Case Study: Upper Management Stability during a Project

Stability in the upper management of a company affects smooth progress of a project

tremendously. Personnel and responsibility changes in upper management during the execution
of a project can cause ripple effects and sometimes tsunami effects to your project.

It is possible to shield your project from these effects to a certain extent, but in most cases your
project gets hurt too.

A challenging case of upper management shuffle occurred during the execution of an internal
product development project that was under my direction.

During the execution phase of my development project, the board of directors of our company
fired our president and brought in a new one who was hijacked from a well-respected
technology company. The new president brought in a dozen of his colleagues from the
computer industry in order to pursue his vision of our company.

Some of the new arrivals were positioned into upper management, especially into the
engineering divisions. Others were positioned into the research and development group. Two
new senior scientists joined my product development group. These scientists were good
buddies with the new president. They had worked together more than a decade.

I presented my project’s mission, team, and status to the new management. They all had
numerous inputs to my project’s mission and schedule.

They completely changed the direction of my project with new target completion dates. My
project was turned topsy-turvy by the new upper management. All the changes were approved
by the new president without any hesitation. He had complete confidence in his new upper
management team.

I had six engineers working for me on my team. With the addition of two senior scientists, my
team expanded to eight people. All of a sudden the morale of my six engineers went downhill.
Everything we had done for a year before these changes occurred was thrown out the window.

First, I had a team meeting with the old engineers on my team. We discussed what we had
accomplished and what we had to do under the new upper management direction. I had to
convince them one by one that we did very well in our product development. The new product
development direction was not their failure, but it was a new outlook for the future of our
company and to our competition. Also, I emphasized that we had to be open-minded and
welcome two new members of our team and make them feel at home in their new environment.

As a project manager I had to start a brand new project with a new mission and new deadlines.
On top of it all, I had to blend the two new senior scientists into my team and make sure that
there were no animosities between the old-timers and the newcomers. I had to accept all
proposed changes to my project.

These were the new bosses. We could not continue with our old ways. We had to go along with
the new leaders. I had an extended team meeting to brainstorm our new project, to discuss new
tasks and team members’ responsibilities. During the meeting, I had to carefully bring the two
new senior scientists into our team atmosphere. I had to make them realize that I was the team
leader and they had to execute tasks that were assigned to them by me in a time frame that was
on our schedule. Most importantly they had to coordinate with other team members very closely.
They were good buddies with our new president, but they had to realize that their first priority
was my project.

The new project started well. After a couple of weeks, the two new senior scientists on my team
started to deviate from their task objectives and specifications without notifying me. Evidently,
they were being redirected by our new president. These ripples also affected my other six team
members and they started complaining to me about sudden changes in the project’s direction.

I had to correct this disharmonious situation immediately. I made an appointment directly with
the new president and explained to him politely the issues I was having in managing my new
product development project effectively. He apparently was going out to lunch weekly with the
two new senior engineers on my team. They were discussing the status of my project and he
was making some suggestions on the spot without realizing his suggestions’ effects on the
whole execution of the project.

We finally agreed that if he had any new suggestions regarding my project, he would e-mail me
first. After my assessment of the impact of his suggestions on my project’s schedule and cost, I
would inform him the consequences before making a final decision to my project’s modified
direction and specifications.

Upper management changes in a company can positively or negatively impact internal project
directions, project teams, management styles, and project reporting styles. As project
managers, we have to deal cleverly and in a timely manner with the changing world around us.

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TASK FOR THE STUDENTS OF COURSE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT BUKC:

‘WHAT ARE THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT?’

Try to give a separate point for each lesson learned. Please be brief and your complete answer should
not be more than half a page.

From above case study, we have come to know following lesson learned which helps to identify the
project need:

1) Stability in upper management helps project manager and his team for smooth execution of
project without so many revision of deliverables
2) Upper management stability will lead customer satisfaction
3) Upper management rotation will bring new ideas, new management style and scope
revisions which affect the project deliverable.
4) Handling and adjusting new team member is challenging job for project manager.
5) Keeping moral of team higher during management decisions is difficult.
6) Project manager should have ability to mold his team member as per understanding of new
management style.
7) Project manager must accept new management directions and will leads the project
accordingly.
8) Relationship of team member with higher management will directly affect the project.