Case Study Of Fdvss

Submitted By wenjonfv
Words: 1391
Pages: 6

Key Facts
• FDVS is a consulting and design firm that has experience rapid global growth which has changed the company’s employee base from 30 to 250 employees in a short period of time.
• Gregoire is an extraordinary talented software developer at FDVS who has the ability to present deep technical authority and experience to both senior management and clientele. He holds the most senior non-management technical position. He can be described as a software development prima-donna who has the characteristics of a rock star; being that he has exceptional talent but is difficult to work with and have a low regard for business requirements.
• The time lag between business hours and Gregorie’s arrival is causing problems with other colleagues that need to communicate with him and is having a profound impact on the current project which is being managed from Amsterdam with Gregorie being the technical lead on it, leading the technical team from Toronto.
• Blake Randolph is responsible for ensuring that FVDS development projects are completed on time and within budget. Randolph is the interface between developers, architects and senior management and oversees approximately 1/3 of the company employees. Randolph is continuously in the position of mediating between disgruntled team members and Gregoire.
• Jacques Riveaux, VP of European Operations, is managing one of FVDS largest clients on a new site launch and has run into an issue where he urgently needs Gregoire who is unavailable and cannot be found. The success of this project is in jeopardy and it is critical to get in touch with Gregoire for his expertise to troubleshoot and resolve the problem.
• Randolph needs to identity how he will resolve the issues surrounding the negatives that Gregoire is contributing to FVDS and in particular this project with the European client. He needs to ensure close monitoring of Projects is being practiced in order to reduce chances of cost over run or failure to meet specifications. Projects have the potential to drastically change over the span of its duration.

Symptoms
• Gregorie refuses to let any of the team work with him on these tasks which could serve the purpose of mentoring and skill building for his technical team
• Lost productivity within projects that Gregoire is assigned to which are critical to the success of FDVS
• Recently, for several days, Gregoire has not arrived at work until well after noon due to the fact he stays late the night before. This is constricting communication between his fellow coworkers and making it nearly impossible for people to communicate him regarding the current project he is leading in Amsterdam.
• Project managers are refusing to work on projects with Gregoire as they resent having to work around his schedule and stay late to communicate with him.
• When Randolph addresses issues of tardiness with Gregoire he is agreeable to accommodate, but slips back to his routine of working late and arriving late.
Underlying Problem
FVDS has experienced rapid global growth and are lacking a clear strategy for the business transformation they required with regards to communicating knowledge between staff, leadership qualities required, and role perceptions.
FVDS’s leading technical architect, Andre Gregoire, is an invaluable asset to FVDS for his knowledge and expertise, yet his work style is having a negative impact on FVDS projects. These negative impacts include lost productivity, strained relationships with project managers and clients, and potential project failure.
The immediate problem is the continuation of the current project in Amsterdam with FVDS’s largest client. Blake Randolph needs to decide if Gregoire remains on this project and if so how to rectify the current issues while maintaining a positive relationship with Gregoire. Another alternative is to remove Gregoire from the project and replace him with developer(s) with less expertise and mitigate any impact that this may have