EM 661 CASE STUDY 3 Akileshwar Reddy Mendu

1) What is the critical issue?

The critical issue observed in this case study is the lack of coordination between
different departments in an organization. Non-cooperative culture in this
organization made things complicated which resulted in conflicts between
departments and also less productivity. Since development of new project would
interconnect every department in the organization, there needs to be more
cooperation, otherwise conflicts among departments would increase.
2) What can be done about it?

When creating a new product, it's crucial to take into account the opinions of
many stakeholders. Based on their direct interactions with customers and end
users and customer input, the marketing department develops ideas and
specifications for new products. The organization needs to work on changing its
organizational culture in order to handle the pressing issue.

3) Can excellence in project management still be achieved and, if so, how?

What steps would you recommend?
The following actions should be followed to attain project management
excellence. Planning that is ongoing, consistent communication techniques, team
alignment, and positive interactions among all team members. The engineering
team is under pressure from the workload, so continuous planning can improve.
On the other hand, the trend of a non-cooperative culture in the workplace can
be eliminated by regular communication techniques.

4) Given the current noncooperative culture, how long will it take to achieve
a good cooperative project management culture, and even excellence?
The project team should be kept informed and dedicated to the project's success
by regular team meetings, whether they take place in person or electronically. It
also helps the project manager to regularly obtain enough input and to provide
stakeholders with accurate status reports. A good cooperative project
management culture is automatically developed the day they start interacting in
EM 661 CASE STUDY 3 Akileshwar Reddy Mendu

weekly project meetings, and they will excel in it when they can finish each and
every project on time. By setting up weekly project meetings, they will interact
with each other, and the company's non-cooperative culture will be minimized.

5) What obstacles exist in getting marketing and engineering to agree to a

singular methodology for project management?
Engineering does not want the marketing team to interfere with their ability to
design new products. Because they have a better understanding of client needs
and wants, the marketing team wants the final approval to ensure that what was
designed might be marketed. Conflicts made no one want to be the project
manager. Functional team members avoided team meetings and spent more time
working on "pet" projects than necessary tasks. Due to the culture of non-
cooperation and poor communication, line managers showed little interest in
helping project management. The firm's mission and core values must be made
explicit, and chief value officers must be given authority across the entire
organization. The executive leadership must take ownership of this.

6) What might happen if benchmarking studies indicate that either

marketing or engineering are at fault?
In this situation, the external consultant should attempt to investigate other
departments to determine where the issue originated. He should also consider
the company's operations, including how each department interacts with the
others. The company may be less willing to adjust if the benchmarking studies
show that the marketing or technical departments are to blame. But regardless of
who is at fault, we advise them to carry out suggested course of action.

7) Should a singular methodology for project management have a process

for the prioritization of projects or should some committee external to the
methodology accomplish this?
When a company is working on multiple portfolio projects—either independent
or dependent—all at once, the necessity for project prioritization becomes
EM 661 CASE STUDY 3 Akileshwar Reddy Mendu

apparent. Everything is based on the project. Singular methods may seem ideal
for some projects, but the entire complexity of the project must also be
considered.