PMP Protein: Emotional Quotient – A Risk Factor

By Manjunath R, PMP        

        Taking ownership is the best way to get the things done. No matter what project management methodology is adapted, taking ownership always works. It is all about involving completely and taking accountability of the consequences. One needs to give his or her mind, heart and soul to the activity involved and make sure it is delivered with maximum possible efficiency. It requires lot of attention to detail. In the sense, one needs to understand the consequences of each actions. This is nothing but risk analysis. 
       

        Risk analysis is carried out in planning stage. Also, during execution unexpected things prop up and will become threat to the project progress. One such risk is emotions flowing through the project TEAM. The emotional balance of team members plays a very important role in the journey of the project. The emotional quotient should be kept in a watch list. If pulse of the team members isn’t understood properly, it will have an impact on project constraints. 

        Most of the times, a good rapport between the team members will be a great motivational factor. The team leader needs to respect the team member’s emotional bonding with the rest of the team. Efforts should be made to have an honest relationship, not only for the sake of the project, but also otherwise. 

        An honest relationship always works, may it be professional or family or social life. Team motivating programs should be designed to enhance the cohesiveness of the team.  If team members happen to lose faith in one another, then the fate of the project will be at stake. Having said that, people should not mix up their personal problems with profession. The distinction should be manifested. 

Conclusion: To summarize, every team member including the team lead, should have a great bonding which will eventually contribute to the self-development as well as strategic alignment to the vision and mission of the organization. 


Author: Manjunath R
Manjunath R is a project management professional in construction industry. He is a graduate Civil Engineer. He has been involved in construction industry as Deputy General Manager working for REVA University. He has worked with several reputed organizations in Bangalore. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI). 

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PMP Protein: Facing the Sun

By Manjunath R, PMP

We all face our top management in our day today professional activities. May it be presenting reports, proposing something, or clarifying something.  Sometimes, matter in hand will be in jeopardy while convincing the top management. There are several reasons for it. It may be the lack of artifacts, data, analysis of feasibility etc. But, most of the times, the modus operandi and the mode of evaluation of the top management will be discreet. Hidden agendas of Top Management are also one of the major factors contributing to unproductive meetings. 

It is difficult to question the top management about the transparency of bringing their motives on to the meeting table. It needs lot of experience and right attitude to bring out the actual expectations of the top management. If mishandled, the careers will be in jeopardy. Being honest sometimes will invite trouble. Like the proverb says 'Tall trees are cut first'.

Facing the top management is like facing the sun. One can’t keep staring at it, there is a risk of losing vision. With proper tools and techniques sun can be observed without harm. Same way with proper skill set top management can be handled. 

Most of the times, the top management tries to divert the issues to something which is not a part of agenda (not really important). This may be a part of their evaluation process, so as to know how important the agenda is and how desperate we are to bring the discussion back on track. Sometimes, top management plays the role of a Devil’s advocate to rule out all the possibilities which will have negative impact. If the business case is not feasible, it has to die on the discussion table. Top management plays role of a murder panel. 

Sometimes, it’s contrary. Top management will be so confident and enthusiastic about some business case that, they will not be in listening mode. They will be blindfolded about the negativities. Being aware of the negativities, middle management people fail to bring them on to the discussion table. 

Top Management sometimes may have decided something and call for the meeting to convey the same. But, before disclosing their verdict they would like to have some warm up discussions. 

It hard to know, what is in the mind of top management. It is always safe to double check the data and artifacts before presentation and to be clear about the agenda. Most importantly, being diplomatic helps a lot in facing top management. Emotions have to be kept under control. Surviving the scenario becomes more important.

Author: Manjunath R 
Manjunath R is a project management professional in construction industry. He is a graduate Civil Engineer. He is passed out from BIET (VTU) Davanagere in year 2005.He has been involved in construction industry as Deputy General Manager working for PDD Infratech. He has worked with several reputed organizations in Bangalore. He is having 12 plus years of hands on experience. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI). 

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• PMP Protein: Types of Organizational Structures
• PMP Protein: Identifying Stakeholders
• PMP Protein: Earned Value Management – Basics
• PMP Protein: Strategic Planning, Analysis and Alignment
• PMP Protein: Earned Value Management – Advanced
• PMP Protein: Critical Path Method – Basics
• PMP Protein: Seven Basic Tools of Quality
• PMP Protein: Gaps in Project Management in India’s Construction Industry
• PMP Protein: Organizational (Project) Management – A Facelift
• PMP Protein: Project Management Practitioners’ Conference 2018 - A Feast of Knowledge
• PMP Protein: Requirements Gathering Methods
• PMP Protein: Emotional Quotient – A Risk Factor
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PMP Protein: Organizational (Project) Management – A Facelift

By Manjunath R, PMP

Management is neither about blaming one another for the failures. Nor it is about beating around the bush. Management is neither about putting the ball in other’s court. Nor it is about implementing and practicing irrelevant standards. Management is definitely not about controlling people.

Management is alignment of thoughts, processes and efforts in line with vision and mission of an organization. Management is about streamlining and channelizing the energy flow towards achievement of a common goal. This needs a lot of insight into the abilities, weaknesses, strengths, egos, interests, ambitions of people involved. 

Directing the people may bring short term success, but eventually fails to bring out the long-term goal seeking attitude and commitment. It is so obvious that the human nature is so influenced by the environment around. If the environment is kept aligned with the goals, then, for sure people will also have the same influence in their actions.

In order to design the management tools for strategic alignment, we need to have an understanding of laws of nature. If we observe nature, we will understand how it works. Seasons after seasons come and go. They are all connected and self-driven. No one creates a path for the river to reach the sea. The river flows in a gradient obeying law of gravity. Tools, techniques and processes should be so designed that they should collectively lead to the success effortlessly. 

An important factor which influences the strategic alignment to the vision and mission of an organization is the kind of people involved. Whether they are self-motivated, visionaries or they have to be groomed, the kind of people will decide the fate of the organization. 

If likeminded people with positive attitude sharing a common passion work together for a common goal, work becomes fun and goals are achieved effortlessly. 

One more important factor which influences the strategic alignment is awareness of the purpose of the establishment of the organization. Most of the people are unaware of the purpose of the establishment of the organization in which they are working for decades. Nor they will be aware of the vision and mission of the organization. With people like them, organization may run, but, can’t grow tangibly or intangibly. Neither will the organization have any social value nor productive working atmosphere. 

The working atmosphere should be so high with energy and enthusiasm that people should forget everything else while working. Creating such environment will also lead to personal growth and happiness of each individual. 

The best way to create an enthusiastic environment is to make the stakeholders beneficiaries of the success or failure. It need not be only tangible. It’s the sense of ownership which adds the flavor to the involvement of people.  

Fear is one major factor which spoils the working atmosphere, thus bringing down the productivity. This is also major factor leading to employee attrition. Fear may be due to boss, client, customer, not meeting the deadlines, not meeting quality standards etc. Fear also brings down the confidence level of an individual, thus bringing down his/her capabilities. Efforts should be made to identify and keep any kind of fear out of the system. 

Many organizations start working without creating ambient atmosphere to work. It is like jumping into the freezing ocean without proper accessories and gears. Even a champion swimmer can’t be able to make it. Organizations should focus on creating proper tools and techniques which motivate, appreciate, elevate one’s capabilities, so as to make them a better person. This will have tangible benefits like increased productivity and intangible benefits like employee satisfaction and development. 

Creation of tools and techniques is an iterative process. It needs continuous improvement from time to time. Regular feedback from employees will surely help improve the process.   

As Technology changes from time to time, human behavior also changes. Keeping this into account processes should be altered and framed. 

Author: Manjunath R 
Manjunath R is a project management professional in construction industry . He is a graduate Civil Engineer. He is passed out from BIET (VTU) Davanagere in year 2005.He has been involved in construction industry as Deputy General Manager working for PDD Infratech. He has worked with several reputed organizations in Bangalore. He is having 12 plus years of hands on experience. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI). 

PMP LIVE LESSONS - Guaranteed Pass:

• PMP LIVE LESSONS: Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

Book  for PMP exam:

• Book for PMP Exam Prep: "I Want To Be A PMP"

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PMP Protein: Gaps in Project Management in India’s Construction Industry

By Manjunath R, PMP

When people talk about project management in construction industry, they will be most likely referring to the Project Management Consultants (PMC). Unfortunately, PMCs lack knowledge, information and experience. Most of the PMCs concentrate on paperwork rather than actual work. The transition from one process to other is not controlled by PMCs; sometimes they don’t even notice the transition! PMCs limit their roles to mere documentation like checklists,work orders, bill of quantities (BOQ) and Schedules. The organizations lack information and knowledge about the actual functioning of PMC. They just deploy people at site who run around preparing checklists. Middle management will be focused on the schedules. Top management will be taking care of work orders and payments. 

Nevertheless, there are PMCs, who undoubtedly work professionally. They are usually engaged by big developers. The overheads required to accommodate the required infrastructure is little more, which can be absorbed by big project budgets. Surely, this is an investment, which will eventually have a remarkable value addition for the project as well as the performing organization. Generally, the project management offices (PMO) in these organizations will be handling portfolio and program management to share the overheads. However, it doesn’t mean the smaller projects can’t be carried out professionally. It needs custom tailored processes to suit the size of the infrastructure and overhead cost.

One more big misconception in construction industry is this: Project management is limited to PMCs. Developers often deploy the PMCs and then doze off. They usually wake up when they realize that the projects are off track – from schedule or cost or other perspectives.

It is important to know that the project management is required for the whole team. And the team includes developer, PMCs, contractors and other vendors. All have to play their role to make the project a successful endeavour. 


I’ve outlined a few reasons why many construction projects fail in India.

Reason #1: No understanding of Stakeholder and Stakeholder Management
The term “stakeholder” is a highly misunderstood term in construction industry. People who invest capital or end users are only considered to be stakeholders. Nothing can be further from truth. The identification of stakeholders is the most neglected thing. Even a small vendor who delays the supply of materials can make an impact on critical path of the schedule. He is also a stakeholder. Secondly, identification of stakeholders is a continuous process throughout the lifecycle of the project.  The levels of stakeholder engagement keep on changing from time to time. Stakeholders who are ‘neutral ‘may suddenly start ‘leading’ the project. People who are’ unaware’ may become ‘resistant’. This happens most of the time in construction industry. 

One more important fact is politics. Handling politics is inevitable part of stakeholder management. People fail to understand this. This is one of the reasons why projects end up being over budgeted or getting delivered beyond the timelines. 


Stakeholders have a direct impact on the project constraints. The whole of the project team should be made aware of this. They should be educated about this primarily. The next level is to make them accountable. Even the end user has to be educated about their role and the processes involved.

If case of small projects, usually team buy in is taken before any decision is made. this motivates the team to contribute. But, in case of bigger projects, the decision is made and passed on to the lower levels, not giving any room for discussion or brainstorming thus lacking team buy in. 

Reason #2: Unrealistic Budget with No Reserves and No Earned Value Management (EVM)
Usually, no contingencies or management reserves are planned in the cost budget, which makes it vulnerable. 

The quantities in the BOQ will not be peer reviewed, which makes the BOQ uncertain. The rates are only looked into for awarding purpose. When the project completes, there will be usually variances in the actual and planned due to the above mentioned reasons.

Biggest reason why earned value management can’t be applied to projects is the difference in BOQ and actual quantities. There is always a variance, if the BOQ quantities are not weighted properly. 

Reason # 3: The Forbidden Kingdom of Risk Management
Risk management is a forbidden kingdom. Construction industry is not aware of this aspect of project management. Projects are planned considering most positive situations. The threats and opportunities are never thought about while planning the project. Of course, the subjective and objective analysis is never looked into. This makes the projects vulnerable and projects will be at mercy of God. 

Reason #4: Lack of Fact Driven Decision Making in Change Control Boards
In Indian construction industry, this is a virtual board comprising of top management people who take decisions based of artefacts. The basis of decisions will be generally over shadowed by the influential personalities may be CEO/CFO/MD/Chairman of the organization. This will not make the decision unbiased.

Reason # 5: Quality Management and Schedule Management are 180 degrees apart
Quality and schedule don’t go hand in hand. Unrealistic timelines will be agreed to the end user, which makes it impossible to take care of quality aspects. For example, the curing period of 28 days for the slab as mentioned in the quality assurance can’t be followed, since, next level slab have to be caste within 7 days as per the agreed schedule. Of course, other methods of curing are adopted to compensate, but, it’s just a compromise again. 

Reason # 6: Project Charter is Unheard-Of
Most of the Project managers/Organizations haven’t heard of project charter. Believe it or not!Even if it is prepared, they might never refer back to it. In the sense, they don’t understand the significance of the project charter. Generally, top management authorizes the project manager to take over the project and an organization chart is submitted to the client/developer. The initial sign off will just be an agreement associated with BOQ. Sometimes, the special clauses will be missing in the contract agreement. Templates used for agreement are same for all the projects. 

Reason #7: Unprofessional Communications Management
This is not listed out professionally. Instead, project directory is referred. Communication is the main aspect of any project. Most of the project manager’s time is spent in communicating. If a project manager fails to keep the stakeholders in loop or to cascade any important message, the results may be awry.

Reason # 8: High Scope Creep
In other industries, scope is validated by the customer or end user after it is thoroughly inspected by project team. But, in construction industry (most organizations), client is free to walk in his apartment during construction and advise changes/customizations which is technically a scope creep. This will have a tangible negative impact on the cost baseline as well as the schedule base line. Few organizations don’t allow customization. They don’t even allow customers in the construction zone unnecessarily. Client relationship management has to be in place and has to function properly to avoid the scope issues. 

Reason #9: Lessons Are Never Learned
This has to be recorded by all of the project team and has to be stored a part of organizational process assets. With this, lessons learned can be archived by the project managers, to take benefit of the experiences of the project team from previous projects. This is never done in construction industry. 

Conclusion: Construction projects in India fail due to unprofessional and unscientific approach. A system has to be created and followed to get desired results. The major drawback in Indian construction industry is people find their own via media for every process. They don’t even standardize it. Short cuts may yield short term results. Long term benefits can be yielded by proper Project Management. It’s truly a value addition.

Author: Manjunath R 
Manjunath R is a project management professional in construction industry . He is a graduate Civil Engineer.He is passed out from BIET (VTU) Davanagere in year 2005.He has been involved in construction industry as Deputy General Manager working for PDD Infratech. He has worked with several reputed organizations in Bangalore. He is having 12 plus years of hands on experience .He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI). 

PMP LIVE LESSONS - Guaranteed Pass:

• PMP LIVE LESSONS: Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back

Book  for PMP exam:

• Book for PMP Exam Prep: "I Want To Be A PMP"

You may also like:

• PMP Protein: Conflict, Conflict Management and Conflict Management Techniques
• PMP Protein: Top PMP Apps to Assist You
• PMP Protein: Understanding Risk Attitude
• PMP Protein: Information Gathering Techniques
• PMP Protein: How To Be A PMI-PMP
• PMP Protein: How To Prepare and Submit PMP Applications
• PMP Protein: Types of Organizational Structures
• PMP Protein: Identifying Stakeholders
• PMP Protein: Earned Value Management – Basics
• PMP Protein: Strategic Planning, Analysis and Alignment
• PMP Protein: Earned Value Management – Advanced
• PMP Protein: Critical Path Method – Basics
• PMP Protein: Seven Basic Tools of Quality
• PMPProtein: Organizational (Project) Management – A Facelift
• PMP Protein: Facing the Sun
• PMP Protein: Project Management Practitioners’ Conference 2018 - A Feast of Knowledge
• PMP Protein: Requirements Gathering Methods
• PMP Protein: Emotional Quotient – A Risk Factor
• PMP Protein: Ensuring Effective Communication by Team Members and Middle Management
• PMP Protein: Leadership and Team Building
• PMP Protein: Understanding Brainstorming
• PMP Protein: Changing Work Cultures and Organizational Impact