.
Yingyan, I like your last points which said the sample is too small. I agree with you. The store manager is from their busiest store and the manager’s insights could be helpful for the project. however, not all the stores are “busiest”. They need to focus more on the stores that are not very busy to improve the business.
Sample size is a risk that I did not think of. Applying a method that may have worked for you will not always create success for somebody else. This is true for all aspects of life, and not just business. Juanita may end up being an asset to the project, but there is still a risk that her experience with her own store proves useless.
These three main risk should be considered.
The first potential risk is team member’s schedule. As the article mentioned, Jim want Juanita Lopez do the manger on the team but Juanita is very busy because Juanita work in the Irvine, which is the one of their top stores. As we know, Juanita should have a lot of insight into issues related to keeping customers. but if Juanita is very busy and can’t handle two jobs in the same time, some ability mention about him before make no sense.
The second risk is Jim lack of experience in project manager. as we know, jIm work as an assistant director of information technology at Petrie Electronics. This is a big project for Jim and he did not do this before, if he did not leader well in the team, it may cause the team work go down.
The third one is communicating risk, Bob Petroski represents Ella Whinston, Sally Fukuyama. the assistant director of marketing. represents John Smith, the head of marketing, and Jim want Sanjay Agarwal from IT joins this team and also reports to Jim. We can see many complex relationship among this team. if they can’t properly communicate well. the project can not make great progress.
Hi Linlan,
I think communication is a great point that you brought up. Because the team is so complex, it is very important to make sure everyone is on the same page but this will be difficult because of the chain of people the information has to be relayed to. Definitely a huge risk Jim will face.
yeah I agree with you. Because the team members are all from different department and they all have their own tasks. It is hard for them to put down their own roles and precipitate on this project.
Linlan, you brought up a very good point, which is the complex relationship in the team communication. I think all the team members should report to the project managers, and the project manager should make the progress update meeting with the executive management.
I agree that schedule is a noticeable risk in this project. The team consist leaders and experts from different department, they have regular job of course, and some of them are even in different location. It is hard to manage the teamwork time efficiently and ensure the productivity to make sure the project can be processed on time.
Yes, I agree with you. Communication should be used frequently in team work. As a leader, he should arrange work, make a meeting, discuss the problems and so on. This is the first big project for Jim to manage at Petrie, so that he may be lack of communication skills.
The three potential risks that I see would be in the ‘No Employee Escapes’ project are:
—Schedule coordination: Since the project team is a cross-functional team, which include employees are from different departments, such as IT, marketing, operation, and customer relationship, it is challenging to find suitable meeting times for all the group members.
—Financial conflict: Budgeting is one of the most factors in project management. In this case, we didn’t see any information about the budgeting allocation. The customer loyalty program can be seen as either a marketing, IT, or customer relationship program. The different departments have the limited budget each year, so it is hard to decide who will pay for the project if there is no specific budget for the project.
—The conflict between executive stakeholders: as I mentioned before, different departments involved in the project. They have different backgrounds and expectations on the project, which might result in the conflict of interests.
I think the most significant risk for Jim is how to handle the conflict between executive stakeholders. If the conflict could not be handled in a right way, it will cause some impacts, such as scope creep. The uncontrolled and continuous recommendations will result in increasing budget, pushing back the deadline, and decreasing operation efficiency.
Dongjie, key point mentioned (conflict of interest) which always exist among stakeholders. I think the most worrisome thing about conflict of interest is Jim understanding the role of each stakeholder.
Jim had talked to one stakeholder who mentioned her interest in the project, and it sounds like there is a connection or commitment. The issue of other team members been busy could be a sabotage on grounds that Jim is new and there were other employees capable of managing the project or other stakeholders are concern about their interest,
Jim needs to understand the importance of the project, each stakeholder interest in the project, and relate to them accordingly.
Conflict of interest seem to be a real problem (risk) if Jim is not careful.
Great points Dongjie, I even did not notice that the financial conflict is also an important risk. If Jim does not plan the budget and get enough money. The project should not be put on the schedule.
The point of the budget is a great obstacle to bring up. I almost made it my third point instead of communication management. Depending on the needs of the project it could become a cost centre instead. It may have a cost associated with additional advertisements. They may want an application or system that is not readily compatible with the other company systems.
Nice point about the budget. Even thought the IS steer committees approved this project, how about the financial department? If this project came out too costly, then who will pay for it?
Hello Dongjie,
I agree with you that the schedule should the one of the risk jim will face. because people are come from different department, such as IT, marketing, operation, and customer relationship, as you said, it is challenging to find suitable meeting times for all the group members!
You make such an excellent point about financial conflict/budgeting! It seems at this point in the narrative it would have been more of a focus. Also, as I consider your point, it seems imperative that marketing dollars allocated are spent very wisely, based on the fact that the company is considering the project key to survival and also an opening to compete in the industry at a higher level. Budgeting is important across the board, but I’m curious to see how marketing handles that part of the project if we are given that information at a later time.
Great point!
Great reasoning on financial conflict, Dongjie! The company’s competitors are BestBuy, Target and Walmart. All these competitors already have a strong customer loyalty program and in order to thrive and prosper, Petrie Electronics may have to spend a large sum to attract new customers and retain the existing customers.
1. Team management- This project comprises of people from different sections of the company. Everyone brings their own expertise, experience and has certain expectations about the project. Jim will have to step up in coordinating this team ensuring that everyone understands the project scope and their tasks. It might also be difficult to just have a meeting with everyone present. Everyone has a supervisor they report to, they have their other day to day functions that they must complete. All these might make it difficult for the team to commit fully to the project.
2. Communication- Due to the different reporting lines that exists within the team there might be communication problems. Ella is already saying she expects feedback about the progress from Bob. I see a problem where different messages about the project are communicated. I was hoping that Jim would be the one expected to give Ella the project updates.
3. Lack of skills to lead the project. – Jim has previous experience in system analysis, nothing is mentioned about his managing any other projects before. This project requires knowledge about retaining customers using loyalty programs. The project is very important for the company and Jim is already intimidated by the statement that Ella made about Bob reporting on his progress.
Karabo, I like the fact that you pointed out that nothing is said about Jim’s experience with project management which is very important-experience. I believe that is an acceptable risk. Looking at his experience in general, there is likelihood that he could perform. Notwithstanding, his performance is kind of questionable (iffy) from the experience standpoint, they need to have a contingency plan, just in case.
Experience is key to project management, cannot be overlooked.
Great point Karabo.
More than a few students bring up Jim’s undetermined leadership experience. Assuming both had project management experience, I’m curious if our class would suggest Bob Petroski or Sally Fukuyama be named project manager instead?
I think that if we assume Jim does not have the experience, but Bob Petroski or Sally Fukuyama di then the C-suite made a business decision that the objectivity was more valuable than project management experience.
Thinkable idea, Karabo. You have clearly stated each risk. And I highly reward the idea about the lack of team management would be a potential issue. As you said everyone has a supervisor they must report to and with their day to day functions. The project may even hard to pass by team commit.
There are lots of risks associated with the project: Three of those risks are:
Scheduling: with team member having busy schedules, problem resolution could be an issue which could cause rescheduling and delay.
Support: Not every stakeholder have confidence in the ability of Jim as a new employee. Some
questions that might propagate this issue will be:
• Does Jim know my role?
• Does Jim understand my interest?
• Will Jim deliver?
With all these questions, stakeholders might not support the project at all or could lose interest, stakeholders support might not come in full, or support could be delayed to test some of Jim ability.
Communication: stakeholders are busy, scheduling meeting is a challenge.
• How soon can they reply to an email?
• Will they receive the memorandum on time?
• Do they have the time to review status report?
If communication is an issue, the project will be delayed or failed.
The issue of support is interesting. I took the involvement of Bob Petroski and Sally Fukuyama to be positive proof of stakeholder support. It is very plausible that their involvement is to keep an eye on Jim. If that were the case then the very dynamics of the team could turn toxic.
Very true Jason, you know there is a saying “I will keep my eyes where my money is.” Stakeholders will monitor project as closed as they can. If the interest is company oriented, great; if it is personal, sad. Either orientation, Jim need to look up gain the requisite support.
The three main potential risks are:
1. Communication risk. Jim does not know his team members until the first meeting. As the project manager and team leader, he should be familiar with his team members, or at least know them as soon as possible after he got the order for the project. If not, it would be so hard for him to do great job in cooperation.
2. New staff and no experience risk. As a new staff in the company, Jim does not know so much of the company. This might be an advantage for him to bring new idea to the company and the project, but also it could be a disadvantage for him to start leading this project as a team leader. Moreover, he has no experience, and when he knew that he would be leading this project, he felt open-eyed. He actually knows nothing about how to do it from very beginning.
3. Scheduling risk. The team members are all from different departments. They all have their own tasks for their own roles. This could be a problem for Jim to schedule meeting and tasks on his projects because people are too busy to work with him.
The main risk of these I believe would be the scheduling risk. If the team leader cannot have enough time to meet with his team members and the team members do not have time to work with each others. This would be a big problem and even could make the project fail.
In my opinion, the main risk would be communication risk. In other words, If Jim can communicate with each other well, The scheduling risk may be got good control.
I agree with you. it is the first time jim know his team member, he need more time to fit his new situation and also introduce them to each other. it is challenging for him to adapt to new environment and project.
The new staff and no experience risk is something that stands out. Jim may not have what it takes to be the guy that leads the project. He is not happy with the added pressure from Ella, and this is something that will show if he is truly a leader or not. If he can handle it, they will probably do well. His experience may come back to bite him, though.
Scope Management: The involvement of Bob Petroski and Sally Fukuyama who represents the COO and head of marketing respectively can be a double edge sword. It is great that senior management is on board. This means that the project will be a priority. Their heightened enthusiasm suggest that the senior management may have some very strong ideas on the direction of the project. Their liaisons could be instructed to interject their bosses’ ideas without concern to the project process. This would result in scope creep and possible stall the project.
Time Management: Bob Petroski, Sally Fukuyama and Juanita Lopez all have operational work that will not stop for the project. It may be hard to conduct traditional meetings that correspond to all parties’ schedules.
Communications Management: In dealing with the time management obstacle it is likely that the team may be more reliant communication channels like email and texting. Team members may not understand all the vernacular of other team members due to the differing competencies. For instance, Juanita may not get certain high-level business terms or Sally may not understand some IT lingo. Bob and Sally may also have to wait for their bosses to get confirmations or instructions related to the project. Both factors lend themselves to slowing down or reducing the effectiveness of communication in the team.
Anyone of these issues can easily lead to the incompletion of progress and eventual failure of the project.
Communication is always an issue for project management, especially Jim’s team have people from different department and background, they all familiar with business in their field, how to make them communicate effectively and efficiently becomes a challenge for Jim. Poor communication will lead to failed project management and of course the completion of project.
List 3 potential risks you see so far. Which of the three do you think is the most significant and why?
Scheduling- The risk of scheduling is clearly a foreseen issue in this scenario. Sally Fukuyama stated in their meeting that she was still working on her assigned tasks, and Juanita Lopez is not only extremely busy but some distances away. Therefore, the meetings will have to be very conventional (e.g. WebEx).As well as this project will not have everyone’s full undivided attention. This situation will also risk driving the cost of the project higher than initially projected because the project at some point will fall out of its deadline.
Lack of Qualification- Qualification of the team members are questionable. Starting with Bob… There was never a mention of what he did. Ella appointed him to the project to be her “eyes and ears” but how does that help the project and what knowledge is Bob lending to it. Also, there wasn’t a mention of Jim’s project management qualification or skills.As well as Jim is still new and in the process of getting to know the strategic plan of IT. Jim hasn’t even reviewed their business objectives.
Project Scope- The final risk I could see happing is this project failing because there the project scope is undefined. A team is being formulated with employees from Marketing, IT, and a location manager but there was no mention of the project goals, features, or deliverables.
The limits on availability, knowledge, and understanding of what the business’ expectations are are all vital to a project’s success. However, the most significant risk is the project scope. Scheduling and lack of knowledge can be rectified by adding qualified people and making meeting times mandatory. However, understanding the expected outcome is not always easy especially if it hasn’t been defined.
Fair enough, Lezlie. According to this reading, project scope has not been defined so far, so all relevant factors including project goals, features, and deliverables are unknown. Therefore, working together for everybody in this team is going to be tough due to a guideline and framework missing. I believe IS steering committee would play a significant role in future to direct this project and coordinating different departments.
Lezlie,
I agree that the undefined project scope is the most significant risk of this project. The tendency of Ella to put together a team with laying out the project objectives, roles, goals, and deliverables of the project makes me wonder her reasoning behind appoint Jim as project manager. Despite this, I think this can also be a positive for the project. The assembling of a team from various backgrounds might make it easier to lay down a foundation for the project and set goals and objectives with a variety of technical knowledge from different backgrounds.
I agree with you, Lezlie! Determining scope is very important for the project but Ella or anyone involved in the project do not talk about the scope and resources required.
There are 3 potential risks that I see so far:
1. Leadership Risk: Jim is new to this company, and other team members didn’t know what kind of capabilities that Jim possess; likewise, Jim didn’t know much about his teammates. Although it has some benefits that a systems analyst new to a company would not have the preconceived attitude to company’s information system, it might have dissatisfaction with leader.
2. Time management: It is really difficult to meet with all of the team members. Such as Juanita Lopez, she is the manager of the store in Irvine, which is one of the top stores; therefore, she is too busy to free up some time. And, Sally also said she still have her regular job to worry about.
3. Steering committee conflicts: There are different departments involved in this project, who should the team reported to?
As far as I am concerned, the most significant risk among these three is the time management. Since the purpose of this project is to increase the retention of customer, it must waste no time because every minute they spend there has possibility that customer defecting to other competitors.
Hi Xiaomin,
Yes, I agree. Time management is a huge risk and the simple fact that both Juanita and Sally are knowingly busy from the beginning it would be in the best interest of the project if they chose other members that weren’t so busy. In Ami’s post above she mentions pulling other store managers from different customer frequency. I believe this idea could also help with your time management comment.
Xiaomin,
With regard to your question about who the team should report to, I believe with Jim being the appointed project manager, he is the designated go-to person for the project. However, this also leads me to consider the various types of projects we discussed in class last week; I wonder where this project will fall. Great question!
well said. However, I think the most significant risk is the leadership risk. The reason is that If Jim have the enough leadership ability. He can also solve the problem of time management risk. By that I mean, Leadership risk make the time management risk became more serious.
The first came into my mind is scope creep.
Jim’s team has experts from different background, they all have good ideas as those team member indicated, their might be uncontrolled changes and continuous growth scope that make the project scope harder to manage.
The other one could be stakeholder conflict, with such a great scale project that will impact the whole organization. Leaders from different department are involved. organization stakeholders will be influenced to different extent, Negative impacts on stakeholders will result in poor support, even turnover. So it is important to mange the relationship with stakeholders and make sure they can have accurate expectation over the project.
Another one risk that will have great impact on the project is change management. “change” is always a hard topic in any types of project. Change requests will keep coming up during the project, which will raise the complexity of the project and distracts key resources. This is also a source of stakeholder conflicts. Moreover, project team should be aware of change priorities. Inaccurate priorities will impact the critical scheduling.
Of course, their many other risks involved, such as communication and time management, our classmates provide many insightful analysis on those risks and inspired me to think the problem from different perspective.
I agreew with you, Xiaozhou. People in this team have different culture and profession background, coordinating everybody to work toward a same goal is quite difficult. A person from IT and another person from Marketing could have adverse ideas on this project’s direction of development. Also, without enough knowledge and experience in leadership, Jim might encounter different kind of challenge while he is managing this team with huge diversity.
Nice idea, Xiaozhou. I absolutely agree with the issue you mentioned about the scope creep. The scope should be limited to make sure the schedule and plans in the future can be flexible enough and the management can be accessible and executable.
I feel the following three potential project risks should be considered.
1. Data risk – Based on the desired outcomes for the customer loyalty project outlined in last week’s WA, having Manager representation from one “top store” could be limiting the flow of information needed to lead to the desired results for the project. Also, it’s noted in conversation how busy Ms. Lopez will be.
One alternative idea that could provide a broader scope of data for the project, would be to place Sally in charge of surveying a broader sample of Store Managers from stores chosen by applying specific store performance criteria determined by the team, to be the most relevant store data to the project. Also, Jim could delegate that Sanjay assist Sally with extracting data when needed to serve two purposes: 1) He would free up some of his own time to see to other areas of the project 2) Sanjay assisting Sally could provide data faster than some other means of assignment(s), not to mention, give her support that could be much needed. She mentioned in conversation that “…I still have my regular job to worry about…”.
2. Team or Teamwork risk – Jim is quick to request Sanjay, but has had limited time to evaluate him as an employee. At this point in the project, it can only be presumed by Jim that Sanjay will be the right fit and giving an adequate performance for the project. Also, as Ella advised Jim that Bob would be keeping her updated as to Jim’s performance, he experienced additional pressure. I feel it should be noted that this addition wasn’t discussed with Jim – event though he has been appointed as Project Manager – and this type of leadership from Ella being utilized could lead to friction and resentment.
3. Commitment risk – On at least two occasions it is noted in the narrative that team members are “very busy” or that a team member states “…I still have my regular job to worry about…”. On a team this size for a project with potential outcomes critical to Petrie’s survival, I feel that this could be a growing problem over the course of the project as team members may feel stretched thin. Although the project appears to have Ella’s full support, it could be difficult for Jim being new to the organization and still learning about his teammates to detect that some members may not be devoting 100% of what’s necessary to their role in the project.
Of the three risks outlined, I feel that data risk is the most significant. This is the most significant risk from my perspective, based on the fact that data is critical first and foremost to the design, launch, and possible long-term success of the project. The other two risks seem as if they can be dealt with if needed as the project moves along to completion and Jim, as Project Manager, becomes more comfortable in his role at the organization and in overseeing the project.
Data risk is something I had not thought of. Having people like Ms. Lopez work on the project will definitely cause problems in areas such as communication. The Manager from a top store is going to still care about keeping that store at the top and Ms. Lopez is also busy. This could really slow down the time of the project, and it is something that needs to be addressed.
1. Team coordination. Since the team of “No Employee Escapes” has been built through different field of people, including an assistant director of information technology, an assistant director of marketing, and a store manager, it is quite difficult to coordinate everybody toward the same path and target. Everyone has different culture background, professional knowledge and skills, and different personality and attitude, so it would be risky if Jim cannot let everybody work on the same page.
2. Lack of experience in customer relationship. In this team, we have people from IT field, marketing field, and sales field. However, no one is truly targeting on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). It would be a huge challenge for them to keep their customers, cause maintaining customer relationship needs not only knowledge and skills, but also a lot of past experience.
3. Conflict between IT and Marketing. Since both IT and Marketing department have their own goals on this project, it might trigger a lot of conflict in many aspects. For instance, the purpose of marketing department is to attract as many as customer to join this customer loyalty program through providing different kind of incentive and rewards. However, taking into account safety and maneuverability factors, IT department may reject to perform those kind of program.
I love your point on CRM. Given that this project is all about retaining customers, increasing revenue from customer relationships, etc., handling those customer relationships properly and delivering what they want to see most from a loyalty program is so crucial to the outcome. I’m waiting to see what, if any, relationship IT and Marketing develop in this project and if they can work together to find out what customers are looking for from Petrie.
I completely agree with your take on the potential risks Jim will face. I think you hit the nail right on head mentioning coordination aspect of the project. I think it will be difficult to keep an assistant director of information technology, an assistant director of marketing, and a store manager engaged in a project they are not directly responsible for while performing the daily duties required for their specific roles.
I agree with you.Jim have never been a leader before, so he may not have the experience to be leader, which means that it is difficult for him to make everyone in the team have a good cooperation.
You bring up some interesting risks that I had not originally thought off. IT and Marketing projects are typically run very differently. Ideally the two groups will use their varying experiences to come up with a unique approach to the solution. The marketing goals will definitely align with the organization’s goal of growth.
On my opinions, the following three risks should be considered: 1, leadership 2, communications 3, time and resources limitations
1, Jim was elected by Ella to be the project manager. But let’s look at Jim’s background, Jim just became the assistant director of information technology at Petrie Electronics. He even cannot recognize majority employees and high-level managers of the company like the head of marketing, store manager. He is apparently unfamiliar with the situations on this company. It is hard to see his authorities and influence on his partners who is either having longer experiences or higher level than Jim. In addition, Jim have no experience on big project to manage at Petrie, which may potentially increase risks as well.
2, All department send its assistant director to represent its department leaders. The information is hard to maintain the same as its original during the second paraphrase.
3, Because this project is related to multiple departments, the schedules would become very hard for managing. And each department would have its own concerns and emphasis. The conflicts will be hard to avoid.
Among these three concerns I think the first risk is the most significant, because a good leadership is the foundations of everything, a person who have voice at this seat may solved the second and third problems, while the second and third may also cause by a green hand.
In regard to the “No Employee Escapes” project, I think three potential project risks that Jim will have to manage include:
1. Disengaged Staff Risks– I think Jim will potentially have to face a risk of disengaged staff. This is because it appears every individual on the team already has responsibilities at the company that they have to attend to on a day to day basis. Hence, it will be difficult for them to get engaged and stay engaged in on a project they are not directly responsible for. As the project manager on the project, Jim will have to find a way to mitigate this risk.
2. Scheduling Conflict Risks – Similarly to the risk of disengaged staff, I think Jim will potentially face risks with regards to scheduling. This is because some individuals on the team are extremely busy. For example, Juanita, the store manager of the Irvine store is identified to be very busy. With her experience managing one of the company’s top stores, she is mentioned to have a lot of insights in customer-related issues; however, Juanita’s availability maybe limited and will result in scheduling conflict. This risk will have to mitigated to complete the project successfully.
3. Lack of Timely Resources – Finally, one of the risks that Jim will potentially have to mitigate is a lack of resources.
With reference to these three project risks, I think the most significant is unmotivated and disengaged staff. This is because unmotivated staff members will perform lack luster work which will result in an unsuccessful, incomplete, or inefficient project
1.The first risk is about experience. Jim have never been a leader before, so he may not have the experience to be leader, which means that it is difficult for him to make everyone in the team have a good cooperation.
2.The second risk is about time. Everyone in the team has their own schedule. It is difficult for Jim to make everyone have the same available time. What’s more, Jim is new here. He also need more time to be familiar with everyone in order to get an available schedule for everyone.
3.The third risk is about the communication. There are many team members in this team. There is a big challenge for Jim is communication. Communication should be used frequently in team work. As a leader, he should arrange work, make a meeting, discuss the problems and so on. This is the first big project for Jim to manage at Petrie, so that he may be lack of communication skills.
Experience risk would be the most important risk, because if Jim has enough experience, he can deal with both the risks about time and communication.
1. While reading the dialogue there was one risk that popped up to me immediately. There is clearly a diverse group with different professional background working on this project. This is good as there is a lot of different eyes and potential opinions for the project, but it could also create some problems. These people do not know each other and may not mesh well together as a team. Of course, this is always a risk when trying out a new group. Jim will need to be able to manage these employees from different sectors of the business in order to create a stellar project.
2. The second risk that I identified is Jim’s lack of leadership experience and enthusiasm for the project. He clearly was not the perfect candidate for the job. It is not something that he is particularly interested in, but he seems to be ready for the challenge. What was really telling about Jim’s leadership was when Bob was introduced. Jim dreaded the added pressure from the new addition and his connection with Ella. Leaders usually perform well under pressure and enjoy the thrill of it. Jim’s skills are a risk that he will need to deal with, and he will have to make himself into a leader.
3. The last risk that I noticed was the lack of a definite scope. When starting a project, the scope needs to be defined in a document in order to not push the boundaries of the project too far. There needs to be a clear objective for the project team. There is a risk of using too much resources and making the proposition a failure.
To me the most significant risk has to do with Jim’s leadership. Like so many things in life such as sports, there needs to be people that step up and take charge. Jim may not be able to do so, and subsequently derail the project. He can just as easily make himself a great leader, although. Time will tell.
Three major risk categories that I can call in this case are:
1- Project Scope Risk:
Regularly PM has little authority in the organization structure and limited personal power to influence decision-making and resources. In this case, the project scope is not clearly defined to the PM. As a result, this can lead to the major problem in order to understand the project flow and design. Without having a clear project scope, gathering the project resources can fall into the same problematic loop.
2- Scheduling Risk:
Scheduling a project with all high-level team members of the company is a cumbersome job. Schedules are usually not realistic and are predicted only by “base case”. Having all the managers in the meetings can lead to delay on tasks causes cascading delays independent tasks. In general, new projects requires team members to allocate more time than expected to study unfamiliar areas of the new project.
3-Communication Risk:
Base on the case study, there is some miss communication between the project managers. This risk and be as a result of not having a clear project scope. As a scope risk, individuals may demand to add requirements that are not mentioned in the project plan.
In my opinion, the project scope risk is the first indicator of the project failure. Not defying the project goals clearly will have a negative impact on resources allocation, time, human resource, cost, and the project return.
Hi Mahroo
I believe Communication Risk is an interesting one. However instead of this risk being a result of not having a clear project scope, It is a result of some of the team members being so busy. which will eventually cause some miss communication between the project managers as you mentioned.
Three potential risks :
The first risk I identified is change management. During the project’s life cycle there will be Change requests that will make the project more and more complicated. The business analysts working on the project should know how to prioritize the changes, other wise this could impact the duration of the project.
Risks of scheduling conflict – Jim will have to face at some point a scheduling conflict because some people in the team, like Juanita, the store manager are very busy. She is quite experienced when it comes to customers,, but she has a really tight schedule and might not be always available resulting in scheduling conflict.
Risk of cope Creep: even though changes are a common thing in projects, there are high chances of multiple change requests from top management with this project. Jim is new to project management the gathering of all the requirements might be a bit challenging to him leading to the need to adjust the scope as the project is ongoing.
I think the most important thing is change management, because during the project there will be changes and it takes the right skills and ight experience to know how to navigate those changes. Unless this is taken care of it does not matter the amount of resource poored in, it will not help.
I believe the potential risks are;
Time management: This can be an issue because of the team having job roles in the company besides taking on this new project. The team may not be able to make deadlines because they cannot acquire information that the need when they need it. For example, Juanita Lopez made it clear that she would not have much time available so in order to get value out of her time has to be managed particualry well with her
Communication: Getting information across to one another is difficult when the team is not in one location and is especially difficult when the team members have other obligations such as a full time job. The job will not allow
Scope Creep; I believe this could become a problem because it is in just about every project. It takes clearly defined rules to ensure that a project will remain within its scope and even with that, the project could expand.