Situation 6: Parts needed urgently
We are in the head office of Windfarming Ltd. in London. Simon Crawford, Chief Engineer, and Jim White, Project Management Engineer, are discussing some problems.
The first problem concerns spare parts at the blade factory. They try to find out who is responsible for the delays in delivery.
The second problem is lack of spare parts at the assembly plant. They establish that the problem is one of setting priorities.
They agree on an action plan to deal with these points.
Before you start...
The following notes will help you get the most from this situation.
Think about these questions: How do you find out where the problem is? Is it your responsibility to solve the problem?
- Do you have all the information on facts you need?
- Should you involve others in tackling the problem?
- Who needs to be told?
It’s a bad day at your work site.
There are complaints about the heat, the air conditioning breaks down and the operating machines keep blowing fuses.
Just where do you start tackling the problem?
What would you do first?
- Call the air conditioning company.
- Ring the technical support number for the operating machines.
- Lay off the staff for the rest of the day.
- Find out what happened when and in what order.
In situation 6 you will develop fact-finding skills that are part of the decision-making process as seen in situation 4.
- Take part in the dialogue.
- Do the activities.
- You will develop fact-finding and problem-solving strategies.
Good luck!
Dialogue
Listen to the whole dialogue:
Explore Dialogue
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Strategic Activities
Introduction
Find out & Ask
Consider, Take down & Summarise
FACTS – Additional Exercises
