Question

Information Technology Project Management 9th Edition

Opening case
Tom Walters was watching the 2018 Super Bowl with friends and noticed players, coaches, and referees using tablets to review plays. It reminded him of a bad experience he had over ten years ago when he tried to convince his college to require students to use tablets. Tom had accepted a new position as the Director of Information Technology at his small, private college after having been a respected faculty member for 15 years. The college offered a variety of programs in the liberal arts and professional areas. Enrollment included 1,500 full-time traditional students and about 1,000 working adults who attended evening programs. Like other institutions of higher learning, the use of IT at the college had grown tremendously, but only a few classrooms on campus had computers for the instructors and students, and most other classrooms had only instructor stations and projection systems. Tom knew that several colleges throughout the country require that all students lease or own laptops or tablets and that these colleges incorporate technology into most courses.
This idea fascinated him at the time. He and two other members of the IT department visited a local college that had required all students to lease laptops for the past three years, and they were very impressed with what they saw and heard. Because tablets were becoming more popular, they thought it would make more sense to require tablets instead of laptops. Tom had heard how easy it was for faculty members to create interactive course materials that would run on tablets; these materials also could help reduce the cost of textbooks, a concern expressed by many students. Tom and his staff developed plans to start requiring students either to lease or purchase tablets at their college starting the next academic year.
Tom sent an e-mail to all faculty and staff that September briefly describing his plans. He did not get much response, however, until the February faculty meeting. As he described some of the details of his plan, the chairs of the History, English, Philosophy, and Economics departments all voiced opposition to the idea. They eloquently stated that the college was not a technical training school and that they did not have time to write their own course materials to run on tablets. They liked the books they used, and students could already buy books in an electronic format, but most preferred the print versions. Members of the Computer Science department voiced their concern that almost all of their students already had state-of-the art laptops and would not want to pay a mandatory fee to lease less-powerful tablets. The director of the adult education program expressed her concern that many adult-education students would balk at an increase
in fees or required technology. Tom was in shock to hear his colleagues’ responses, especially after he and his staff had spent a lot of time planning how to implement tablets at their campus. He remembered being totally confused at the time due to his lack of understanding of organizational change. He wondered how the National Football League handled their implementation of tablets.

closing case
When the Super Bowl ended, Tom told his friends how the tablet idea for his college was killed. After several people voiced concerns about the idea at the faculty meeting, the president of the college directed that a committee be created to formally review the con- cept of requiring students to have tablets. Because the college was dealing with several important enrollment-related issues, the president named the vice president of enroll- ment to head the committee. Other people soon volunteered or were assigned to the committee, including Tom Walters as head of Information Technology, the director of the adult education program, the chair of the Computer Science department, and the chair of the History department. The president also insisted that the committee include at least two members of the student body. The president knew everyone was busy, and he questioned whether the tablet idea was a high-priority issue for the college. He directed the committee to present a proposal at next month’s faculty meeting, either to recom- mend creating a formal project team to fully investigate requiring tablets or to recom- mend terminating the concept. At the next faculty meeting, few people were surprised
to hear the recommendation to terminate the concept. Tom Walters learned that he had to pay much more attention to the needs of the entire college before proceeding with detailed IT plans. Tom and his friends found several articles online about the NFL’s use of Microsoft Surface tablets. They laughed when they read about the Patriots refusing to use them after a while and their coach smashing one on the sidelines. Tom said, “If Coach Belichick had one at the end of this game, he would have smashed another one!”

Exercise #9:

Review the Opening and Closing case about Tom Walters tablet project. Also find at least two articles about the NFL’s adoption of tablets. Using the four frames of organizations presented in this chapter, contrast the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames as they relate to adopting tablets for Tom’s college versus the NFL.

What do you think the main factors were in canceling Tom’s project early versus continuing the NFL tablet project?

Answer 1

Opening and Closing case of Tom Walters tablet project:

• Tom Walters planned the tablet project without using a systems approach. Members of his IT department did all of the planning. Even though Tom sent an e-mail describing the tablet project to all faculty and staff, he did not address many of the organizational issues involved in such a complex project. Most faculty and staff are very busy at the beginning of the fall term, and many may not have read the entire message. Others may have been too busy to communicate their concerns to the IT department.
• Tom was unaware of the effects the tablet project would have on other parts of the college. He did not clearly define the business, technological, and organizational issues associated with the project.
• Tom and the IT department began work on the tablet project in isolation. If they had taken a systems approach, considering other dimensions of the project and involving key stakeholders, they could have identified and addressed many of the issues raised at the February faculty meeting before the meeting.
• Tom Walters seemed to focus on just a few internal project stakeholders. He viewed only part of the structural frame of the college. Because his department would do most of the work in administering the tablet project, he concentrated on those stakeholders. He did not even involve the main customers for this project—the students at the college. Even though Tom sent an e-mail to faculty and staff, he did not hold meetings with senior administrators or faculty at the college. Tom’s view of the project stakeholders was very limited.

The National Football League (NFL) adoption of Tablet:

• Microsoft has reportedly spent $400 million on its Surface NFL deal, and it involves a complex range of infrastructure, software, and basic storage cabinets and cases used to protect the tablets. Microsoft has also produced its own Surface Type Covers with NFL logos, and the Madden 17 game also uses the tablets.
• While the deal was supposed to run for five years (until the end of the 2018 / 2019 season).

Main factors were in canceling Tom’s project early and continuing the NFL tablet project:

• Tom Walters, like many new project managers, learned the hard way that technical and analytical skills were not enough to guarantee success in project management. To be more effective, he had to identify and address the needs of different stakeholders and understand how his project related to the entire organization.
• Tom Walters could have followed the project life cycle instead of moving full steam ahead with the tablet project. He could have initiated a concept phase and created a committee of faculty and staff to study the concept of increasing the use of technology on campus. This committee might have developed a business case and plan that included an initial, smaller project to investigate alternative ways of increasing the use of technology.
• The President of the college directed a committee for reviewing the concept of requiring students with tablets as several people speak about the idea of having tables at the faculty meeting.