Avoiding changes in the course of a project is often difficult. Although some changes are welcome, most changes encountered are limiting and, thus, undesirable. In many cases, change is difficult to predict, which makes it even harder to deal with when it occurs. As such, good leadership is required to ensure proper management of change. This paper exposes how poor management of change can have devastating effects on a project. The paper addresses changes in financial resources in the course of a project for building a new saw mill for Scrollsaw Woodworkers Club of Greensboro, North Carolina. I was one of the members who worked under a project manager to oversee the completion of the new saw mill.
Two months into the project, an unprecedented emergency occurred, forcing the executive of the club to shunt part of the finances meant for the sawmill project towards addressing the crisis. The details of the emergency were, however, never tabled. There was a previous suggestion that the club’s executive was under pressure from several financial firms after defaulting in loan repayment. Consequently, the project manager reported to us the massive slashing of the budgetary allocation for the project.
The project manager did not communicate regularly on recent developments from the meetings of the executive; rather, he just surprised everyone with the announcement that the executive committee had slashed the budget. Poor communication added to the resultant jeopardy. According to Shirley (2011), poor communication, especially from the project leaders can jeopardize the efforts of dealing with undesirable changes in projects. Moreover, the actions of the project manager depicted poor and non-transformational leadership. The project manager dictated what he wanted us to do and did not give us a chance to air our opinions. His view was that we needed to fire the current contractor and get a cheaper one.
Moreover, he wanted us to solicit for the cheapest building materials in the market and use those. This move would, however, compromise the quality of the building. Therefore, many of us were not ready to follow his orders. Instead, we would be happier to work with a project manager who would call a crisis meeting to address the reduction in budgetary allocation. A good manager with transformational leadership skills would then welcome suggestions from the members on how to deal with the crisis and guide them into a consensus that would leave everyone happy (Mattus, 2012). Although there might be compromises before reaching an agreement, consensus meetings avoid compromising the quality of the project. Moreover, the project manager’s approach requires more time to do fresh tendering of the construction. Collaborative decision making would lead to a solution that would consider the constraints of time and money but preserve quality.
In the end, we revolted against the project manager, which caused a rift within the group. Having not realized his mistake, the manager forced his way and went ahead to implement his resolutions. The completion of the project delayed by six months and the construction was of low quality. In fact, the local authorities refused to approve it and demanded its demolition citing it as a hazard to human life. As such, the group had lost both time and lots of money. Indeed, as Anderson and Ackerman-Anderson’s (2010) note, bad leadership at times of crisis can worsen the situation.
In summary, good leadership is central to the competent management of change in projects as the failure of a sawmill construction project by Scrollsaw Woodworkers’ Club confirms. Moreover, transformational leadership is the best form of leadership in dealing with undesirable changes in projects (Mattus, 2012). Finally, lack of good leadership can heighten conflicts in a group and lead to loss of both time and money. All stakeholders should, therefore, work as a team and settle any disputes that arise when managing a project.
- Anderson, D., & Ackerman-Anderson, L. S. (2010). Beyond change management: How to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. San Francisso: Pfeiffer.
- Mattus, T. (2012). Transformational leadership for project managers: how to lead, not just manage projects. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2012—North America, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
- Shirley, D. (2011). Project management for healthcare. (11th Ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
