Stability in the upper management of a company affects smooth progress of a project tremendously. Personnel and responsibility
changes in upper management during the execution of a project can cause ripple effects and sometimes tsunami effects to your project. It is possible to shield your project from these effects to a certain extent, but in most cases your project gets hurt too.
A challenging case of upper management shuffle occurred dur- ing the execution of an internal product development project that was under my direction. During the execution phase of my devel- opment project, the board of directors of our company fired our president and brought in a new one who was hijacked from a well- respected technology company. The new president brought in a dozen of his colleagues from the computer industry in order to pursue his vision of our company. Some of the new arrivals were positioned into upper management, especially into the engineer- ing divisions. Others were positioned into the research and devel- opment group. Two new senior scientists joined my product development group. These scientists were good buddies with the new president. They had worked together more than a decade.
I presented my project’s mission, team, and status to the new management. They all had numerous inputs to my project’s mis- sion and schedule. They completely changed the direction of my project with new target completion dates. My project was turned topsy- turvy by the new upper management. All the changes were approved by the new president without any hesitation. He had complete confidence in his new upper management team. I had six engineers working for me on my team. With the addition of two senior scientists, my team expanded to eight people. All of a sudden the morale of my six engineers went downhill. Everything we had done for a year before these changes occurred was thrown out the window.
First, I had a team meeting with the old engineers on my team. We discussed what we had accomplished and what we had to do under the new upper management direction. I had to convince them one by one that we did very well in our product develop- ment. The new product development direction was not their fail- ure, but it was a new outlook for the future of our company and to our competition. Also, I emphasized that we had to be open- minded and welcome two new members of our team and make them feel at home in their new environment.
As a project manager I had to start a brand new project with a new mission and new deadlines. On top of it all, I had to blend the two new senior scientists into my team and make sure that there were no animosities between the old-timers and the
newcomers. I had to accept all proposed changes to my project. These were the new bosses. We could not continue with our old ways. We had to go along with the new leaders. I had an extended team meeting to brainstorm our new project, to dis- cuss new tasks and team members’ responsibilities. During the meeting, I had to carefully bring the two new senior scientists into our team atmosphere. I had to make them realize that I was the team leader and they had to execute tasks that were assigned to them by me in a time frame that was on our schedule. Most importantly they had to coordinate with other team members very closely. They were good buddies with our new president, but they had to realize that their first priority was my project.
The new project started well. After a couple of weeks, the two new senior scientists on my team started to deviate from their task objec- tives and specifications without notifying me. Evidently, they were being redirected by our new president. These ripples also affected my other six team members and they started complaining to me about sudden changes in the project’s direction. I had to correct this dishar- monious situation immediately. I made an appointment directly with the new president and explained to him politely the issues I was hav- ing in managing my new product development project effectively. He apparently was going out to lunch weekly with the two new senior engineers on my team. They were discussing the status of my project and he was making some suggestions on the spot without realizing his suggestions’ effects on the whole execution of the project. We finally agreed that if he had any new suggestions regarding my proj- ect, he would e- mail me first. After my assessment of the impact of his suggestions on my project’s schedule and cost, I would inform him the consequences before making a final decision to my project’s modified direction and specifications.
Upper management changes in a company can positively or negatively impact internal project directions, project teams, man- agement styles, and project reporting styles. As project managers, we have to deal cleverly and in a timely manner with the changing world around us.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT EVENT
• Stability in your upper management helps in smooth sailing of your project.
• A change in the upper management of your company always brings new ideas and new management styles that can affect your project.
• As project managers, we have to mold our project team members into our new management’s styles.
• As project managers, we have to have open minds in dealing with our new upper management’s directives, which affect our projects.