”Samuel, this is Angelique calling again. It is Wednesday at 9 o’clock. I need to talk to you. I haven’t heard from you in a while, and I need an update on the project. There are also some changes to the equipment placement in the building that I want to discuss with you. I tried to e-mail you several times over the past couple weeks, but I get a message back that my e-mails are undeliverable. Are you having a problem with your e-mail? Please call me today. I have to give a report to our board of directors on Monday, and I need to know the status of the project.” Angelique hung up the phone after leaving the voice message. She was not happy. She had been trying to get in touch with Samuel for several weeks. She thought to herself, ”That’s it! If he doesn’t call back today, I’m calling his boss first thing in the morning.” Angelique was the newly appointed plant manager for ElectroTech Corporation’s new manufacturing facility that Thomson Industries was designing and building for ElectroTech in Ireland. She was currently located at ElectroTech’s headquarters in Boston, but would be relocating to Ireland as soon as the construction started. Samuel was the project manager for Thomson Industries, the prime contractor for the design and construction of the new factory. His office was in Dallas. Although he had managed several projects in the past, they were smaller and were in the Dallas region. He got to know most of the subcontractors from working with them on various projects. The ElectroTech project was by far the largest and most complex project ever assigned to him. For example, on this project, two of the major subcontractors who would be supplying equipment for the factory were located in Germany and Japan. At the start of the project, Samuel called a brief team meeting and confidently told them, ”Boston and Ireland are no different than Dallas. And as far as the German and Japanese subcontractors are concerned, my approach will be straightforward. Build the equipment according to our specifications and deliver it on time, or they don’t get paid. It’s as simple as that. No excuses, no negotiations. The ElectroTech contract has a bonus clause in it for early completion, and I intend to make it. So we got to play hardball with all our subcontractors; we can’t let any of their delays screw up our chances for the bonus. And another thing—we need to be very tough on entertaining any changes from the customer. That will give them a reason for delays and an excuse for not paying the bonus.” Chapter 12 Project Communication and Documentation 399 ”We got some pretty good senior people assigned to this project so we should be able to start fast. Everyone should pretty much know what needs to be done, so we shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time in meetings discussing and figuring things out. We can focus all our time on doing the job rather than talking about it. Don’t bog me down with paperwork or e-mails. I’ll have enough to do tracking our budgets and schedules, keeping on top of our subcontractors, keeping ElectroTech from making a bunch of changes, and keeping our own management off our backs.” When Samuel came back to his office after lunch, Penny, his administrative assistant, said, ”I checked your voice messages, and Angelique left another one. She said she needs to talk to you—something about changes. She also said something about your e-mail not working.” Samuel responded, ”Changes, I knew it! That’s exactly why I don’t want to talk to her. Just like a woman, changing her mind already about something or another. Thank god men don’t do that or we’d never get anything done. And as for my e-mails, I had Larry do something to my computer so whoever sends me an e-mail will get a message back that it’s undeliverable. After a while they’ll get the message that I’m not interested in getting copies of everybody’s e-mails full of trivia and details.” Penny told Samuel, ”You really should check your e-mails; some could be very important.” Samuel snapped back, ”I’ve managed plenty of successful projects—all without e-mail. More work and less talk—that’s the key to project success.” Penny said, ”Maybe I can ask Larry to have your e-mails forwarded to me, so at least I can screen them.” ”Go ahead if you want to,” replied Samuel. ”You’re just going to make a whole lot of work for yourself. If something is really important, people will figure out how to get in touch with me. How do you think we managed before we had e-mail? Besides, with you screening my voice mail, I can control my time and decide who I need to talk to and when, and not get snagged with people calling me and telling me why they can’t do something; because they always figure a way to get it done anyway. They just got to get in the habit of solving problems when they come up, and not running to the boss and whining about it.” Samuel didn’t return Angelique’s voice message. The next morning she called Michael Jetson, vice president of projects for Thomson Industries and Samuel’s boss. She blasted him about Samuel not returning her phone calls and e-mails. She threatened to put a hold on all future payments of Thomson’s invoices if Samuel didn’t get back to her. Michael walked to Samuel’s office. Samuel was reviewing the project cost reports. ”Samuel, I got a call from Angelique at ElectoTech. She was pretty upset. She said you haven’t returned her calls, and she needs to talk with you.” Samuel responded, ”That’s absolutely right. And you know why I’m not getting back to her? Because she wants to make a whole bunch of changes and that will delay this project big time and screw up our chances for that early completion bonus.” ”I told her you’d call her back, Samuel, so please get back to her today. This is an important project for us; and I don’t want an unhappy customer,” said Michael. ”Michael, you know how women are. They get emotional over things. I’ll get back to her and calm her down. It would have been nice if she would have 400 Part 3 People: The Key to Project Success told me that she was going to call you rather than just going around my back, but that’s a woman for you!” replied Samuel. After Michael left Samuel’s office, Penny brought in a fax from the Japanese subcontractor. It stated, ”We have reviewed the recently revised equipment specifications that you sent us. We found that they were changed without our knowledge. Some of the performance requirements have changed significantly, and we regret that they cannot be met unless we do substantial engineering redesign. We would like to meet with you to discuss the additional costs required for such additional design efforts to meet your revised specifications.” Samuel said, ”That’s a joke. We’re not paying them an extra dime. They got plenty of money in the subcontract to do any more design that is needed. I’m not about to negotiate with them for more money. They better realize that in America we don’t do business that way, or at least I don’t. Penny, draft a letter to them for my signature telling them that we do not see a basis to provide additional funds. They knew the initial specifications were marked Preliminary and should have anticipated that further engineering design would be required once things got firmed up. Make the letter short and firm. I don’t want to leave any opening for getting into any of those you-got-to-save-face negotiations.” ”Two more things Penny,” said Samuel. ”Schedule a project meeting tomorrow with whoever is around. I got to get an update on some of this stuff that’s going on. I need to find out if anyone has been talking with the Japanese or Angelique without me knowing about it. I tell you, if I find out that’s been going on, some folks are going to have some sore butts after the meeting. Don’t people know it’s their job to keep me informed? And a second item. Call Angelique and see if she can fly to Dallas on Friday for a meeting. I don’t have time to go there; I got a tennis match with an old buddy Friday night. Besides she’s the one who needs to talk to me, so let her come here. Maybe that will cool her down. Also make reservations for us at that new restaurant near the mall. After I sweet-talk her over a couple drinks at lunch, I’ll suggest she go to the mall to shop before she heads back to Boston. Shopping—that’s what women need to get rid of their stress, right Penny?”
CASE QUESTIONS
- What are the communication errors Samuel made?
- What should Angelique do when she gets the phone call from Penny asking her to come to Dallas to meet with Samuel?
- Is there anything more Michael could have said or done in his conversation with Samuel about Angelique’s phone call? Should Penny do anything about Samuel’s communication style and insensitive comments?
- What would be the elements of a good communication plan for managing a multinational project such as this?