Case Study $1$The Dream Team

Stefano had always enjoyed working with his colleagues. He had been in his current role for $5$ years and, due to COVID$-19,$ everyone had moved to working from home on a full$-$time basis. They had recently been told that this would become a permanent arrangement. It was soon afterward that Stefano began to notice problems.

As the most junior person on the team, having joined the company $2$ years ago, Stefano had been impressed by the projects produced in his department. He was always able to pop by someone$$s office when he had a question or needed help. Everyone seemed willing to pitch in and help one another, and each person seemed engaged in and motivated by their work. There were no formal job descriptions as the work flowed naturally and effective results were consistently achieved. Sadly, this was no longer the situation.

An issue had occurred just last week when an important report had been submitted to the department manager, Tabitha. Tabitha scheduled a Zoom call with Stefano and informed him that he had completed parts of the report that another team member, Zachery, had done as well. $$This overlap and repetition is not effective or efficient,$$ Tabitha shared with him with obvious disappointment. Stefano explained that he$$d thought he was responsible for these sections of the document and regretted the error. Stefano was frustrated as during the work he had attempted to connect with Zachery on several occasions, but his emails and voice messages were never returned. Stefano wondered if he should share these details with Tabitha, but worried that he would be seen as a snitch and not acting as a team player. As the most recent addition to the team, he didn$$t want to appear to be blaming others and not accepting responsibility for his own errors.

Stefano often felt isolated and confused about his responsibilities. He had originally thought that working from home would be fun as he wouldn$$t have to deal with a long commute to work, would have more time to take care of personal chores, and would have more independence. However, the current work situation was not what he had envisioned. The tasks he was being assigned were repetitive and boring and he often wondered if his projects were on track and even being looked at$.$ Further, he felt that he was always working and never had time away from his job, because his work and personal space had merged.

$$I used to be part of a dream team,$$ thought Stefano, $$but now the dream has become a nightmare.$$

Imagine you are the PM sitting down at the start of this project. Prepare a Staffing Management Plan. Use the form introduced in class and be sure to provide details