Question

Project Staff Assignments

Project Engineers Kamal Jafa


Lynnette Abela

Development Team Leads Larry Senters

Stacy Whitmire

Outreach Specialist Jason Marks

Budget Officer Lindsey Fine

Contracts Officer Robin Micks

Health Information System Liaison Kyle Holohan,

State Department of Health

Environmental Liaison Ali Reza Ataie,

State Department of Environmental Protection

Media Plan and Campaign Director TBD

Cyber Security Team Lead Kao Vang

2 Additional Cyber Security Specialists TBD

Implementation Manager TBD

Assistant Project Manager TBD

One of your areas of concern is the media plan and campaign. Making sure the public is well-informed about construction and which areas will have traffic disruptions is an essential part of a successful project when public money is involved. You also need to ensure the patients are aware of the advantages of the Patient Portal so the feature is fully utilized once implemented. There are no available in-house resources that can help with this task. As a result, you will need to look for outside help.

One of your old college classmates, Amanda Prichett, is a very competent public relations consultant. Even though she doesn't have a lot of health care experience, you know she would do an excellent job. In addition, she charges very reasonable fees, which is particularly appealing because you want to keep the project budget under control wherever possible.

Another possibility is a public relations firm, Ortega Associates, that Capital Management has used on previous projects. Ortega has an excellent reputation for its work on health care projects, but as a regional firm, it can be quite expensive.

You consider the best way to move forward. Considering Prichett as a candidate for the media planning role does raise some ethics questions. You decide to take a look at the Project Management Institute's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

Make and Support Your Decision

You need a resource to lead the media plan and campaign during the construction phase of the project. You decide to:

1 Hire Amanda Prichett despite her lack of health care project experience because you are confident that she will perform the job at a reasonable price.

2 Hire Ortega Associates, knowing that the firm will perform the job at a more expensive price but that it has extensive health care project experience.

3 Have another member of the team evaluate different public relations vendors—including but not limited to Amanda Prichett and Ortega Associates—and make a recommendation.

Once you've made your selection, write an email to Victor Nguyen, Capital Management’s Project Management Office Director, explaining your decision. Your email must clearly identify which option you chose, justify your choice, and address reasons why the other options are not the best choice.

Answer 1

1. Hire Amanda Prichett without any health care project experience. It is not always that an experienced candidate will perform better. If the budget is low and there is a strong cultural and behavioral match for the candidate, then it is suggested to hire the candidate. With little training, the candidate can perform well.
2. Hiring Ortega Associates yet having the knowledge that they will charge more for the job is a good decision as well. Not everyone working in the project can be naive. Since experienced personnel is required for the job and hiring of Amanda without having any prior knowledge of healthcare, this step was needed.
3. since evaluation by a single person might impose some biasness, so having another person to evaluate the alternatives is a good idea. This will ensure not only free form biasness but also, smoothness of implementation.

Dear Mr. Nguyen,

Greetings from my company,

I would like to mention that we have made the following decisions.

• Hiring Amanda Prichett without any health care project experience. It is not always that an experienced candidate will perform better. If the budget is low and there is a strong cultural and behavioral match for the candidate, then it is suggested to hire the candidate. With little training, the candidate can perform well.
• Hiring Ortega Associates yet having the knowledge that they will charge more for the job is a good decision as well. Not everyone working in the project can be naive. Since experienced personnel is required for the job and hiring of Amanda without having any prior knowledge of healthcare, this step was needed.
• Since evaluation by a single person might impose some biasness, so having another person to evaluate the alternatives is a good idea. This will ensure not only free form biasness but also, smoothness of implementation.

I hope you will agree with this decision that I have made. Kindly let me know if you have any discrepancies.