“Reflex Systems” Case The case “Reflex Systems” describes a situation Rankin and his team is charged with installing a new CRM system for their company, Reflex Systems. They have been given a short deadline of ten weeks, and a small budget. The team has been dealing with the resignation of one member, and stress creating tension between remaining members and management. Facts -The individuals involved in this case include Henry Rankin (Software Engineer), Mike Frazer (CEO), Nicole Dyer (VP of Information Technology), Sally Phillips, Bob Finley, and Lynn Johnston. -The project has been given a deadline of ten weeks, with Rankin and his 5-member team in charge of technical implementation.
The first issue was realized before the RFP proposal was submitted. Gary realized the original material did not meet the specified temperature required by Space Technology Industries (STI). They continued to have technical issues with alternate test matrix and with the new materials. Later in the project, they found the new material met the required temperature but it would last less than five years. Gary encountered ethical issues when the proposal was submitted that the material could withstand up to 155 degrees which is a stretch because the material could only withstand up to 130 degrees, using STI’s money to test new materials without informing them, withholding information about the age life of the new material and not sending out the technical data ahead of time to the clients so they could analyze it before the meeting allowed the clients to question Gary’s integrity.
I (Pat) then called a meeting to announce that the plant you be moving to a 10 hour a day 4 day work week and that all overtime would now need to be preapproved by Paul. As a result the employees slow down work in order get opportunities for overtime. Paul, noticing this, stopped giving out overtime all together. This caused even more resentment toward management by employees. Paul then posted strict guidelines for what is expected from employees and what punishment they may receive for not adhering to his new rules.
The contract states that Rose must give Sagle a 60 day written notice and pay the 10,000 fee for that period. Rose believes that Sagle violated the contract by providing services for Anderson Luxury Motors, which is a company that provides automotive mechanic services. The contract states that Sagle has the right to provide services for the other businesses during the period of the contract except for any company engaged in Roses principle area of business which is automotive design and manufacturing. I agree with Rose, Sagle has violated the contract because Anderson Luxury Motors is still an automotive company. The contract for the IT system maintenance will be terminated immediately.
On 06 February 2011, aircraft 69-6140 completed a scheduled 200-hour phase inspection and aircraft 68-1186 began a scheduled 200-hour phase inspection. The maintenance contractor once again moved the indicator without proper documentation between two aircraft. 2. On 16 March 2011, the maintenance services contractor initiated a DD Form 200, Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss, and was under the impression that it would be processed through the proper channels within the supply system. 3.
The meeting lasted only ten minutes, since all those present quickly agreed that Tom Kinder should be fired. According to management, Kinder had caused the company numerous problems over the last eighteen months, and the incident that Saturday had been “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Plant management believed it had rid itself of a poor employee, one the company had offered numerous opportunities for improvement. It seemed like an airtight case and one the union could not win if taken to arbitration. Tom Kinder had worked for the Aero Engine Company for fourteen years prior to his discharge. He was initially employed as an engine mechanic servicing heavy-duty diesel engines.
Explain why the case writers assert that the "areas of relative strength" of this option rank as "High", "High", and "Low". The case writer believes that as a team, the ERP system vendor and the business development manager had a high level of expertise in software development and application domain. However, the case writer ranked local company knowledge as low because the PowerIT staff with the local knowledge of the company’s processes failed to participate in the project in a meaningful way. As a new hire in PowerIT, the business development manager possessed limited knowledge of the company’s processes. Therefore, the project leadership, the BD manager and vendor, lacked the necessary local company knowledge.
Key Issues The key issues for Jack Carlisle, according to Robert Austin, are recorded in the informally published manuscript, Jack Carlisle, CIO. It says the main issue for the company when Carlisle was hired “is the non-existing business strategy that is well understood in the entire IZL organization, coupled with an information technology department that is not structured to align with business strategy” (Austin, 2007). The history prior to Carlisle hiring, was a long history of unfinished projects. The failures of these projects were a result from mismanagement, unclear objectives, and the inability to prioritize the projects (Austin,
No more tile dust, no more forty-mile an hour winds blowing through the plant, and no more Al Wright for me”, Roberts replied. Wright, the plant manager, and Roberts, journeyman maintenance mechanic for TileElite, had been at odds for years. Roberts had been hired during a manufacturing plant expansion at Tile-Elite and Wright had promised Roberts a production supervisor’s job upon its completion. However, when the expansion was completed and the last production line was ready to produce, Wright told Roberts to forget the supervisor’s job because he was more valuable to the company as a maintenance mechanic. “I know what I said, Gary, but I think you’re going to be a mechanic here even if you stay twenty years,” Wright had stated at the time.
This prompted the managers and engineers of Morton Thiokol to have a teleconference with NASA engineers on the 27th January to discuss whether or not the launch should be suspended. At the meeting with the NASA engineers, we vociferously tried to convince NASA that the launch should be abandoned, but they felt that our arguments were contradictory to what was said prior to the meeting. It was stated that the low temperatures would negatively affect the rubber O-rings, preventing them from sealing properly on the joints of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB’s). The NASA managers though, felt that these concerns were unnecessary as there were two O-rings - a primary and secondary – and if the primary failed, the secondary would seal. Personally, I agreed with the engineers as NASA’s argument was not proven and also, the secondary O-ring was never intended to be a replacement, but instead, was a failsafe.