A Manager’s Dilemma: Who gets the Project?

“It seemed like a real ego booster when I got to take over my boss’s job during his vacation,” thought
Dave Peterson. “Now I’m not so sure. Both Seamus and Jeremy really want to be in charge of this new
project. I have to decide between them and I will still have to work with them as a peer after this is all
over.”

Background

CMT is a leading innovator in the telecommunications industry. Rapid growth and persistence in the face
of early company setbacks have generated aculture based on problem solving and meeting customer
satisfactions. The primary guidelines directing action are “If you see a problem that needs to be fixed, it
becomes your problem” an “Do what you have to do to satisfy the customer.” This environment has led
to frequent conflicts and job stress but also provided opportunities for job enrichment and
advancement. Additional company characteristics follow:

 History: ten years old, telecommunications industry, rapid growth, $50 Million in Annual
revenue.
 Culture: innovative, encourages individual initiative, respect for technical expertise, conflict
accepted as part of company life.

Dave is the manager of customer software support. His department provides support to customers
and field staff when software problems occur. Dave had worked as a system analyst in customer
software support prior to his promotion to manager. He and his staff have considerable experience
with CMT ‘s software developers.

Seamus is in charge of the technical publications department, which provides technical and user
manuals and other materials for customers and CMT field staff. These manuals detail the technical
operations of CMT Corporation’s equipment and software. Seamus and his staff work closely with
designers and have a good reputation for translating terminology into more user-friendly materials
that can be understood by those without engineering training.

Jeremy Olson manages the software training department. This department offers courses that
explain CMT corporation’s software products and trains customers and company employee on the
proper use of the products. The software training department utilizes documentation generated by
the technical publications department for its training courses. Jeremy and his staff members are
especially good at designing courses that communicate technical information in a way that
customers can readily understand. Course design and presentation are particularly important due to
the high degree of modularity of the CMT software.

The New Project

A new hardware product is under development with associated software. Due to the low target
price for the product and the need for inexpensive training, CMT’s sales department had requested
that a CD-ROM self-study course be developed for costumers of the new product. At this time, CMT
Corporation has not yet begun using CD-ROM technology for training.
 Both Seamus and Jeremy have been lobbying heavily to be allowed to develop a new course.
Seamus argued that he and his staff had superior technical expertise due to their close working
relationship with engineers during the development of technical manuals for the new product. In
addition, some of his staff had previously developed CD-ROM presentations.

Jeremy noted that the primary purpose of the course was to train employees and customers in a
situation where there were no company consultants or trainers available to answer questions. Thus,
he argued, the presentation of the material and the pedagogy used were critical for the success of
the CD-ROM. Both managers presented their respective cases to their supervisor, Henry Matthews,
the director of software support.

During the next two months, the lobbying intensified and the level of conflict escalated to the
point were both Jeremy and Seamus openly declared that the other department simply “lacked the
needed skills to get the job done” and “if the project was not assigned to their respective
department, it would surely fail.” Both managers had approached Dave asking for his support.

The culture at CMT accepts the conflict that based on doing the best job for the customer. In
spite of this, Dave feels that the conflict between Seamus and Jeremy has gotten out of hand. If it
goes on much longer, Dave feels the conflict might spill over into other areas where all three
departments need to cooperate.

The Decision

Henry took a two-week vacation and when he left on Friday, he put Dave temporarily in charge of
the entire unit. The following Monday, both Seamus and Jeremy informed Dave that a decision on
the new project had to be made right away. The purchase order for the filming equipment needed
to be placed immediately in order for it to arrive in time. They, of course, disagreed on the type of
equipment that should be used so a decision needed to be made as to the long-term assignment of
the project. Furthermore, the project was now behind schedule given the needed development time
based on the projected product release date.

Dave realized that how he handled this decision would reflect on his management competencies
and possibly influence his opportunity for advancement. “I know if I assign this project to either
Seamus or Jeremy someone is going to be very upset,” Dave pondered, “and I don’t know if I can get
these two to talk to each other, let alone to agree on a compromise. The only thing I do know is that
I have to make a decision on this before Henry returns.”

Questions

1. Describe aspects of the political decision-making model that are evident in this case.
2. What examples of bounded rationality can you identify in the case?
3. If you were Dave Peterson, what decision would you make? Explain how you arrived at this
decision.