General Background

Business has been reasonably good over the past few years at Buckingham Bank. Competition is tough and everyone is under pressure to increase productivity while reducing costs. Two levels of management have been eliminated in the last year, which means that managers and directors are expected to make decisions and resolve conflicts at their level without involving higher authority. The bank’s information technology (IT) services group develops and maintains computer programs for the other bank departments. Because of the high degree of security and increased automation, the demands on the IT department have been increasing.

Perspective of the Director of Loan Processing

You are in charge of the loan processing department, a critical part of the consumer and commercial credit business of Buckingham Bank. Your automated processing system for real estate loans is complex and slow by industry standards. The bank has just announced a new product that allows for online mortgage applications. Your volume is expected to double in the next year and the present loan processing system can’t handle the volume. In a meeting with your staff, you outlined the specification and changes to the current loan processing computer program. If IT could modify and expand the current program, you could process and approve loans much faster. Based on the specifications, a major programming effort would be required to make these modifications. Yesterday, you sent an e-mail to IT with a formal project request and the specifications. The director of IT responded, “IT has a six-month backlog. We’ll put you in the queue.” Without this programming work, you have a crisis. The increase in loan applications makes your request a top priority that should take precedence over other less critical projects. In the past, you had to go to the senior vice president of operations to get timely support from IT and other service groups, which made you unpopular with other directors. You decide to meet with the IT director.

Perspective of the Director of Information Technology Services

You are head of the IT services department that maintains a data center, develops programs, and provides information services to support the other departments in the bank. Requests for IT services have grown much faster than your budget. In the past year, you have not been able to add staff except for a few college interns, and your programming capacity is stretched to the limit. You have a six-month backlog of projects. You don’t like to keep your users waiting so long, but you really don’t have much choice other than a “first in, first out” (FIFO) priority system. You have struggled with trying to get a task force of users together to come up with a better priority system, but they always claim to be too busy. However, they try to get preferential treatment by claiming their project is a top priority. To them, everything is a crisis. Even if it were a crisis, you have neither the knowledge nor the wisdom to choose one user over another. You have learned the hard way not to show preference and to adhere to the FIFO policy. Yesterday, the director of loan processing requested an immediate program upgrade that would expand and enhance the mortgage loan processing system. A major reprogramming effort is required. With your current backlog, your response was “We want to help, but you’ll have to wait your turn.” This director has a reputation for appealing to higher authority and you are determined not to be intimidated.

Meeting with the Parties

Let’s listen in on a face-to-face meeting between the parties: