Last week's webinar "Challenges in Construction Management" featuring an interview of George Jergeas HERE https://youtu.be/DiUvsYXc2ck could have been entitled "In praise of benevolent dictatorship". If you couldn't join us, I suggest you set some time aside to watch or listen as he spells out not only why mega projects - public and private, fail at a horrendous cost but that organizations are failing to learn, and what to do about it. The insights he shares are derived from his experience as an advisor and auditor of many North American mega projects. He cites the failures as more than failed engineering, most reflect the repeated and unconscionable failure of management - failures in decision making including the failure to heed the role of people in complex undertakings.
For you - our readership, the insights should come as no surprise given what we have been finding in our explorations of healthcare and education, what it takes to develop resilience, and the extraordinary role of artificial intelligence for advancing decision making in complex situations.
Compromising Success: Ideology, Popularity and Haste
Management and success are seriously compromised when ideology, popularity and haste drive decision making. The resulting waste, errors, mistakes are costing $billions, undermining private investment and public confidence in Canadian enterprise. The reasons and the fixes are well known, yet the waste persists implying that learning is absent and the consequences of failure nil.
As we wrapped up last week's chat with George Jergeas about white elephants and huge problems with management of complex mega projects, the question arose "Why are the consequences of failure not heeded? And " Why are lessons learned repeated? We hear of public and private construction, healthcare, and IT projects failing to the tune of $billions in cost overruns and significant delays. Yet firms and managers continue to be rewarded or simply replaced.
What's newsworthy is that there appears to be no end. The failures continue. Year after year as if: 1. The voter, the taxpayer, and investors have become apathetic and accepting and/or 2. The frequency is so great as to assume failure as just a fact of life and/or 3. The allure of Mega projects numbs our judgment.
Well it shouldn't; the reasons for failure are well known as are the measures to mitigate risk, e.g.: External audits of plans before execution, proper front-end planning and design, proper risk allocation and contracting strategies, collaborative approaches with contractors, mandatory penalties and recertification, bonusing of achieved milestones and penalties for failure, capacity building and training technicians in people skills and leadership, to name a few.
My particular bug-a-boos are two. First, the classification of administrators as managers when in fact they have no authority to make change over supply and demand but rather act as paid agents of the status quo. So called managers/ bureaucrats and their regulations contributing to Red Tape, layer upon layer, serving to distort and delay decision making. Second, the lack of appreciation of people processes: leadership, empowerment, teamwork, communications, training, as technical and supply matters dominate decision making.
With trillions of dollars of accumulated public debt a reflection of waste on failed projects, declining GDP and productivity - it's time for a reckoning not just of project managers, but "managers" in general. Which brings me to a concluding point, other than in politics, popularity should not be included in the criteria for decision making. Hence the importance of embracing a benevolent dictatorship in project management. As a side note, opting for benevolence in a dictatorship might be heeded as well in other human endeavors - parenting comes to mind, as well in the management of public enterprises where politics and popularity can muddle up decision making to the expense not only of the public - think taxpayer, but also the patient - think healthcare, and the student - think education. - Editor@KEInetwork.net
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WEBINAR No webinar this week |
REQUEST - HEALTHCARE REFORM
Systemic issues in healthcare HERE include overarching challenges that require structural changes, whereas patient issues HERE bring to light the day-to-day realities and immediate needs of individuals navigating that system. Together, these perspectives provide a comprehensive understanding of the healthcare challenges, emphasizing the importance of addressing both systemic issues and the immediate needs of patients for a holistic improvement of healthcare systems.
On a scale from 1 - low to 10 - high, how important should patient issues be in guiding the reform of healthcare? Comments welcome! Reply to Editor@KEInetwork.net
READER CONTRIBUTIONS
Canada and the UK team up on Nuclear Fusion development HERE Also, fusion continues to gain momentum HERE
Critiquing Tucker Carlson's interview of Putin HERE Like watching the fox and the chicken.
Energy key to reversing Canada's declining productivity HERE If only Ottawa would listen.
Dimentia research of increasing interest HERE
AI can't slow down - Sora now converts video to text HERE Converting text to video HERE
Diversity, Inclusion, and Gender initiatives not helping HERE Empiricism is sobering - trumping ideology.
Quenching governments thirst by taxing beer HERE Parliament reduced the tax from 5% to 2%.
Shrinking family size a threat to Canada's future HERE China's too HERE
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