Hector Gaming Company Scenario

Hector Gaming Company Scenario; College of Administrative and Financial Sciences

 Assignment 1

Project Management (MGT323)

Deadline: 04/03/2021 @ 23:59

For Instructor’s Use only

Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY

• The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated folder.
• Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
• Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may be reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover page.
• Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
• Late submission will NOT be accepted.
• Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions. Assignment requires references.
• All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).
• Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.

Assignment Workload: Hector Gaming Company Scenario

• This Assignment comprise of a Case Study.
• Assignment is to be submitted by each student individually.

 Assignment Purposes/Learning Outcomes:

After completion of Assignment-1 students will able to understand the

1. Demonstrate a deep understanding of project management concepts and theories as well as approaches to project management (L.O-1.1)
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the project budgeting and cost control in project management (L.O-1.6, 4.1)
3. The ability to write a coherent report on project management case studies or new themes. (L.O-4.5)

Hector Gaming Company Scenario; Assignment-1-Case Study

Hector Gaming Company
Hector Gaming Company (HGC) is an educational gaming company specializing
in young children’s educational games. HGC has just completed their fourth year of
operation. This year was a banner year for HGC. The company received a large influx
of capital for growth by issuing stock privately through an investment banking firm.
It appears the return on investment for this past year will be just over 25 percent with
zero debt! The growth rate for the last two years has been approximately 80 percent
each year. Parents and grandparents of young children have been buying HGC’s products almost as fast as they are developed. Every member of the 56-person firm is
enthusiastic and looking forward to helping the firm grow to be the largest and best
educational gaming company in the world. The founder of the firm, Sally Peters, has
been written up in Young Entrepreneurs as “the young entrepreneur to watch.” She has
been able to develop an organizational culture in which all stakeholders are committed
to innovation, continuous improvement, and organization learning.
Last year, 10 top managers of HGC worked with McKinley Consulting to develop
the organization’s strategic plan. This year the same 10 managers had a retreat in Aruba
to formulate next year’s strategic plan using the same process suggested by McKinley
Consulting. Most executives seem to have a consensus of where the firm should go
Final PDF to printer
lar38865_ch02_028-067.indd 61 07/24/19 05:58 PM
Chapter 2 Organization Strategy and Project Selection 61
in the intermediate and long term. But there is little consensus on how this should be
accomplished. Peters, now president of HGC, feels she may be losing control. The frequency of conflicts seems to be increasing. Some individuals are always requested for
any new project created. When resource conflicts occur among projects, each project
manager believes his or her project is most important. More projects are not meeting
deadlines and are coming in over budget. Yesterday’s management meeting revealed
some top HGC talent have been working on an international business game for college
students. This project does not fit the organization vision or market niche. At times
it seems everyone is marching to his or her own drummer. Somehow more focus is
needed to ensure everyone agrees on how strategy should be implemented, given the
resources available to the organization.
Yesterday’s meeting alarmed Peters. These emerging problems are coming at a bad
time. Next week HGC is ramping up the size of the organization, number of new products per year, and marketing efforts. Fifteen new people will join HGC next month.
Peters is concerned that policies be in place that will ensure the new people are used
most productively. An additional potential problem looms on the horizon. Other gaming
companies have noticed the success HGC is having in their niche market; one company
tried to hire a key product development employee away from HGC. Peters wants HGC
to be ready to meet any potential competition head on and to discourage any new entries
into their market. Peters knows HGC is project driven; however, she is not as confident
that she has a good handle on how such an organization should be managed—especially
with such a fast growth rate and potential competition closer to becoming a reality.
The magnitude of emerging problems demands quick attention and resolution.
Peters has hired you as a consultant. She has suggested the following format for
your consulting contract. You are free to use another format if it will improve the
effectiveness of the consulting engagement.
What is our major problem?
Identify some symptoms of the problem.
What is the major cause of the problem?
Provide a detailed action plan that attacks the problem. Be specific and provide
examples that relate to HGC.
Case 2.2
Film Prioritization
The purpose of this case is to give you experience in using a project priority system
that ranks proposed projects by their contribution to the organization’s objectives and
strategic plan.
COMPANY PROFILE
The company is the film division for a large entertainment conglomerate. The main
office is located in Anaheim, California. In addition to the feature film division, the
conglomerate includes theme parks, home videos, a television channel, interactive
games, and theatrical productions. The company has been enjoying steady growth over
the past 10 years. Last year total revenues increased by 12 percent to $21.2 billion.
The company is engaged in negotiations to expand its theme park empire to mainland
China and Poland. The film division generated $274 million in revenues, which was an

Assignment Question:                                                             ( Marks 5)

Please read the Case-2.1 “Hector Gaming Company.”  from Chapter 2 “Organization strategy and Project Selection” given in your textbook – Project Management: The Managerial Process 8^th edition by Larson and Gray page no: 61 also refer to specific concepts you have learned from the chapter to support your answers.  Answer the following questions with 500 Words limit.

Peters has hired you as a consultant. She has suggested the following format for your consulting contract. You are free to use another format if it will improve the effectiveness of the consulting engagement.

Provide a detailed action plan that attacks the problem. Be specific and provide examples that relate to HGC.

1. What is our major problem? (1.5 Marks)

2. Identify some symptoms of the problem. (1.5 Marks)

3. What is the major cause of the problem? (2 Marks)

Hector Gaming Company Scenario; ANSWERS

1. The main problem is prioritization and collaboration. Everyone needs to be on the same page regarding the current and upcoming projects.
2. Some symptoms of the problem seem to be resource conflicts, project managers prioritizing their projects over others, projects not meeting deadlines, and projects coming in over budget.
3. The major cause of the problem is the fact that the project managers never came together and decided how exactly they would reach HGC’s long term and intermediate goals.

HGC executives must set up a meeting and form a consensus on how they will reach the intermediate and long term goals they have already agreed upon. Peters needs to have a little more control of the project managers and the company. HGC should look into obtaining more resources so the PM’s will not have to argue over using them. A prioritization schedule should also be formed to guide the organization. For example, projects that have more demanding due dates should be completed first. Resources should be utilized efficiently and assigned to the more demanding jobs. The international business game for college students should be focused on less and the focus should shift to the needs of the current projects. In regards to the new people being hired, they should be assigned appropriately to the more demanding jobs and perhaps these people should be trained to more flexible and able to shift between the less demanding jobs.