MGT 323 SEU chapter 3 Horizon Consulting Case Study Questions

‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
‫وزارة التعليم‬
‫الجامعة السعودية اإللكترونية‬
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ministry of Education
Saudi Electronic University
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
Assignment 2
Project Management (MGT323)
Deadline: 09/04/2022 @ 23:59
Course Name: Project Management
Course Code:MGT323
Student’s Name:
Semester: II
CRN:
Student’s ID Number:
Academic Year:2021-22, II Term
For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name: Dr
Students’ Grade:
Marks Obtained/Out of 10
Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low
Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
• The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only)
via allocated folder.
• Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
• Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks
may be reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information
on the cover page.
• Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
• Late submission will NOT be accepted.
• Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from
students or other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO
marks. No exceptions. Atleast two Scholarly Peer- Reviewed Journals are
required as references.
• All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, doublespaced) font. No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be
considered plagiarism).
• Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.
• Do not make any changes in the cover page.
Assignment Workload:
• This Assignment comprise of a Case Study.
• Assignment is to be submitted by each student individually.
Assignment Purposes/Learning Outcomes:
After completion of Assignment-2 students will able to understand the
1. Defining the concepts, theories and approaches of project management. (L.O-1.1)
2. Analyze to work effectively and efficiently as a team member for project related
cases. (L.O-3.1)
Assignment-2: Case Study & Discussion questions
Assignment Question:
(Marks 10)
Please read the Case-3.2 “Horizon Consulting.”
from Chapter 3
“Organization: Structure and Culture” given in your textbook – Project
Management: The Managerial Process 8th edition by Larson and Gray page
no: 101-103 also refer to specific concepts you have learned from the chapter
to support your answers. Answer the following questions for Part-1, Part-2.
Part-1: Case study questions
1. How successful was the post-meeting? Explain in 100 words
(1 Mark).
2. What factors contributed to the success or failure of this
meeting? Explain in 100 words (1 Mark).
3. What kind of project management structure does Horizon use?
Is it the right structure? Explain in 300 words (4 Marks)
Part-2: Discussion questions
Please read Chapter 3 “Organizaton: Structure and Culture”
carefully and then give your answers on the basis of your
understanding.
4. Going to college is analogous to working in a matrix
environment in that most students take more than one class and
must distribute their time across multiple classes. What
problems does this situation create for you? How does it affect
your performance? How could the system be better managed
to make your life less difficult and more productive? (2 Marks)
(150-200 words)
5. You work for Barbata Electronics. Your R&D people believe
they have come up with an affordable technology that will
double the capacity of existing MP3 players and use an audio
format that is superior to MP3. The project is code named
KYSO (Knock Your Socks Off). What kind of project
management structure would you recommend they use for the
KYSO project? What information would you like to have to
make this recommendation and why? (2 Marks) (150-200
words).
Answers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
pull him from your project and have him work full time on Crosby’s
project. What do you think?”
1. If you were Palmer at the end of the case, how would you respond?
2. What, if anything, could Palmer have done to avoid losing Olds?
3. What advantages and disadvantages of a matrix-type organization are
apparent from this case?
4. What could the management at M&M do to manage situations like this
more effectively?
Case 3.2
Horizon Consulting
Patti Smith looked up at the bright blue Carolina sky before she entered the
offices of Horizon Consulting. It was Friday, which meant she needed to
prepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is a
custom software development company that offers fully integrated mobile
application services for iPhone™, Android™, Windows Mobile®, and
BlackBerry® platforms. Horizon was founded by James Thrasher, a former
marketing executive, who quickly saw the potential for digital marketing
via smartphones. Horizon enjoyed initial success in sports marketing but
quickly expanded to other industries. A key to their success was the decline
in cost for developing smartphone applications, which expanded the client
base. The decline in cost was primarily due to the learning curve and ability
to build customized solutions on established platforms.
Patti Smith was a late bloomer who went back to college after working
in the restaurant business for nine years. She and her former husband had
tried unsuccessfully to operate a vegetarian restaurant in Golden, Colorado.
After her divorce, she returned to University of Colorado, where she
majored in management information systems (MIS) with a minor in
marketing. While she enjoyed her marketing classes much more than her
MIS classes, she felt the IT know-how she acquired would give her an
advantage in the job market. This turned out to be true, as Horizon hired her
to be an account manager soon after graduation.
Patti Smith was hired to replace Stephen Stills, who had started the
restaurant side of the business at Horizon. Stephen was “let go,” according
to one account manager, for being a prima donna and hoarding resources.
Patti’s clients ranged from high-end restaurants to hole-in the-wall “mom
and pop shops.” She helped develop smartphone apps that let users make
reservations, browse menus, receive alerts on daily specials, provide
customer feedback, order take-out, and in some cases order delivery. As an
account manager she worked with clients to assess their needs, develop a
plan, and create customized smartphone apps.
Horizon appeared to be a good fit for Patti. She had enough technical
training to be able to work with software engineers and help guide them to
page 101
produce client-ready products. At the same time she could
relate to the restaurateurs and enjoyed working with them on
web design and digital marketing.
Horizon was organized into three departments: Sales, Software
Development, and Graphics, with account managers acting as project
managers. Account managers generally came from Sales and divided their
time between projects and sales pitches to potential new clients. Horizon
employed a core group of software engineers and designers, supplemented
by contracted programmers when needed.
The first step in developing a smartphone application involved the
account manager meeting with the client to define the requirements and
vision for the application. The account manager then worked with a
Graphic User Interface (GUI) designer to come up with a preliminary story
board of how the application would function and look. Once the initial
concept and requirements were approved, the account manager was
assigned two pairs of software engineers. The first pair (app engineers)
worked on the smartphone side of the application, while the second pair
worked on the client side. Horizon preferred to have software engineers
work in tandem so that they could check each other’s work. The two app
engineers typically worked full time on the application until it was
completed, while the other engineers worked on multiple projects as
needed. Likewise, GUI designers worked on the project at certain key
stages in the product development cycle when their expertise was needed.
The head of Graphics managed the GUI designers’ schedule, while the
head of Software managed the software engineer assignments. At the end of
each project account managers submitted performance reviews of their
team. The director of sales was responsible for the account managers’
performance reviews based on customer satisfaction, generation of sales,
and project performance.
Horizon believed in iterative development, and every two to three
weeks account managers were expected to demonstrate the latest version of
applications to clients. This led to useful feedback and in many cases
redefinition of the scope of the project. Often clients wanted to add more
functionality to their application once they realized what the software could
do. Depending upon the complexity of the application and changes
introduced once the project was under way, it typically took Horizon two to
four months to deliver a finished product to a client.
Patti was currently working on three projects. One was for Shanghai
Wok, a busy Chinese mom and pop restaurant in downtown Charlotte,
North Carolina. The owners of Shanghai Wok wanted Horizon to create a
smartphone app that would allow customers to order and pay in advance for
meals they would simply pick up at a walk-up window. The second project
was for Taste of India, which operated in Kannapolis, North Carolina. They
wanted Horizon to create a phone app that would allow staff at the nearby
bio-tech firms to order food that would be delivered on-site during lunch
and dinner hours. The last project was for Nearly Normal, a vegetarian
restaurant that wanted to send out e-mail alerts to subscribers that would
describe in detail their daily fresh specials.
James Thrasher was an admirer of Google and encouraged a playful but
focused environment at work. Employees were allowed to decorate their
work spaces, bring pets to work, and play Ping-Pong or pool when they
needed a break. Horizon paid its employees well, but the big payoff was the
annual Christmas bonus. This bonus was based on overall company profits,
which were distributed proportionately based on pay grade and performance
reviews. It was not uncommon for employees to receive a 10–15 percent
boost in pay at the end of the year.
page 102
STATUS REPORT MEETING
As was her habit, Patti entered the status report meeting room early. David
Briggs was in the midst of describing the game-winning catch John Lorsch
had made in last night’s softball game. Horizon sponsored a co-ed city
league softball team, which most of the account managers played on. Patti
had been coaxed to play to ensure that the requisite number of “females”
were on the field. She balked at the idea at first; softball wasn’t really her
sport, but she was glad she did. Not only was it fun but it gave her a chance
to get to know the other managers.
James Thrasher entered the room and everyone settled down to
business. He started off as he always did, by asking if anybody had
important news to bring to everyone’s attention. Jackson Browne slowly
raised his hand and said, “I am afraid I do. I just received notification from
Apple iOS that they have rejected our TAT app.” TAT was a phone app,
which Jackson was the project lead on, that allowed subscribers to reserve
and see in real time what swimming lanes were available at a prestigious
athletic club. This announcement was followed by a collective groan.
Before an Apple app could go operational it had to be submitted to and
approved by Apple. Usually this was not a problem, but lately Apple had
been rejecting apps for a variety of reasons. Jackson went on to circulate the
list of changes that had to be made before Apple would approve the app.
The group studied the list and in some cases ridiculed the new
requirements.
Ultimately James Thrasher asked Jackson how long it would take to
make the necessary changes and resubmit the app for approval. Jackson felt
it would probably take two to three weeks at most. Thrasher asked who the
engineers working on this project were. Patti’s heart fell. One of the app
engineers who had developed the TAT app was working on her Shanghai
Wok project. She knew what was going to happen next. Thrasher
announced, “OK, everyone, it only makes sense that these engineers are the
best ones to finish what they had started, so they are all going to have to be
reassigned back to the TAT project. Those affected are going to have to get
together after this meeting and figure out how to replace them.” The
meeting then proceeded as planned, with all the account managers reporting
the status of their projects and sharing relevant issues with the group.
POST-MEETING
As everyone filed out, Patti looked around to see who else was in her same
boat. There were three other account managers as well as Jackson Browne.
Resource assignments were a recurring issue at Horizon, given the nature of
their work. Horizon had developed a policy where decisions were made
based on project priority. Each project was assigned a Green, Blue, or
Purple designation based on the company priority. Priority status was based
on the extent to which the project contributed to the mission of the firm.
The Shanghai Wok project, given its limited size and scope, was a Purple
project, which was the lowest ranking. The list of available software
engineers was displayed on the big screen. Patti was familiar with only a
few of the names.
Leigh Taylor, who had the only Green project, immediately selected
Jason Wheeler from the list. She had used him before and was confident in
his work. Tom Watson and Samantha Stewart both had Blue Projects and
needed to replace a mobile app engineer. They both immediately jumped on
the name of Prem Mathew, claiming he was the best person for their
project. After some friendly jousting, Tom said, “OK, Sam, you can have
him; I remember when you helped me out on the Argos project; besides, my
project is just beginning. I’ll take Shin Chen.” Everyone looked at Patti; she
page 103
started by saying, “You know, I am familiar with only a few of
these names; I guess I’ll go with Mike Thu.” Jackson
interjected, “Hey, everyone, I am really sorry this happened, and I am sure
Mike is a good programmer, but I recommend you work with Axel
Gerthoff. I have used him before, and he is a very quick study and a joy to
work with.” This was a relief to Patti and she quickly took his advice. They
left to submit a report to Thrasher detailing the decisions they each had
made and the impact on their projects.
1. How successful was the post-meeting?
2. What factors contributed to the success or failure of this meeting?
3. What kind of project management structure does Horizon use? Is it the
right structure? Explain.

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