What matters most on a construction site? - A case study on the importance of soft skills Case Study This case was written by Dr. C Savitha and Prof. Prashanth Kumar Sreram, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Hyderabad. It is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was drawn from generalised experience. What matters most on a construction site? - A case study on the importance of soft skills Case Presentation: The Conflict It was around 5.00 pm on Oct. 14, 2019. A person came out of the Planning Manager's office on the construction site of M&S Constructions in the southern part of India. (Ref: Exhibit 1- Profile of M&S Constructions; Exhibit 2 - Organisational Chart for M&S Constructions; Exhibit 3 - Job Site-Organisation Chart M&S Constructions) Workers had earlier heard loud arguments from the Planning Manager's cabin. Soon enough, a young executive stormed out and closed the door with a loud bang. This was Vikram, the Engineer-in-charge of Billing and Rebar Reconciliation. The Planning Engineer, Prem followed him with a defeated expression on his face. He called out, but Vikram left the premises without responding. Prem looked around and saw that workers were watching the unfolding drama with surprise writ large on their faces. Such scenes were unheard of on their construction site. And today was the first time that anyone had seen Prem's team member showing this kind of behaviour. Whilst this drama was unfolding, the Project Manager had arrived on site for a for a scheduled meeting with Prem. Everyone got engaged with their work. Though Prem went ahead with the meeting, he was mentally trying to figure out how a simple discussion with Vikram went out of hand. Try as hard as he could, he was not able to stop reconstructing the conversation in his mind and the events of the previous days which could have led to this situation. The Appraisal Appraisal process at M&S constructions was a yearly affair. During this time, the performance of the employees would be reviewed and a commensurate salary hike would be given. The hike would be in the range of 5-10 percent for the fresh recruits for a rating between 1 to 5 (Ref: Exhibit 4 - Appraisal Form to be filled in by the Employee; Exhibit 5 - Appraisal form to be filled in by the Supervisors). Though the new recruits are aware about the parameters in the Appraisal Form to be filled in by the Supervisors, the filled-in contents were supposed to be confidential. As was the process, the Project Manager had taken the final decision regarding the ratings based on the reports provided by the reporting authorities and his own observations during his site visits. Also, on the previous day, he had interviewed each and every one of the new recruits for this purpose. us. saso, ou the previous day, he had Page 2 of7 421-0006-1 It is common for any new recruit to feel that he or she had done well. The same was the case with Vikram. His credentials were strong (Ref. Exhibit 6 - Profile of Vikram). Many people on site acknowledged the fact that he had contributed immensely in more ways than one. Also, he had felt sufficiently motivated because M&S Constructions was his dream company, this was his first job and he would be getting his first appraisal letter. From his perspective, he had worked for the profit of the organisation. He felt that the following were his key Contributions: o Saved money for the project by diligently monitoring the reinforcement activity o Reduced wastage on site through optimum utilisation of resources o Had taken up additional responsibilities particularly with respect to precast yard development. Therefore, when he got his appraisal letter, he was shocked to see that he had received a poor rating. The hike was a mere one-third of what he had expected. Worse followed when the Project Manager, in a rather good-natured manner, suggested that he should try and 'control' his anger, stop being arrogant', and learn from the more experienced members across the departments for his 'better professional future. The Aftermath Vikram felt as if he had been slapped. He crushed the letter in his hands and walked out of the cabin with no words to tell anyone. He could think of only one reason for this - Prem had not provided proper inputs regarding his performance. So he stormed into Prem's office and accused him of being unfair and biased. It had been apparent during the appraisal discussion that the Project Manager had totally ignored the results that Vikram had produced. Vikram felt that though Prem had used his work to highlight the successes of the project, he had not made a sufficient case on his behalf to the Project Manager for a positive appraisal. All-in-all, Vikram had felt abandoned by Prem. Accusing him of ruining his career and without giving him a chance to respond, Vikram had stormed out of his cabin. Prem had tried calling Vikram back, but to no avail. During the outburst, Prem tried to reason with Vikram and cited the instances when he had been seen as being rude to his co-workers and peers (Ref: Exhibit 7 - Email communication regarding Vikram's behaviour). But Vikram was in no mood to listen. The incident and the shouting was witnessed by many on the site. While they could sympathize with his anger and dejection, this kind of a scene was had never been witnessed earlier onsite. None of Prem's subordinates had ever reported being unhappy with him. Follow up

Prem now had a problem on his hands. He had often tried to remind Vikram about the brusque manner in which he had been communicating with his peers and subordinates. Workers had frequently reported to him that Vikram had been rude in his dealings with them. He was often arguing with other members in his group while proving his point about strategies to be followed for resource utilisation. While he did achieve results, his peers were not very happy about his tendency to bull-doze. Prem had already warned Vikram that his temper was often resulting in conflicts both with his team members and personnel in other departments. Another point of concern was that Vikram had the habit of getting involved in work that had not been assigned to him. Regarding this, Prem had advised Vikram to focus on his work first and go through the proper channel in case he wanted to do additional work. But Vikram had justified himself citing his cost effective strategies and results. Obviously, none of this was on Vikram's mind as he got into a confrontation with Prem regarding his appraisal. Prem felt that Vikram had not really paid attention to his interpersonal skills because he was focused only on results and not on processes. Also at times, he refused to understand the organisational structure, especially as seen in the instance when he tried to interfere in the work of another department (Ref. Exhibit 7 - Email communication regarding Vikram's behaviour). At that time, Prem had let it pass with a gentle warning, but now he wondered whether a timely intervention and sensitisation might have averted this situation. Exhibits Exhibit 1: Profile of M & S Constructions Ms M&S constructions is a company with experience in design and construction of various road/highway projects across multiple states in India. Primary business operations are broadly into development of roads and highways on a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) basis and upcoming business growth in construction of Metros. The company was incorporated in December 1995 and has, since then gradually increased execution capabilities in terms of the size of projects that they have bid for and executed Exhibit 2: Organizational Chart for M&S Constructions Chairman & Managing Director Projects Business Units Head-Ready-Mix Chief Finance Officer Head-Construction Methods Head-Quality Assurance Head-Environment, Health and Safety Head- Head- Transportation Metros & Ports Accounts Regional Office Project Managers Administration & Proiect Managers Site QA/QC ISO 9001 implementation youtube seal a de roulube * + G Q Statutory Compliance Team Projects Safety Compliance Team Exhibit 3: Job Site-Organization Chart M&S Constructions Project

Manager Planning Manager Construction Manager P&M Engineer Safety Engineer Quality Engineer Accounts Manager Engineer-Schedule control Site Engineer-Civil Mechanical Engineer Supervisor Supervisor Assistant -Time office Engineer - Billing and Rebar Site Engineer- MEP Electrical Engineer Assistant-Finance Note: The above organisation chart indicates the work responsibility hierarchy only. The Project Manager evaluates the performance of the entire team irrespective of above hier- archy. Exhibit 4; Appraisal form - to be filled by the employee Name Employee No Designation Current Roles and Responsibilities Quantitative contributions Qualitative Contributions Exhibit 5: Appraisal evaluation form -to be filled by the superior Parameter 1 (Very Poor) 2 (Poor) 3 4 (Average) (Above Average) 5 (Out-standing) Timely completion of work assigned Knowledge about work Quality of work Safety orientation Cost Control efforts Team Work Communication Skills Exhibit 6: Profile of Vikram Vikram graduated with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from a premier institute in Andhra Pradesh. Topper of the college and that's how was placed in M/s M&S during campus interviews. He was an active member of Extra-curricular and Technical activities during his college days. His friends have seen him as a kind of bulldozer who tries to impose his ideas onto others. He also has a vision of setting up his own construction company at a later point of time. Exhibit 7: Email communication regarding Vikram's behaviour Sub: FW: Argument at Site by Vikram Dear Vikram, Attached mail is self-explanatory.

While I have spoken to the construction manager personally, I request you to work on controlling your aggression. Anger may not solve the problem. We can still make our point that cost control is need of the hour at site in a polite manner. Still if they do not listen, we can escalate to the project manager. Meet me today at 6pm to discuss on this. Regards Prem From: constructionmanager@mnsconstructions.com To: planningmanager@mnsconstructions.com Cc: projectmanager@mnsconstructions.com Sub: Argument at Site by Vikram Dear Prem, This is to inform you that Vikram had misbehaved with site engineer and workers regard- ing rebar scrap at site. While the site engineer explained that he will take out the scrap and dump at rebar scrap yard by tomorrow, Vikram used abusive language and asked for immediate action You are well aware that the project manager has given a very strict deadline to cast the slab by tomorrow, so I have instructed by both engineers to be at site till completion of slab. We will definitely send the scrap to yard. It has come to my notice earlier that he was scolding labor as well. Please advise him to use his words cautiously. Regards Search @ 2 1)) # 3 f4 6 E S 4 % 5 6 f8O/D & 7 f9 no 2 ASSIGNMENT: Refer to the attached document titled: Case Study. Answer the following questions: 1. Illustrate the importance of understanding the organizational structure for new recruits in this case study. 2. Highlight the importance of soft skills especially those related to communication and interpersonal skills for new recruits in this case study. 3. Identify methods to make a positive intervention regarding the attitude of the new recruits through relevent feedback?