Month: March 2018

The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on an experience when I was involved in project management, and to discuss the success, and challenges, in that process. A project is a temporary change that has a definite beginning and end, with stages and a unique output.

The best example that I think is most applicable to my experience is when I was managing the University of Victoria’s undergraduate pub. The idea to renovate the pub, and the entire building, was considered and implemented. It is imperative to note the structure of a unionized student pub, the role of the board of directors, and that the stakeholders are undergraduate students that typically exist in four-year cycles.

A unionized student pub means that the employees outside management must be undergraduate students and therefore only have a limited employment time-frame. This is important to consider as this means the front line is not a long-term employee that is aware of transitions. As the years passed, new employees are rarely aware of what the past looked like. This can be a benefit as any resistance to change is temporary. Of prime importance is the role of the board of directors. They are five elected students that sit for a one year term that have an average age of 21 years old. Renovating an entire building is a multi-year process, and having decision makers that rotate each year brings a multitude of challenges. Lastly, the stakeholders, akin to the employees, are typically only around for four years. This also means that any input, or cost, is in a limited scope.

It began with a conversation one night with a server I managed that became the events director the following year. The events director is one of the five positions of the board of directors. We had talked about the vision of a renovation to the pub and outlined our ideas. It was presented to the board at that time and was passed as an initiative. The staff were wholeheartedly behind the concept as it was to create a warmer atmosphere with more wood and brick (a traditional model that stands the test of time) with technological improvements to enhance the stakeholders’ involvement. For example, outlets near the windows for completing homework while purchasing products, digital screens for events, and improved sound systems. With the staff buy-in, the front line engaged with the stakeholders to get their commitment. There was a vote by the students (stakeholders) that for the cost of one beer per semester they would have a new pub that they could enjoy. The board extended the vote to include a renovation of the entire building (eight businesses involved). This would be a multi-year endeavour, and the students voted yes.

By the time the project management was to commence, a new board of directors were voted in. This means five new viewpoints on what success looked like. This new board was not as interested in others’ views but rather wished to instill their ideas. For myself and the general manager of the building, the approach was similar to Conway et al. statement of “[t]he answer is not to wish these obstacles away. It is to find a way through” (Conway, Masters, & Thorold, 2017, p. 25). This new board chose furniture that was non-commercial grade with no warranty (these broke within six months, whereas the general manager and I supported recovering the existing furniture that lasted 15 years of student exposure). The style of the pub became a mish-mash of ideas as the renovation took longer than a year and therefore a new board came in with their ideas to finalize it. This became a cycle of young wisdom creating a new building over four years. What kept the project in check was the adaptability of the managers of the building.

Watt (2014) outlines the stages of project management as a life cycle involving four components – initiating, planning, executing and closing.

The initiating stage has been outlined above and the issue of feasibility and justification was met. What was not considered was the revolving involvement of the board of directors and what their roles would look like. This was a question mark that in hindsight should have been considered. In this manner, spelling out a definitive outline before new leadership arrived would have saved many contradictions, and challenges.

Planning included budgeting of materials, labour, and the cost to each department for shutting down operations (labour cost in a union, food inventory, loss of revenue, and possible loss of clientele as they explored other alternatives). The steps were to outline the finances available for each department for the renovation, assess what were priorities, seek out options for delivering priorities, assess improvements in aesthetics and costs, plan stages of renovations. Aesthetic planning was assisted by a local renovation company that held closely that the board of directors had full control.   The general manager had to mitigate fiscal responsibility, university policy limitations, and changes in perspectives as the board cycled. My role in this stage was to assist the general manager as best possible to direct the perspectives of the board of directors and to then advise the front-line of any new visions. Most importantly was the value of the managers adjusting to the new boards and suggesting ideas so that they seemed as if it was the board’s idea.

Executing the project revealed to the board the difference between ideas and reality. With any renovation costs seem to be higher than projected costs. Sub-contractors make mistakes, and objects get broken. Additionally, unforeseen setbacks arise when building codes challenge ideas. With these challenges arising this opened the door to suggest alternative approaches that were in closer alignment with the managers. Some had been working there for 20 years and knew the stakeholders’ patterns of behaviours well.

The closing phase of the pub’s renovation helped other departments prepare for dialogue with upcoming shifts in the board of director membership. The new boards became cognizant of the successes and struggles of each department renovation.

The end result for the pub was an output of a vision that aesthetically looked somewhat strange but ended up with additions that were guided by management. New beer monitoring systems were installed to monitor slippage and technical improvements such as new terminals were added. Also, a new sound system has been installed. As the stakeholders, front-line employees, and board of directors come and then go, the comparison to the past fades away and all that remains is a secret view between the old managers of what was. History, in this manner, is hidden.

 

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