The site manager of a housing development ‘I am in charge of the construction of the buildings you see around you [he gestured with his hand to the mixture of partially and fully completed properties] and of making sure they go from this stage [he indicates a pile of drawings and building schedules] to the point where we can hand them over to the sales people to sell. Most of the work is supervisory, ensuring that orders are placed and materials PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE Three project managers with distinctly different roles Project management in practice 19 arrive on time, people turn up, do the job properly and get paid for it at the end of the week. There are always arguments between the various tradespeople to resolve and problems just get dump on the desk. Some of the toughest problems come with the people you have to work with. Some of them will do anything to try to get one over on you – they’ll tell you a job is finished when you can see it is only half done. Unless you go and check it yourself you’re in trouble. Also, they don’t give for my schedule. How do you get a roofer, at four o’clock in the afternoon when it is raining rather heavily [not the words actually used] when you know he has a long drive home, to get back on the roof and finish the job he is doing so that other jobs which rely on this being completed can start at eight o’clock the following morning? It wouldn’t be the first time we had to block his car in with a pallet of bricks to stop him leaving.’
1) Identify the title which might be given to the project management role in each case.