Essay Example on Project Management and Leadership Challenges

Reasons for the derailment of the project

I am of the view that the project at Payton Financial Services derailed based on two grounds. The first issue gets based the Chief Information Officer, Venkat Nair failing to conduct thorough background checks on the IT employees before selecting them to form part of the team of Stephanie. The checks would have informed about their teamwork ability, work ethics and whether their skills matched the need. The next issue gets founded on lack of a clear communication channel as it gets noted in the case study that after Joe's inability to work with the IT employees, Venkat requested for them to be assigned back to him. The situation saw Stephanie not having ease in communicating to the IT team as the channel had to pass through Venkat.

Advice for Stephanie to get the project back

The advice I would offer to Stephanie is to first provide a one week workshop to the personnel involved in the project. Her areas of focus should be based on providing training on teamwork and work ethics. She should also establish a clear communication channel with herself being at the top to be consulted before things get out of hand. It is clear that both Venkat Nair and Joe Moore are not the best people to offer administrative role based on their irrationality. Lastly, she should also consider skills of those being involved in the project to avoid those whose skills may be below the expectation.

How Stephanie may work to resolve the dispute between Venkat and Joe

It is first important to realize that the dispute between Venkat and Joe got based on the inability of the six IT employees not being used to working as hard as the staff in the unit of Consumer Operations. There were also complaints of them having both poor skills and bad work ethics. Therefore, resolving the dispute involves informing Joe to consider offering to the employees advisory services since he was highly ranked before complaining and for him to retract the negative comments he directed on the employees appointed by Venkat. Stephanie should also advise Venkat to take the challenge positively considering his position and together with Joe develop a better approach that can help in realizing the success of the project.

Whether I have ever been involved in a project where the team was not aligned

It is true I have been involved in a project before where the team was not aligned based on the differences in opinions and each person not being able to accept or share in the view of a colleague. I improved the situation by inviting a more senior individual to offer a three days mentorship on the importance of teamwork and how to move as one since that was the point that was missed by most of my team members.

Whether leadership challenges are different in ad hoc project groups than established long-term teams

It gets important to note that ad hoc groups are tasked with specific roles, unlike long-term teams. Therefore, they have different leadership challenges with the primary one getting based on unfamiliarity with the leadership style of the group leader. The mentioned can get managed by offering a brief training on the essential leadership skills to guide the group. The next difference may be based on the time frame set for meeting an objective. For example, a solution strategy may require the ad hoc group as opposed to the long-term teams whose time limit for achieving an aim may be longer. The situation can also be managed by bringing on board competent and well-composed personnel who can meet an objective even on short deadlines without going wrong.