Wolves

You are to write a detailed analysis of this case keeping in mind the detailed objective and the various questions given below. This case addresses priority setting, aggregate project planning, and governance issues that are a source of conflict and management difficulty in most companies as they relate to a Project Management Office (PMO). The learning objectives, even though these are not primarily IT issues they often impact the IT process, are:

1. The difficulty in setting priorities in a company in which views differ about what is most important;

2. The importance of deciding priorities in a way consistent with company objectives and strategies;

3. How over commitment of scarce resources can lead to dysfunctional outcomes;

4. The relevance of transparency and perceived fairness to the credibility and potential for acceptance of such a process;

5. Alternative designs of processes for allocating scarce funds to company projects; and

6. How the questions that have to be answered when deciding IT priorities sometimes force companies to confront uncomfortable inconsistencies and ambiguities in their thinking about strategy and the way things ought to work.

Questions to consider as you read and write your analysis of the case:

1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America?

2. Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process?

3. Who controls the budgets from which IT projects are funded at Volkswagen of America?

4. Who should control these budgets? Should the IT department have its own budget?

5. How should Matulovic respond to his fellow executives who are calling to ask him for special treatment outside the new priority management system?

6. What should Matulovic do about the unfunded Supply Flow project?