The Orion Shield Project is a project created to develop a stronger new stronger and durable material that can extend the lifecycle of the rocket Shuttle Launch Booster. For this specific project, Gary Allison a former Project Engineer at Scientific Engineering Corporation (SEC), was appointed as Project Manager after graduating with a Ph. D. in mechanical engineering. Gary thought he was ready for the new position and assignment, but the reality was different.
He encountered several difficulties and lack of support along the project.
Project Management issues need to be executed in an environment ready to continuous change and away from external powers that may compromised its process. (Schwalbe, 2012). The Orion Shield Project was a difficult …show more content…
These issues were recognized as staffing support, technical, ethical, legal and contractual. Gary lack the support of adequate staffing, as no one showed interest on working on this project. Technical issues were identified as soon as the samples were defective. The ethical issues involved the leadership management that could result in legal issues down the road. The contractual difficulties involved team members that were not assigned to the project and its entirety.
The appropriate actions and required resolutions lacked an effective support system. Quick fixes to the problems were needed to be defined and also approved. In addition, Gary lack of Project Management experience resulted in loss of an effective plan of action to stop the actions of higher management. As an overall, his deficient understanding of managing concepts and methodology impacted the organization and its team members.
The Orion Shield Project was not only the first project management project for Gary, it was large in scale with many type of limitations, time, technology, and resources. Restriction of this kind can complicate all the required phases of the process and that at some stage required flexibility and a change of scope. Although, engineers take detail control on safety issues more than other specialty, Gary lack the project management skills to separate its business work from its engineering environment.
Staffing …show more content…
Once the RFP was received, Gary noticed conflict with the technical specification. Prior testing appeared to be normal under temperature range of -65 degrees F to 145 degrees F. But current testing at above 130 degrees F was defective. Gary communicated this problem to Henry Larsen, but he disregarded the issue and opposed a change in materials. The contract was approved regardless of the Gary’s first objections.
Ethical Issues
The main ethical issue in this project, is that to satisfy the material requirement IR&D used STI money to conduct material testing and trials. Henry Larsen asked Gary to keep silence about this. STI was not satisfied with the materials initially and were hesitant to achieve any agreement.
Another ethical issue Gary encounter came at the tenth month performance report of the raw materials was not acceptable. Even though, the raw materials were adequate and met contract requirements, the age life diminished to less than five years. Top leadership asked Gary to kept silence again to avoid losing the contract.
Legal Issues Legal issues and consequences were not clearly explained in the project. Although, all contract and sub-contract government companies understand the legal repercussions for not fulfilling a specific contract
He encountered several difficulties and lack of support along the project.
Project Management issues need to be executed in an environment ready to continuous change and away from external powers that may compromised its process. (Schwalbe, 2012). The Orion Shield Project was a difficult …show more content…
These issues were recognized as staffing support, technical, ethical, legal and contractual. Gary lack the support of adequate staffing, as no one showed interest on working on this project. Technical issues were identified as soon as the samples were defective. The ethical issues involved the leadership management that could result in legal issues down the road. The contractual difficulties involved team members that were not assigned to the project and its entirety.
The appropriate actions and required resolutions lacked an effective support system. Quick fixes to the problems were needed to be defined and also approved. In addition, Gary lack of Project Management experience resulted in loss of an effective plan of action to stop the actions of higher management. As an overall, his deficient understanding of managing concepts and methodology impacted the organization and its team members.
The Orion Shield Project was not only the first project management project for Gary, it was large in scale with many type of limitations, time, technology, and resources. Restriction of this kind can complicate all the required phases of the process and that at some stage required flexibility and a change of scope. Although, engineers take detail control on safety issues more than other specialty, Gary lack the project management skills to separate its business work from its engineering environment.
Staffing …show more content…
Once the RFP was received, Gary noticed conflict with the technical specification. Prior testing appeared to be normal under temperature range of -65 degrees F to 145 degrees F. But current testing at above 130 degrees F was defective. Gary communicated this problem to Henry Larsen, but he disregarded the issue and opposed a change in materials. The contract was approved regardless of the Gary’s first objections.
Ethical Issues
The main ethical issue in this project, is that to satisfy the material requirement IR&D used STI money to conduct material testing and trials. Henry Larsen asked Gary to keep silence about this. STI was not satisfied with the materials initially and were hesitant to achieve any agreement.
Another ethical issue Gary encounter came at the tenth month performance report of the raw materials was not acceptable. Even though, the raw materials were adequate and met contract requirements, the age life diminished to less than five years. Top leadership asked Gary to kept silence again to avoid losing the contract.
Legal Issues Legal issues and consequences were not clearly explained in the project. Although, all contract and sub-contract government companies understand the legal repercussions for not fulfilling a specific contract