The Project Manager in Construction

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The Project

Project Objective

The principle objective of this project is to enhance travel to and from South Wales across the Murray River using the easiest and cheapest option.

Project Background and Rationale

ABC Infrastructure Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded with a Design and Construct Contract from Federal Government of Australia to construct a multi-purpose bridge across the Murray River from and to South Wales. The bridge is to be named the “The Murray River Bypass”.

The proposed new and only multipurpose bridge across the Murray River will greatly reduce traffic from the existing Victoria Bridge. The bridge will greatly enhance efficiency of delivery of goods and services between the two cities. This proposed bridge will provide safe crossing for local commuters, encourage walking, and cycling as an alternative option of transport.

The project has been commissioned following extreme pressure from local residents, businesspeople, and politicians regarding too much time taken to make trade across the two towns. The distance between the two towns using the Victoria Bridge is twice as much as the “The Murray River Bypass” which will cut through the river almost at the mid level.

Pundits reckon that business between the two towns will increase two folds and there is likely to be increased tourism. The latter is because of the scenic nature the new way will create interest from commuters. Hence, landowners along the new route will most likely come up with ways to shore up tourism to attract residents of the two towns (Gray and Larson, 70).

Project Manager’s Involvement

The project manager at Murray River project controls and coordinates the project through the managerial actions of planning, organizing, and leading, among others. Project managers’ actions are constantly aimed at change, while other managers’ jobs involve maintaining a stable working environment.

Thus, the Murray River project manager has to be a team manager, by interacting with project members, from the General Manager, Construction Managers, and Engineers to the builders, drillers, and technicians at the site. As the Murray River project involves international expertise, the project manager has to build team ethos in a multicultural and multilingual group of project staff.

Earning the respect of the team is crucial for the project manager; therefore, he/she must be a person of utmost honesty, integrity, and vision. The project manager shall control the project constraints to ensure that everything goes as planned. These constraints include time, quality, cost, and scope.

The manager will do this by checking project specifications, schedule, and the budget allocations. The project manager will use the tools outlined previously for that purpose (Chase and Jacobs 200). Some of them are discussed below (Control Point Identification Chart and Milestone Chart).

Control Point Identification Chart

The chart below will be useful for tracking areas that may go wrong and anticipating ways in which the project manager will solve the problems to avoid nasty surprises.

Table 1 Control Point Identification Chart

Control Parameter What is likely to go wrong? How and when to indentify The solution
Quality There may be less qualified employees Personal inspection of every stage Substandard work to be redone
Cost/Budget Cost of any sub-unit may exceed budget When sale deals are sealed Seek alternative partners, consider alternative materials’ input
Time/Schedule Time to complete any sub unit may exceed schedule Monitoring progress along critical path of network diagram Improve efficiency, recoup time from other areas, consider overtime if within budget

Milestone Charts

This powerful implementation tool clearly summarizes the status of a project by highlighting key events. Milestone charts state what events in the project’s life have been completed.

In addition, the chart states the duration it took to complete the events, and, whether this is the duration, the project manager had scheduled for the event (Chase and Jacobs 206). Hence, the manager continually records the variance between the actual and scheduled times. In addition, it outlines the remaining events and the project manager’s anticipated completion time.

The project manager develops the project charter. A project charter is the only stage, which gives an estimation of the costs associated with the project. This is crucial as it defines the scope, performance, quality, and time factors of the project.

A project charter also looks critically at the benefits that the project will accrue both from an economic and social standpoint. Additionally, it helps in determining organizational, financial, and technical capabilities of both the individuals and the company. Conclusively, it is a crucial starting point towards implementation of the project (Gray and Larson 190).

Key Players Involved with Project Manager

The government

The Australian government issued a contract to ABC Infrastructure Engineering Group Inc after an intensive tendering process. The process involved background checks capability analyses and submission of estimates of various variables for the project. These include costs, schedule, and possible sub contractor partnerships. The project manager played a key role (Kloppenborg 70).

Subcontractors

The project will require the input of subcontractors for supplies and other extension services. The project manager will be in direct contact at all times.

Engineers

The engineers will be crucial in specifying materials, designs and the actual construction of the bridge. Since they form a crucial part of the project, they will be in constant contact with the project manager.

Roles and Responsibilities of Project Manager

Communication

In order to keep the work going on smoothly, it is very crucial to maintain an organized workforce. The project manager is an expert in leadership qualities. He knows how to handle such a huge workforce. He addresses them sympathetically and asks for any problems that they might have.

This behavior of the project manager garners honor and respect for him. The workers come forward and express their problems and in turn, the project manager tries his level best to find solutions. An example of a communication matrix is outlined below (Gray and Larson 160).

Information Provider Recipient(s) Frequency Medium Location
Status Report PM Project Directors Every 1.5 Months Presentation Government headquarters
Report Engineer Project Manager 4 weeks Email Share point
Budget Performance Accountant Project Manager 4 weeks Email Share Point

Risk Identification

The project manager indentifies risks to ensure the project does not run into future problems and if it does, the risk is already anticipated. The following is an example of a risk (Kloppenborg 78).

Technical Risk

Technical risks may be occasioned by:

  • Errors occasioned by design and construction
  • Poor planning is the main reason for the occurrence of previous technical risk
  • Quality assurance checklists are an important to curb technical risks

Scheduling and Planning

Scheduling often begins in a tentative manner. Detailed schedules are developed as the process proceeds. This requires consistent communication between the project manager and project stakeholders, as they will need to be informed of scheduling changes or delays in implementation. It is due to the tentative nature of scheduling that cost control is also a dynamic process.

The initial schedule and cost estimates need to be revised in the light of new information acquired during the project lifespan. This means that scheduling and cost control will fluctuate during the project, as the project manager adjusts to changing circumstances (Kloppenborg 80).

Checking Project Parameters

For companies engaged in future construction, the right forecast of the future project cost is very significant. The Murray River Project Plan is the basis of the project scheduling and cost control. Once the prospective subcontractors have been informed of the deadline for completion of their subcontracts, they submit their bids.

Those, which fit within the project plan parameters of time cost and quality, are selected and given permission to proceed. This is carried out at the specification phase. However, this is an ongoing process, as a subcontractor may go over budget. This is the responsibility of the particular subcontractor involved, who will cover all extra costs. The project manager oversees that.

Dealing with other stakeholders

The project manager deals with all stakeholders involved in the project including the government, local community, sub contractors, among others.

Drawing the project charter

The project management lifecycle is challenging. A project manager’s failure to draw up a charter to look into the future may prove costly during implementation because of the probable resistance from the teams tasked with its implementation.

Additionally, financial and technical assistance may not be forthcoming. Therefore, a project charter should be the first step in the success of a project (Chase and Jacobs 567). There may be poor estimation and forecasting because of lack of professionals, which may prove costly as budgets, returns, and social benefits may be skewed against the project manager. This may have detrimental impact to the scope and time constraints of a project.

Carrying out feasibility analyses

The project management lifecycle is a costly affair. It requires financial input. In the initial stages, pre-feasibility and feasibility analyses may prove that a project mission and vision is not viable. However, resources will have being used by the organization (project manager) to carry out the study.

The organization may lack proper people to implement the project. Bringing together people to work and fit in the culture of an organization may prove hectic. Training, which uses resources, may be required. Management of the groups while working towards the project’s mission may also be hard work for the project manager (Chase and Jacobs 500).

Works Cited

Chase, Richard, and Jacobs Richard. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, New York: McGraw Irwin, 2006. Print.

Gray, Carlos, and Larson Edwin. Project Management: The Managerial Process, Singapore: McGraw–Hill Education, 2008. Print.

Kloppenborg, Timothy. Contemporary Project Management, New York: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

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