Scientific/Humanistic Management and Human Resources
There are two main methods of management in The Construction and Built Environment Sector, these are Scientific and Humanistic Management. Scientific Management is the type that concentrates on workflow, production and profits. It is the method that wants to get the most out of something in order to produce the most profit. Elimination of waste and good profitable working practices fall into this category.
Alternatively, there is also Humanistic Management which looks after the workers of a company, a humans needs. Pay, welfare, working hours and similar factors fall into this category. Robert Owen, born in 1772; an early pioneer in this category set out to shorten the working day and enforce a minimum working age for apprentices. Roller Nischal (2012) describes Owen as a “British industrialist who was one of the first managers to recognize the importance of human resources and the welfare of workers”
Present day management has now seen the two combine with the majority of companies using both methods of management. Companies have realized that it is possible to produce to a healthy profit whilst keeping a safe, fair environment for the workers. If staff are happy and motivated, then it can spur them on to produce a better quantity of work which in turn will help produce better profits.
Human Resource Management (HRM), plays a huge part in the daily running of most companies, especially the larger ones and many large companies have their own in house HR Department. HR Departments are involved with recruitment, training, rewards and also disciplinary. This department can concentrate on finding out what motivates both individuals and teams and help to bring the best out of them. As mentioned above, this will create better morale in the workplace, leading to better production and bigger profits. It gives organization and structure to the workforce and helps create that link between the management and the employees, which is crucial.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs outlines what people need to be motivated. If employers could find out what motivates the staff, then this could help to produce better quality, quantity and profit. Maslow knew that people had specific motivation techniques, and knew that many people were different. But the paragraph and pyramid table below shows that it can be categorized and understood fairly easily.
“According to Maslow, each person had a different set of needs at different point of time in his life. He said that all needs of humans could be arranged in a hierarchy. Each person is said to move through the hierarchy by fulfilling each level of needs. Some people may have dominant needs at a particular level and thus never move through the entire hierarchy.”
Communication Theory (2010)
Structures
Organizations are structured full of people who are all working together as one force to achieve one goal – profit and success. But the structures show that there are different levels of authority, and when looking further and further up the chain, the smaller the management group gets. This is where the decisions are made – right at the top.
The objectives from these directors are their own personal views in which they want to implement throughout the organization in order to keep moving forward. They can hold board meetings to discuss their ideas and make an executive decision if it is to be implemented into the company. If the decision goes ahead then the objectives can be fed down the hierarchy charts to get to the rest of the organization so that everyone can work to achieve this objective.
Total Quality Management (TQM), can be used to achieve these objectives. The board can set the objective into the organization and review it to see if it has been effective. If it has but needs further work, then it can be continued until the objective has been met. If it has failed or succeeded, the board can choose to leave it and move on to another objective – all with the same overall aim and to mention again – to achieve profit and success.
The first thing is to ensure that these directors at the top have the knowledge, the skill and the expertise to succeed and strive in business. More often than not, the larger organizations can bring non-executive directors into a company strictly just for those reasons. If they have the right people in the right positions at the very top, then they are more likely to progress. The price for this caliber of professional is usually very high.
A large disadvantage is that really, it is all just waving on the opinion of a select few individuals. Regardless of the ability and expertise they have, we are all humans, and humans make mistakes. One large mistake at the top of the chain can have immense effects on the whole organization and can literally send it crashing to the ground. There is enormous pressure at the top, a place where only the strongest survive.
Teamwork
A good team is needed to ensure that success is met at the end of the project, as well as a key benefit; making life and work life easier giving job satisfaction. The overall goal is to achieve what the client demands and ensure that customer satisfaction is met.
Co-operation and efficiency of a team will ensure that everything runs like clockwork. In order to achieve this, there needs to be a chain of command so that the team will follow the manager’s orders to reach the finish line. Team building events and regular communication meetings can keep all the team together and ensure that good working relationships are gained and maintained. Minimizing waste, maximizing productivity and ensuring the overall flow of the project i.e. having the right staff in the right positions and utilizing everyone to their strength’s will make efficiency fall into place. Targets and benchmarking can help to grow companies, gain confidence, knowledge and experience.
Quality can be fluctuated depending on client’s demands and requirements. This can also add to the profit margins and budgets by having to use either top quality products or scupper on the quality depending on timescales/budgets set by the client. The end product can certainly help to show just what quality brings to a team and by using methods such as TQM, this can be worked on and improved as time goes by to add to the efficiency of the team.
Responsibility and delegation are both huge factors on building a successful team. In order to achieve the highest standards and success, a good manager needs to match the right job role to the right candidate. Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of staff, a good manager can utilize strengths to ensure that each specific field is at its strongest possible point. Once this is in place, he or she can then work on the weaknesses by building knowledge and confidence by training and testing to gain skills and experience.
Integrating all teams from planning and design to construction will also help to provide a more efficient project. By working together and ensuring that the crossover of specific tasks are coordinated correctly, this will help to provide minimum down time and help get the project over the finish line to the agreed timescale set by the client.
Along with these, the intention of creating good working relationships will no doubt help to build a stronger future by working together regularly with the same people. Not only will this help by getting to know each other and getting all the experience from the respective partners to build a better project, but also to get an understanding of one another and build friendships and an all-round better workplace for everyone.
Gallup Organization (2004) found that “people who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs. And it doesn't have to be a best friend: people who simply have a good friend in the workplace are more likely to be satisfied.”
The inclusion of Benchmarking has certainly helped to improve quality and standards in the construction industry. By setting the benchmark at a certain level, a company can aim to meet that mark every time, and even raise the bar to provide a higher quality on a construction project, or perhaps meet the same quality to a lower budget or reduced timescale. In turn, this can certainly help for the company to run more efficiently, and look for ways to better the standard set before.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) deals with how management structures are working and involves company policies, stages, plans etc. This can intertwine with other factors discussed such as benchmarking to ensure that the company is performing to its highest standard constantly, and if anything raising the standard rather than slipping under and cutting corners. This can help managers to achieve overall success in their profession and can help to deliver a project.
“Performance measurement is an integral part of business management. By championing key company and project aims, managers are more likely to achieve success. But the only way of knowing whether those goals are being delivered is by identifying indicators of their success and using them to keep an eye on the way the business is performing.” Bre (2015)
Latest Software
Microsoft (Project and Outlook)
Microsoft is of huge importance for managers on a construction project. There are many programs created by Microsoft that help in this modern day management; excel, word, power point, project and outlook to name a few.
Microsoft Project help to produce Gantt charts, helping with the coordination of a project. Coordination is a huge factor in management of construction projects and quite a large amount of time and effort should be put in by the relevant people to ensure that the plans are accurate and able to work to, all to ensure the client’s needs are met.
Computer aided systems such as Microsoft Project can help to build a Gantt chart for a construction project easily and is also easily amendable so that an up to date chart can be produced when needed to help monitor and control progression, by clearly identifying each task and process. MS Project can also with a click of a button show the critical path of a construction project so that it always remains vital that these certain points are met on time to avoid serious delays and complications. “Gantt charts serve as an excellent tool to show updated schedule status using actual complete shadings and vertical line representing the actual date.” About (2015)
Microsoft Outlook is the leader of communication in this modern generation of new technology. Outlook is technically a glorified mailbox which allows all users to send and receive emails and attachments to one or many people involved with the project. Not only this, but it also has a calendar available which allows people to manage their time and meetings – by also inviting people to meetings, improving time management and ensuring that nothing gets forgotten. Notifications, alerts and task bars as well as out of office assistants and the ability to send “read receipts” which notifies the sender when their mail has been read by the receiver.
CAD & BIM
CAD or Computer Aided Design is a software tool used to plot plans and drawings relating to the project that is being worked on. These plans can be drawn to scale and used for trades and professionals to help complete a project. CAD is a 2d software tool and should only be used for floor plans etc. however it can be linked with Sketch Up and other 3d software programs to help build visuals on how a project can look. Although these are still well used in the construction industry, they are being taken over more by BIM on larger projects.
BIM is also known as Building Information Modelling and is arguably one of the biggest breakthroughs in recent years when relating to software and technology. It is the best software on the market at the moment in the construction industry. BIM helps to bring all trades and specialists together in one program. It can provide detailed drawings of all services in a building for all to see and again, can be easily adjusted should there be any need to. “The key benefit of BIM is its accurate geometrical representation of the parts of a building in an integrated data environment” ASCPro (2008)
BIM has helped the construction industry immeasurably. “Both as mature software and as process, BIM has in fact arrived, and regardless of cost or learning curve, many teams have already proven that its benefits outweigh its drawbacks.” AWCI (2009)
Procore
Procore is an online “cloud” where information and drawings can be passed on to all relevant people involved with the project. Updated drawings, plans and elevations from all professionals, engineers and trades can be edited and sent to the administrator for the project who will ensure that the specific drawings are sent out to the applicable persons as and when they need to.
Having all this information in one place and with such ease of access is beneficial for a project. It is similar to BIM, but without the electronic technology. Drawings can be physically drawn or professionally scaled out on programs such as CAD and sent out to all professionals and stored in one place where everyone has an account and can access whenever they need to. They will also receive email notifications when new drawings are uploaded so they can be sure to have the latest drawings for their working requirements
Planning Management
Procurement scheduling and control in the Construction and Built Environment Sector can be affected by management and planning. When considering scheduling and the control of a project, there are many factors that come into it and it is vitally important that much consideration is given so that the project can run smoothly and also refrain from spending excess money on things that don’t need to be spent on.
Factors such as Supply Chain Management can be key when delivering a project. Supply chain management is seen as “design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally” Cornell University (2015)
As stated above by Cornell University (2015), there is a lot that goes into supply chain management, so it is important that someone is employed to do this who has a vast amount of experience in the field, as ultimately this could lead to huge savings overall, as well as adding to the ability to deliver a project on time.
Asset Management such as the materials and plant that will be used throughout the project has to be coordinated so that they are on site at the right times. Delays in materials means delays to the project and this will cost both time and money. Having plant machinery on site at all times will add to the final bill. Some machines cost thousands of pounds per week to rent and if they are just sat gathering dust for a few weeks, it is money lost that could have been saved or spent elsewhere.
Waste Management has to be considered on all projects. SWMP – The Site Waste Management Plan has been set up to ensure that all site waste is being controlled and recycled where possible. Although this may cost to separate and organize waste into specific skips, it can be seen as being a productive method into looking after the environment. This plan is designed to help waste management and get the most out of materials both new and old. It aims to help the environment and bring down greenhouse gas emissions.