Construction Project Management Assignment Outlining The Methods To Overcome The Issues

Question

Task: Your partner and you will have to decide on the way forward for this initiative:

1. Discuss how you would handle the conflict with:
  a) your partner and
  b) the builder
Explain in detail your conflict management strategy for both the above stakeholders.
2. Select one leadership style and explain in detail how you would successfully manage this project to completion.
3. Explain how you would use the Seven Quality Control (7 QC) tools and techniques to help you manage this project. (You must demonstrate the application of these tools in relation to this project. You may also propose other tools and techniques that you have learned from this unit).
4. Prepare a risk management strategy for this project. You must identify all risk and explain your strategy to manage each of the risk

Answer

Introduction
The new construction project examined in the present report on construction project management assignment is facing huge dilemma presently due to disagreement in choosing home design, delay in discussion with the builder and losing eligibility to apply for Keystart program. This dilemma would lead to conflicts and other issues in the business. The paper suggests methods to overcome various issues in the construction project such as conflict, leadership, quality issue and risks.

Conflict Management
The term Conflict management used in the case scenario of construction project management assignment is one of the most important things to keep in mind while completing a project. This is because team work usually leads to some kind of conflict between team members due to differences in thinking and perception (Naismith et al., 2016). The situation is facing conflict between me and my partner and the builder. Conflict with the partner is due to differences in preferences that is coming up when choosing home design, layout and deciding on other home elements. Whereas conflict with builder is due to delay in discussion for final cost estimation. These two conflict situation needs to be managed effectively so that the project is planned and completed on a timely manner. Different strategies will be adopted to manage the conflict between me and two other people that is builder and partner. The context of construction project management assignment indicates that these two stakeholders are important for the construction project because without the help of builder and partner the project will not be planned successfully neither it will be implemented in an effective manner.

Conflict with Partner
Conflict faced with the partner is disagreement in reaching to an accurate design for the new home and the layout to be made. To resolve this strategy of construction project management assignment, Thomas Kilmann conflict management strategies will be used so that an effective decision or conclusion is reached about home design. The five strategies stated by this model are competing, accommodating, avoiding, compromising and collaborating (Riasi & Asadzadeh, 2015).

Competing- this strategy will be used at certain position in which I will feel I hold more expertise in various areas and my decision is correct regarding house design. A competing nature will allow being assertive in making decision with proving facts.

Accommodating- this strategy mentioned in the construction project management assignment will be taken when the partner states their claim with appropriate facts to prove themselves correct. At that time being generous and considering their claim will be effective.

Avoiding- at some situation when no conclusion is being reached it will be better to just avoid the situation in an unassertive manner and postpone it for considering it later.

Compromising- in certain situation when both the parties will have strong opinion that is me and my partner then this strategy will be used where a decision will be taken on middle ground so that both have some part of their suggestion in home design.

Collaborating- this will be the most right way to resolve conflict where a mutual decision will be taken about home design and layout areas that suit everyone.

Conflict with Builder
To resolve the conflict with the builder not all five strategies stated above will be effective. The present scenario of construction project management assignment signifies that in this situation only two strategies that is collaborating and compromising will be used. This is because competing, accommodating and avoiding is not effective in making decisions regarding costs or final project structure. Everything needs to be done in a collaborating manner (Einarsen et al., 2018).

Collaborating- builder will be collaborated continuously so that they are in touch with the progress of the decision between me and my partner. Further, in making cost decision collaboration is important as the builder is well aware of market rates better and informed about the products that need to be used in the projects.

Compromising- this will help in reducing conflict related to taking new offer of installing solar energy system. Some compromise has to be made regarding this offer if the initial decision is getting delayed so that the builder so that he is calm about the final date of discussion. Some compromise from both party is required to keep things going effectively in a construction project.

Which leadership style is most suitable for the project examined in the construction project management assignment? Discuss.
In this project of construction project management assignment the suitable leadership style that would be chosen will be transformational leadership style. The situation here deals with the difficulties faced by the partners in completion of a construction project. Now a days in every company managers feel mainly on their legitimate power that is given by his or her authority or on their coercive power, to persuade people to do as they are told and not more than that. The research conducted for the construction project management assignment identifies that this type of management discourages the employees at times (Hoch et al., 2018). Moreover less involvement of managers in the given work makes the work process slow and doubtful.

Rather, leaders should adopt transformational leadership style. In this style it is explained that manager should engage with their employees. Transformational leadership states that work gets easier if the manager himself explains the employees how the work should be done, how the topic has to be dealt with and how the employees should find profitable ways on their own. Further this kind of leadership also tells that relationship between the supervisor and the employee is just not a mare worker and boss relationship and work in an inclusive manner. However it is a partnership between the employee and his supervisor which encourages them to work together. (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016).

The project evolved in the present paper of construction project management assignment deals timely completion of a construction project that is facing little conflicts and dilemma. It is believed that it is now time for me to change their leadership style for completing this project successfully (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016). Hence, the study of construction project management assignment suggests that the best way to avoid the partnership conflicts taking place is to follow transformational leadership. However manager just wants their work done and wants to finish the project. They just order their employees to do as directed and no one asks their opinions. However, in transformational leadership I would rather engage myself with others involved in the construction project that is the builder, project manager, designers and others and find a collaborative and much creative solution (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016). Moreover I as a transformational leader would also ask for the opinions of my partner and others involved. Working together as a unit instead of just ordering for the work to be done will give better outcomes and more innovative ideas. This type of leadership will also help the employees to overcome the past conflicts and learn from them. This type of leadership encourages manager to show their employees new path and direction to work. Further it will help us to start fresh as a new beginning and forget the old or traditional methods of management. Interacting with everyone involved in the construction project team will help me as a leader to make a successful project. Further, when an experienced leader and employee shared with each other all about the past failures so that he does not make the same mistake again. Moreover in this way they get enough knowledge to figure the past mistakes and learn from it for the future (Hoch et al., 2018). Through this process I would guide the project team with every aspect and every query and in turn come out with a successful and completed housing project. Where the managers are just worried about their files and project they forget that leading their employees is the most important factor. Without efficient team a leader can never be successful. By transformational leadership this project will also achieve success if as a leader I guide the team properly then no delay would take place. Transformational leadership is highly recommended for successful completion this project.

Quality Control Tools
Quality management discussed in this section of construction project management assignment forms an integral part of construction or housing projects because to make a project successful it is important to have a balance between cost, time and quality. Quality control measures ensure that the products and the facilities being offered by the project team is of good quality and comply with the established standards. An established quality control tool will help in reaching a final decision regarding home design with the chosen builder (Neyestani, 2017). The seven quality control tools will be used to measure the quality of the project and manage the project as a whole. According to the information provided in the construction project management assignment, this tool is effective to be applied across any industry and help solve critical quality issue.

Stratification- stratification will help in dividing the data into groups that can be easily studied later for quality check. In relation to the housing project that is being studied stratification will help in dividing data into small groups such as frequency of uncertain incidents that are taking place during the project such as fall of some part of the building, short or labor and others during the entire period of construction (Suryoputro, Sugarindra & Erfaisalsyah, 2017). The data will be divided based on all these sub-categories of uncertain events and on a monthly basis till the duration the project will be accomplished.

The below table provided within this study of construction project management assignment show an example of data stratification which will be conducted for this project as a measure to control quality and keep a check in it. This is a sample representation and will be used to keep a check on the quality of housing project being planned and designed. This is one of the tools that will help the owners to keep a track on the quality of the projects through the events taking place and frequency of the events.

Histogram- this tool of construction project management assignment will help to represent the data formed above on a graph to have a better picture of the frequency and the chances of poor quality of house and design. Histogram will not represent the frequency of the events as stated in above tool. It helps in prioritizing the factors and needs most attention. Based on the frequency gathered in stratification tool the construction project will map the quality of each factor on monthly basis as major quality issue or minor quality issue. For example fall of some parts of construction and labor absence will be analyzed based on their frequency for the month of January and state which factor needs more attention and quality check.

Check sheet- check sheet will help in measuring defects in the supplied items of construction project such as sand, cement, iron based on factors such as rusted items, dirty, broken, wrong item and others and marked in a check list on a monthly basis and a total of one year will be stated in the last item to check the defect that is maximum seen so that it is controlled in time (Cohen et al., 2019). The report on construction project management assignment shows some defects in the table below that can come up in supplied items of construction project and the way it is shown in a checklist.

Cause and effect diagram- this method will represent the cause and effect of a project. The cause or factors leading to quality issues will be identified for the construction project being planned. The utmost cause of some causality in the construction of this new housing project is people, methods, machines, materials and environment. The diagram provided below in the construction project management assignment demonstrates a sample of making cause and effect diagram that will help in controlling quality.

Pareto chart- this is yet another tool mentioned in this construction project management assignment that will help detect the 20 percent major factors that is responsible for 80 percent of the problem or failure in the project. This will be made with the help of the result from cause and effect diagram. For example the cause of fall in some part of the house that is already constructed will be shown such as rust, scratch, dent and others and the frequency of this count. This diagram provided in the construction project management assignment will be used to check the frequency of the causes to control it in time.

Scatter diagram- This section of construction project management assignment states that this tool will help in showing the relationship between two variables such as cause and effect of some quality issue. The correlation can be stronger or weak depending on the data. The stronger the correlation, the more true is the effect.

Control chart- this will help determine the stability of a process within a given environment. A control chart will help in judging the construction project by stating whether a process that they are using is effective or not. It will measure the type of process in construction or defects that can be controlled and the ones that cannot be controlled.

Risk Management Strategy followed in the context of construction project management assignment
As identified in the study of construction project management assignment, the project involved various kinds of risks throughout the project duration from planning to completion. These risks need to be controlled to make the construction of the new house successful (Iqbal et al., 2015).

Conclusion
After examining the above context of construction project management assignment it can be stated that the project will be accomplished effectively with these proper conflict management, leadership, quality control and risk management measures. This is because it will give a sense of system to the project and help remove all possible dilemmas and risks that obstruct the project. Conflict management and quality control will be managed effectively so that the project is started and accomplished within the given deadline.

Referencing
Aga, D. A., Noorderhaven, N., & Vallejo, B. (2016). Construction project management assignment Transformational leadership and project success: The mediating role of team-building. International Journal of Project Management, 34(5), 806-818.

Cohen, M., Lamparello, A. J., Schimunek, L., El-Dehaibi, F., Namas, R. A., Xu, Y., ... & Vodovotz, Y. (2019). Quality Control Measures and Validation in Gene Association Studies: Lessons for Acute Illness. Shock (Augusta, Ga.).

Einarsen, S., Skogstad, A., Rørvik, E., Lande, Å. B., & Nielsen, M. B. (2018). Climate for conflict management, exposure to workplace bullying and work engagement: a moderated mediation analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(3), 549-570.

Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.

Iqbal, S., Choudhry, R. M., Holschemacher, K., Ali, A., & Tamošaitien?, J. (2015). Risk management in construction projects. Construction project management assignment Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 21(1), 65-78.

Naismith, N., Sethi, R., GhaffarianHoseini, A., & Tookey, J. (2016). Managing Conflict in Engineering Projecs: New Zealand Experiences. International Journal of Construction Supply Chain Management, 6(1), 19-34.

Neyestani, B. (2017). Construction project management assignment Seven Basic Tools of Quality Control: An Appropriate Tools for Solving Quality Problems in the Organizations.

Riasi, A., & Asadzadeh, N. (2015). The relationship between principals’ reward power and their conflict management styles based on Thomas–Kilmann conflict mode instrument. Management Science Letters, 5(6), 611-618.

Suryoputro, M. R., Sugarindra, M., & Erfaisalsyah, H. (2017, June). Quality Control System using Simple Implementation of Seven Tools for Batik Textile Manufacturing. Construction project management assignment In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 215, No. 1, p. 012028). IOP Publishing.