Saturday, April 11, 2020

Fauquier Gas Company free essay sample

In this case study presented by Hood (n. d. ), Fauquier Gas Company is up against a timeline to supply a new construction project in the works where agricultural land was being developed into residential and commercial use. Fauquier Gas Company is looking for supplier to help with building of 3 ? miles of new gas pipe that will go online by beginning of September. The manager of supply management Mr. Murphy is having trouble getting any purchasing request for the new pipeline from Mr. Charlie Buck and the specifications from the design team to know what he needs to order. This project is to be complete in the next five months to meet the new gasoline project. The vice-president of operations for Fauquier Gas Company has the management control over the supply organization including Mr. Murphy, construction project manager Clive Byers, design engineer Pat Wilson, and design Superintendent Charlie Buck. Mr. Murphy faced many logistical and supply problems from the very beginning of this project. We will write a custom essay sample on Fauquier Gas Company or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lead-time is essential for design team getting all the information on the new pipe to the Mr. Murphy so he can get the much need specification out to the need vendors to supply the correct materials for the upcoming project that need to finish by September. The biggest problem that Mr. Murphy came across was the new specifications for the new pipe were the wall thickness and length was different from previous purchases which could hurt in finding new vendor or seeing if older vendor can meet specifications on the new pipe. Pat Wilson informed Mr. Murphy the reason for the different specifications was the operation of the line would be governed by less stringent specifications and using 57-foot-length pipe versus â€Å"random double normal† (40 feet plus or minus 5 feet) would reduce welding costs. The coating for the pipe was also another problem that Mr. Murphy faced as no of team was communicating with each other on how to get the project and design in on time to help the supply manager with his job. II. Major Problems: The cross-functional team failed to overcome organizational resistance because not all functional areas were involved up front, and this helps reduce organizational resistance to decisions that will affect specific functional areas. (Burt, p. 40) III. Possible Solutions: a. The cross functional team should include Pat Wilson, Charlie Buck , Sam Law, Bill Murphy, and Clive Byers as they need to sit down with each other to get all the needed specifications and designs in place before starting this project. The advantages of having sit down with each other than sending emails back forth on new changes to pipe and coating could help with the much need lead time to fix or find a vendor to meet the new specifications. The emails going back-and-forth between Mr. Murphy and Mr. Wilson, which could possibly lead to a delay in completing the project. The team can design a plan of approach once the estimated time for delivery of the pipes to meet the requirements of 45-day project. b. Mr. Murphy could possibly have too many additional functions that he performs as the supply manager for Fauquier Gas Company which could hurting him put his full effort into the cross functional team. The vice-president of operations might need to help Mr. Murphy during this time so he can get all the necessary material for the upcoming project. The vice-president of operations should focus on minimizing role conflict between functional and team assignments. Pat Wilson, Charlie Buck, Sam Law, Bill Murphy, and Clive Byers working on cross-functional team should be there main priority until this project is complete due to time line and lead times needed for materials. c. Fauquier Gas Company has a cross-functional team has acted more as individuals than as a team. Mr. Murphy, Mr. Byers, Mr. Buck, and Mr. Wilson did not understand the cross-functional team approach which in turn his hurting the team. The team of supply management, engineering, and design changes that need to be fixed with enough lead-time to accommodate the specifications so the new pipe can be bought. The advantage of applying enhanced problem resolution is the solution to a number of problems are not under the control of the vendor but the one requesting the materials for the project. IV. Choice and Rationale: My choice would be A. above. The reason for choosing A is a cross functional team is best way to fix all problems while everyone is sitting at the table to discuss new changes in the project. Pat Wilson, Charlie Buck, Sam Law, Bill Murphy, and Clive Byers working on cross-functional team could of prevented the supply mangers problems from occurring with just simple communication with the changes in pipe specifications, wrapper, supplier, cost, and timelines could hurt in finding the new material needed for the project. The team would of cut out the back and forth emails on the project due them sitting down and talking. Burt Pinkerton (2010) identified â€Å"a good rule of thumb is 10 hours of preparation for every hour of face-to-face discussions† (372). This would assured that the work to be completed by Fauquier Gas Company would have been completed on time.