Read Case Study 12.1: The Problems of Multitasking. Answer the following questions
Read Case Study 12.1: The Problems of Multitasking. Answer the following questions:
Case Study 12.1:The Problems of MultitaskingAn eastern U.S. financial services company found itself way behind schedule and overbudget on an important strategic program. Both the budget and schedule baselines hadbegun slipping almost from the beginning, and as the project progressed, the lags becamesevere enough to require the company to call in expert help in the form of a projectmanagement consulting firm. After investigating the organization’s operations, theconsulting firm determined that the primary source of problems both with this project inparticular and the company’s project management practices in general was a serious failureto accurately forecast resource requirements. In the words of one of the consultants, “Notenough full-time [human] resources had been dedicated to the program.”The biggest problem was the fact that too many of the project team members were workingon two or more projects simultaneously—a clear example of multitasking. Unfortunately,the program’s leaders developed their ambitious schedule without reflecting on theavailability of resources to support the project milestones. With their excessive outsideresponsibilities, no one was willing to take direct ownership of their work on the program,people were juggling assignments, and everyone was getting farther behind in all the work.Again, in the words of the consultant, “Project issues would come up and there would benobody there to handle them [in a timely fashion].” Those little issues, left unattended,eventually grew to become big problems. The schedule continued to lag, and employeemorale began to bottom out.Following their recognition of the problem, the first step made by the consultants was toget top management to renegotiate the work assignments with the project team. First, thecore team members were freed from other responsibilities so they could devote their full-time attention to the program. Then, other support members of the project were releasedfrom multitasking duties and assigned to the project on a full-time or near full-time basis aswell. The result, coupled with other suggested changes by the consultants, was to finallymatch up the project’s schedule and activity duration estimates with a realisticunderstanding of resources needs and availability. In short, the program was put back ontrack because it was finally resource-leveled, particularly through creating full-time workassignments for the project team that accurately reflected the need to link resourcemanagement with scheduling.12(Pinto 405-406)Pinto, Jeffery K.Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage,3rd Edition. PearsonLearning Solutions, 7/2012. VitalBook file.The citation provided is a guideline. Please check each citation for accuracy before use.
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