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I. Background of the Study Leadership involves recognizing and articulating the need to significantly alter the direction and operation of the project, aligning people to the new direction, and motivating them to work together to overcome hurdles produced by the change and to realize new objectives. Indeed, leadership is all about coping with change. One of the things that makes good project managers valuable is that they have the ability to both manage and as well as lead a project.
In doing so they recognize the need to manage the project interfaces and build a social network that allows them to find out what needs to be done. However, there are instances wherein first time project managers tend to be assertive of their own ideas and manage people the way they want to. In this case entitled “TOM BRAY”, Tom Bray himself had his very first major league project which is named “Pegasus” and eventually was assigned to the manager of the said project. Pegasus is a 2-month renovation project for AtlantiCorp, a major financial institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tom and his project team were responsible for the installation of furniture and equipment in the newly renovated accounts receivable department. In line with this project, since it is Tom’s very first experience in managing and leading a project, Tom is excited to practice his new management style which is MBWA (Management By Wandering Around). Conversely, it turned out that the management style chosen by Tom Bray was going to be tougher than he thought since people involve in his project team only elicited stiff responses as Tom was trying to initiate an inquiry or conversation with the project team.
II. Identify the Problem The proponents of this case study generated several potential problems from the circumstances experienced by Tom Bray as a project manager: * Appropriateness of the management style chosen by Tom Bray * Effect of Management By Wandering Around (MBWA) to Tom’s project team members III. Analysis of the Problem Given the fact that it was Tom’s first time to handle a project, he wished to implement MBWA (Management By Wandering Around) as his means in order to assure the effective and efficient implementation of the installment project which is “Pegasus”.
However, given his competency to be the project manager of such project, he was not able to establish a spontaneous relationship with his project team. Instead, of getting a precise, derailed and comprehensive response, the only response he gets is a stiff and general one. The table below presents the pro’s and con’s encountered by Tom as a project manager and the two-folded outcomes of his choice to implement the MWBA way of building social network among his project team members. PRO’S| CON’S| Tom Bray’s technical competencies, good working habits and attending workshops provided by the AlantiCorp makes him qualified to handle the implementation of “Pegasus” project. * Tom was able to stay in touch with the team in performing the project through face-to-face interactions. * Tom, despite the fact that he is wandering in order to manage and lead the project team, regularly interact with other stakeholders such that of vendors, suppliers and the like. * There is a high probability that Tom will be able to respond to the needs and requests of the project team. Tom was able to reinforce the objectives and vision of the project since he continually remind the project team to work hard in order to complete the installation project. | * Since it was Tom Bray’s first time to manage a major league project and to implement a new management style, Tom has established face-to-face interactions but was not able to have built strong social network. * The project team, though performing their tasks in the project, is quite not responsive and not open to the Project manager about potential problems they are encountering while doing the tasks. Constant wandering around by Tom Bray will tend to put pressure on the project team * Management By Wandering Around (MBWA) is designed to create a harmonious relationship with those people whom you work with, but in Tom’s case, the project team seems passive towards him which makes it difficult for him to assess whether the teams likes his management or not. | The problems found in the case occurred while Tom and his team is currently performing the completion of the installation project namely “Pegasus”.
A potential social network problem will more likely to occur if the team members of Tom don’t cooperate with Tom in the sense that they could barely gave him status reports about the concerns, needs and requests urgently needs resolution. As presented in the analysis above, it is evident that the problem is concerning the part of project team members. Since Tom initiated give-and-take interactions with the team, it is expected that the team should be active in their performance.
Though new management style was introduced and Tom was primarily new in his career as project manager, it implies that the project team members should be flexible in order to finish the said project effectively and efficiently. Indeed, the management will affect the employees and how they view their work in the organization. Also, we can see that the type of management of Bray was not that really effective in the type of project that they were making. IV. Answers to End of the Case Questions 1.
What do you think is going on at the end of this case? The proponents of this case study assumes that Tom Bray, as the project manager of the Pegasus project, will continue to use the same method of managing the project and his team, using Management By Wandering Around (MBWA) since he find it quite effective since the team are performing their designated tasks. With this, he is convinced that the management style he used was appropriate for his very first major project. 2. What should Tom do next and why?
The proponents agreed that Tom’s management style is not really appropriate for the Pegasus Project. We are convinced that Pegasus project is requires less talk and more work since the project involves installation of furniture and equipments. If the project manager encourages constant inquiry or interaction with the team members, the tendency is that performance of the actual work by the members will be disrupted since they have to communicate constantly and provide accurate and detailed reports instead of focusing in the installation of the furniture and equipments.
With that, the proponents think that Tom Bray should use a management style that will encourage prompt performance of the project tasks assigned to members and as well as a kind of management style that requires less talk in order to finish the project within the duration given. 3. What can be learned from this case? From this case study which involves a first time project manager, it is important to select an appropriate management style that would not only emphasize an individual’s managing prowess but as well as leadership prowess.
Each unique project requires a management style that would not only deliver the project in an effective and efficient manner but as well as a management method that will let the project manager create harmonious social networking relationships with his or her project team members. It can also be inferred in this case that if a certain project requires more work like installation of furniture and equipments, it would be appropriate for a project manager to use a management method that would not disrupt the tasks involved by conducting complex inquiries and that would require the members to talk and interact more with the project manager.
For this would cause delays and lags in the time duration of the project. V. Alternative Course of Action * Tom Bray will change his management style – He will have to choose an alternative management style that would require his team members to focus more on the installing part of the project and would require fewer complexes. Tom Bray’s alternative plan should involve assessment of the team member’s work by the end of the project in order not to disrupt the progress of installation and in order to finish the project within the project duration. Tom Bray will insist on his management style but put more effort in reaching out. * Though there is nothing wrong with the choice of management style by Tom Bray, his choice of managing would entail that he has to exert effort in order to get a well-reported progress of the project from his team members. Since the project requires his team members to focus more on the installation process rather than the reporting process. Indeed, this would mean that the project manager has to always initiate the interaction among his team members in order to get information about the progress status of the Pegasus project. Tom bray will add or make activities that will encourage his members to open up and not be stiff. * Since in the case, Tom Bray gets only stiff and general response from his team members, it would entail that he has to do a constant encouragement towards his members that they should be open and responsive if they are experiencing during the course of the Pegasus project. If the team members will continue to be passive in giving their responses to Tom, the tendency is that the project managers will find it hard to assess whether the team is in need of aid or anything that would lead to the successful outcome of the project.
VI. Recommendation The proponents of this study recommend that Tom Brady will change his management style because we can see that this type of management style is not appropriate to the project that he is handling. The type of project that they had is not appropriate for the style of management by wandering because the project is all about installing furniture and equipment and it does not necessarily needs constant communication because they will be focusing on installing which is in our view is difficult.
For us, the proponents, suggest that Tom’s style in leading will not be about constant communication but constant appreciation of the job that the team members are doing and constant checking and updating without the need of wandering around. The updating should be done after the time of the work because constant talking during the installment of equipments will just slow down the process of installing thus not getting the job at the right time.
So we strongly suggest that these changes must be done and surely will have an effective and efficient leading. ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITYsCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND GOVERNANCEBUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT DIVISION| TOM BRAYLEADERSHIP: BEING AN EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGER| A Case Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in Project Management| SUBMITTED TO: Mr. Ernesto Soriano Project Management Teacher SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 5 Louella Cristine Bajao Ann Myles Zarasate Al-Ahmad Nassif Panda BSC ??? MA 3F (6:55 ??? 7:55PM)