The project manager
I have been engaged in overseas project of electrical construction, such as 132kV substations in Iraq, Electrical facilities for textile plant in Algeria, Substations and distribution facilities for subway in Singapore, for two decades. In such my experience I find out special requirements for project manager as follow. Like all other professions, project manager has its special requirements. In addition to fulfilling the requirements for the actual daily management, the finished manager should be able to engineer, sell, and superintend work. Meeting such demands requires one with a natural propensity for the work and certain innate characteristics augmented by training and experience. Not all men have the proper temperament to develop into good project managers. There are some requisites that training and experience will not develop. In fact the adversities of electrical contracting tend to dull some of the essential characteristics, such as tact and diplomacy. The following group of attributes should be natural possessions of a project manager.
Tact and Diplomacy
Although a project manager is not an executive of his organization, sooner or later he may find himself confronted with any one or all of the promotional and expediting duties. Keeping in harmony with the organization, contacting customers, expediting work, and handling men, all require tact and diplomacy.
Imagination and Vision
Imagination and vision are among the prime requisites of a project manager. As one reads specifications and studies plans, he is required to construct buildings mentally, supplying all the structural parts, floor levels, and any details that will affect the method of electrical construction. Materials must also be fabricated and installed mentally. To establish labor costs accurately, one must be able to visualize working conditions and to calculate what effect the activities of other trades will have on the progress of the work he is estimating.
Creative and Analytical Mind
Detailed drawings are not always supplied, and equipment together with new work requirements is always in the offing. Careful analysis of weights, size, and facilities is necessary. There are no labor units that are universally applicable to all work. As a result the project manager must analyze all requirements and create unit to fit.
Initiative and Ingenuity
Just so much help and no more can be given a cub project manager. After a certain point the project manager must take the initiative. He has formulate systems best adapted to the work he is doing, create labor unit to fit the conditions of the job contemplated, and establish service and operating costs in accordance with the merits of the particular job at hand. Seasoned project managers also have to ready to meet varying conditions by creating new methods of installing material and expediting work.
Fortitude and Self-confidence
Contracting is basically a gambling business. The job is figured and the bid made on the gamble that the work will follow the anticipated schedule. The project manager uses his best judgment in establishing cost, and he must be prepared to do his best to combat any unforeseen difficulties. If the project manager is not the proprietor, he should at least be an important cog in the machine and work closely with the firm heads. Regardless of his position in the organization, he has to be in a position to defend his estimate. The greatest lack of fortitude in contracting is displayed when contractors find that their competitors have lower bids. Many contractors become panicky and lose all confidence in their own figures. If a contractor has based his price on good sound estimating, he should have enough faith in his bid to stick to his original price. It takes
“guts” to bid sanely and to say “No” to offers of jobs at prices that the estimates indicate poor risks.
Executive and Promotion
The war construction activities offered many examples of project manager
’s discharging executive duties along with other branches of construction work. Numerous case developed in which it was necessary to have a complete electrical-construction organization on the site. Being familiar with all phase of the work, a project manager was usually the logical man to be put in charge of such an organization. Normal times also offer many opportunities for project manager with executive ability. There may be out-town jobs large enough to require an office representative at all times. Again, there are negotiations that can be carried on only by one thoroughly familiar with costs. The project manager who knows his engineering and costs is in a position to gain the confidence of buyers. Connections built up in this way enable project managers to have their own customers, whose business they must handle all the way through.
Quotation from Electrical Estimating ,Ray Ashley
June 24, 2001 Y.Noguchi
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