-_ Process Development at Union Chemicals (A Case Focusing on Project Communications and Project Stakeholder Management Areas) Abstract The project success, no doubt, requires effectively managing the core project management issues of scope, time, cost and quality: In the midst of hectic project act a hardworking, conscientious project manager might sometime neglect paying attention to the soft skills of project management: interpersonal skills in leading and managing the team, conflict management, negotiation, and managing project communication for key stakeholders. This case study focuses on a project communication management and especially on the importance of managing the communication needs of the key stakeholders for project success. Failing to manage the communication needs of the k stakeholders, the project manager in the case, though successful in addressing all key project objectives, is forced to quit disgraced. CASE TEXT It was Monday, February 1, The siren blew at 5-30 PM and within only a few minutes the staff bus of Union Chemicals began to get filled up with the middle level staff entitled to travel by the company bus. Girish Pandya also stepped in and without exchanging any pleasantry with the colleagues already sitting in the bus he headed straight to the back corner seat, and buried his head in the current copy of the Time magazine as soon as he slumped there. “Hey Girish, after a long many months, I found you quitting the work on time and coming with us plebeians in this bus. Why, you have already solved all problems of the high pressure alpha- naphthol process or what?” Patankar chided Girish while sliding into the next seat in the bus, “Leave me alone, Sidh! I am really dead tired to-day.” said Girish. Though he continued to bury his head into the open pages of the magazine, Girish’s mind was not there. He was pondering over the project to develop new process for manufacture of alpha-naphthol which ran the course in the last five months. History Girish Pandya was a mechanical engineer with a reasonably bright academic career and had Proved a competent shift-in-charge for one of the production departments at Union Chemical’s plant. His real strength, however, was his ability think out of the box and the sound grasp of ‘undamental engineering principles — “engineering fundas” as the students’ jargon referred to them. This enabled him to come out now and then with an altogether unconventional solution to @ scanned with OKEN Scanner202 Project Management : in the production department and j,, production problems, which came up from time to time in the product _ bam, ™ Jnion Chemicals was a subsidiary of a U.K. based large multinational company of th. ion Chemicals was a ial F y presence in the U.K. The UK Com with the parent organization having a noteworthy Biesence nt in the UK. Soman? had been manufacturing and marketing a number of specialty chemicals i UK. Some of chemicals, which fell out of favour with the UK parent company due Subsidy to sey environmentalists and the Green Brigade, were licensed 10 U lea setae i in India and distribution worldwide ily to South-East Asiat ecg Sea Indian subsidiary of Union Chemicals remained a routine ma racaagiae Operation f Is. With the globalization trend, the parent company decided eee trying to exploit the opportunity of avai pate eeeoes Se Ppt rosa ni to shift a part of its research effort to India, A well-equipped la ary. r such researc and development department to build and operate pilot plants, was sel uP for development new process or for trying out important modifications in a process step of an already commerg; ‘ demically highflying Php, established process. These two departments, staffed with aca hig chemistry or chemical engineering, soon occupied the position of the blue-eyed boy of the to management. Dr. Arnav Patel headed this departmental group. Raman Shah headed f Production departments at the plant; each department concerned with one specific chemical There was an understandable rivalry between Dr, Patel and Mr. Shah and Dr. Patel ha} started to edge out Raman Shah, Selection of the Project Manager In the later part of 2003, there was impatience showed through his body language. The seasoned manager, that Raman Shah was, did Very important. You can afford to ‘miss your staff bus travel today, but you dare not miss the bus of Opportunity I want to talk to you about. Our Parent company has passed on a Part of the high-pressure alpha-naphthol proces Fescarch project to us in India - and under my charge. We need to set up a small pilot plant based on the preliminary chemical process information developed by the head office R & D group! want you to head that pilot plant effort!” f “But why not Dr.Arnav Patel’s group? They have some good Ph.Ds st of all the people, why me? I haven't Bol even a Master’s degree — engineer, not even a chemist!” blurted Girish unbelievin, i : ; e i ig of the great oj ortunity, which appeal to segek at his door — the Opportunity, which he had not even dared io deat ; sty 1g duestions, Gish. Tike your practi} no-nonsense approach. In fact, that is previ! Vw, : P a wa nein POU for heading the effort. You are highly creative and you have sound haa cieing fundamentals: | hace ee cdauilly seen it in working. The new process Pressure reaction and separation Process steps and so yo" be a real asset, And why our department? Because, WY Tmediate and so our Production department has a grou “r naphthalene based inte @ scanned with OKEN ScannerDefining the Project 203 nce you mentioned, let me share with you, off y Ph.Ds. of Arnav. They are just good at ¢s; nothing more, Our head office has also found out thi wabeihn engineering aspects of a commercial production process for a aneina ® why they want me to take the lead on this. It will be my baby - the project a my cap”, Raman would not miss an opportunity to express his low opinion of the work Dr. Amnav Patel and his group did. Then he continued, “And now let me tell you, what's in it for you. Well. if you can swing this process development work, you will be department h jumping four of your Seniors in the queue. I have great confidence in your ability to deliver the results. For the time being, you will work at your current level only till the process development succeeds, and work very hard ~say 14 hours a day- but the opportunity is really big if you make it Girish did not have to think very long to accept the offer, though he asked for a week's time, for thinking over in that evening meeting. they usually have no clue about the The Project Start Like proverbial true love, the path of a project is also not strewn with roses, The first obstacle that Girish faced was getting the sanction for the resources for setting up the pilot plant. For setting up a small pilot plant would require first understanding the basic chemistry of the laboratory scale process developed by the head office. The next step would be to prepare designs of the pilot plant equipment and prepare detailed engineering specifications for procurement. Procuring the equipment, installing them, carrying out trial runs and making suitable modifications in the equipment and Processing steps based on trial results were the next project phases. After staying back at the plant and working very late evenings for a whole week, Girish came up with the basic pilot plant scheme and the cost of setting up the project. “The project will cost %6.5 millions and take 6 months”, Girish announced the next week Monday morning to Raman. ‘What? 5 million is the budget sanctioned by the head office, We have to keep project cost within it. And we have to also complete it within 4 months” Raman almost shouted, though in fact the head office had given the outer limit for this work to be 6 months. Girish leafed back and forth his sheaf of papers with detailed list of items and cost and started to explain his cost estimate basis. Raman just waved him aside and said, “Forget those numbers, Rework them and bring the project cost to total 74.9 million. We must meet HO project cost expectations to start with. If the project succeeds, we will run the overrun request after the project completion - nobody will grudge it then.” “But, sir, ... ” Girish stuttered. 7 “Do as I say. If you want to be all that truthful and accurate, forget the assignment. I can pull ut some other, even more senior engineer, for this assignment. ; Girish did not have much choice except to follow Raman’s instructions. Project Execution Selecting the project team was the next hurdle, The Project would require as team members an cngineer from the design and drafting department, an engineer for procurement and a chemist for testing the raw materials, in-process streams and final product. “I will get you Shashi Rana from the Materials Department and Sudhakar Joshi from Engineering & Design Department to work @ scanned with OKEN Scanner204 ' @ scks, we have to submit the first interim report of the project statu, with you, At the end of sy eee a ronment-Head at HO will himself be in the video conferen, HO, Mr, Witham the Poets get on the work as fast as you can.” meeting to discuss the FeO NT promising engineer and Girish and $ Shuasth Rana was YUE TT ay earnest. The process required a high temperature hydroly., the equipment procuremen’ 17 aqueous medium, The corrosive nature of the reactants any reaction (at ever 220 degrees Ara speciall metering pump built with stainless steel 316 L. py, espressure requirements iso required to be special ~ and not off the shelf items. Shashi an reactor ad some Pie TT ep wvth the vendors for the special items ~ discussing and clearing the ci si alte that vendors brought up from time to time and visiting the shops for difficulties tha tion and first-hand information, ; spe ash so busy that his interim report atthe end of the Zxpected a much more elaborate submission from the Indian subsidiar ee a for som help or clarifications all along in the 6-week period! Sing. aa eeeriatact HO, Mr. Williams himself started calling India to talk with the projec Citi iat cont the times, he was told that Girish was visiting the vendor's shop of in the Enaingerine & Design Department reviewing the drawings. Mr. Williams expressed his displeasure shi started to work og technical weeks wasa mere 2-page 0 Raman Shah. ean Shab called Girish to his office, Girish was full of enthusiasm for the headway he could make in engineering design and procurement in spite of the heavy odds. Raman Shah threw cold water on his enthusiasm. “What a 2-page rag sheets-like report you submitted for 6-weeks status report! Mr. Williams was furious. He also said you were never available, whenever he called you, “Land Shashi were at the vendor's shops to test out the components of the metering pump, so that it would surely work...” “Your job as a project manager is to manage the project ~ not to test the components. Weren't you telling me that at the project management program, you recently took at that institution, they stressed on the importance of project communication — especially managing the communication aceds of the key stakeholders and all that? HO and Mr. Williams are our key stakeholders for the Project- understand? Write out a detailed report now ... preferably before the end of the next week, submit with an explanation that for some unforeseen problems, you could not submit your formal 6-week report on time, so you chose to send a short interim report to meet dead line. The video conference meeting will follow it in 2-days.” For all the very hard work he had done for the past six weeks and the promise for success, which Xt showed. this was a bitter pill to swallow for Girish. His 2-page report, if anybody had read closely. would have earned him kudos for the extraordinary work he and his team had put. TI HO. and at its prodding now Raman, merely wanted reams of Papers rather than conerete results. he iat Meh whole next week, Girish sat at his desk and drafted and redrafted report parts, with pari Ghemal 7 eras: ying attention to the report language, report format and fonts and Girish hated it and Wed - et 70-page report looked beautiful and for that very reaso?. But Girish's troubles rail i bial ng frend = spend time in So unproductive activities val queries based an the reading. The ena a ie the report w ith a fine comb and had a faster and more furious than even 7 Ss retween HO and Girish started crossing the continent explained that he was ihe oute “fr when finally Mr. Williams again called Raman Shab an appy with the way the project was managed and he would have © consider sending ding his engines > 7 : POL IMprove soon, vincer, Dr Rudolph, to India to oversee sprees iermaiond @ scanned with OKEN ScannerDefining the Project 205 In the meantime, Giri 's problems with his other senior colleagues at the plant also multiplied. The Materials Department Head complained to Raman S that Girish ha started overloading Shashi Rana so much with this project work that she was unable to manage her other assignments in the department, “Besides, I have no clue about what Girish and Shashi are doing. If it is that important and prestigious project, why am I not in the list of project report recipients? Girish has never even dropped in my office and let me know what is happening in the project or how our department can contribute”. Well, so, this was what really hurt the Materials Department Head. vl would have to ask Shashi to pay attention to other projects.” He warned. The Head of Design & Engineering Department was also equally upset about his being in the dark. He told Raman Shah, “Raman, Girish is doing some design & engineering work on that high pressure hydrol, process. | had worked on similar two process designs earlier. | could have given him some really useful tips on the design and engineering specifications for the components. Girish never even talked with me. He just sits with Sudhakar Joshi, calculates design parameters, prepares some sketches and specifications and runs around. If the things don’t work, Girish will blame Sudhakar and CEO will blame me why I did not intervene and help.” Raman gave some lame excuses, but he himself really had not detailed up-to-date information on the project. So, what could he share with the Head ~ Engineering & Design? In the meantime, six more weeks passed and all the equipment and components arrived at the site. Begging the maintenance mechanical and electrical supervisors, Girish got them installed even though some work overflowed into the weekends requiring overtime; he got it done, but just as a personal favor to himself! The time came for submission of the second status report. Girish now had to take papers home and work late till early morning three days in a row. His wife remarked, “In the last three months, you have not been at home for more than a few hours to eat and sleep. You haven't got a decent raise in the last three years, so what is all this hard work for? ” Girish could not explain her reality he faced; he just stood silent and looked down to avoid her accusing gaze, Finally the report was ready and it included good news if someone could really read and understand it rather than flip over it. Girish, however, was not lucky in this respect. Raman Shah remarked, “You appear to go out even beyond your own project cost estimate. I won't be able to explain such huge overruns on project cost”. CEO passed on to Dr.Arnav Patel a copy of the report for review. He remarked, “Looks like not meticulously designed set of experiments, You see, if Girish had contacted me earlier, 1 would have helped him with a much better and more economical experiments set using the principles of Design of Experiments (DOE).” But Dr. Ramanathan, in charge of testing laboratory, was somewhat more kind, “Get whatever tests you want done — but during regular working hours ~ no overtime or weekends, please.” Girish again had to use his personal relationships with Dr. Ramanathan’s staff and actually got testing done, even during weekends when necessary, to expedite the project. The first results, though promising, were not adequate for finalizing the design parameters for a commercial process. The main reaction was good, but some side-reactions also occurred, which reduced the overall yield to 84%. At the same time, the product purity was 97.2%. A minimum yield of 90% and product purity of 98.5% were necessary for process commercializs Went through with redesign of some components to permit the operating conditions for a 10 degrees higher temperature and 150 psi higher pressure. By the end of 16 weeks, the redesigned set up was ready for the next set of trial runs. This was when the four months project schedule conveyed by Girish to HO at the start of the project to come to a close. Mr. Williams was @ scanned with OKEN Scanner=_ 206 Project Management as promised by the Indian subsidiary furiously looking for some final results and report ao cided that the time had come for his more active interve! . ee are Ta Sia ‘ ‘took Raman, you have let us down al paid Flr ut the process development part the India Company is working oF is - Seopardize cue eae No even the tip of the iceberg. We cannot allow India Company eb uee ah Wig pounds research project contract, lam sending Dr. Rudolph to Initia Th any 1. Mind well, itis not too soon; it would be fifteen days beyon hay schedule Girish did not see the Republic Day pa final test run on the modified pilot plant. ie on TV on the national holiday. He was doing ty, hashi Rana and Sudhakar Joshi were also there, Ty, analysis would be over by test appeared to run quite well and the laboratory results and analysis would by Janay i ay, Ja 30, was observed as a holiday at the plan, 29, Mahatma Gandhi Assassination Day, January 30. t Ginn Boa aan the very first time at home in the last five months. He was dead tired ~ exer c ; ve in his mind had gone numb. ' bone in his body ached every ed that day was from Raman Shah. “Dr. Rudolph will each hee Phe ¢ call he receiv ‘i a Lhd ate ‘Are you ready with all the briefings for him? We have already missed the 4-months project schedule dead line, We also would not be able to hide that 4 1 project will have large cost overruns. You better prepare some good bricfing to win him over, ‘The next call he received was from Shashi Rana, “ Hey, you are at home? I thought you would also be with us at the laboratory. You should be right here at the plant for celebration! Our last trial run is successful beyond our imagination, We got 98.7% product purity at 91.3% yield. Did you hear? 98.7% product purity at 91 Shashi almost shouted while uttering the last sentence. ‘The third call was again from Raman Shah, “By the way, Girish, who have you arranged to go and receive Dr. Rudolph at the airport? And what about booking his accommodation at Taj Intercontinental Hotel? I hope you would personally go there. You are quite negligent in dealing with some of these crucial issues”. Girish sat stunned after Raman Shab’ last call. The entire five months period passed in front of his mind's eyes like a review. He had worked night and day and offered blood and sweat for making the project a success. Now, how will HO hierarchy see it? ‘Dr. Rudolph visited India and straightened out the pilot plant project!” *Yes, very timely intervention by Dr. Williams of HO, who kept a hawk-cye on the entire project.’ ‘Excellent cooperation and coordination by India plant - particularly Raman Shah! ‘Forget the Head Office — even his own superior here in the India plant, Raman Shah- even he did not realize the pains we took to succeed. And while doing the project work. I have surely not made friends with other senior department heads in the plant, nor the seniors in my own department. It is a desperate situation. I have to move out,” he concluded, “there is no future for me to continue working here now”. He sat deeply immersed in himself for good one hour. Then he moved over to the phone, dialed Raman Shah and started speaking in as calm a voice as he could keep, “Sir, please arrange for some one else to receive Dr. Rudolph. In fact, please ask some one else to take charge of whateve! 's left in the project from now onwards. After all, as you explained me on the first day. the project is ‘your baby’ and ‘the feather in your cap’. By the way, the second set of trial runs has succeed: Tepe get yield and purity required - Shashti told me on the phone ~ so my conscience * Roan meeting my commitments. I would hand over my resignation the first thing 0° ¥ I morning.” Then, without waiting to listen to the response, he put the phone down @ scanned with OKEN ScannerEpilogue Union Chemicals, UK, made a grand success of the research project contract and the contribution A critical research component was not lost sight of. from the Indian subsidiary in working Raman Shah was promoted as the next CEO of Union Chemicals, India Questions for Case Discussion 1. Inyour opinion, + Did the project succeed? + Did Girish Pandya succeed as a Project Manager? 2. Using the background of this case discuss the project communication management and its importance in successful project management. PMBOK(R) Guide, 5 Edition, lists 3 processes in project communication management: + Plan Communications Management + Manage Communications and + Control Communications PMBOK(R) Guide, 5” Edition, also lists 4 processes in project Stakeholder management : + Identify Stakeholders * Plan Stakeholder Management + Manage Stakeholder Management * Control Stakeholder Management Discuss Girish Pandya’s performance in project communications and project stakeholder management areas in context of the above processes. @ scanned with OKEN Scanner