Riordan Manufacturing Going Green Initiative Case Study

Riordan Manufacturing- Going Green Initiative
Brad Archer, Robert Centeno, Richard Estrada, Kristi Seymour
PM 582
January 12, 2015
Professor Shauna Cox

Riordan Manufacturing is a plastics injection molding manufacturer who is pursuing a "Go Green" project. The goal of this project is to build sustainable, environmentally friendly products that will benefit the global corporate community. The project will operate in a fiscally and sustainable manner that will build trust. Our trust will be put into practice by relationship trust, market trust, and societal trust within our stakeholders. In executing our tasks we hope to build our creditability as an organization with integrity, intent, capabilities, and results.
Executive Summary
In this executive summary the team will describe the role of a project leader in the staff making decision arena. The focus on selecting and staffing will be directed in establishing Riordan Manufacturing from a good to great organization as being an industry leader in building sustainable and environmentally friendly products that will
benefit the global community through our internal talents, skills, attitudes, knowledge, and style that represents the Riordan brand. The project leader will identify and address their self-mastery skills when deciding the staffing decisions. The project leader will begin the process by conducting a self-analysis on their strengths and weaknesses, this is a good time for an individual to identify any opportunities for personal growth and or be aware of potential vulnerabilities. Second, the leadership style of the project leader will decide if others would want to be lead by them. Leadership is not about personality; it’s about behavior” (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).
The project leader will focus on building credibility on (1.) Integrity, (2.) Intent, (3.) Capabilities, and (4.) Results. Integrity will be focused on doing the right thing; acting in the best interest of the organization to being open on keeping commitments to himself, the organization, and the team through humility and courage. People expect their leaders to speak out on matters of values and conscience – to act with integrity” (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The project leader 's intent will define the plan and purpose through motivating that inspires trust and caring about people.
The project leader will show their capabilities on why they were chosen to lead the project through talents, skills, knowledge, capacities, and abilities that enable them to perform with excellence. The project leader will display results through their past and present performance on their credibility. Building trust is important to creditability. Trust is one of the most powerful forms of motivation and inspiration, self-trust is all about creditability; it’s about developing the integrity, intent, capabilities, and results that make you believable to yourself and to others” (Covey, 2006).
The project leader will work closely with the Human Resource department and management on recruiting, selecting, and staffing team members based on their talents (strengths), attitudes (on how they see and view themselves), skills (proficiencies), knowledge (their learning, insight, understanding, and awareness), and style (their personalities). Partnering with HR will help to develop in defining the job requirements, responsibilities and tasks, education and experience, and the personal characteristics on the individual being selected. The interviewing process will consist of one or all of the following methods: (1.) Telephone-screening interview or (2.) Initial in-person interview (with a second interview). The staffing formula will be to only bring on top-notch, excellent people, put the right people in the right job, and weed out the wrong people
Riordan Manufacturing is committed to providing products and experiences that make people feel good about themselves. Riordan Manufacturing develops products and solutions that increase performance, profitability and creditability. Encompassing business visibility for today and in the future. Riordan Manufacturing is committed to “working first for their customers” by welcoming a collaborative environment that puts forth unlimited opportunities.
We will do this by: (1). Putting our customer first, (2). Providing a workplace grounded in mutual respect, teamwork, achievement, and integrity, (3). Creating growth opportunities for all members in the organization, (5). Supporting environmental and social responsibility in our workplace and in our community, (6). Managing our company in an economically sustainable manner and (7). Living up to the highest ethical standards in everything we do. We believe that accomplishing this we will provide professional opportunities for our employees as well as financial rewards for our shareholders. The accomplishment is that project leader selects the right talent to make the best team possible.
Interview Question Summary
As an important step of forming the project team is the interview process. Once screening of qualifications has been accomplished, candidates for the project team are ranked and the top-ranked candidates are chosen for the interview. The interview, according to Ghiselli (2004) the interview is a social interaction between interviewer and candidate. Primarily, the interview process is to select the best qualified candidate for a specific job” (Purcell, 1944).
The purpose of selecting questions to ask involves different tactics the interviewer needs to employ to help make the applicant at ease, for example, promoting a “conversation” rather than a formal interview. This will lead to a greater dissemination of information and permit the interviewer to gauge the candidate at a greater depth than otherwise could be attained. Through this “conversation” greater depth can be attained” (Mayfield, 1964).
For our interview process, once the Project Manager obtains a comfort level with the candidate, the Project Manager will to begin to ask each candidate questions regarding their approaches to specific tasks regarding the jobs they have applied for - “What is your approach to…” and “Describe your leadership or management style” these types of questions will give insight to how they view the role, and whether they would make a good fit on the specific project team. Asking questions to identify position priorities will reveal what the candidate views as most important in the role they will play on the project team. Questions such as “What is most important to you as a transportation manager?” or “How do you see the tasks on this project as being useful?" can give great insight to how the candidate would view the role they have applied for and if their vision matches up with the vision statement of the project team” (Lencioni, 2002).
Technical proficiency of each position should then be explored. Questions involving ISO 9001 Quality Standards can reveal the candidate’s proficiency and understanding of quality standards and how these standards will fit within the project team. Questions involving risk and risk analysis (common risks for a logistics manager, for example) can give insight into whether the candidate has a full appreciation for the role to which he has applied. The Project Manager can gauge the chemistry, technical proficiency, and obtain the confidence the candidate will meet the needs of the project team and will fit within the framework of the team to achieve the desired goals.

Go Green Justification Role/Responsibilities The first person chosen to be on this project is Janice McBride, she is the CEO 's Executive Assistant. She will be the Project Manager. As the Executive Assistant to CEO, and at age 52, she is a seasoned, mature competent employee. On the Riordan Organizational Chart she is on the same level as the COO and Sr. VP (and is hopefully well liked). As an Executive, she should be leading more and this is a great project, with company wide exposure. Her ability to get people engaged, or on the phone because she works for the CEO is a huge networking opportunity or career move for team members to be a part of an effective team implementing a company-wide initiative for anyone involved. The job description states that this position provides administrative support (copying, word processing, scheduling, etc.) for one or more managers. Must be skilled at word processing, use of spreadsheets and calendaring software. The next level of the Go Green project structure are the Assistant Program Mangers. There will be two. The first is Allen Tanis, an Assistant Plant Manager from Albany, Georgia. At 52 years of age, Allen assists the plant director with day-to-day operations. He supervises teams of production workers, reviews daily and weekly schedules, ensures that all production targets are met, he troubleshoots as necessary. His job description and strengths will support the mission of this project. He is a mature, seasoned employee and we need buy in from the various locations and he is from Georgia. The next Assistant Program Manager is Bernard Nykamp, who is an Assistant Plant Manager in Pontiac, Michigan. He is 54, and he assists the Midwest plant director with day-to-day operations. Supervises teams of production workers, reviews daily and weekly schedules, ensures that all production targets are met, and he troubleshoots as necessary. His job description and strengths will support the mission of this project. He is a seasoned, mature employee and we need buy in from the various locations. The remaining five positions on the project will be held by the following people.
Andrea Gamby. She is an Employee Relations Manager. Her role will be to Reduce Office Space. She is 37, and supervises employee-related programs, manages resolution of employee relations problems and develops new employee-related programs. Since this task will impact people directly and it is proactive to have someone from HR handling this portion of the project. Next, Bernard Lammen is a Transportation Manager. He will be managing the Transportation deliverables on this project. He is 52, a seasoned, mature employee. His current position states that he conducts studies on company freight and passenger classifications, rates and tariffs and formulates changes required to provide for increased revenues and profitability of operations. These strengths will support the mission of his aspect of the
project. Meridth Baxter is a Materials Engineer. Her role on the Go Green Project will be to implement Solar Panels. She is 43, a seasoned Riordan employee, and her job description states that she evaluates technical and economic factors, recommending engineering and manufacturing actions for attainment of design objectives of process or product. Since Riordan has not yet used Solar, this is a new technical aspect to the company that needs engineering support. Robert Lord is a Director of Plant Operations. He will be responsible for Factory Machinery on the Go Green Project. He is 45, and his job description states that he directs production, distribution and marketing operations for branch plant, or assigned territory of industrial organization. Factory machinery will impact this section of the business and needs someone from that sector involved. Finally, David Hamilton is a Logistics Manager. He will be in charge of Waste Reduction for the Go Green Project. He is 46, and his position states that he directs and coordinates program activities designed to vendors and customers with logistics technology that ensures effective and economical support concerned for manufacturing or servicing of products. Implementing the new waste initiative will require this expertise.

Interview Questions
Project Manager
1. What is your approach to managing a complex project?
2. What is the most challenging decision you have had to make at Riordan?
3. Describe how you manage conflict.
4. How do you estimate value and allocate resources?
5. How will you do communicate with stakeholders?
6. What software have you used to manage projects in the past?
7. Tell me about a time when you had two key stakeholders with opposing views. How did you manage that?

Assistant Project Manager

1. How would your staff and colleagues describe your leadership style?
2. Tell me about a time when you failed as a leader.
3. How would you convince a manager who is resistant to change that your solution would help him?
4. How often do you update stakeholders, and how do you communicate those updates?
5. How would you deal with a team leader who consistently fails to meet deadlines?
6. Tell me about a project that involved you interpreting a large amount of data
7. What project management software have you used?

Employee Relations Manager

1. What project management software have you used?
2. If you saw a coworker doing something dishonest, what would you do?
3. What would you do if someone in management asked you to do something unethical?
4. Tell us about a time that you have experienced a loss for doing what is right?
5. In what business situations do you feel honesty is appropriate?
6. Do you think that this project is useful for employees?
7. Describe from an ethical standpoint what should the relationship between a supervisor and their employee consist of?

Transportation Manager

1. Give an example of your greatest challenge as a Transportation Manager?
2. What kind of software application do you think is important for Transportation Manager?
3. What kind of personality do you work best with and why?
4. What is the hardest decision you have had to make as a Transportation Manager?
5. Do you believe this project is useful to employees?
6. How would your staff and colleagues describe your leadership style?
7. How often do you interact with stakeholders, and how do you or would you communicate those updates?

Material Engineer Manager

1. What software do you really know?
2. Do you think this project will be useful to employees?
3. How do you solve problems?
4. Describe how customers and teamwork work together?
5. What is "Materials Requirement Planning"?
6. What is "Just In Time"?
7. What is "Flow Control"?

Director Plant Operations

1. How much work experience do you have in the production and manufacturing industry?" and "What subsectors of the manufacturing industry are you most familiar with -- transportation, chemical, food-and-beverage, furniture?"
2. Do you think that project will be useful to the company? Why or Why not?
3. What are top three skills are needed to be a successful Plant Operations Manager?
4. What has been your greatest challenge as a Plant Operations Manager?
5. Describe a hard decision you have had to make as a Plant Operations Manager?
6. How do you apply ISO 9001 to your Plant?
7. How would your staff and colleagues describe your leadership style?

Logistic Manager Waste Reduction

1. Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it?
2. Define teamwork. What examples can you give of how you contribute toward a teamwork environment?
3. Do you see this project as useful to the company?
4. How would you define success?
5. Do you know anything about Waste?
6. What is the hardest part of your current position, and why?
7. Tell us about a time that you have experienced a loss for doing what is right?

Conclusion

The project manager uses several strategies to ensure success. Some of the strategies of a project manager include a communication plan, a scope management plan, a risk management plan, and a work breakdown plan. This paper highlights the steps of creating a project organizational chart and identifying members of a team through a selection process.

References

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