1. Discuss a possible arrangement for the project team.

2. Consider any other teams that are likely to be involved.

3. Discuss the likely human based problems that may arise and consider possible counter measures.

Background Yohannes is a senior employee of a large Ethiopian company food and drinks retailer ABC PLC.

The company is well established and has a history of making successful mergers and acquisitions in support of its strategic growth objectives. ABC already owns a number of different food and drinks manufacturers and retailers and controls a number of well known Ethiopian brands. ABC is now considering the acquisition of DEF Ltd. DEF is a well known food retailer. DEF has outlets in most major towns and cities around Addis Ababa. The acquisition is likely to be friendly in that the board of ABC has made a generous offer to the board of DEF, and this offer has been accepted in principle by the board and recommended for acceptance to the shareholders.

The shareholders themselves are expected to agree the sale at an extraordinary general meeting due to take place within the next month. Yohannes has been approached by a senior manager and has been asked to act as project manager for the proposed acquisition. Yohannes is currently a functional manager with specific responsibility for a group of manufacturing processes.

The board of ABC considered awarding the acquisition project management function to external consultants as they had done with previous acquisitions. In this case a decision was made to use in-house expertise in order to reduce the overall cost of the merger.

Yohannes has been given two weeks to develop a project team which will accept responsibility for all aspects of the planning and implementation of the acquisition. Some human aspect problems are expected in this case because company ABC has a different organizational culture from company DEF. Company ABC has a ‘laidback’ culture with informal authority links and a fairly loose power structure, while company DEF has a much more formal approach largely as a result of historical developments. Yohannes will therefore have to be careful to allow for the different cultures of the two organizations when trying to achieve the acquisition project objectives. The structure of the project team will be very important as it will have to be able to handle a complex range of motivation and commitment issues.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

One of the most important developments in management during the 1970s has been the widespread application of project teams to a variety of complex tasks Project managers quickly learn the critical sig... View the full answer