1. What are the benefits and drawbacks of starting most new hires at the help desk function?

2. What are the potential problems with requiring project team members to be involved in multiple projects at the same time? What are the potential advantages?

3. What signals does the department send by making "project manager" the highest position in the department?

CaseStudy I - The IT Department at HamelinHospital
HamelinHospital is a large (700-bed) regional hospital in the northeasternUnited States. The information technology (IT) department employs75 people and has an operating budget of over $35 million. Thedepartment is responsible for managing 30-40 projects, ranging fromsmall (redesigning computer screens) to very large, such asmultimillion-dollar system development projects that can run forover a year. Hamelin's IT department has been growingsteadily, reflecting the hospital's commitmment to expandingits information storage and processing capacitieent to expandingits information storage and processing capacities. The twoprincipal functions of the IT department aredeveloping new softwareapplications and maintaining the current information system.Project management is a way of life for the department.
IT department jobs fall into one of five categories: (1) help-desktechnician, (2) programmer, (3) senior programmer, (4) systemsanalyst, and (5) project manager. Help-desk technicians fieldqueries from computer system users and solve a wide range ofproblems. Most new hires start at the help desk, where they canbecome familiar with the system, learn about problem areas, becomesensitive to users' frustrations and concerns, and understandhow the IT department affects all hospital operations. Asindividuals move up the ladder, they join project teams, ether asprogrammers or system analysts. Finally, five project managersoversee a constantly updated slate of projects. In addition, theworkload is always being supplemented by new projects. Teampersonnel finish one assignment and then move on to a new one. Thetypical IT department employee is involved in seven projects, eachat a different stage of completion.
The project management system in place at Hamelin is well regarded.It has spearheaded a tremendous expansion of the hospital'sIT capabilities and thus helped it to gain a competitive advantageover other regional hospitals. Recently, in fact, Hamelin began"farming out" its IT services on a fee-for-servicesasis to competing hospitals needing help with their records,administration, order entry systems, and so forth. Notsurprisingly, the results have improved the hospital's bottomline: At a time when more and more health care organizations arefeeling the effects of spiraling health care costs,Hamelin's IT department has helped the hospital sustaincontinuous budget increases, additional staffing, a larger slate ofprojects, and a track reocrd of success.