Proposed Change For Efficient Civil Construction Project Management

Change Proposal: Employing More Expert Engineers

Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the world second largest audit and professional service providing company in one of its reports on the civil construction industry, points out that the global construction industry would be faced with severe financial resource shortages. The clients to the civil construction companies which are mainly government bodies place immense pressure on the construction companies to execute construction projects within the estimated cost with minimum time overrun. The second factor is fall in acquisition and mergers rates in the construction and engineering sector which in turn would affect the assets available to construction companies. The outcome of these two factors are that construction companies are required to bring about changes in their methods of project operations to minimise cost and reduce wastage (strategyand.pwc.com 2018). The governments of different countries are enforcing strict environmental laws and fining construction companies breaching environmental policies (straitstimes.com 2018). The project managers have come under immense to not only lead projects but also also drive changes in the projects to minimise cost and reduce environmental damage to the feasible extent yet ensure high quality execution of the projects. The aim of the paper is to propose a change which project managers have to bring about in the light of the above discussion taking Samsung C&T Corporation as the base of the discussion that would follow.

The proposed change which the project manager should bring about would be employing more expert engineers in order to minimise wastage of resources and environmental damage. This would enable them to reduce costs and avoid penalties the companies like Samsung C&T Corporation pay for breaching environmental laws (samsungcnt.com 2018).

The proposed change could be overviewed as end to end supervision of all the components of the construction works Samsung C&T Corporation is executing at present and in the future. The change would cover four areas namely, plant management, materials management, methods of operations and waste disposal.

The engineers should ensure that plant used to execute the civil construction projects adhere to the specifications laid down in the tender documents. The engineers should also ensure that the plant are in proper working condition and use minimum fuel. This would ensure that the plant do not use excess fuel and cause less environment pollution while operating.

The engineers would lay down strict processes pertaining to different aspects like acquisition of materials, storage of materials and usage of the materials. They should ensure that the items like rods and cement should also be acquired according to the tender documents specifications. They ensure that the materials like chemicals and explosives are stored in specific areas following appropriate methods (Ibrahim and ShaNantu 2016). This would reduce loss of certain volatile chemicals due to contact with atmospheric air or moisture. The areas of the storage of materials should be well lit, have proper ventilation and appropriate labelling. The material storage should be provided with fire extinguishers and other safety items. This would ensure that there are minimum accidents like explosions and resultant fires. This would ensure that the construction company is able to utilise materials acquired to optimum levels, thus reducing financial losses they would otherwise incur due to loss of materials (Larsen et al. 2015).

End-to-End Supervision of Four Areas

The project managers along with the engineering experts should lay down methods of operations which should be complied with throughout the execution of the civil construction projects which Samsung undertakes. The methods of operations should apply to all the subcontractors and labours involved in the projects. This would ensure streamlining of the different operations related to the projects. This would lead to execution of projects at lower expenditures and with minimum time overrun (Ansar et al. 2014).

Gangolells et al. (2014) mention that the project managers should bring about changes in their methods of project operations in order to ensure high level of waste management and minimise environmental damage. It can also be pointed out that Samsung has already suffered immense penal charges due to poor waste management (straitstimes.com 2018). Thus, the project manager along with the engineers should lay down appropriate waste management and recycling of waste water policies. This would ensure that the projects are able to utilise the resources like water to optimum level and reduce penal charges they face due to environmental issues (Lu et al. 2016).

The civil construction projects in the current period suffer from several issues like wastage of materials, heavy cost and time overruns, poor waste management, staggering penal charges due to poor waste management and poor project management, all of which add to the cost of the project execution. The final outcomes are low level of client satisfaction and low profit margin which the construction company earns (straitstimes.com 2018).

The proposed change would involve hiring engineering experts who would supervise the four areas closely in association with the project manager. They would ensure appropriate plant management, material management, adherence to laid down methods of operations and effective waste management. The outcome of the proposed change would be more optimum utilisation of the materials and plant along with the methods of laid down operations. This would result in reduction of wastage of materials and expenses Samsung C&T would incur consequently. Efficient waste management would ensure reuse of resources like water, thus leveraging the value the company would enjoy from acquisition of these resources (strategyand.pwc.com 2018).

The following necessities of adoption of changes proposed above are outlined as follows:

The following are the benefits which the new changed methods of project execution would usher into Samsung C&T:

Efficient material and plant management would enable the project management companies to utilise the materials and plant towards execution of civil construction projects to optimum level. This would reduce the financial losses they incur due to material loss, productivity loss due to breakdown of machinery and excess fuel cost. This would enable these companies to reduce their cost of project execution, thus boosting their profit margin.

Plant Management

The optimum utilisation as per the new changed systems of project operations would enable the project management companies to ensure high level of project performances and ensure satisfaction of their clients which are usually government bodies (Gangolells, et al. 2014). This boosts revenue generation in the companies like Samsung C&T which they can inject into their future projects.

The proposed changes would result in higher level of client satisfaction, thus generating future business generation and strengthen their market goodwill. The clients here generally refer to government bodies which keep on floating tenders for constructing bridges and roads to strengthen the infrastructure of their respective jurisdictions. This, means ensuring high level of project execution in the lines of changed project management methods and ensuring the satisfaction of these government client enable Samsung C&T obtain future project contracts, thus ensuring future business generation (Ansar, et al. 2014). This also strengthens the market goodwill of the project management and enable them to secure overseas civil construction projects as well, thus once again paving ways for future business generation.

The project manager should manage the entire time which is assigned for particular projects and prepare project plans taking into account the four necessities recognised in the proposed change. They should prepare work breakdown structure using project management software like Gantt chart. They should ensure timely execution of each sub task in order to ensure completion of the main tasks and initiation of the successive tasks on time (Binder 2016).

The project manager should form time management strategies to control the flow of the different stages of the project and ensure time completion. The must maintain Gantt chart showing the different activities against the resources. They must check whether the tasks are getting executed within the set time. If the particular tasks stretch or are likely the stretch over time, they should take measures to reduce the time lag to the extent possible. They should use critical path method to have the critical actions completed within time and adjust the resource allocated to each tasks accordingly. They must also compare and contrast the impacts of time lags on the costs. Hence, the time management strategies should aim to minimise both time and cost overrun. The project manager should also incorporate hiring of extra resources like manpower and plants to specific areas if required (Ansar, et al. 2014). They must intimate the stakeholders like the management and financers of the project about the overruns. They must explain the validity of the time lags and seek extra financing if required.

Material Management

The project manager should exhibit appropriate communication skills and establish smooth communication with all the stakeholders involved in the civil construction projects like the company, engineers, sub-contractors, labours, suppliers and government bodies. He should communicate important events like machine breakdown and accidents to these stakeholders and gain their required participation (Heldman 2018). The managers should take into account both written and oral communication while managing these stakeholders to gain their support.

The project manager should communicate the project information to the stakeholders like management and sub-contractors in written form. The initial written communication should be using official email ids of the designated officials. While communicating information he should exhibit communication skills like transparency and ethical behaviour. He should not present false information to the external stakeholders. The email must be followed by sending hard copies of all important project related documents to the owners of the sub-contracting firms and financing bodies on the official letter heads. The important drafts like project site layout and cost structure should be communicated to relevant stakeholders like labour contractors and machinery providers for their references. Any change with the plan or cost should be communicated in written form. He must exhibit his communication skills while communicating information to these stakeholders (strategyand.pwc.com 2018).

The oral communication skills of the project manager would come into play while communicating information to the stakeholders as well. The manager should use the communication skills of tactfulness and brevity while communicating project information. The manager should hold meetings with the labours on regular basis to communicate significant project information. Further, he must encourage the labour to communicate their problems and issues. The manager should take steps to address these issues and maintain transparency in his actions. The must motivate the labours and communicate their actual performance standards from time to time. He must mentor them verbally to boost their morale and performances (Binder 2016).

The project manager by establishing smooth communication with stakeholders should showcase his leadership skills by gaining their participation. The manager using participative leadership style should collaborate and cooperate with the stakeholders to ensure smooth execution of the project. This would ensure execution of the civil construction with minimum time and cost deviation (Ansar, et al. 2014).

The project manager should exhibit commitment to his own professional development by managing projects efficiently. He should adhere to laws and policies while managing projects. He should adhere to engineering ethics and ensure that all the members of his team adheres to them (Trabia, Longo and Wainscott 2016). For example, if an accident takes place at the project site, the project manager should disclose the fact to the stakeholders like the company management and government bodies after the work and safety laws. He should in no way try to supress the fact and tamper evidences. He should cooperate with the investigating body if an investigation is initiated by the company or the government. The manager should be fair to both senior and newly hired members of the team. The manager instead of merely commanding his subordinates, should concentrate on improving their decision making capabilities. Since, the civil construction projects would involve several external stakeholders like sub-contractors, he should ensure that he maintains transparency while managing the subcontractors. The manager should encourage the experienced employees mentor and motivate the newly hired employees. This would lead to a more streamlined project team operation culminating into a more successful project execution (Binder 2016). These actions of the project manager would exemplify his professional commitment.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that the present methods of execution of civil construction projects need to undergo drastic changes. The project managers have to play immense roles in leading these changes. Embracing the changes would boost the performances of project management companies and ultimately boost the revenue generation of these companies.

References:

Ansar, A., Flyvbjerg, B., Budzier, A. and Lunn, D., 2014. Should we build more large dams? The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development. Energy Policy, 69, pp.43-56.

Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Gangolells, M., Casals, M., Forcada, N. and Macarulla, M., 2014. Analysis of the implementation of effective waste management practices in construction projects and sites. Resources, conservation and recycling, 93, pp.99-111.

Heldman, K., 2018. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley & Sons.

Ibrahim, S. and ShaNantu, W.M., 2016. A Conceptual FrameworN and a Mathematical Equation for Managing Construction-Material Waste and Cost Overruns. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Education, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 10(2), pp.587-593.

Larsen, J.K., Shen, G.Q., Lindhard, S.M. and Brunoe, T.D., 2015. Factors affecting schedule delay, cost overrun, and quality level in public construction projects. Journal of Management in Engineering, 32(1), p.04015032.

Lu, W., Chen, X., Ho, D.C. and Wang, H., 2016. Analysis of the construction waste management performance in Hong Kong: the public and private sectors compared using big data. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, pp.521-531.

samsungcnt.com. 2018. samsungcnt.com. [online] Available at: https://www.samsungcnt.com/eng/business/construction.do [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].

straitstimes.com 2018. straitstimes.com. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/74-construction-firms-penalised-for-water-pollution-in-2017 [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].

Strategyand.pwc.com. 2018. strategyand.pwc.com. [online] Available at: https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/trend/2017-engineering-and-construction-trends [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].

Trabia, M., Longo, J.A. and Wainscott, S., 2016. Training Graduate Engineering Students in Ethics.

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