Construction - Management Practices on Large Scale Project - Case Study Example

Introduction

In the lifetime of this project several challenges will arise as pertains to management. These challenges might be as a direct result of the construction project or as peripheral implications arising from external factors. Additionally, these challenges are categorised into main issues that would affect any construction project, similar in nature to this one. Categories of managerial challenges that will affect the outcome of this project include; the nature of the work, managerial structure, human resource considerations, safety and occupational hazards, time constraints, environmental concerns, legal issues, procurement, and government regulations. The planned solutions to these challenges shall be addressed in a similar categorical manner. However, they are central problematic issues that will be addressed in the first six months of the project (Windapo, 2013, p. 154).

• The Nature of Work

The first challenge in this project is to formally identify its scope. Scope control will involve the definition of the following parameters; scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and management of change in scope. Since the project has already been authorised, the initiation phase of the project has been foregone. Scope planning will involve a progressive project documentation to identify the inputs of the project. A project charter is necessary at this stage of scope planning. The project charter will draw upon the client’s needs and aspirations to determine the specific cost plans for the whole project. This charter will highlight the client’s needs, a description of the project together with constraints of the work during the planning process, analyses will be made these analyses will include: a work breakdown structure (WBS), assessing the benefit-to-cost ratio and setting alternative plans to achieve the clients’ objectives (Bennett, 2003, p.130; Project Management Institute, 2000, p.51-62). After the scope planning is complete, a scope statement will be drawn. This agreement will highlight among other things the objectives and project deliverables to the client. Additionally an analysis of constraints and other general assumption will be presented together with the scope statement. Finally, the clients will be adequately furnished with a scope management plan that will identify the various constraints to be integrated into the project.

• Management Structure

In order to guarantee the client of an organized project, there is need to implement managerial protocols and a management structure. This management design will ensure an optimal flow of decisions and efficient implementation of the project plan. The command and control structure in this project will be a hierarchical one. Generally, at the top of the structure there will be a project manager and down in the structure are part time employees. The following diagram describes the managerial structure that will be implemented for this project.

(The Chartered Institute of Building, 2002, p.52-54; Project Management Institute, 2000, pp. 109-111; Lagaard, 2006, p.20)

Assignment of roles to the main staff members is done using a responsibility assignment matrix. This will involve the use of the use of a work breakdown, which has been discussed. Moreover a staff management plan is necessary to identify temporary employment strategies, reassessment of human resource expenses, methodology for hiring and retrenching of part time workers.

• Human Resource Management

In the course of the project, it will be critical to have a staff recruitment protocol. The latter will be used as the reference rubric to hire new part time employees or demote existing employees and set the standards for each employment to be made. There will be staff who will be pre-assigned roles. However, the company will also procure specialized staff on contractual basis, when needed through human resource companies. There will be a simple module for the on-the-job training for unskilled workers. This will be done by the support staff (Sears et al. 2008, p. 135).

Team building and enumeration are also key aspects of human resource management. This is because this particular project is long term. (Project Management Institute, 2000, p.55; Fellows, 2002, p.152). There will be two meetings in a week between the project manager, the senior consultant, and the senior quantity surveyor to deliberate on the progress of the project. Moreover, the senior quantity surveyor will hold consensual meetings with his staff. A meeting every week with all staff will be used to assess their morale and instil the project objectives.

In reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs employees will be kept satisfied in the following manner. Proper remuneration will be done according to the appropriate labour laws that govern the payment of full-time and part-time employment. Opportunity to seek for salary advances is also available for the employees. Nonetheless, all employees including part time workers will be fully insured for accidents and ailments during the period of their employment. To address their safety; their concerns on occupational safety and exposure to health hazards will follow the required guidelines as stipulated by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). All employees will also be entitled to absence of duty during weekends and after working hours. Moreover, they will be entitled to a limited period of absence in case of illness. Bonuses will be in order for the achievement of weekly project targets (Project Management Institute, 2000, p. 116; Lagaard, 2006, p. 51; Windapo, 2013, 21).

• Communication Strategies

Communication is essential to the success of a project. There needs to be communication models through which members of the project will communicate. Team members and other employees also need to understand how they will communicate with each other. In terms of the general communication management protocols; a vertical communication model will be used to address project requirements and decision-making. However, collective decision-making will be done through consultative approaches which includes; the project manager, the senior consultant and the senior surveyor. This will be mainly a horizontal organizational structure, except in crisis situations and in the approval of new changes. Decisions will flow through one channel; from the project manager, to the middle management then to the subordinate employees. Middle management in this case refers to the senior consultant and the senior quantity surveyor (Project Management Institute, 2000, p.25).

In the process of problem solving, Graham Wallas’ model of problem solving can be implemented in this case the following algorithm applies:

• Preparation- this will involve consultative meeting between various segments of the team this will include the middle management together with the project management and the quantity surveyor’s group. During these consultative assemblies, the problems will be identified within the organizational structure and with reference to the project plan.
• Hatching- various team members will contribute probable solutions to the identified problem. Either as a group or as individuals.
• Illumination- this process will require a selection of the suggested ideas that seem the most viable.
• Verification-cost analysis will be computational; hence optimal solutions will be easily tested using computer modules. This involves simulation of the various models to identify the best fit model
• Implementation- implement the best solution (Graham Wallis Model of Creative Processes) (Solberg, 1975, p. 1&2)

Various communication tools will be used, which include common landline work numbers, emails and internal memos. However, the whole project will not need departments since the workforce is small. Ideally, the office space will be and open-office layout, cheap and easy for communication. An important part of communication will also involve stakeholder analysis. Before any particular proposals are implemented the clients will be duly informed and their approval is necessary for major changes in the project’s budget (Project Management Institute, 2000, p.121). The project as a whole will rely on a communication plan, which among other things will stipulate information request protocols, information retrieval systems and the proper channels for information distribution in the work place.

A critical part of the first six months of the project will be to identify the proper assessment mechanism. This implies that the project will employ project-reporting mechanism. Among the project reporting methods that will be employed will biweekly reports, consultative meetings, status reporting and progress reporting to the clients. Additionally, there will be forecast reports of implemented strategies and budget plans. Nonetheless, the client will also be informed of the performance of the employees and other assessed units of the projects such as workload and employee output. The following techniques will be used to perform project assessment; performance reviews, variance analysis and trend analysis. Variance analysis involves the comparison of achieved results with the intended results to measure the success of the project outcomes. On the other hand trend analysis is used to examine whether a project is deteriorating or improving based on newly implemented options (Project Management Institute, 2000, p.123).

Conclusion

In summary, the first six months of the project will ideally have a unique set of managerial issues. These issues include human resource management, the management structure, communication and formally identifying the scope of the project. However, problems arising from these categories of management issues can be solved through an application of formalized solutions based on managerial and organizational theories. The main hope is that this report has been able to discuss, this aspect of management challenges in good detail.