[stomachmonkey]

You need to get him in line or get rid of him or he will undermine your role which will lead to more of the group slacking off.

Being management is not easy, you need to be tough but fair at the same time. Never play favorites.

First and foremost you need to start documenting everything, but do it for the whole group so it does not appear that you are singling him out.

Set expectations for the guy.

"Fred, we need this complete by xxxxx". Now he has 2 choices, commit or give you a reason why he can not commit. Your best bet is if he goes route #2, that way you can get a date from him that he has set himself and it mitigates his ability to make an excuse if he blows it.

If he's late, warn him. If he is late again write him up. Do not speak to him w/out someone from HR there to verify what was said.

Stay away from the subjective stuff, "never saw anything spectacular..." Let him bury himself with easy to verify stuff.

Never let him ask questions without a notebook in hand. Make him write notes. If he continues to ask the same questions over and over he can not say he was not given the answer.

If he makes mistakes that he should not, document them. They are costing the company money. Again, make sure that he has everything he needs to do it right so when he blows it there are no excuses.

Have regular group meetings, either weekly or daily, ask everyone to give a status update on their stuff. You want to know about any issues that are getting in their way. Meetings can last 10 minutes, you don't need the gory details. You need to get him to establish that the pattern of excuses (lack of planning) are his problem.

I can not stress enough that you treat everyone in the group equally.
If you do not you may have a tough time eliminating him for cause.

Good Luck,