Identifying People with the Knowledge & Experience is easy but, finding such People is Really Hard

ROLES, RESPONSIBILTY, COMPETENCY AND AUTHORITY BALANCE

By Alberto Munguia, PMP

To maintain a competitive edge in performing construction management services, organizations should consider several factors when defining the role, authority, and responsibility of the assigned staff. Unfortunately, often, the owner, senior management, or project managers cannot obtain, influence, or direct staff assignments. However, when possible the factors to consider are:

1. Who is available and when?
2. Have staff members done similar work on other projects? Did they do it well?
3. What competencies do staff member possess?
4. Are staff members interested in the project?
5. How much compensation is required for this skill and competency level?
6. Will the team reside at the project location? How much compensation is required for the personnel to live in a different place from where they were hired?

Of course, nobody would disagree that organizations want to acquire personnel with the required knowledge, experience, skills, and abilities to succeed as a team member, but sometimes organizations forget to consider whether this new team member will complement the company’s culture. Believe me when I tell you that identifying people with the skills, knowledge, experience, and abilities may be easy but, finding such people is really hard. However, it’s harder to asses a person’s ability to be a good team player. They may have all the qualities that you want but that do not necessarily equal organizational fit. Equally, employees seeking for employment may find a company that offers all the things that he is looking for but soon he may find that the company culture is not what they say it was. In consequence is not a good fit for him

I have personally concluded that finding a good employee that meets all the qualities and fits on the company culture is as important as finding a good company that fits an employee’s core values. Therefore if you are an owner, senior manager, or project manager lucky enough to have found a person that is at least very close to meet all your needs to provide a good service to your customers please keep him, take care of him and train him to be the perfect fit. On the other hand, if you are an employee that has found a company where you feel identified with its Mission, Vision, Philosophy and/or Culture that is at least as close to your perfect fit. Please be the best team member that you can be and take care of business. This is the only way that in my opinion employer-employee will succeed in managing the project’s risk and both employee and employer will grow because they are complementing one another, but mainly because their relation will be based on trust and mutual benefit due to all the similarities that they have in common.

Seriously, projects success depend in great measure to the ability of the organization to asses a person’s ability to be a good team player either the person they are assigning to a project is a secretary, inspector, lead inspector or project manager.

So, the person responsible for assigning roles, responsibilities and authority should answer the following questions when evaluating the candidate to be assigned to the project:

• Is he conscientious and dependable?
• Can he work effectively under stress?
• Does he have enough initiative to work independently?
• Does he have the necessary competency to fulfill this role?
• Does he possess a particular expertise that will add value to our company or project?
• Are there affinities with the company that will help to build mutual trust?

Once I read and I quote “One of the most difficult responsibilities of the project manager is to organize, mold and nurture people to develop a team. This process involves blending different personalities, abilities, and agendas into a cohesive unit willing to work towards a common goal. Although competency development is clear in terms of training needs, complex and subtle network skills are required to make a team work effectively”.

In most cases the roles, responsibilities, and authorities of the team members are assigned by the project manager or Project Director, and in fact, knowing how to pull together a team is one of the most critical roles of the project manager or company’s owner. Defining and assigning roles is a major task for the project manager. It all starts by recognizing that organizations must hire the right staff. Without the proper attitudes and expertise, the project team cannot function cooperatively and effectively, which could result in tension among team members and missed deadlines and budgets

Probably, it is important to share the meaning of two key words, role and responsibility. Role is a label describing the portion of the project which a person is accountable. Responsibility is the work that a project team member is expected to perform to complete the project’s activities. Also, we need to understand the meaning of authority and competency. Authority is the right to apply projects resources, make decisions, and sign approvals. Team members’ individual levels of authority should match their individual responsibility. Competency is the skill and capacity required to complete project activities. When mismatches between project team members’ competencies and assigned activities are identified, initiate proactive responses such as training, hiring or reassigning duties.

About the Author

Alberto Munguia Mireles is a civil engineer by trade and project management professional by specialization. He has more than 24 years’ experience providing engineering services during the construction and inspection of infrastructure projects. Since 2010 he has been dedicated to aggregate civil engineering, construction management, quality control and quality assurance methods used by experts during the construction and inspection of highways in Texas. He is well-known for his expertise in monitoring and controlling construction processes and his ability to mitigate negative risk. He is the author of Highway Construction and Inspection Fieldbook and Field book for Quality Control In earthwork Operations Visit www.cs4highway.com to find out more about his work