The COO of a global knowledge-outsourcing and technology-services firm
has been selected by his company's board of directors to step in and
rescue a large-scale digitization project that is in danger of missing
its rapidly approaching deadline. The project requires the firm to
create digital archives of a daily American newspaper, spanning 150
years. With teams from two different countries paired to work on this
significant venture, things quickly go awry on several levels as a
result of misunderstandings about client expectations, lack of employee
training (both from a standpoint of cultural awareness and with respect
to the use of new technology), and poor project management. The COO must
quickly develop an action plan to address these issues and ensure the
success of the project in the face of an ultimatum from the client:
deliver the project on time or lose it completely.In the role of the
COO, students must create an action plan to overcome the issues that
threaten to derail the project.