Question 1
Politics
The project was overseen by the political leaders who used the project as the campaign tool. After winning the mayoral election Pena has no option but to implement the airport expansion project which he has promised the electorates. Pena did not take into consideration the economy of Denver which has declined tremendously and the willingness of the airlines to support the project which led to eventual failure of the project.
Time constraint
The project was also implemented under a very strict timeline which did not give the contractors enough time to undertake feasibility studies thus leading to the failure of the project.
Death of Chief Airport Engineer
The death of Walter Singler is also a major reason for the failure. We have seen in the case study that Singler was well versed with the contractual agreements and has a good leadership skills and his demise was a big blow to the project because there was nobody else who is well versed with the contract and has strong leadership skills like him, which contributed a lot to the failure of project.
I think Webb is most at fault. We are told in the report that Webb postponed the opening of the airport several time without any valid reason and he later called for the press conference to demonstrate the new system to the press without informing the BAE .This shows that Webb was using the project as a political tool to justify his decision of postponing the opening.
QUESTION 2
As Gene difonse I would have cancelled the contract and avert any further losses because it is evident that the leaders of the city council were not committed to the contract and the mayor’s action openly shows that he is setting up the company as the scapegoat for the project failure.
QUESTION 3
Di Fonso should use the contract they signed with city council to sue the council for the breach of the contract.
QUESTION 4
Di Fonso used the traditional management tools of initiation, planning, execution and monitoring
Initiation
The project initiation started after difanso and his team submitted the proposal to construct the luggage system to the city council of Denver.
Planning
The next stage of the project management is planning how the project will be undertaken. After their proposal was accepted the company defined all the specification of the contract and developed an initial prototype of the project so as to be approved by the management of the airport. It is at this stage also the company set the timeline for different activities.
Execution
After the planning stage the company embarked on execution, whereby the project was divided into three departments, namely; mechanical engineering, industrial control and software design. The manager for each department is then appointed so as to undertake the project. This is to ensure that high quality work is undertaken and also to save time.
Monitoring
The monitoring of the work in progress was undertaken by a project manager from stone and Webster a consultant that was hired by the PMT.This was to ensure that the high quality work and the set deadline are adhered to.
