Puerto Rico Education Project Case Prep and Reflection

Problem/Issue Statement

The scope of the problem was the inadequate project planning ranging from project and personnel development plans.

Lack of thorough research about the project and the factors that might affect its success once implementation starts. This lead to top management misclassifying the project as a domestic one because puerto Rico is a part of the united states but the fact that it has different culture, system, and language was not considered.

In addition, risks and threats that developed as the project progressed were not adequately managed. The system to be developed was still not specifically defined and most employees selected for this project only had experience with clearly defined military projects with detailed objections. PREP was not a clearly defined type of project.

Symptoms:

Housing problems was not anticipated in that most houses close to the beach were above the budgeted price. Affordable housing were much smaller and uncomfortable for the families. The required time to finish construction of the considerably priced houses was more than the six-week time planned by the USCO for all employees to be off expenses.

Other condition in Puerto Rico were very different from that of the United States which was unexpected. Living expenses were 15% much higher. The educational standard and environment  in puerto Rico was very low and would require the project children to attend private schools and the employees would pay out of their own pocket.

No accessible means of communication, and language was a major communication problem because spanish was a major language in peurto Rico.

Low employee morale. Overall, employees were very uncomfortable and unhappy, and also frustrated majorly because they were not properly informed about the  situations they would encounter on this project.

Decision Criteria:

• Cost effective: the project is already going out of budget, therefore controlling how more money is spent should be considered
• Time effective: The goals planned to be achieved in the fist year alone has not be attained so time has become a crucial criteria for decision.
• High morale and productivity which will directly lead to the success of the project being completed

Plausible Alternative Courses of Action and their Evaluation

Letting employees go

If the the employees are let go, finding jobs for them would be a major problem because other projects have been completed since the company policy guaranteed them a job in the U.S. The company have also invested substantially in these employees by paying for their transportation from the United States and also investing time to respond to their personal needs. These investments has not been recouped yet and there would also be additional expenses in sending them back. Not to mention that most of the employees who wanted to leave were also excellent performers, and losing them would be a difficult problem and some of the complex programming they started were near completion. This alternative does not meet any of the decision criteria. It is not cost effective. It not time effective, and would not support productivity and smooth success of the project completion.

Classifying this project as an international project and Keeping the employees by improving living condition

This would require the company to spend more money in overcoming the barriers they already have which is low morale. But when analyzing, the same money would still be spent in sending them home, there fore it is better to spend it on the alternative that would yield results in the future. The investments already made in the employees would provide a return in ROI for the company. Since most of the employees are highly qualified to do the job, it would not be a smart move to let them go and employ some people from Peurto Rico whom the company cannot confidently rely on them to do the job.

Since more than the budgeted money and time have already been spent on the project, this alternative does not meet the time and cost decision criteria but will meet productivity since employees will be happier if the morale is improved.

Cancel Project.

Another alternative would be to cancel the project and consider every investment made as sunk cost. However, the companys reputation will be damaged and employees would be jobless when returned back to the U.S because other projects have been completed. Also more money will be spent to relocate them.

Recommendation

The quality and logical recommendation would be to reclassify the project as an international one. It does not meet the time and cost decision criteria, infact it would require more money spend in order to improve moral but in the long run, this alternative is teh best because productivity will increase once employees are happy and the project completion would be successful. This is in contrast with the idea of completely canceling the project which will hurt company’s reputation and a lot of time and money being wasted with nothing in return. Or Letting unhappy employees go with  no guarantee of other jobs waiting for them in the U.S. This will also hurt both the company and the employees and will send the message that the company is incapable of satisfying their employees or incapable of fighting through tough situations.

Reflection:

The JAGR consultants recommended that the company maintain 7 happy employees and hire Puerto Rican programmers to replace unhappy employees which if I understand correctly, implies that the company would save on salaries for Puerto Rican employees and their living expenses.

The recommendation seem to encourage employee inequality in regards to how they are rewarded. it means that the Puerto Rican employees would be paid less solely because they didn't come from the U.S. I am strongly against this alternative because I am a big advocate for equality in the workplace and against discrimination, and if anyone should be rewarded higher, it should be based on their qualifications.

Unless qualification basis would be the reason why the Puerto Ricans would be paid less. If that is the case, it still does not seem to be the best alternative that should be recommended. Why send highly qualified programmers home and replace them with under qualified programmer?

It was stated clearly that no more jobs are left in the U.S for employees who want to return home. So I still recommend that the Project should be reclassified as an international one, so more money can be spent on living expenses which will improve morale and improve the happiness of the employees, thus productivity.