FOR SPAR APPLIED SYSTEMS A, DEVELOP A TWO PAGE ACTION PLAN THAT OUTLINES THE KEY ACTIONS
(WITH JUSTIFICATION) THAT YOU WOULD TAKE AS STEPHEN MILLER.
Worth 5%
All Instructor comments written in red.
* = checkmark
Due Date: November 29, 2000.
This document passed MS Word 97's grammer check.
Counts
Pages:
2
Words:
1130
Characters:
5780
Paragraphs:
28
Sentences:
47
Averages
Sentences per Paragraph:
2.7
Words per Sentence:
23.3
Characters per word:
4.9
Readability
Passive Sentences:
6%
Flesch Reading Ease:
42.0
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level:
12.0
Excellent Analysis + Plan 10/10
Avionics 2000 Action Plan
Issues*
Competition from bigger, highly flexible, vertically integrated, global companies that that have capabilities, competencies and capacities that overshadowed ASG.
Time to market was critical factor in winning bids.
ASG ill prepared to compete.
Goals*
1. Increase both flexibility and resiliency of the organization so that it can better compete with global competitors.
2. Create culture to foster teamwork, open communication, accountability and recognition of performance.
Decision
Stephen Mills should go forward with the project. The whole purpose of this R & D project is to create a new, leading edge, never been done before, product so that SPAR itself can become more competitive by opening new markets. It is also important to keep investors, shareholders and most importantly, customers happy by delivering products. Unfortunately this action plan will delay the Stephen Mills' personal objectives of changing the corporate culture and showing profit for 6 consecutive months. However, the action plan does remain faithful to the long-term goal of improving the overall resiliency and flexibility of the AGS division so that it may better compete globally.
The Project Team
The key to finishing the project lies in the performance of the project team itself.* First off, force the Steering team to be more involved with the project.* One of the main reasons for the delay in this presentation was that the Steering Team didn't apply enough pressure on the Avionics 2000 Team before the minor delays became major one.
Second, since Mike Ellis, the current de facto Avionics 2000 team has resisted the role of project manager, fully transfer the title and authority to Hugh Greene, the current co-leader, or some other* qualified person. Make him directly responsible for the project and have him report directly to the Steering Team on a regular basis. Hugh Greene seems like the best choice to take over as project lead. Sean and Gord of the Steering Team selected Hugh in the first place to be co-leader because Hugh had many years of experience and was more willing to devote some time to managing the budget and schedule than Mike was. This will also allow Mike to fully devote his attention to the systems design aspects, which he was more interested in anyway. Reassigning Hugh and Mike to tasks they're both better suited to was one of the corrective actions described in the readings Chapter 10: Exercising Control.*
Next, increase the level of accountability by instructing Hugh Greene to give individual team members (or groups of team members) clear information over what part(s) of the project they are responsible for. This will reduce their confusion over roles and responsibilities. The Avionics 2000 Team is new to this process, Chapter 10: Exercising Control recommends that tasks be partitioned so that quality control can be exercised more frequently. Although this doesn't follow the pure Integrated Program Teams (IPT) approach, it will still retain some of the positive* features such as having team members represent a diagonal slice of skill levels and skill sets. Getting the Avionics 2000 product out to market is far more important than fully implementing the IPT approach. Stephen already recognized that not everyone supported or even understood the IPT approach despite the RAPS training, so this may be a case of changing too fast too soon.* By reverting back to a slightly more hierarchical style, it may give employees more time and more room to adjust to the dynamic equilibrium (between Strategy, Roles, Managerial Process, Structure and Technology) of Leavitt's Organizational model (as described in the CASEBOOK: The Line Takes the Leadership -- IS Management in a Wired Society).
Finally, to ensure that no more unexpected problems like this show up, Stephen should implement some sort of project monitoring scheme like worksheets or milestones (that was recommended in* Chapter 9 of the readings, Monitoring Progress) so that progress can be monitored and any additional problems detected early.
The Extra Money
Stephen Mills has to bite the bullet and submit the bad news in his second quarter forecast. With most of the budget spent, he wouldn't have enough cash reserves or time to start another project anyway. Although it was ultimately the Corporate Headquarters and the CEO's job to ask the shareholders for more funding, Stephen Mills could help make the task a little easier by pointing out the benefits that this project will bring.
The Avionics 2000 project is a much needed modern day update to the 25 year old Black Box. The Macdonald Douglas - Grumman F/A-18 is a plane that was deployed in the early 1980s, where the technology for this project originated from, was nearly 15 years old at the time of the Avionics 2000 project. In the defense industry, when a product is proven to perform well, it has a long "shelf" life (compared to the products in the IT industry). By designing a next-generation Black Box device and being the first to market with it, SPAR could well be the dominant player in providing Avionics 2000 Black Boxes to military aircraft manufacturers for the next 15 to 25* years -- a potential cash cow according to this. Besides, an over budget project that creates a product sells well will be more profitable in the long run then a stillborn project that created nothing.
Another option could be to go to customer, Phoenix, and ask to renegotiate the terms of the* contract to either extend the delivery deadline or, in the best case, front some cash for development. Chapter 10: Exercising Control, suggests that this is the "if all else fails" option. Even though the customer will probably be unhappy with these changes, its better to let them know ahead of time and get some credit delivering a partial or late product. Though they have no legal obligation to do so, perhaps Mike Ellis' close relationship with them along with the knowledge that the safety standards where tripled just two months earlier will make them more forgiving.
Depending on the interest rate and financial situation of SPAR, a short-term loan could be* obtained from a bank. In 1996, interest rates were still low. Finally, maybe the corporate executives could contact their local MPP and inquire about the possibility of a generous funding grant from the federal government.
Other Considerations (i.e. Things not covered in the case)
Even if Mike Ellis' numbers are correct,* do they provide contingency for any additional unexpected events such as delays by suppliers?
How much was spent so far? As a percentage of the estimated project cost, is one million dollars too much? How does it compare with the penalties for contract non-compliance?
Are there any other R&D projects that have a better probability of success and is therefore more deserving of funding?