The Martig Case Study

The Martig case study is perfect example of how poor project management activities can lead to project failure. There are different problems discussed in each paragraph which illustrates the absence of well-defined business process resulting in lack of synchronization and conflicts among different departments. For a project to be successful, it’s crucial to have well planned and balanced organization structure which will make coordination and communication clear as well as easy.
The first problem is perfect example of leadership failure. After Martig senior’s death, Martig Junior holds the position of president but his efforts to sell of the business and take long vacations every month shows his loss of interest in the organization.The project managers depend on Martig for feedback and instructions on certain decisions, however its observed they misuse this situation by making their own shot and are in a consistent battle for power.
This problem can be simply solved if Martig Junior makes efforts to change his working style and focus little more on the business. The president is expected to make major decisions related to finance, management etc, and should be available so that project managers can reach him out, involve him in discussions and get his opinions in decision making. This will maintain his authority in organization and would not give project managers an opportunity to make their own decisions which might cause business failure.

The next problem discussed is about the estimating department. As per the set business rules, its mandatory to involve project managers in proposal estimates to provide feedbacks to update the standards. However, its seen that this never happens in the organization. The project managers hesitate in giving the honest feedbacks as they fear that the estimator might be the next candidate for the executive promotion. This problem can be eliminated by maintaining the proper hierarchy and clarity about the candidates in position for promotion.
In third problem is improper assignment of work. This is seen to be happening since there is no transparency in business processes and lack of communication. The procurement work reports to Martig, because of his absence project managers assumes procurement as their work. If Martig is available to do his job, the project managers will not have to spend extra hours doing the work which is not assigned to them. Project Managers are spending approximately 35% of time in procurement activities, if there is proper assignment of responsibilities the project managers can utilize their time in job assigned to them or activities which require attention.
In last problem, we see the incorrect attitude of site superintendents towards project managers. The superintendents believe that they hold the same position as of the project manager. However, they are not involved in procurement activities which upsets them, so they find ways to annoy project manager.
The case study says that whenever the project manager is present at the site, the work is delayed, and the report sent to the home office is inaccurate. One way of resolving this dispute is, the site superintendents can discuss and ask their supervisor to make changes to the existing process so to give them chance to be involved in procurement function.
The other solution is that the project manager can confront the site superintendents to discuss this matter and if they are not able to resolve this, then supervisors should be involved. It is very important for both project and site superintendents to have a healthy work relation so as to complete the assigned tasks and make project a success.