Unit-1 1 Elements Of Management

UNIT-1 ELEMENTS OF MANAGAMENT

Project Cycle:
The Project Cycle can be represented by the following flow chart.

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The important phases of Project Cycle of construction are explained belowPhase 1 Pre-project Prior to the commencement of the construction project, even before the selection of the designer and the accomplishment of any planning activities, the project owner faces two important decisions regarding the relationships among the various parties and the basis upon which the contractor will be paid. These two are: Selection of the project delivery system and the selection of the type of contract. Lets look at each of these Selection of the project delivery system the list below indicates several different types:

Design-tender-build Design-build Construction manager Project manager Document and construct Separate prime contracts Turnkey Build-own-operate-transfer Joint venture Force account Phased construction

Selection of the type of contract several different types of contracts include:

Lump sum/fixed price Unit price/measure and value Cost plus Variations of basic cost plus Time and materials

Phase 2 Planning and design In this phase there are significant activities that take place in the project development process prior to the selection of the organizations that will assemble the various project elements in the field. There are many different parties involved in the planning and design phase and this phase is really

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divided up into three different phases. In the first, or planning and feasibility study stage, the various parties define and clarify the projects purpose and scope, conduct feasibility studies, select and acquire land and investigate site conditions and consider options, in a preliminary way, for how the work might be assembled. In the second, or design stage, schematic design lays out the relationships among the project elements, while design development provides the detailed calculations and drawings that specify the sizes and locations of the structural members, earthworks, mechanical systems and all other parts that make up the project. In the contract document development stage, all of the documents required to enter into a construction contract are put together, including the detailed working drawings, technical specifications and legal conditions of the contract. When the planning and design phase is complete, the owner or the owners representative is ready to select the construction organization. Phase 3 Contractor selection We now turn to the selection of the construction organization that will assemble the project in the field. The basic steps are generally the same, whether the contract will be lump sum, unit price or cost plus. If a project manager is involved, that party will assist the owner in choosing a contractor. The construction manager, if part of the team, will have to be chosen. If the design-build approach is used, that organization will be chosen before the design is undertaken. Phase 4 Mobilization This phase of the construction project life cycle deals with the many activities that take place between the award of the construction contract and the beginning of construction work in the field. Some of this work may have begun prior to, and in anticipation of, the award, and much of it will continue into the days and weeks during which fieldwork is beginning. But these are the actions that prepare for and set the stage for what the layperson considers construction, the things that people and machines do to assemble the project in the field. We consider in cursory fashion such contractual issues as permits, bonding and insurance and then we deal with the preparation of detailed project schedules, the conversion of the cost estimate into a project budget for use in controlling project costs, the organization of the work site, acquisition of materials and the engagement of subcontractors and such staffing issues as the project management structure, collective bargaining agreements and nonunion contracting.

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Phase 5 Operations With the start of construction operations in the field, the project takes on a different focus and the construction manager is called upon to perform a variety of responsibilities aimed at effective and efficient use of resources in the assembly of the several parts of the project. All of the previous planning, design, tendering and mobilization have been the prelude to the actual performance of field operations. While some activities in previous phases, such as procurement and staffing, are likely to continue during the early stages of the project operations phase, now the emphasis is on monitoring and controlling various aspects of the project, managing resources effectively and coordinating the vital documentation and communication activities. The phase begins by monitoring and control of the project schedule, budget, quality, safety and environmental concerns. It also concerns detailed resource management, in this case the management of personnel, materials and equipment. Other key elements are communication and documentation issues such as submittals, measurement and progress payments, variations, the overall document management responsibility and the role of electronic communications in the modern construction project. Some final key elements to be aware of during this phase of the project are legal issues, including the claims process, methods for dispute prevention and resolution and some particular legal matters that frequently arise during project operations. Phase 6 Closeout The project closeout and termination phase can be thought of as a project unto itself. Often termed commissioning, this phase must be planned and programmed, tasks must be assigned, the phase must be executed effectively and its costs, schedule and quality must be controlled. On large projects, a specialist team is often engaged to assure that project closeout is carried out in the best manner possible. The tasks for closeout are generally divided into two categories: (1) completing the work, which includes the physical activities that must be accomplished on the site and (2) closing out the project, involving the multitude of required documents and other paperwork issues, some related obviously to finances but others to certificates, project records and provision

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to the owner of the required training, operational information, spare parts and the like. The two categories definitely overlap and interact.

Organization:
The organization is the system or process which helps in achieving the goal. The organization helps the manager to regulate task to the people and other agencies in order to achieve an economical and timely completion of the project. In executing a construction project, we need the co-ordinate effort of three wings i. ii. iii. Administration Management Organization

The administration lays down the policies and policies are executed by management with the help of the organizations.

Factors considered in making the efficient organization

Ensure the proper structure Delegation of responsibilities Relationship between individuals and group Developing a sound communication system in the organization

General principles for forming an organization system

The principles of organization that can facilitate smooth functioning of organization are as follows: 1. Unity of objectives: There should be unity of objective for each member of the organization so that all collective efforts can be concentrated on the set goals. The objectives of organization should be well understood and formulated so that every member is familiar with it.

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2. Division of work and specialization: The division of total work is done as to confine every individual to the performance of a single job. It facilitates specialization in the organization and enhances efficiency and quality. Every area of specialization should be interconnected to the total integrated system by means of coordinating together of all activities done in all departments. 3. Definition of job: There should be appropriate defining of every position in relation to other positions in the organization. The overlapping of functions should be avoided. It can be done by assigning duties and responsibilities to every position and its relationships with other positions in the organization. 4. Separation of line and staff functions: Line functions are those functions that help in accomplishing the main objectives of the company. These line functions should be separated from staff activities. The functions other than line functions are staff functions. 5 . Chain of Command and Scalar Principle: According to this scalar principle, the line of authority from top level to bottom level of organization should be clearly defined. This authority refers to the right to decide direct and coordinate. The structure of the organization should facilitate delegation of authority. The clarity is completely achieved through delegation by steps or levels from the top position to the operating level of the organization. It is also referred to as chain of command. 6. Parity of Authority and Responsibility or Principle of Correspondence: The responsibility delivered to every employee should be accompanied with its corresponding authority. Every subordinate should have sufficient authority to perform responsibilities entrusted to him. It will make him self reliant and can help him in taking quiet decisions without concerning higher departments or authorities. 7. Unity of command: Every subordinate should report to his assigned superiors or boss. It will avoid state of confusion, chaos, conflicts and lack of action in the organization.

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8. Unity of Direction: The unity of direction states that group of activities with a common goal should be managed by one person. It encourages one head and one plan of action for a common objective of different activities. 9. Exception principle: The exception principle states that high level of managers should attend to exceptional matters only. The higher level of managers should deal with problems that concerns with unusual matter and policy decisions. The routine decisions should be referred to lower level of managers. 10. Span of supervision: It refers to the number of persons that a manager or supervisor can direct or control. Every manager is confined with restricted numbers of subordinates so that he can direct them efficiently within the limits of available time and ability. The number of persons is dependent on the nature of job and the desired frequency of intensity of supervision required in the organization. 11. Principle of Balance: The principle of balance states that there should be proper balance between various parts of the organization. No function should be given undue importance at the cost of other functions. This balance should also be maintained between centralization and decentralization, span of supervision and lines of communication and authority allocated to department and personnel at various levels. 12. Communication: The objectives of organization desires good communication network. The two way communication between superiors and subordinates helps in uniting organization into working as effectively operating system. 13. Flexibility: The flexibility in organizational structure helps in adapting to changes in the nature of the business as well as changes corresponding to technological innovations. 14. Continuity: The continuity in efficient performance of organization can be

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achieved by adapting to new changes that takes place inside or outside the organization. It will help organization to survive and excel for longer duration of time.

Types of organization structure

1. Functional organization:Functional organization has been divided to put the specialists in the top position throughout the enterprise. This is an organization in which we can define as a system in which functional department are created to deal with the problems of business at various levels. Functional authority remains confined to functional guidance to different departments. This helps in maintaining quality and uniformity of performance of different functions throughout the enterprise. The concept of Functional organization was suggested by F.W. Taylor who recommended the appointment of specialists at important positions. For example, the functional head and Marketing Director directs the subordinates throughout the organization in his particular area. This means that subordinates receives orders from several specialists, managers working above them.

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Features of Functional Organization 1. The entire organizational activities are divided into specific functions such as operations, finance, marketing and personal relations. 2. Complex form of administrative organization compared to the other two. 3. Three authorities exist- Line, staff and function. 4. Each functional area is put under the charge of functional specialists and he has got the authority to give all decisions regarding the function whenever the function is performed throughout the enterprise. 5. Principle of unity of command does not apply to such organization as it is present in line organization.

Merits of Functional Organization 1. Specialization- Better division of labour takes place which results in specialization of function and its consequent benefit. 2. Effective Control- Management control is simplified as the mental functions are separated from manual functions. Checks and balances keep the authority within certain limits. Specialists may be asked to judge the performance of various sections.

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3. Efficiency- Greater efficiency is achieved because of every function performing a limited number of functions. 4. Economy- Specialization compiled with standardization facilitates maximum production and economical costs. 5. Expansion- Expert knowledge of functional manager facilitates better control and supervision. Demerits of Functional Organization 1. Confusion- The functional system is quite complicated to put into operation, especially when it is carried out at low levels. Therefore, coordination becomes difficult. 2. Lack of Co- ordination- Disciplinary control becomes weak as a worker is commanded not by one person but a large number of people. Thus, there is no unity of command. 3. Difficulty in fixing responsibility- Because of multiple authority, it is difficult to fix responsibility. 4. Conflicts- There may be conflicts among the supervisory staff of equal ranks. They may not agree on certain issues. 5. Costly- Maintenance of specialists staff of the highest order is expensive for a concern.

2. Line organization:Line organization is the most oldest and simplest method of administrative organization. According to this type of organization, the authority flows from top to bottom in a concern. The line of command is carried out from top to bottom. This is the reason for calling this organization as scalar organization which means scalar chain of command is a part and parcel of this type of administrative organization. In this type of organization, the line of command flows on an even basis without any gaps in communication and co- ordination taking place.

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Features of Line Organization 1. It is the most simplest form of organization. 2. Line of authority flows from top to bottom. 3. Specialized and supportive services do not take place in these organization. 4. Unified control by the line officers can be maintained since they can independently take decisions in their areas and spheres. 5. This kind of organization always helps in bringing efficiency in communication and bringing stability to a concern. Merits of Line Organization 1. Simplest- It is the most simple and oldest method of administration. 2. Unity of Command- In these organizations, superior-subordinate relationship is maintained and scalar chain of command flows from top to bottom. 3. Better discipline- The control is unified and concentrates on one person and therefore, he can independently make decisions of his own. Unified control ensures better discipline. 4. Fixed responsibility- In this type of organization, every line executive has got fixed authority, power and fixed responsibility attached to every authority.

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5. Flexibility- There is a co-ordination between the top most authority and bottom line authority. Since the authority relationships are clear, line officials are independent and can flexibly take the decision. This flexibility gives satisfaction of line executives. 6. Prompt decision- Due to the factors of fixed responsibility and unity of command, the officials can take prompt decision. Demerits of Line Organization 1. Over reliance- The line executives decisions are implemented to the bottom. This results in over-relying on the line officials. 2. Lack of specialization- A line organization flows in a scalar chain from top to bottom and there is no scope for specialized functions. For example, expert advices whatever decisions are taken by line managers are implemented in the same way. 3. Inadequate communication- The policies and strategies which are framed by the top authority are carried out in the same way. This leaves no scope for communication from the other end. The complaints and suggestions of lower authority are not communicated back to the top authority. So there is one way communication. 4. Lack of Co-ordination- Whatever decisions are taken by the line officials, in certain situations wrong decisions, are carried down and implemented in the same way. Therefore, the degree of effective co- ordination is less. 5. Authority leadership- The line officials have tendency to misuse their authority positions. This leads to autocratic leadership and monopoly in the concern.

3. Line and staff organization:Line and staff organization is a modification of line organization and it is more complex than line organization. According to this administrative organization, specialized and supportive activities are attached to the line of command by appointing staff supervisors and staff specialists who are attached to the line authority. The power of command always remains with the line executives and staff supervisors guide, advice and council the line executives. Personal Secretary to the Managing Director is a staff official.

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Features of Line and Staff Organization 1. There are two types of staff : a. Staff Assistants- P.A. to Managing Director, Secretary to Marketing Manager. b. Staff Supervisor- Operation Control Manager, Quality Controller, PRO 2. Line and Staff Organization is a compromise of line organization. It is more complex than line concern. 3. Division of work and specialization takes place in line and staff organization. 4. The whole organization is divided into different functional areas to which staff specialists are attached. 5. Efficiency can be achieved through the features of specialization. 6. There are two lines of authority which flow at one time in a concern : a. Line Authority b. Staff Authority 7. Power of command remains with the line executive and staff serves only as counsellors. Merits of Line and Staff Organization 1. Relief to line of executives- In a line and staff organization, the advice and counselling which is provided to the line executives divides the work between the two. The line executive can concentrate on the execution of plans and they get relieved of dividing their attention to many areas. 2. Expert advice- The line and staff organization facilitates expert advice to the line executive at the time of need. The planning and investigation which is related to different matters can be done by the staff specialist and line officers can concentrate on execution of plans. 3. Benefit of Specialization- Line and staff through division of whole concern into two types of authority divides the enterprise into parts and functional areas. This way every officer or official can concentrate in its own area. 4. Better co-ordination- Line and staff organization through specialization is able to provide better decision making and concentration remains in few hands. This feature helps in bringing co- ordination in work as every official is concentrating in their own area.

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5. Benefits of Research and Development- Through the advice of specialized staff, the line executives, the line executives get time to execute plans by taking productive decisions which are helpful for a concern. This gives a wide scope to the line executive to bring innovations and go for research work in those areas. This is possible due to the presence of staff specialists. 6. Training- Due to the presence of staff specialists and their expert advice serves as ground for training to line officials. Line executives can give due concentration to their decision making. This in itself is a training ground for them. 7. Balanced decisions- The factor of specialization which is achieved by line staff helps in bringing co- ordination. This relationship automatically ends up the line official to take better and balanced decision. 8. Unity of action- Unity of action is a result of unified control. Control and its affectivity take place when co- ordination is present in the concern. In the line and staff authority all the officials have got independence to make decisions. This serves as effective control in the whole enterprise. Demerits of Line and Staff Organization 1. Lack of understanding- In a line and staff organization, there are two authority flowing at one time. This results in the confusion between the two. As a result, the workers are not able to understand as to who is their commanding authority. Hence the problem of understanding can be a hurdle in effective running. 2. Lack of sound advice- The line official get used to the expertise advice of the staff. At times the staff specialist also provide wrong decisions which the line executive have to consider. This can affect the efficient running of the enterprise. 3. Line and staff conflicts- Line and staff are two authorities which are flowing at the same time. The factors of designations, status influence sentiments which are related to their relation, can pose a distress on the minds of the employees. This leads to minimizing of co- ordination which hampers a concerns working. 4. Costly- In line and staff concern, the concerns have to maintain the high remuneration of staff specialist. This proves to be costly for a concern with limited finance. 5. Assumption of authority- The power of concern is with the line official but the staff dislikes it as they are the one more in mental work.

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6. Staff steals the show- In a line and staff concern, the higher returns are considered to be a product of staff advice and counselling. The line officials feel dissatisfied and a feeling of distress enters a concern. The satisfaction of line officials is very important for effective results

4. Matrix Organization:The matrix organization is an attempt to combine the advantages of the pure functional structure and the product organizational structure. This form is identically suited for companies, such as construction, that are projectdriven. The figure below shows a typical Matrix organization. In a matrix organization, each project manager reports directly to the vice president and the general manager. Since each project represents a potential profit centre, the power and authority used by the project manager come directly from the general manager. Information sharing is mandatory in such an organization, and several people may be required for the same piece of work. However, in general, the project manager has the total responsibility and accountability for the success of the project. The functional departments, on the other hand, have functional responsibility to maintain technical excellence on the project. Each functional unit is headed by a department manager whose prime responsibility is to ensure that a unified technical base is maintained and that all available information can be exchanged for each project.

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Typical Matrix organization

The basis for the matrix organization is an endeavor to create synergism through shared responsibility between project and functional management. Other advantages of a pure matrix organizational form, to project management, include:

Because key people can be shared, the project cost is minimized Conflicts are minimal, and those requiring hierarchical referrals are more easily resolved There is a better balance between time, cost and performance Authority and responsibility are shared Stress is distributed among the team

Note: Dear students, you can also have the study of different types of organizational structure on following URL: http://www.dineshbakshi.com/igcse-business-studies/business-organisation/revisionnotes/881-organisational-structure

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Construction Planning
Construction planning is a fundamental and challenging activity in the management and execution of construction projects. It involves the following activities1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Choice of technology The definition of work tasks The estimation of the required resources Durations for individual tasks The identification of any interactions among the different work tasks.

A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the schedule for work. In developing a construction plan, it is common to adopt a primary emphasis on either cost control or on schedule control as illustrated in Fig. 9-1. Some projects are primarily divided into expense categories with associated costs. In these cases, construction planning is cost or expense oriented. Within the categories of expenditure, a distinction is made between costs incurred directly in the performance of an activity and indirectly for the accomplishment of the project

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Choice of Technology
As in the development of appropriate alternatives for facility design, choices of appropriate technology and methods for construction are often ill-structured yet critical ingredients in the success of the project. For example, a decision whether to pump or to transport concrete in buckets will directly affect the cost and duration of tasks involved in building construction. A decision between these two alternatives should consider the relative costs, reliabilities, and availability of equipment for the two transport methods. Unfortunately, the exact implications of different methods depend upon numerous considerations for which information may be sketchy during the planning phase, such as the experience and expertise of workers or the particular underground condition at a site.

Defining Work Tasks

At the same time that the choice of technology and general method are considered, a parallel step in the planning process is to define the various work tasks that must be accomplished. These work tasks represent the necessary framework to permit scheduling of construction activities, along with estimating the resources required by the individual work tasks, and any necessary precedence or required sequence among the tasks. The terms work "tasks" or "activities" are often used interchangeably in construction plans to refer to specific, defined items of work. In job shop or manufacturing terminology, a project would be called a "job" and an activity called an "operation", but the sense of the terms is equivalent. The scheduling problem is to determine an appropriate set of activity start time, resource allocations and completion times that will result in completion of the project in a timely and efficient fashion. Construction planning is the necessary fore-runner to scheduling. In this planning, defining work tasks, technology and construction method is typically done either simultaneously or in a series of iterations.

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Defining Precedence Relationships Among Activities

Once work activities have been defined, the relationships among the activities can be specified. Precedence relations between activities signify that the activities must take place in a particular sequence. Numerous natural sequences exist for construction activities due to requirements for structural integrity, regulations, and other technical requirements. For example, design drawings cannot be checked before they are drawn. Diagrammatically, precedence relationships can be illustrated by a network or graph in which the activities are represented by arrows as in Figure 9-0. The arrows in Figure 9-3 are called branches or links in the activity network, while the circles marking the beginning or end of each arrow are called nodes or events. In this figure, links represent particular activities, while the nodes represent milestone events.

Estimating Activity Durations

In most scheduling procedures, each work activity has associated time duration. These durations are used extensively in preparing a schedule. All formal scheduling procedures rely upon estimates of the durations of the various project activities as well as the definitions of the predecessor relationships among tasks. The variability of an activity's duration may also be considered. Formally, the probability distribution of an activity's duration as well as the expected or most likely duration may be used in scheduling. A probability distribution indicates the chance that particular activity duration will occur. In advance of actually doing a particular task, we cannot be certain exactly how long the task will require.

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Estimating Resource Requirements for Work Activities

In addition to precedence relationships and time durations, resource requirements are usually estimated for each activity. Since the work activities defined for a project are comprehensive, the total resources required for the project are the sum of the resources required for the various activities. By making resource requirement estimates for each activity, the requirements for particular resources during the course of the project can be identified. Potential bottlenecks can thus be identified, and schedule, resource allocation or technology changes made to avoid problems.

Note: Dear students, you can also have the study of Construction Planning on following URL: http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/09_Construction_Planning.html#top

SHEDULING

Construction scheduling is the graphical representation which shows the phasing rate of construction activities with the starting and completion dates and the sequential relationship along the various activities or operations in a project so that work can be carried out in an orderly and effective manner. By developing a building schedule - a plan, the owner builder knows in advance when every facet of the job is to begin and when it should be completed. This is a planning function, and is carried out before the job is begun. By preparing construction project scheduling in advance, you, the owner builder, are able to schedule subcontractors and materials deliveries so that the proper sub and the necessary materials arrive when they are needed, which in turn will allow you to save time, money, and hassle. Scheduling is carried out in advance of the project commencing and involves:

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identifying the tasks that need to be carried out; estimating how long they will take; allocating resources (mainly personnel); scheduling when the tasks will occur.

Preparation of construction schedulei.) The project is divided into number of operations and the sequence of these operations can be derived after knowing their relationship properly. The quantity of work involved in each operation has to be calculated. The time required for completion of the project as well as the different activities are to be calculated. This can be done from the quantity of work involved and the rate of performing each work.

ii.)
iii.)

Advantages of schedulingi.) ii.) iii.) iv.) v.) vi.) vii.) By studying the schedule of any work and the many alternative methods of execution, we can choose the best one. It gives a clear idea regarding the required men, materials and equipment at different stages of the work. Since the starting time of each work is known, proper arrangement and requirements can be done prior to the starting of the work. Resource utilization is optimized. Actual progress of the work is monitored with the actual plan. If there is any delay, proper remedial measures can be taken to avoid such delays. Interrelationship of various activities at different stages are known, thus we will be able to fix them according to their priority. Total duration of the complete project is known.

Methods of scheduling 1. Milestone Charts

Milestones mark significant events in the life of a project, usually critical activities which must be achieved on time to avoid delay in the project. Milestones should be truely significant and be reasonable in terms of deadlines (avoid using intermediate stages). Examples include:

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installation of equipment; completion of phases; file conversion; cutover to the new system.

2. Gantt Charts (Bar charts)

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar or line chart which will commonly include the following features:

activities identified on the left hand side; time scale is drawn on the top (or bottom) of the chart; a horizontal open oblong or a line is drawn against each activity indicating estimated duration; dependencies between activities are shown; at a review point the oblongs are shaded to represent the actual time spent (an alternative is to represent actual and estimated by 2 separate lines); a vertical cursor (such as a transparent ruler) placed at the review point makes it possible to establish activities which are behind or ahead of schedule.

Project management tools incorporating Gantt Charts include PRINCE [CCTA, 1990], Mac Project and Microsoft Project. Example of a Gantt Chart:

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Figure 1: Example of a Gantt Chart

Which tasks is ahead of schedule ? Which task is behind schedule ? Gantt charts produced in this form are:

graphical; easy to read; easy to update.

There are no widely accepted standards for Gantt charts. Automated tools are available which produce Gantt charts directly from activity networks or from a full definition of the tasks. Automated tools have features which assist the planning function including:

display of original and latest time for task; display of person(s) allocated to tasks; integration with other planning techniques (i.e. networks and milestones).

3. Activity Networks

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The foundation of the approach came from the Special Projects Office of the US Navy in 1958. It developed a technique for evaluating the performance of large development projects, which became known as PERT - Project Evaluation and Review Technique. Other variations of the same approach are known as the critical path method (CPM) or critical path analysis (CPA). The heart of any PERT chart is a network of tasks needed to complete a project, showing the order in which the tasks need to be completed and the dependencies between them. This is represented graphically:

Figure 3: Example of an Activity Network

The diagram consists of a number of circles, representing events within the development lifecycle, such as the start or completion of a task, and lines, which represent the tasks themselves. Each task is additionally labelled by its time duration. Thus the task between events 4 & 5 is planned to take 3 time units. The primary benefit is the identification of the critical path. The critical path = total time for activities on this path is greater than any other path through the network (delay in any task on the critical path leads to a delay in the project). Tasks on the critical path therefore need to be monitored carefully. The technique can be broken down into 3 stages: 1. Planning:

Identify tasks and estimate duration of times; Arrange in feasible sequence; Draw diagram.

2. Scheduling:

Establish timetable of start and finish times.

3. Analysis:

Establish float;

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Evaluate and revise as necessary.

Monitoring
What is the purpose of monitoring?
Monitoring of construction involves regular site visits to check the quality, accuracy and progress of the work. Problems encountered can be investigated and resolved. Such problems may be due to unexpected obstructions buried in the ground that were unknown until the contractor started to excavate.

What benefits would a specialist bring?

Appropriate training and experience to assess the quality of the work, and conformity to the plans Experience and knowledge of legislation to consider problems arising and determine appropriate alterations to the design A lot of detail is required for monitoring to be effective, so suitable experience can save a lot of time

The construction work should be examined regularly to ensure that it is in accordance with the plans and specifications. It is very easy for faulty work to be buried so that no one is the wiser - until the contractor has left the site and you are left with the problems! For example concrete can look much the same to the untrained eye, despite being of very different strengths and durability. The earlier such faults can be detected, the easier it is likely to be to resolve the problem. Because of our range of experience, we would be more likely to spot such problems, and be able to specify how they should be resolved. While carrying out the work, your contractors may find something that was not expected. Before the ground is excavated, it is difficult to know exactly what is underneath the surface. For example, pipes may not be where they were thought to be, or there may be an unexpected variation in ground conditions. To accommodate this, your project would need to be adjusted while still conforming to the regulations and your intentions. Our knowledge of the regulations and the design philosophy would enable us to make the necessary adjustments quickly whilst minimizing their costs.

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Building contractors may not have had experience of filling station work before. It can often help them to have someone on site to discuss what is involved. Our practical experience enables us to fulfill that role.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

To ensure promotion of the project work, certain key elements must be in place in the organization. In systems terminology, these components as a whole form a project management system, and each individual component is a subsystem. According to Lewis, the project management system consists of seven components or subsystems. These are briefed belowi. Project planning and design- the planning and designing system is perhaps the most important. On it depends the successful completion of a project. Project planning is seeing as not producing results, it is concerned with laying down certain objectives, goal and strategies. Better results can be achieved if the design of the project work is systematized. Project information system- In organizing the implementation of project work, the information system must be good. However one of the problems some organizations have is that the data on project status is collected, fed into the computer, then processed and distributed at such large time intervals as to make the information useless in terms of control. Project control system Monitoring and control are the important subsets of the project implementation process. The objective of monitoring is to see deviations from the planned project performance. On the other hand, control is making decisions to redirect project inputs, resources and schedules in order to ensure the anticipated deviations do not materialize. Project techniques and execution system- In order to ensure timely completion of a project, manager makes use of certain techniques and methodologies. These may consist of certain technology, PERT AND CPM scheduling and costing designs. In addition to these techniques, the project execution plan, work packaging plan, procedure plan and human resource plan. Project organization system- A systematic approach will enable the project manager to reduce the risk which is inherent in most projects. An organization

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

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vi.

vii.

often headed by the project manager is set up for the purpose of securing coordinated efforts of all participants. This organization must define the limits of authority, responsibility and accountability of participants. If they have no authority, then they will feel no responsibility for their actions and project manager may has to make all decisions. Cultural system- This may be added there that project organization operates in a given culture environment. The culture of an organization is the totality of the values, traditions, beliefs and behaviors of the participants of the project organization. Since change is resisted, it must be properly planned to avoid troubles. Human system- human resources system is perhaps the most important aspect of the project management. Project techniques and methodologies are of no use if personnel lack adequate skills and motivation. A project manager needs very good interpersonal skills. These include the ability to provide good leadership for project team, the ability to deal with other constituents for needed resources, skills in motivating team members, good communication skill.