University of the People

Master of Business Administration Program

Academic Year 2023 Term 1

BUS 5910 Management Capstone

Group 0017

Instructor: Akash Mathapati

Written Assignment Unit 7: Case Study – NewBuild

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Identification of the Problem

Jason joint NewBuild in 1997 and raise to the position of project manager and manager for young

engineers to build them up to become project managers themselves. NewBuild is a large general

contracting firm that experienced growth over the time of its 100 years of existence, but faced in the

2008 recession a downturn in business. NewBuild had the cash reserves to withstand the recession,

but needed to be careful about its financial situation. NewBuild had a reputation to pay less than the

competition, but to give better opportunities to excel for young talents. Jason had a trusted

employee at his side with the name Dixon, who supported him in his role and endeavours. Brad and

Kerry joined Jason's team of employees in these challenging times and proved their value to the

team. Jason opened up a new project with an important client and wanted to select either Brad or

Kerry to lead this project. As either of them would be new to this role he secured the assistance of

Dixon to this project. The non-selected engineer would likely face redundancy.

Diagnosis of the Causes

It is important that young engineers have a start to the professional career in a meaningful

engineering job placement. Companies are eager to engage the talent and to train professionals for

higher roles as team managers and project managers. A project manager description is as follows,

“Communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills play a crucial role for an individual to

become a good project manager. Moreover, he or she should be a good decision maker for the

smooth maneuvering of the project journey.” (Gray, 2022). In NewBuild it was an explicit strategy

to place real responsibility early on to the young engineers as with responsibility comes motivation

and learning. In the unfortunate situation of the recession and decrease of demand an employment

could not be sustainable, despite NewBuild was eager to keep the workforce intact. Jason was

facing a quite decisive choice between Brad and Kerry that would have substantial impact on the

respective career path with NewBuild. Jason did a part-time MBA study course and learned about

the three dimensions of managing employees, a framework of understanding developed by

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Clawson (2008). The manager can impact behaviour of the employee (level 1), the conscious

thinking of the employee (level 2), and the unconscious realm that hosts the values, assumptions,

beliefs, and expectations (VABE) (level 3) (Mento, Cougnet, Vader, 2012, p.54). Jason got

acknowledged for his care for his young engineer employees as he took the training of them

seriously. Feedback received praised him for being approachable, sympathetic to needs, being good

in developing talent and effective mentoring (Mento, Cougnet, Vader, 2012, p.54). In better times

Jason would be able to dedicate substantial time in training and mentoring the young engineers, but

in the challenging time of the recession Jason's mentoring capacity was limited by two factors. The

first factor was the expectation from the executive level that senior project managers dedicate up to

25% of their time in bringing in new business to the company. The second factor was that the

recession was building a depressing atmosphere that challenged the young engineers to keep up

their high motivation and to see their long term future with NewBuild. These factors might lead

Jason to prefer the easy solution.

Prescription of Alternatives

Jason is facing the decision to choose between Brad and Kerry for the promotion to the project

manager of the upcoming new project. This choice is based on several dimensions and factors. The

traditional expectation is that employees ripe for promotion show excellent professional technical

skills (hard skills) and convincing behavioural skills (soft skills). It is worth to remember this

definition of employability, “Employability means a demonstrated level of knowledge, skills,

abilities, work behaviors and attitudes necessary to become successful in the labor market.” (Law

Insider, 2022). The task for Jason to discern between Brad and Kerry would go along these

parameters: knowledge, skills, abilities, work behaviors and attitudes. In regards to the engineering

hard skills, both young engineers Brad and Kerry have similar engineering training and education,

but Brad has a plus as he would bring with him technical expertise well serving as “necessary

anchor for the complex nature of the project” (Mento, Cougnet, Vader, 2012, p.55). Kerry on the

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other hand is said to be “in over her head” and would need the assistance of Dixon to stay level with

the contractors. In the abilities section, both young engineers show negotiation skills. Brad found

allies in the negotiation exercise that argued in favor of his stance for him. Kerry came ill-prepared

into the exercise and needed her ability “to think on her feet” to survive the negotiation round

against a tougher that thought opponent. In the feedback exercise Brad noted pinpoint clear points

that show that he engaged in the process, whereas Kerry was obviously struggling to get a grip on

the situation. An important point in work behaviors is the relationship between Brad/Kerry to Jason.

Jason would be the point of contact for the upcoming project, but the contractors speak with whom

ever they meet to speak to. This makes it essential for Jason to be informed straight away about

agreements and communication that occur during the project running time. Jason got the impression

that Brad is more an introvert that tends to communicate little and he would need extra training to

get aware of the communication needs of Jason. Kerry is a very outgoing personality that like to

relate and is at ease to communicate issues and questions.

Jason got an interest to get known to the level 3 of each personality Brad and Kerry. The level 3

encompass values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations. Praxis Framework (2019) for example

admits that the values lived by the project manger have “the greatest impact on the project success.”

This underlines the importance of value considerations. The VABE for Brad and Kerry are not easy

to reconstruct and to evaluate, but it is possible to relate some insights. Brad values highly

workability and takes real effort to create and maintain workability. He has a talent to manage

people and beliefs in the strength of team efforts and alignment within the team. He does not

hesitate to make expectations clear and make sure that communication is well understood. He let the

other side to speak first, but takes the opportunity to make his point and expectation clear. Kerry

values highly relationships and is eager to communicate and to keep Jason informed. For her it is

important to feel at home in the assignment. She often underestimates the effort that needs to go

into proper preparation, but can rely on quick thinking and learning. She believes in team effort and

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is eager to be a valuable member in the team. She values self-consciousness and is active in learning

about herself. She is modest about herself and can understand and value correction. This display of

VABE does not give a clear indication about who would be the safer or better choice for the

promotion to the project manager role. In my view Jason would need to ponder the risk of Brad

being a loose cannon to the risk that Kerry is drown under the self-inflicted chaos.

Plan of Action Recommendation

The case study authors are at various places eager to prefer Kerry over Brad and say that she would

be the safer choice and easier to manage. I would take a different view and would value the

eagerness of Brad to succeed in challenging situations. He would have the talent to develop team

leading capabilities and the strength to create performance in the team and at the work site. My

basic fear about Kerry would be that she would be overwhelmed and running out of luck “to think

on her feet”. For me Brad would be the more solid project manager with better success perspectives.

If he would have Dixon at his side and clear pathways and agreements of communication with

Jason, Jason would build the necessary trust and alignment.

Statement of Relevance

The case study is really of interest and can initiate a lot of thought processes. The case is valuable

for the consideration of employee management, training and promotion. The case study reasserts

the importance of soft skills, attitudes and underlining values that shape the relations within the

company.

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References:

Clawson, J. G. (2008, October 21). A leader's guide to why people behave the way they do.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=911080.

Gray, E. (2022, October 14). Top characteristics of a project manager.

https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/project-management/10-characteristics-of-a-good-project-
manager.

Law Insider. (2022). Employability definition.

https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/employability.

Mento, A. J., Cougnet, J. E., Vader, Ch. L. de. (2012, January). Now what do I do with Brad and
Kerry? Journal of Business Case Studies, vol. 8. no. 1, pp.51-66.
https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1600697/mod_book/chapter/359511/U7%20Now%20What
%20do%20I%20do.pdf.

Praxis Framework. (2019). Key values of a project manager.

https://www.praxisframework.org/en/resource-pages/key-values-of-a-project-manager.