Case Study : Blue Spider project

Project Summary:

The Blue Spider Project is a project by Parks Corporation whose main aim is to attempt to
increase the capabilities of the Spartan missile. The project was contracted to the Lord
Industries and Parks Corporation would be a subcontractor for the Army`s Spartan Program.
The project was to be handled by Henry Gable and Gary Anderson. Due to the fact the survival
of the Parks Corporation depended on profits received from production programs it was
necessary that they employed the best production managers to reduce cost of the project and
increased profitability hence Gary was chosen to be one of those heading the project. Gary is
given an attractive offer to lead the project because he had an excellent R&D background and
an understanding of what the project entailed as an engineer. But as soon as he takes the
project things start to go wrong for him. From the case study it is clear that he lacks the required
to skill set and experience to handle such a project. It is clear from the whole experience that
project management requires profound experience together with advanced knowledge. Gary is
given an attractive offer to lead the project because he had an excellent R&D background and
an understanding of what the project entailed as an engineer. But as soon as he takes the
project things start to go wrong for him. From the case study it is clear that he lacks the required
to skill set and experience to handle such a project. It is clear from the whole experience that
project management requires profound experience together with advanced knowledge. Gary
comes to realize in the end that having a good technical background does not necessary mean
one will be an exceptional project manager, one needs to have a certain amount of managerial
skills to go with. The project carries a brief overview about the possible obstacles faced by Gary,
the application of managerial thinking and demonstration of the different aspects of project
management.
The Highlights section deals with the factors that determine the success of the projects. The
problems identified in the case of the Blue Spider Project are also discussed in this section. The
paper continues with the presentation of the steps of the Blue Spider Project in order to
determine how and why the project was planned as presented. The conclusion section presents
the learning outcomes from this case.
Highlights:

Business world trends have determined businesses to create project-based strategies. This
will enable them to enhance their executive project management efforts and procedures.
However, due to the various variables that affect them, it is hard to create effective projects. The
success of these projects depend on the project manages and their teams, but also on the
resources that the company can use in these projects. In addition to this, organizational culture
plays a very important role in the type of projects developed by companies.
Parks Corporation is a company that concentrated mainly on R&D business, doing projects
for the Department of Defense (DoD). Parks Corporation has changed its focus over the years
from predominantly R&D business to a low-cost production facility. The recession resulted in the
company retrenching a number of employees, the staff compliment going from 6500 to 2200.
Parks tried almost every project management organizational structure before finally settling on
the matrix form. Each project also had an assistant project manager— usually a project
engineer— who reported directly to the project manager and indirectly to the engineering
director. The project manager was mainly concerned about price and time, while the assistant
program manager was more worried about technical results. In 1975, the corporate strategy
changed again with the upturn of DoD spending. Parks began to beef up its R&D engineering
staff.
Owing to the salaries that Parks was offering their access to experienced engineers was
limited so they opted to employing mainly young inexperienced engineers, straight out of
college, like Gary Anderson. Gary was an outstanding production engineer and was promoted
to senior scientist responsible for all R&D activities performed in the Mechanical Engineering
department.
In January 1978, Parks Corporation decided to bid for Phase I on the Blue Spider Project,
with Lord Industries as the prime contractor for the Army’s Spartan Program. The project was to
improve structural capabilities and the age life of the short range tactical missile, which was
exhibiting fatigue failure after 6 years in the field. The criteria for a subcontractor were not only a
low bid, but technical expertise and management performance. Parks Corporation felt that they
had a distinct advantage over most competitors, as they had worked on other successful
projects for Lord Industries.

From the beginning of the project the following problems were evident:
• Project Kickoff, this was done informally and without specific guidelines.
• The Proposal was unethically won, by not disclosing the truth. Even when the Parks
Corporation design allowed operation only up to 130 oF, the proposal mentioned that the
design can operate up to 155 oF; this was done to please the customer.
• Parks Corporation Management is deemed to have behavioral problems.
• The Operational Process needed to be improved.
• The Organization architecture / Relations needs are to be clearly defined and followed.
• The 9 areas of Project Management knowledge were not used, Integration Management,
Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human
 Resource Management, Communications Management, Risk Management and Procurement
Management.

Solutions to Blue Spider Project being successful are:

• Follow formal Project Management Methodology being followed.
• A competent project manager, involve the Program Manager and Functional Management
every step of the way.
• A competent project team, sufficient resources
• Top management support and leadership.
• Project aligned to Company Strategy with correct priority all through the project.
• Customer involvement and regular consultation (Lord’s Industries).
• Communication throughout the Project, proper monitoring, feedback, measurement, appraisals
and review of deliverables.

From start to finish, the case has made the following key decisions to

Relation with Project Management:

Further studies:

Project theory aspects:

Conclusion: