TCM 750: Advanced Project Management

Case Review I: The Blue Spider Project
By
Sona Ngoh

Missouri State University
Department of Technology & Construction Management
College of Business Administration

Spring 2014

Contents

1. Summary of Findings 3
2. Background Information 4
3. Problem Statement 5
4. Analysis of Issues and Alternatives 5
5. Detailed Recommendations 8
6. Implementation and Evaluation 9
I. Bibliography 11
II. Works Cited 12

Summary of Findings

The Blue Spider Project is an example of a situation where the project manager show lack of understanding of the life-cycle for project management and the inability to leverage the …show more content…

Parks Corporation felt that they had a distinct advantage over most competitors, as they had worked on other successful projects for Lord Industries.

Problem Statement

Despite outstanding performance as a production engineer and earning an MBA degree, Gary Anderson was unable to meet the challenges of project management as he failed to lead his team to success in the Blue Spider Project. The Blue Spider project had the full backing of upper management championed by the director of engineering Henry Gable. As it was clearly mentioned in the case, “Gary formed an adequate staff for the program” This begs for the question, why did this problem then occur, why was Gary unable to deliver on this project despite his experience and resources? The answers to these questions can be found below as I examine the problems which I could identify from reviewing the case, and as I analyze these problems, how they were managed in The Blue Spider Project and present some alternative actions that could have been taken.

Analysis of Issues and Alternatives

1. Role of the Project Manager: From the case, I reason that Gary did not fully understand his role as a project manager. He did not focus on the key responsibilities of planning, executing motoring and controlling project activities with efforts aimed at accomplishing the stated project objectives. The case mentions that, from the very beginning he left the administrative responsibilities to