INTRODUCTION TO CONSTRUCTION

MANAGEMENT
Q1. Enumerate reasons why projects arise in organization.

A1.

Market Demand:
 
Market demand is described as “The aggregate of the demands of all potential
customers (market participants) for a specific product over a specific period in a
specific market.” This demand generally initiates new projects to meet the specific
needs of a particular customer group. 
Strategic Opportunity/Business Need:
 
Organizations might initiate projects in order to get a strategic opportunity or due to
a business need. For example Unilever might initiate a new product development
project in order to be the “World’s largest FMCG provider” in a specific product
group. 
 
Also there might be a business need to initiate a new project as well. Let’s thinks that
a company was doing its approval processes through a paper sign-off chain travelling
over the entire company. In order to gain time and improve efficiency, organization
may initiate an approval system development project to do these approvals within a
software application.

Customer Request:
 
This is actually the most common way to initiate projects especially for vendors. Let’s
think from the perspective of a software vendor. Your customers may ask from you
to deliver a new custom software application for their business need. 
 
For example, a company might come to your company and ask to build its website.
From your customer’s perspective, this project is initiated due to a business need,
but from your company’s perspective, this project is initiated due to a customer
request.

Technological Advance:
 
Companies might initiate new projects to have a technological advance against their
rivals. Remember the entrance of the Gmail to IT world. It was an e-mail provider as
its rivals in the beginning. But, they entered into the market with a revolutionary way
by having at least 2GBs of mailbox capacity and increasing each day. When they
introduced their e-mail service, their competitors were providing 250MBs of capacity
at most. Thus, this technological advance of Gmail, respectively Google, helped to
attract new consumers and become the world’s most preferred e-mail provider.
 
Legal Requirement:
Depending on the industry you are working new regulations might be obligated by
the government or agencies. In order to work in line with the proposed regulations,
you might need to initiate new projects. 
 
For instance in recent years, for many countries, “number portability of phone
numbers” was obliged by the telecommunication regulations agencies of regarding
countries. This obligation allows subscribers of an operator to switch their operator
without changing their phone numbers. However, telecom operators were not
having sufficient technical infrastructure to support this number portability. As a
result, several projects have been initiated both by telecom operators and by the
telecommunication regulations agencies of the countries in order to support number
portability.

Q2. Project Managers role requires several attributes. Explain 6 of these.

A2. 1. They Inspire a Shared Vision

An effective project leader is often described as having a vision of where to go and

the ability to articulate it. A leader or project manager is someone who lifts you up,
gives you a reason of being, and gives the vision and spirit to change.

The visionary project managers enable people to feel they have a real stake in the
project. Moreover, they empower their team mates to experience the vision of their
own and offer other the opportunity to create their own vision, to explore what the
vision will mean to their jobs and their lives, as well as to envision their future as part
of the vision of their organization.

2. They are a Good Communicator

According to Jada Pinkett Smith, a slogan of every good project manager is;

“My belief is that communication is the best way to create strong relationships”

Another strong trait that distinguishes a good project manager from others is, their
ability to communicate with people at all levels. Since, the project leadership calls for
clear communication about responsibility, goals, performance, expectations, and
feedback – a good project manager can be said a complete package comprising all
these important qualities.

The pioneer must be able to successfully arrange and utilize influence when it’s
important to guarantee the accomplishment of group and venture. How it comes
about gainful? Successful correspondence brings about group accomplishments by
making express rules for professional success of cable car individuals.

3. Integrity

One of the most important things any project manager should always keep in their
mind is, it takes their actions to set a particular modus operandi for a team, rather
than their words. A good management demands commitment and demonstration of
ethical practices.

The leadership or project management depends on integrity represents set of values,

dedication to honesty, and consistency in behaviors with team mates. Integrity is
that a good project manager takes responsibility for setting the high bar for ethical
behaviors for oneself, as well as reward those who exemplify these practices.
Leadership motivated by self-interest does not serve the wellbeing of a team.

4. They Possess Leadership Skills

If you want to become a successful project manager, you ought to own good
leadership skills. Project managers must also deal with teams coming from various
walks of life. Hence, it winds up noticeably basic for them to rouse workers and
calibrate group execution to achieve organizational goals through various leadership
styles.

A great project manager sets the tone for the project and provide a clear vision
about its objectives for the team. A feeling of foreknowledge helps also – by
foreseeing potential issues, you can have your group prepared to solve them in the
blink of the eye. Enthusiasm and passion are two key elements you should adopt, if
you want to make people follow you—nobody will do so if you’re sporting a negative
attitude.

5. They are Good Decision Maker

Good decision making skill is not only crucial for personal life but it also very
important in professional life as well. The good project managers are empowered to
make countless decisions which will help define the project track.

As we all know that a single minor wrong decision taken can easily jeopardize the
entire project. Thus, a project manager needs to be capable of thinking quickly and
reacting decisively.

6. They are Great Problem Solver!

The good project managers work with a team of experts or consultants and use their
mastery of handling issues in most effective ways.

Nobody will anticipate that you will have a prepared answer for every single issue;
you should have the capacity to utilize the knowledge of your team members and
even stakeholders to produce a collective response to any problems you experience
on your way to delivering a project.
 Q3. Project life cycle- explain various phases – how WBS assists in Project costing and
time estimation.

A3.

The Project Phases Involved:

 Phase 1: The Conceptualization Phase
 Phase 2: The Planning Phase
 Phase 3: The Execution Phase
 Phase 4: The Termination Phase

Phase #1: The Conceptualization Phase
This can also be referred to as the ‘Initiation Phase’ and is the starting point of any
project or idea. For the Conceptualization Phase to begin, a strategic need for the
project or service must be recognized by upper management.
Ask yourself the following questions during Conceptualization:
 What is the problem?
 Will the development of a project solve that problem?
 What are the specific goals of the project?
 Do we have enough resources to create and support the project?
The Conceptualization Phase typically involves:
 Creation of the statement of work (SOW).
 Presenting the business case.
 Creation of a business contract.
 Phase #2: The Planning Phase
The second phase of the project management life cycle is referred to as the Planning
Phase. Once management has given the OK to launch a project, a more formal set of
plans—outlining initial goals—is established.
Ask yourself the following questions during Planning:
 What is the project purpose, vision, or mission?
 Are there measurable objectives or success criteria?
 Do you have a high level description of the project, requirements and risks?
 Can you adequately schedule and budget high level milestones?
The Planning Phase typically involves:
 Determining resource availability.
 Creating a project budget.
 Beginning to allocate tasks to certain resources.

Phase #3: The Execution Phase

The third phase is labeled Execution. This is when the actual work of the project is
performed. Required materials, tools, and resources are transformed to reach the
project goals. During this phase, performance is continually measured to ensure the
project is successful.
Ask yourself the following questions during Execution:
 Are all resources being tracked?
 Is the project on budget and on time?
 Can resource planning be optimized?
 Are there major roadblocks that require change management?
The Execution Phase typically involves:
 Strategic planning.
 Implementation planning.

Phase #4: The Termination Phase

The fourth and final phase is called Termination Phase, also referred to as Project
Closure. This phase begins once the project has been completed.
The Termination Phase typically involves:
 The disbandment of the project team.
 Personnel and tools are reassigned to new duties.
 Resources released back to parent organization.
 Project transferred to intended users.
 Ask yourself the following questions during Termination:
 Are the project’s completion criteria met?
 Is there a project closure report in progress?
 Have all project artifacts been collected and archived?
 Has a project postmortem been planned?

Q4. Labour and Subcontractors need, role, responsibilities during Project execution.

A4. SUBCONTRACTOR’S RESPONSIBILITY

Contractors can serve a construction project from many different roles and positions.
That of a general contractor (main contractor) is potentially the most influential of
all.

A general contractor is responsible for a plethora of details in the course of a

construction project. Finding the right people to get the job done is probably one of
their most important missions. But it’s not the only thing they have to do.

Taking care of materials, equipment, and any other services required for the smooth
development of the project is part of their job. This is also where subcontractors can
provide valuable help, as in most cases they have their own network which can
support the progress of the project.

Furthermore, here are some of the most common project aspects that a general
contractor can be responsible for:

 Building permits application

 Property security
 Providing (temporary) facilities on site
 Taking care of generated waste
 On-site personnel management
 Site surveying
 Site engineering
 Schedule monitoring
It’s clear, then, that a general contractor is also the one accountable for the quality
of the work delivered to the client. In any case, though, safety should always be the
top priority for everyone involved in a construction project.

Labor Responsibilities:

 Operate and care for construction equipment and machines.

 Help equipment operator, carpenters, and other skilled labor
when necessary.
 Prep construction sites by cleaning obstacles and hazards.
 Load or unload construction materials.
 Put together and take apart temporary structures, such as
scaffolding.
 Remove, fill, or compact earth.
 Follow instructions from supervisors.
 Assist craft workers.
 Ready to learn from on-the-job training when necessary.
 Perform site clean-up.

Q5. Site waste management with emphasis on ‘Green’ and caring for environment.
‘Triple Bottom Line’ approach.
A5.

The triple bottom line consists of social equity, economic, and environmental
factors. The phrase, "people, planet, and profit" to describe the triple bottom line
and the goal of sustainability, was coined by John Elkington in 1994 while at Sustain
Ability, and was later used as the title of the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell's first
sustainability report in 1997. As a result, one country in which the 3P concept took
deep root was The Netherlands.

People, the social equity bottom line

The people, social equity, or human capital bottom line pertains to fair and beneficial
business practices toward labour and the community and region in which a
corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives a reciprocal social
structure in which the well-being of corporate, labour and other stakeholder
interests are interdependent.
An enterprise dedicated to the triple bottom line seeks to provide benefit to many
constituencies and not to exploit or endanger any group of them. The "upstreaming"
of a portion of profit from the marketing of finished goods back to the original
producer of raw materials, for example, a farmer in fair trade agricultural practice, is
a common feature. In concrete terms, a TBL business would not use child labour and
monitor all contracted companies for child labour exploitation, would pay fair
salaries to its workers, would maintain a safe work environment and tolerable
working hours, and would not otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A
TBL business also typically seeks to "give back" by contributing to the strength and
growth of its community with such things as health care and education. Quantifying
this bottom line is relatively new, problematic and often subjective. The Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed guidelines to enable corporations and  to
comparably report on the social impact of a business.
Planet, the environmental bottom line
The planet, environmental bottom line, or natural capital bottom line refers to
sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the
natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and minimize
environmental impact. A TBL endeavour reduces its ecological footprint by, among
other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables and
reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing
of it in a safe and legal manner. "Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL
manufacturing businesses, which typically conduct a life cycle assessment of
products to determine what the true environmental cost is from the growth and
harvesting of raw materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal by
the end user.
Currently, the cost of disposing of non-degradable or toxic products is borne
financially by governments and environmentally by the residents near the disposal
site and elsewhere. In TBL thinking, an enterprise which produces and markets a
product which will create a waste problem should not be given a free ride by society.
It would be more equitable for the business which manufactures and sells a
problematic product to bear part of the cost of its ultimate disposal.
Ecologically destructive practices, such as overfishing or other endangering
depletions of resources are avoided by TBL companies. Often environmental
sustainability is the more profitable course for a business in the long run. Arguments
that it costs more to be environmentally sound are often specious when the course
of the business is analyzed over a period of time. Generally, sustainability reporting
metrics are better quantified and standardized for environmental issues than for
social ones. A number of respected reporting institutes and registries exist including
the Global Reporting Initiative, CERES, Institute 4 Sustainability and others.
The ecological bottom line is akin to the concept of eco-capitalism.
Profit, the economic bottom line
The profit or economic bottom line deals with the economic value created by the
organization after deducting the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the capital
tied up. It therefore differs from traditional accounting definitions of profit. In the
original concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit" aspect needs to be
seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the real economic
impact the organization has on its economic environment. This is often confused to
be limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization (which
nevertheless remains an essential starting point for the computation). Therefore, an
original TBL approach cannot be interpreted as simply traditional corporate
accounting profit plussocial and environmental impacts unless the "profits" of other
entities are included as a social benefit.

Q6. Project communications and review meetings.

A6. Project Communication Process

Communication plays a pivotal role in project management. An
effective communication mechanism helps project managers to
communicate with all the team members who are part of the project.
Project communication process includes a set of procedures that are
followed every time a formal communication process is initiated within
a company. An efficient communication process helps project managers
to identify information that has to be sent and also decide on the
audience who will be receiving this information. After the process
of identifying the audience, project managers have to decide on the
format of the information and schedule a time to pass the information
to team members and stakeholders. By doing this, stakeholders will
regularly receive updates on project status which is an important
activity of project managers. They can also use status reports and
conduct meetings with the associates on periodical basis to share
project status information. An effective communication process
provides regular updates on the status of the project as well as its
performance capacity to the team members and stakeholders.
Communication methods can either be active or passive.

ACTIVE communication methods being those used to communicate in

the here and now, for example the use of:

 Face to Face meetings 

 Video conference, meeting – one on one, or group
 Telephone conference, or voice only web conference
 Webinars, becoming increasingly popular for the delivery of
presentation based activities
 Telephone – good old fashioned call
 Stand up presentations in person

PASSIVE communication methods would be those which recipients

can adopt in their own time, for example:

 Pod cast
 Web cast
 Email 
 Intranet bulletin boards
 Blogs
 Website
 Project newsletter – paper based
 Table top presentation

Benefits of a Review Meeting

Essentially a review is an opportunity to have a discussion with a team member
about their work, their personal development and their future career.  Successful
reviews benefit the team member, the team, the department and the University
as a whole.
 Review meetings provide an opportunity for the team member to have time with
their reviewer:

 To discuss their performance and development

 To discuss and agree future targets and objectives
 To discuss personal and career development
 To consider past performance and recognise successes
 To identify where improvements/changes could be made
THANK YOU. ASSIGNMENT BY DIVYA NAWANI