Management at B&W Systems Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Statement of the Problem

B&W Systems have decided to develop an internet-based forecasting system, while the task has been assigned to the director of operations Bob Philips for the implementation of the project in a limited period of time. The company needs to develop the forecasting system before any company enters the particular lucrative market. Along with this, Bob Philips is tasked with estimating the completion time and budget time for the project along with the determining of the probability for the project which needs to be completed within the time frame of 35 weeks.

The company had been expecting from Bob Philip to decipher the minimum expected time which would require the project would be completed, whereas, Philip also needed to evaluate the additional cost which has been incurred in the project in order to limit the project within 35 weeks.

Furthermore, Philip also needed to identify the tasks which needs to be crashed for reducing the total cost of the project in achieving the milestone that has been outlined by the company. In the next board meeting, the management team wanted to view the crashing cost function which also needs to be produced by Bob Philips. The director of operations was thrilled in determining if crash cost curve would be linear or non-linear.

Causes of the Problems

Critical Path Method

Critical Path Method (CPM) is a technique in performing the planning for a project. CPM is the formation of various activities with each activity has a start and the end dater along with their allocated time. CPM helps in understanding how long the project would take for its completion. It also enables to determine the shortest project time in which the project shall be completed. It further enables to provide knowledge to the project manager whether it shall speed up the project, while determining the least cost possible for speeding up the project (Kloppenborg, 2011).

The Seven Principles of Project Management

The Commitment Principle

The particular principle reveals that there shall be a mutual understanding between the company and the project team in making sure that the project succeeds. A commitment factor develops trust among st the team and the company’s management which allows the project to be implemented successfully and with ease. Furthermore, the two parties shall need to know what they have been facing which includes goals and the risks (Meredith & Mantel, 2011).

The Success Principle

The success factors of the project may be defined before the start of the project so that the project team shall measure the success at regular intervals to view that the project is heading at the right direction. This includes the key deliverable of the project which consists of project scope, cost of the project, the quality, time, and its internal processes (Kloppenborg, 2011).

The Tetrad Trade-off Principle

The Tetrad principle states that the project deliverable that have been outlined in the previous section must be attainable, and shall be present in the equilibrium state. Furthermore, the particular principle is the elongated version of the first and the second principle which have been discussed above (Meredith & Mantel, 2011).

The Strategy Principle

This principle includes the planning of the strategies that shall be used in attaining the desired outcome. Furthermore, it also aligns the use of sequential activities which shall be placed before the start of the project. Furthermore, this principle also explains what activities needs to be carried out along with the time designated for each of the activities (Kloppenborg, 2011).

The Control/Management Principle

This principle outlines the policies and procedures of the project so that all the behaviors of the team shall be controlled along with ensuring the commitment of the team with the project. The task of the project manager in the particular principle is to manage the project including managing the workers and the technology required in the project (Meredith & Mantel, 2011).

The Single-Point Responsibility Principle

This principle requires an effective administration of the project through assigning an individual which shall be able to engage between the sponsor of the project and the team. The particular individual would also be responsible for managing a good relationship between the stakeholders of the company and the project team. In this case, Bob Philips manages the product and is in direct relationship with the team and top management (Meredith & Mantel, 2011). ......................

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