Need for Project Management

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Need for Project Management: Caselet 02

Decotilé, a French company, produces and markets a variety of tiles made of wood, ceramic, marble and granite. Decotilé has a high quality granite production facilities at seven quarries located in India. The company exports slabs of granite of different sizes and shapes (that are used for a variety of decorative applications) to Europe, Asia and the United States of America. In the late 90s, Decotilé's granite product sales increased dramatically, and the company found it impossible to cater to demand from its existing seven quarries. In Jan 1999, Decotilé decided to set up a project to expand its granite production capacity at the existing quarries. Experts recommended a four fold capacity expansion of the quarries to cater to market demand. The quarries are located in a remote area, inhabited by a nomadic tribe facing extinction. They are surrounded by meadows on which the tribals' cattle graze.

Each of the seven sites had open-air quarries, a waste dump where the stone chips and the waste generated from mining activity was dumped, an office building, a maintenance yard for storing machinery and other raw materials, and housing quarters for hundred and sixty employees. Granite was extracted from the quarries, using machinery or manual labor, and was shifted to a processing plant where the final cutting, shaping and polishing would be done.

The proposed project required Decotilé to acquire 600 acres of surrounding land. As the quarries are about 80 to 100 km away from any major town, management will have to hire and relocate labors to work at these sites. Due to the adverse conditions prevailing in that area, the company has to source everything from nearby towns to provide basic amenities to its employees.

Finally, after 6 months of successful lobbying, Decotilé got permission from the government to expand the quarries. On 13th July 1999, Decotilé formally announced the start of the expansion project to the local press. The project soon ran into trouble. An NGO filed a suit against it, alleging that the proposed project would be a serious threat to the environment and the tribe whose numbers are already dwindling. There were also protests from human rights activists objecting to the company's exploitation of local labor. Environmentalists feared that the pollution caused by this project would disturb the ecosystem. Soon, a local politician threw his hat into the ring and the project faced the threat of termination even before it started.

This issue came up at Decotilé's board meeting. Many directors felt that the company should terminate the project, but Henry Emmanuel, an executive director opposed this and said, "Since this project is key to the company’s growth, every attempt is to be made to salvage the project." After a long discussion the board decided to send Jomy George (the project manager), to the site to handle the situation on the spot. The management asked Jomy George (George) to report to Henry Emmanuel (Emmanuel), who would act as the project sponsor located at headquarters.

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