Case Study Analysis for Hector Gaming Company free essay sample

Coupled with their success rate in their market niche, they were able to raise a large amount of capital through a stock transaction with an investment bank. Because of their growth and cash position, the top managers of HGC worked with a consulting firm to develop a strategic plan of action. The founder, Sally Peters, is considered to be one of the up and rising entrepreneurs. Her management skills have been able to get all the stakeholders to commit to having an organization dedicated to being innovative and growing inside and out. As well, there is a consensus between the managers on the path that the company should be on in the short and long term. (Larson, amp; Gray, 2011). Issues/Problems Identification: There are two main problems that are discussed 1) there does not exist a plan of action on how to achieve the short and long term goals upon which the managers have agreed, 2) the lack of control that the Founder/President really has over the company and achieving the goals, 3) lack of project’s priority and 4) keeping the competition from taking away key personnel that will help them enter into HGC market (Larson, amp; Gray, 2011). Analysis/Evaluation: The problem is that the Founder/President and the top management worked on strategy; however, they did not address the following: 1) identifying the project management structure, 2) defining the organization’s culture, 3) creating a responsibility matrix and 4) providing a communication requirement matrix to keep everyone on track and unified (Futrell, Shafer, and Safer, 2002). Recommendation: The Plan of Action that I would provide to Peters and her team is as follows: I. Create the Project Management Structure. Below is the Projectized Organization Structure that I would present to Peters for HGC. It would be based on separating the project management between the new product development and existing projects within their own units reporting directly to Peters. This will allow her to manage the development of new products and prevent everyone from creating their own. As well, the project management will be based on having a balanced matrix approach where the project manager has responsibility over defining what needs to be done; however, the functional manager controls how it is done. II. Define the Organizational Culture . The next step of the plan is to help HGC define its culture by the following aspects: i. Sense of identity- HGC’s market niche is young children. Therefore, the entire company needs to focus on products that will provide success in this arena. Any other focus would take away from the organization’s success ii. Legitimize the management system- While HGC is c ommitted to being an innovative company with knowledge sharing, the members must understand that the development of projects and the maintaining of existing projects are handled by those positions specifically. ii. Clarify and reinforce standards of behavior- the behavior of HGC needs to be reinforced as one that operate on everyone during one’s role, so that the clients are happy and the budgets are met (Larson, amp; Gray, 2011). III. Create a Responsibility Matrix b. The third step of the plan is to create a responsibility Matrix for HGC, so that each party clearly understands what each one is responsible for accomplishing (Larson, amp; Gray, 2011). Deliverables| Design| Development| Documentation| Testing| Purchasing| Quality Assurance| Manufacturing| Software Design| 1| 2| | 2| | 3| 3| Operating system documentation| 2| 2| 1| | | | 3| Prototypes| 5| 1| 4| 3| 3| 3| 4| Integrated acceptance test| 5| 2| 2| 1| | 5| 5| 1 Responsible2 Support3 Consult4 Notification5 Approval| IV. Create a Communication Requirements Matrix c. The last step of the Plan of Action is to assist HGC in creating a communication requirements matrix. This is a vital part of removing the problem of conflict within HGC and internal fighting over projects. This document will help define the process and procedures involved with communicating project information throughout the company. The plan will be the link between the process of managing the project information and distributing the information to the appropriate stakeholders in a timely manner. It will not communicate the actual project information itself; it only generates the procedures for the project manager or team members a) to follow, b) to gather and c) to create the project information ( Wiley Publishing, Inc. , 2008). Team Member| Project Manager| Stakeholder(Internal/Core)| Stakeholder(External)| President| Medium| Project Manager| | Communicates status weekly and participates in monthly stakeholder meeting| | Communicates status weekly and participates in monthly stakeholder meeting| Electronic| Stakeholder(Internal)| Feedback, issues/concerns| | | | Verbal| Stakeholder (External)| Issues/Concerns| Feedback, issues, concerns| | | Document and verbal| President| Issues/Concerns| | | | Document| References Futrell R T Shafer D F Safer L I 2002 Quality software project managementFutrell, R. T. Shafer, D. F. , amp; Safer, L. I. (2002). Quality software project management. Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall. 201305271727431378524065 Larson,, E. W. , amp; Gray, C. F. (2011). Project management: The managerial process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Meredith, J. R. , amp; Mantel, Jr. , S. J. (2011). Project management: A managerial approach, 8th edition. Jefferson City: John Wiley amp; Sons. Richm an, L. L. (1955). Improving your project management skills. New York: AMACOM. Wiley Publishing, Inc. (2008). Project management communications bible. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, Inc.