course materials

1. Project ManagerWord-Tech – nursing writers
Project ManagerWord-Tech is a medium-sized firm that designs and manufactures
electronicsystems for the mass transit industry. It competes with other firms to win
contracts toprovide such systems. When Word-Tech receives a contract, it creates a project
tocomplete the work. Most projects range from $10 million to $50 million in cost andfrom
one to three years in duration. Word-Tech can have 6-12 projects going on atany one time,
in various stages of completion some just starting and others finishing.Word-Tech has a
handful of project managers who report to the general manager;other people report to their
functional manager. For example, the electronicsengineers all report to the manager of
electrical engineering, who reports to thegeneral manager. The functional manager assigns
particular individuals to work onvarious projects. Some people work full time on a project,
whereas others split theirtime among two or three projects. Although individuals are
assigned to work for aproject manager on a specific project, administratively they still
report to theirfunctional manager.Jack Kowalski has been with the company for about 12
years, since graduatingfrom college with a BS in electronic engineering. He has worked his
way up to seniorelectronics engineer and reports to the manager of electrical engineering.
He hasworked on many projects and is well respected within the company. Jack has
beenasking for an opportunity to be a project manager. When Word-Tech is awarded a
$15million contract to design and manufacture an advanced electronics system, thegeneral
manager promotes Jack to project manager and asks him to run this project.Jack works with
the functional managers to get the best people available assignedto the project. Most of the
people are buddies who have worked with Jack on previousprojects. However, with Jack s
position as senior electronics engineer vacant, themanager of electrical engineering has no
one with the appropriate level of expertiseto assign to Jack s project. So the manager hires a
new person, Alfreda Bryson. Luredaway from a competitor, Alfreda has a Ph.D. in electronic
engineering and eight yearsexperience. She was able to command a high salary more than
Jack is making. She isassigned to Jack s project full time as the senior electronics
engineer.Jack takes a special interest in Alfreda s work and asks to meet with her to
discussher design approaches. Most of these meetings turn into monologues, with
Jacksuggesting how Alfreda should do the design and paying little attention to what
shesays.Finally, Alfreda asks Jack why he is spending so much more time reviewing
herwork than that of the other engineers on the project. He responds, “I don t have tocheck
theirs. I know how they work. I’ve worked with them on other projects. You rethe new kid
on the block, and I want to be sure you understand the way we do thingshere, which may be

2. different than at your previous employer.”On another occasion, Alfreda shows Jack what she
thinks is a creative designapproach that will result in a lower-cost system. Jack tells her, “I
don t even have aPh.D. and I can see that that won’t work. Don’t be so esoteric; just stick to
basic soundengineering.”During a business trip with Dennis Freeman, another engineer
assigned to theproject who has known Jack for six years, Alfreda tells him that she is
frustrated withthe way Jack treats her. Jack is acting more like the electronics engineer for
the projectthan the project manager, she tells Dennis. Besides, I have forgotten more
aboutdesigning electronics than Jack ever knew! He really isn’t up to date on
electronicdesign methodologies. discuss the matter with the manager of electrical
engineeringand that she would never have taken the job with Word-Tech if she had known
it wasgoing to be like this.CASE QUESTIONS1. Do you think Jack is ready to serve as a
project manager? Why or why not?How could Jack have prepared for his new role?2. What
is the major problem with the way Jack interacts with Alfreda?3. Why do you think Alfreda
has not had an open discussion with Jack about theway he is treating her? If Alfreda
approaches Jack directly, how do you thinkhe will respond?4. How do you think the
manager of electrical engineering should respond tothis situation?5. What should be done
to remedy the situation?6. What could have been done to prevent the situation?The post
Project ManagerWord-Tech appeared first on nursing writers.