Analysis
The management of construction projects is a tricky business. Unlike the services and products of most industries, every construction project is unique and not easily standardized. Most of the activities and required skill sets of construction projects are not repetitive in nature. In addition to unique construction documents, local variables in laws, labor, weather, geology, transportation and availability of materials further complicate construction project management. Managing construction projects requires creativity, attention to meticulous detail, good communication skills, and the ability to acquire specific bits information from infinite sources quickly.
Unfortunately, the construction process is not a mechanism that can be set into motion and manage itself. Expert guidance is imperative along every step of the way to build a building according to a plan. (Clough, 1994) After the production of a traditional set of plans and specifications, or during the production in certain innovative delivery methods, the building entity establishes a plan including a time schedule, a cost budget, and quality requirements. The means of accomplishing the established plan often shifts constantly as impossible-to-anticipate events occur on various jobs. Cost overruns on one part of the project demand savings on others. Delays toward the beginning of a job require an accelerated schedule later. If quality requirements are not met, rework has to be done. In each case the action of management must be definitive and swift, sometimes requiring difficult communication with other members of the construction team. Skilled, flexible, and persistent management is essential to the success of a construction project.
The Project Manager is the person who is wholly responsible for the organization of project operations in every regard. The superintendent directly oversees the on-site goings-on. Project managers can be in charge of many projects (usually smaller ones), or just one. Often Project Managers have assistants called Project Engineers (PEs) or more experienced Assistant Project Managers (APMs) on very large jobs.
The responsibilities of Project Managers are many and varied. Successful Project Managers have to be born with or develop a variety of talents that often seem contrary to each other. Varying attitudes about communication are a prime example. As a leader of people one needs to be understanding and flexible but as a manager of other people’s money a Project Manager has to be hard and unbending. Like graduate students, subcontractors usually have more than one job going at a time and often have difficulty managing their own businesses and completing all their projects on time. Each subcontractor is a person, obviously, and as such will respond well to different types of contractor behavior. Some subcontractors will give more effort to project managers who are more cordial while others will respond to those who shout the loudest. One mark of a great Project Manager is to be a quick study, learn people’s styles, and “speak their language.” Contracting is in many ways about communication, but not just with subcontractors. Project Managers have to know or learn how to have a proper dialog with people within their own company from upper-level management to the fresh-out-of-school PE. The audience is not the only variable, the topics range from the standard rushed conversation about the scope of a subcontractors bid to the huge sinkhole on the far corner of the site with a bulldozer in it.
If the discussions in BSCI 7100 have portrayed anything about project management, it is that although it involves a tremendous amount of tedious CYA paperwork that a Labrador could do, there are greater gifts required. The abilities to anticipate readily, assess accurately, communicate clearly, and act decisively are essential. Many of the guest lecturers for the class were characterized by these traits.