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Kardan University
Question Sheet
Course Title: Project Management Exam time: 4:00 pm to 11:59 pm.
Instructor: Murtaza Masud Niazi Program: MBA
Session: Evening Semester: Spring 2021
Time: 8 hours Marks: 20 Exam: Mid Term
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS
Deadline:

 Make sure to upload the solution file before the due date in LMS (Portal).
 Any submission made via email after the due date will not be accepted.
Formatting guidelines:

 Font: Times New Roman Font size: 12

 Line spacing: 1.5 Alignment: justify
 Answer sheet submission file format: MS Word
 Write your answers (questions are not required to write on the answer sheet) in the given
MS Word format answer sheet. After completing the paper, save it as a MS-Word file and
upload it.
 Avoid copying from any source. Use your own concept and understanding.
 Handwritten drawing is acceptable. Place clear snapshot at the right place in answer sheet.
 Use black and blue font colors only.
 The deadline for uploading this paper is before11:59 pm, on May 26, 2021.

Referencing guidelines (if applicable):

Use APA style for referencing and citation. For guidance search “APA reference style”
in Google and read various websites containing information for better understanding or
visit http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/APA01.html
Rules for marking:
Please note that your paper will not be graded or graded as Zero (0), if:

 It is submitted after the due date.

 The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt.
 It is in any format other than MS-Word.
 It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc.

Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive to avoid the load shedding issue.

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Note Attempt all of the following questions

Case# 1

Pamir Corporation had decided to respond to a government RFP for the R&D phase on a new
project. The statement of work specified that the project must be completed within ninety
days after go-ahead, and that the contract would be at a fixed cost and fee.
The majority of the work would be accomplished by the development lab. According to
government regulations, the estimated cost must be based on the average cost of the entire
department, which was $19.00 per hour (unburdened).
Pamir won the contract for a total package (cost plus fee) of $305,000. After the first weekly
labor report was analyzed, it became evident that the development lab was spending $28.50
per hour. The project manager decided to discuss the problem with the manager of the
development lab.
Project manager: “Obviously you know why I’m here. At the rate that you’re spending
money, we’ll overrun our budget by 50 percent.”
Lab manager: “That’s your problem, not mine. When I estimate the cost to do a job, I submit
only the hours necessary based on historical standards. The pricing department converts the
hours to dollars based on department averages.”
Project manager: “Well, why are we using the most expensive people? Obviously there must
be lower-salaried people capable of performing the work.”
Lab manager: “Yes, I do have lower-salaried people, but none who can complete the job
within the two months required by the contract. I have to use people high on the learning
curve, and they’re not cheap. You should have told the pricing department to increase the
average cost for the department.”
Project manager: “I wish I could, but government regulations forbid this. If we were ever
audited, or if this proposal were compared to other salary structures in other proposals, we
would be in deep trouble. The only legal way to accomplish this would be to set up a new
department for those higher-paid employees working on this project. Then the average
department salary would be correct.
“Unfortunately the administrative costs of setting up a temporary unit for only two months is
prohibitive. For long-duration projects, this technique is often employed.
“Why couldn’t you have increased the hours to compensate for the increased dollars
required?”
Lab manager: “I have to submit labor justifications for all hours I estimate. If I were to get
audited, my job would be on the line. Remember, we had to submit labor justification for all
work as part of the proposal.
“Perhaps next time management might think twice before bidding on a short duration project.
You might try talking to the customer to get his opinion.”
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Project manager: “His response would probably be the same regardless of whether I
explained the situation to him before we submitted the proeposal or now, after we have
negotiated it. There’s a good chance that I’ve just lost my Christmas bonus.”

QUESTIONS:
1. What is the basis for the problem? (Marks=2)
2. Who is at fault? (Marks=2)
3. How can the present situation be corrected? (Marks=2)
4. Is there any way this situation can be prevented from recurring? (Marks=2)
5. How would you handle this situation on a longer-duration project, say one year, assuming
that multiple departments are involved and that no new departments were established other
than possibly the project office? (Marks=2)

Case # 2

Dawood Hussaini is the Chairman of the Comp-Tech, a privately owned, medium-size

computer Services Company. The company is 20 years old and, until recently, had
experienced rapid growth. Mr. Hussaini believes that the company’s recent problems are
closely related to the depressed Asian economy.

Ms. Halima was hired as the director of corporate planning at Comp-Tech six months ago.
After reviewing the performance and financial statements of Comp-Tech for the last few
years, Ms. Halima has come to the conclusion that the economic conditions are not the real
problem, but rather exacerbate the real problems. She believes that in this Internet era, Comp-
Tech Company’s services are becoming obsolete but the department heads have not been able
to cooperate effectively in reacting to information technology threats and opportunities. She
believes that the strong functional organization impedes the kinds of action required to
remedy the situation. Accordingly, she has recommended that Mr. Hussaini create a new
position, manager of special operations, to promote and use project management techniques.
The new manager would handle several critical projects in the role of project manager.

Mr. Hussaini is cool to the idea. He believes that his functional departments are managed by
capable professional people. Why can’t these high-level managers work together more
efficiently? Perhaps a good approach would be for him to give the group some direction
(what to do, when to do it, who should do it) and then put the functional manager most
closely related to the problems in charge of the group. He assumes that the little push from
him (Comp-Tech) as just described would be enough to “get the project rolling.”

QUESTIONS:

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 1. Keeping in view such a scenario, in your opinion which specific competencies
of project manager should be employed to handle the critical projects of
Comp-Tech. (Marks=2)
2. After this explanation Ms. Halima is more convinced than ever that a separate,
non-functional project manager is required. Is she right? (Marks=2)
3. If a new position is created, what other changes should be made? (Marks=1).
4. If you were the Chairman how would you handle this situation? (Marks= 2)

Case # 3

Shelton, Inc.:

Shelton Inc. is a three - year - old electronics firm that was created by three friends who
worked together as senior engineers at a Fortune 500 electronics firm; Tahir, Raheem, and
Pervez. The three developed handheld scanning devices. Their startup became successful
when they won a major contract from a large software company that wanted to integrate the
chip into a handheld scanner for inventory management.
Shelton ’ s three founders structured their firm as a traditional functional organizational
structure, as that was the environment they came from. After two years, in addition to their
production people, Shelton employed 17 development engineers including a manager, four
designers with a design department manager, three people in the sales and marketing
department, and two administrative personnel as support.
Tahir, Raheem, and Pervez now felt ready to take their “show on the road.” They wanted to
launch three major initiatives: (1) to develop a chip that would work with grocery store
scanners; (2) to get into the hospital point - of - care scanner market; and (3) to upgrade the
chip they were using for their inventory management contract while maintaining their current
commitments.
Tahir and Pervez thought that the current organizational structure could handle the new
initiatives. They wanted to assign each phase of the new development projects to a specific
department. Raheem felt that the traditional approach would not support the need to be quick
to market and that the current contract would always be the priority to each of the department
managers. He wanted to set up project teams reporting directly to Shelton’s three senior
officers.
QUESTION:
1. What organizational structure would you recommend Shelton use to complete the
three initiatives (projects) outlined? Why? (Marks 3).

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