Management of the Firms

The diagram implies that each of the three projects are all run using the exact same professional practices. This is rarely the case. Usually there will be different mixes of professional practices depending on the project in hand. The industry tends to perform well but not well enough, especially management wise (e.g. Wembley Stadium and The Millennium Dome). The Egan Report, 1998 was set on Rethinking Construction. To achieve thee targets in the diagram below the industry according to the Egan Report must be transparent to everyone in the project. There must be improved working conditions and improved management and supervisory skills. The industry must replace competitive tendering with long-term relationships based on performance and efficiency.

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Drivers of change Improving the Processes Targets for improvement % Sourced from: Blockly, D, Godfrey, P. Doing It Differently systems for rethinking Construction. 2000. Thomas Telford. Statement of Relevance Three Human Resource Management Soft and Hard theories of Human Resource Management (HRM) occur within organisations. Organisations as a whole adopt their own management philosophies. Thus arranging their policies.

Tomnies (1955) saw the similarity of soft and hard to that of community and association. Where soft and hard is primarily, soft: emphasis is on people as a great asset, and hard: emphasis is on strategic business objectives. Further community and association is primarily, community: emphasis on belonging to a group brought together by common experience and shared values, and association: where people are drawn together for economic interests. Refer to page 4 table 5 of the relevant photocopied material.

Planning plays a major role in HRM. Similarly to planning capital and financial resources. Human Resource Planning precedes recruitment and selection. (See Page 7 of relevant photocopied material). As someone must plan what is needed in the first place. The size of an organisation normally determines the level to which this is approached. The Human Resource Planner is responsible for analysing changes in labour force, forecasting what is needed and maintaining present information. When organisations enlarge it is when a more complex Human Resource Planning system is needed i.e. say over 300 staff. There can be various stages to which a planning system may be developed. These can vary in their level of complexity and sophistication. There are 4 stages shown on pages 7-8 of the relevant photocopied material.

As was established in Project Management 1, when approaching the nature of business along the line of a systems theory, the production process consists of inputs and outputs within the certain environment. Human Resource is a major input, and understanding how the environment is going to affect it, is critical to a company’s success. The Harvard Business School considered environmental scanning where one identifies the current environmental trends in order to evaluate their influence on HRM. A firm may scan for example socio-economic, political, legal, demographic and educational trends. These are macro-environment trends. Also there are micro trends, which may include the firm’s competitive position, its long-term strategy, its managerial philosophies, and the attitudes of its employees. This may be seen as internal environmental scanning.

Statement of Relevance Four Organisations and Organisational Structures ‘Conventional texts on management often define organisations as groups of people united by a common goal. This definition puts organisations as being rational and rather more united than may be strictly true.’ The Human Relations approach has certain criticisms, such as it being insufficiently scientific and that it takes too narrow a view of the role of the organisation and society. Therefore into the 1950’s and 1960’s came along further theorists who adopted more psychological orientation, it is known as the Neo – Human Relations theories.

Maslow (1943), put forward the theory of workers of having a hierarchy of human needs (see lecture notes). Herzberg and McGregor, are also best-known contributors to the neo – human approach. Herzberg theory, contained the hygiene and maintenance factors, which are concerned with the job environment. McGregor held the famous view of Theory X and Theory Y. Where the style of management adopted is a function of the managers attitudes towards human nature and behaviour at work.

Statement of Relevance Six Managing Project Teams and Team Work Initially when working in teams, the task that the group has to achieve and the processes by which it is done has to be understood. Also the degree of involvement that the individual people have with one and other affects the team at work. Teams can at times be seen as a bad thing or a good thing. They can work slowly yet they can also work fast. If a problem to be faced is unfamiliar, teams are likely to perform better. Whereas if the problem faced is common and understood, then individuals usually work more effectively.

Katz and Kahn (1978) advocate groups or teams as being a good place for individuals to find a sense of accomplishment and completion of a task. (Torrington, D. Effective Management People and Organisation. 1996.) Members of a group must work well together as a team. Belbin, described a functionality of 8 team roles. Team role is a pattern of behaviour characteristics where one team member interacts with the other.