Case 12.2
Dr. Flaherty
School of Business
Wesley Swanson
3 December, 2023
Why does this attempt at project partnering appear to be failing?
The project appears to be failing because there is a lack of problem-solving. Karin seems
to be looking at the horizon and not noticing the problems that are popping up right in front of
her. For example, Karin tells the task force member to settle the problem with the contractor.
This is less of solving a problem and more of a smoothing over or turning another way to try not
to notice what's happening. It appears that this reaches a height after multiple people bring their
concerns to her, and after seeing all of it, she is still confident that this is typical for a project this
size. At the core of why it is failing is a lack of trust between the team members and contractors,
and, ultimately, Karin needs more awareness to try to solve problems.
If you were Karin, what would you do to get this project back on track?
If I was Karin, I would set up a meeting with the contractors and hear all of their
complaints about why it won’t be possible to do certain things within the approved time
period. I would then call in experts and set up another meeting to figure out how to speed
the process up. I would then call one final meeting and clearly outline a realistic strategy
for moving forward and for any future problem-solving to be done through the right
outlined sources.
What action would you take to keep the project on track?
I would start off by throwing the meeting just like Karin did. The major difference
in my meeting, though, would be the preparation and focus. I would still bring in all the big
contractors and have all the representatives from the different departments. I would focus
on specific goals and troubleshooting in case problems come up. My mindset would be to
have a contradictory leadership style of being transactional versus transformational. You
have to motivate them by giving them a goal to hit while also encouraging them to be better
than other teams I’ve worked with in the past. After the meeting, I would aim to have a
schedule for weekly check-ups with all of the contractors and team managers. This would
help to make sure that the team stays on track, and I could carry the motivations to all the
teams.