Project management winning the project

The big day has arrived, the day on which your customer decides which of the competing bidders has won his new project. As the Project Manager, you may or may not be the first to hear the news. Customers work differently. Sometimes a member of the customer’s staff, or more than one, will “whisper” the news to his opposite number in the bidding company and sometimes full protocol will be observed, with a formal communication being sent from the customer’s Contracts Manager to your Commercial Manager. Either way, the Project Manager will be one of the first to hear the good news that your bid was considered to be the best and that the job now starts in earnest. Bearing in mind that a large part of the Project Manager’s job is man management, one of your first duties should be to arrange a celebration for all the people who worked on the bid. This sign of appreciation will do wonders for staff morale and will ensure that you have a willing team. Depending on the value of the project, this celebration might be a beer in the pub or a full blown lunch. Don’t forget to include everyone or this will have the opposite to the desired effect. When having your celebration, use the opportunity to praise past efforts and lay out future expectations. At this early stage, your other major task will be to ensure that someone is arranging your office accommodation. If you work for a large company which likes to co-locate its project personnel, you will need to make sure that someone is taking care of space, storage and communications so that your staff can quickly settle down and devote themselves to making the project a success. After the celebration (the same day might not be such a good idea), call your first project meeting for your senior team members. At this stage, it is unlikely that your company will actually have signed the contract for this project so before that happens, more work is necessary. Your team will need to again review the customer’s documentation to ensure that they still say the same as they did when you responded to the bid. It’s not unheard of for a customer to try and sneak in a few extra requirements when they think you’re not looking. You will also need to make sure that your responses to both the Invitation to Tender and any subsequent questions have been included in the new documentation and that the price, payment plan, technical solution and everything else, have been acknowledged. As long as all the documentation is in order, it is normal practice to go ahead with the project, even without the benefit of a signed contract. Often, the customer will have sent a formal Instruction to Proceed agreeing basics such as the price. You will probably need this to get project funding signed off by the senior financial people in your organisation, enabling you to get on with the job…. and that’s where the next article will take us.

The occupational safety health administration ergonomics education for the 21st century workplace

The Occupational Safety Health Administration -- OSHA -- is dedicated to assisting the owners, operators and managers of business enterprises in the United States in creating safer and more healthy work environments. In this regard, OSHA has created educational opportunities which the owners, operators and managers of business enterprises can take advantage of when they are interested in workplace safety and ergonomics. The educational opportunities that are provided by OSHA when it comes to ergonomics and the workplace takes two different formats in this day and age. First, OSHA provide written educational materials -- both in real world and digital form on the Internet and World Wide Web. Second, OSHA provides in person training, seminars and classes designed to assist the owners, operators and managers of a business enterprise in designing safe, healthy and ergonomically designed workplaces. OSHA provides its written and digital educational materials regarding ergonomic issues for no charge to business owners, operators, managers and employees. They offer a wide array of different written materials, educational materials that can be used to work towards a safer and healthier workplace. As an aside, in addition to the written materials provided by OSHA, the agency has also developed video presentations and audio materials that can also be helpful to a business enterprise intent on designing a truly ergonomically effective workplace. In most instances, there is a nominal charge for these video and audio materials. Many of these items are suitable to be used in workplace training seminars and sessions. As referenced above, OSHA -- through its trained staff -- is also in the business of providing onsite training to businesses (and employees) regarding issues relating to workplace safety and health. This includes training in regard to ergonomic related matters and issues. The onsite training seminars can be had in many different forms and on many different topics relating to workplace health, safety and ergonomic issues. Indeed, the staff of the local OSHA office will be able to work with a particular business in designing and developing an onsite training seminar that will meet perfectly the needs and objectives of a particular business, its managers and its employees. Information on the educational materials and opportunity that are available through OSHA can be found at the agency’s website, the address of which is OSHA. gov. The site is user and consumer friendly and easy to utilize and negotiate.