Read the case study below and answer ALL the questions that follow. American Electronics International On February 13, 1994, American Electronics International (AEI) was awarded a $30 million contract for R&D and production qualification for an advanced type of guidance system. During an experimental program that preceded this award and was funded by the same agency, AEI identified new materials with advanced capabilities, which could easily replace existing field units. The program, entitled The Mask Project, would be thirty months in length, requiring the testing of fifteen units. The Mask Project was longer than any other project that AEI had ever encountered. AEI personnel were now concerned about what kind of staffing problems there would be. BACKGROUND In June 1992, AEI won a one-year research project for new material development. Blen Carty was chosen as project management and project engineering positions. During the past five years Blen had successfully performed as the project manager on R&D projects. AEI used the matrix approach to structuring management. Blen was well aware of the problems that can be encountered with this organisational form. When it became apparent that a follow-on contract would be available, Blen felt that functional mangers would be reluctant to assign key personnel full-time to his project and lose their services for thirty months. Likewise, difficulties could be expected in staffing the project office. During the proposal stage of the project management, a meeting was held with Blen Carty, john Wallace, the director of project management, Dr Albert Runnels, the director of engineering. The purpose of the meeting was to satisfy a customer requirement that all key project members be identified in the management volume of the proposal. John Wallace: Im a little reluctant to make any firm commitment. By the time your program gets off the ground, four of our other projects are terminating, as well as several new projects starting up. I think its a little early to make firm selections. Blen Carty: But we have a proposal requirement. Thirty months is a long time to assign personnel for. We should consider this problem now. Dr Runnels: Lets put the names of our top people into the proposal. We ll add several PhDs from our engineering community. That should beef up our management volume. As soon as were notified of the contract go-ahead, well see whos available and make the necessary assignments. This is a common practice in the industry. COMPLETION OF THE MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT The material development project was a total success. From its inception, everything went smoothly. Blen staffed the project office with Richard Flag, a PhD in engineering, to serve as project engineer. This was a risky move at first, because Richard had been a research scientist during his previous four years with the company. During the development project, however, Richard demonstrated that he could not divorce himself from R&D and perform the necessary functions of project engineer assigned to the project office. Blen was pleased with the way that Richard controlled project costs and directed activities. Richard had developed excellent working relations with development lab personnel and managers. Richard permitted lab personnel to work at their own rate of speed provided that schedule dates were kept. Richard spent each weak with each of the department managers informing them of the status of the project. The department managers liked this approach because they received first hand (non-filtered) information concerning the total picture, not necessarily on their own activities, and because they did not have to spend wasted hours in the team meetings. When it became evident that a follow-up contract might be available, Blen spent a large percentage of his time travelling to the customer, working out the details for future business. Richard then served as both project manager and project engineer. The customers project office was quite pleased with Richards work. Information, both good and bad, was transmitted as soon as it became available. Nothing was hidden or disguised. Richard became familiar with all the customers project office personnel through the monthly technical interchange meetings. At a completion of the material development project, Blen and John decided to search for project office personnel and make recommendations to upper-level management. Blen wanted to keep Richard on the board as chief project engineer. He would be assigned six engineers and would have to control all engineering activities within time, cost and performance. Although this would be a new experience for him, Blen felt that he could easily handle it. Unfortunately, the grapevine was saying that Larry gilbert was going to be assigned as chief project engineer for the Mask Project.

SELECTION PROBLEMS On November 15, Dr Runnels and Blen Carty had a meeting to select the key project members of the project team. Dr Runnels: Well, Blen, the time has come to decide on your staff. I want to assign Larry Gilbert as chief engineer. Hes a good man and has fifteen years experience. What are your feelings on that?. Blen Carty: I was hoping to keep Richard Flag on. He has performed well, and the customer likes working with him. Dr Runnels: Richard does not have the necessary experience for that position. We can still assign him to Larry Gilbert and keep him in the project office. Blen Carty: Id like to have Larry Gilbert working for Richard Flag, but I dont suppose that wed ever get approval to have a grade -9 engineer working for a grade-7 engineer. Personally, Im worried about Gilberts ability to work with people. He has been regimented in his ways that our people in the functional units have refused to work with him. He treats them as kids, always walking around with a big stick. One department manager said that if Gilbert becomes the boss, then it will probably result in cutting the umbilical cord between the project office and his department. His people refuse to work for a dictator. I have heard the same from other managers. Dr Runnels: Gilbert gets the job done. Youll have to teach him how to be a Theory Y manager. You know, Blen, we dont have very many grade-9engineering positions in this company. I think we should have a responsibility to our employees. I cant demote Gilbert into a lower slot. If I was to promote Flag, and the project gets cancelled, where would I reassign him? He cant go back to functional engineering. That would be a step down Blen Carty: But Gilbert is so set in his ways. Hes just totally inflexible. In addition, thirty months is a long time to maintain a project office. If he screws up well be able to replace positions in time without totally upsetting the customer. There seem to be an awful lot of people volunteering to work on the Mask project. Is there anyone else available? Dr Runnels: People always volunteer for long-duration projects because it gives them a feeling of security. This even occurs among our dedicated personnel. Unfortunately, we have no other grade-9 engineers available. We could reassign one from another programme, but I hate to do it. Our engineers like to carry a project through from start to finish. I think you had better spend time with functional managers making sure that you get good people. Blen Carty: Ive tried that and am having trouble. The functional managers will not surrender their key people full-time for thirty months. One manager wants to assign two employees to our project so that they can get on-the-job training. I told him that this project is considered as strategic by our management and that must have good people. The manager just laughed at me and walked away. Dr Runnels: You know Blen, you cannot have all top people. Our other projects must be managed. Also, if you were to use all seasoned veterans, the cost would exceed what we put into the proposal. Youre just going to have to make do with what you can get. Prepare a list of the people you want Ill see what I can do. As Blen left the office, he wondered if Dr Runnels would help him in obtaining key personnel. Source: John Willey & Sons Inc. (2015)

QUESTION 2 (20 Marks) Given the opportunity to choose a more strategic, efficient, and effective project manager for the project in the case study, argue with justification, who you would rather assign to the project: Gilbert or Richard. Apply appropriate examples to corroborate your answer.