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Final Project

Student’s Name

Department, Institutional Affiliation

Course Code and Name

Due Date
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Final Project

1. Whose responsibility is it to staff the office?

The human resource manager is generally responsible for staffing in organizations, especially

when dealing with permanent employment. They advertise vacancies, select best applicants,

conduct interviews and propose the qualified candidate to the senior management. Generally, the

management is responsible for staffing. However, organizations that deal with short-term

projects face staffing challenges because of the frequent hires and lay-offs based on the existing

needs. In addition, the employment needs vary with the nature of the existing project, which

dictates the department heads that must be involved in the hiring process. According to Roeder

(2013), the power, impact, interest and impact of the leaders are key factors in determining who

has the loudest voice in staffing. This is especially important in cases where the matrix approach

to structuring project management is applied.

American Electronics International (AEI) applies the matrix approach because of the various

departments involved in its operations. As a result, the project manager the director of project

management and the director of engineering are all key players in the staffing process. Blen

Carty, the project manager, is directly involved in the project and therefore a key person in the

selection of staff members. On the other hand, Albert Runnels, the director of engineering, is key

in selecting professional engineers who will be responsible for handling the project. However,

the two employees work under John Wallace, the director of project management. Therefore,

Wallace holds the final say. In the matrix model, all the key stakeholders are key players in all

organizational processes. Therefore, John Wallace, the director of project management, has the

authority of staffing the AEI considering the input of Blen and Albert.
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2. What should be Blen Carty’s Role and Dr. Runnel’s Role?

The project manager is responsible for successfully initiating projects, planning, designing,

execution, monitoring and closing the project (Giri, 2019). They ensure that the necessary

resources and processes are in place to ensure that projects are accomplished within specified

timeframes, while considering the cost and quality of the final output. In the case of AEI, Blen

Carty is responsible for designing the blueprint that the project will follow. Once the clear design

is in place, Blen will develop the plan for each stage of the project with specific timelines for

every stage and executing them accordingly. Afterwards, the project manager initiates the project

and monitors it to ensure errors do not occur, and where necessary, corrective actions are

undertaken to ensure positive outcomes. In each stage of process management, the project

manager engages with other departments and stakeholder to ensure smooth flow of operations.

Once the project is accomplished, Blen Carty will close it up and hand it to the director for

assessment and handing over to the customer.

The director of engineering implements the directives of the project manager to ensure the

project is running. Once the project manager develops the design and plan for the project, it’s

passed to the director of engineering with his team to carry on the project. He is in charge of the

hands people working on the project. Therefore, Dr. Runnel will direct, plan, manage and

oversee operations in the running of the project. He will supervise the team of engineers who

will be selected to help accomplish the project. Due to this key responsibility, he must be

actively involved in the recruiting and vetting engineers to ensure he has the best people to run

the project. Dr. Runnel will also be responsible for training the team in line with the target

project to ensure effective operations and quality outcomes. He will oversee the project
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implementation and coordinate activities between the various stakeholders. The director of

engineering reports to the project manager for efficient coordination.

3. Should Larry Gilbert be assigned?

Gilbert should not be assigned for the job. His work history reveals that he may not be

efficient working with other staff members that will be involved in the project. According to

Roeder (2013), power and impact are key aspects in selecting employees for a position. Power is

based on once authority. In this case, Gilbert has higher authority Richard Flag, due to his higher

academic qualifications. However, impact is more preferable to power when assessing the

suitability of a candidate for a position. Impact in the ability of an employee to effect positive

change in the planning and execution of a project. Richard has a track record of being influential

and impactful even in new positions where he do not have the necessary experience. Gilbert has

the academic qualifications but there is no definite evidence that he can perform the duties well.

Richard is more flexible than Gilbert and therefore the former is more qualified for the position.

Stakeholder concern and engagement matrix are key factors in selecting an employee. The

former addresses the interests of the potential employee in the project. Based on the manager’s

report and observation, Gilbert is often more obsessed about his position than accomplishing the

project. In his previous assignments, he had poor relationship with his subordinates, which could

significantly affect the performance of the new project. The engagement matrix assesses the

employee’s perception about the project (Roeder, 2013). Gilbert has poor interpersonal and

people management skills that may affect the performance of the other team. People have

refused to work with him and he has problems submitting to his superiors, especially the project

managers. Despite these negative traits, Gilbert is inflexible and unwilling to change, meaning he

may to accept the necessary training that will make him an efficient performer in the new
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responsibility. The best option would be to outsource a qualified and suitable candidate for the

position.

4. How would you negotiate with Functional Managers?

The beginning of efficient negotiations with functional managers begins by understanding the

roles, positions and impacts of the various players on the organization and the project at hand.

Secondly, the stakeholders should understand the general principles that govern negotiations at

different levels. In the case of American Electronics International, the project manager is new to

the project but he has experience managing different projects in the same organization. As a

result, he has good knowledge of the employee potentials and other organizational operations,

enabling him to be a key player in the organization. However, a sharp conflict exists between the

project manager and the director of project management because of their diversities in

understanding and experience. For instance, the director prefers Richard because he is flexible

and efficient while the director of project management prefers Gilbert who is qualified, yet has

an inefficient record in the workplace. In such cases, the two managers need to consult the

general principles that govern recruitment of staff to ensure good coordination in other projects.

In cases the issue becomes difficult to resolve, the two can outsource a neutral human resource

manager to help mitigate the potential bias. This will help to resolve the problem and maintain a

good working relationship for successful project accomplishment.

References

Giri, O. P. (2019). Study on the role of project manager in improving the project

performance. Technical journal, 1(1), 133-139.

Roeder, T. (2013). Managing project stakeholders: building a foundation to achieve project

goals. John Wiley & Sons.