The with Problem Priorities For the past several years, Kent Corporation had achieved remarkable success in winning R&D contracts. The customers were pleased with the analytical capabil- ities of the...

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The with Problem Priorities For the past several years, Kent Corporation had achieved remarkable success in winning R&D contracts. The customers were pleased with the analytical capabil- ities of the R&D staff at Kent Corporation. Theoretical and experimental results were usually within 95 percent agreement. But many customers still felt that 95 percent was too low. They wanted 98-99 percent. In 1989, Kent updated their computer facility by purchasing a large com- puter. The increased performance with the new computer encouraged the R&D group to attempt to convert from two-dimensional to three-dimensional solutions to their theoretical problems. Almost everyone except the director of R&D thought that this would give better comparison between experimental and theo- retical data. Kent Corporation had tried to develop the computer program for three- dimensional solutions with their own internal R&D programs, but the cost was too great. Finally, after a year of writing proposals, Kent Corporation convinced the federal government to sponsor the project. The project was estimated at $750,000, to begin January 2, 1991, and to be completed by December 20, 1991. Dan McCord was selected as project manager. Dan had worked with the EDP de- partment on other projects and knew the people and the man-hour standards. Kent Corporation was big enough to support 100 simultaneous projects. With so many projects in existence at one time, continual reshuffling of resources was necessary. The corporation directors met every Monday morning to establish
The Problem with Priorities project priorities. Priorities were not enforced unless project and functional man- agers could not agree on the allocation and distribution of resources. Because of the R&D director's persistence, the computer project was given a low priority. This posed a problem for Dan McCord. The computer department manager refused to staff the project with his best people. As a result, Dan had se- vere skepticism about the success of the project. In July, two other project managers held a meeting with Dan to discuss the availability of the new computer model. "We have two proposals that we're favored to win, providing that we can state in our proposal that we have this new computer model available for use," re- marked one of the project managers. "We have a low priority and, even if we finish the job on time, I'm not sure of the quality of work because of the people we have assigned," said Dan. "How do you propose we improve our position?" asked a project manager. "Let's try to get in to see the director of R&D," asserted Dan. "And what are we going to say in our defense?' asked one of the project managers.
Answered Same DayDec 20, 2021

Answer To: The with Problem Priorities For the past several years, Kent Corporation had achieved remarkable...

David answered on Dec 20 2021
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The priority problem in Kent Conflict was with the mix up in the priority list of the projects tha
t
had to be completed. The computer program for three dimensional computers was to be high on
the priority list. The project manager Dan McCord knew how important it was because; the
project had to be completed by December 1991. Since this was funded and sponsored by the
federal government it was all the more important that the project had to meet deadlines.
The practice at Kent was that with its ability to support more than 100 projects running
simultaneously, people and resources where generally shuffled between different projects based
on the influence and level of proximity with the R and D director. Moreover, frequent shuffling
of people and resources depended upon the meetings that were held every Monday to understand
priority. From the beginning of the Computer project the director of R and D was not impressed
and somehow this project found reluctance in approval from the Director. So when the meeting
for fixing priority projects came about, the R and D director somehow put the computes project
last on the...
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