If you are a Quality Manager who has worked in at least 3 construction projects you would probably start recognising a pattern: other people on site (even your management sometimes…) hate you!
They don’t hate you personally but they hate your role and what you are trying to do.
So…here is why:
- As Quality Manager, you have to establish some rules and procedures that every function/department/person has to follow. Many people would easily countersign the documents themselves. But how many would actually want to follow them? Who wants to follow rules and procedures after all?? Shortcuts is the way to go!
- You will obviously need to carry out inevitable internal Audits to your colleagues from other departments. Eventhough nobody would deny to be audited , you are not really making their day, right? Who wants to be checked on their job after all??
- You will be the first to be blamed when something goes wrong. By default. And then everything will become a finger pointing exercise on Quality professionals…Quality departments are always the easiest target , right?
- Most of the times you will become the “Paperwork Manager” , instead of Quality Manager. You will become the department who everyone wants to compile the paperwork for them. Who likes paperwork??? Everybody hates paperwork, right?
- You will always be asking for resources and you will never get them. You will only get them when things have already gone wrong. Typical way of micro-managing and lack of proactiveness in a construction project.
- People would always think that you waste their time with unnecessary things like NCRs, Audits, Management Review meetings, procedure writing and ITPs. Everybody believes that they must do these things because they have to. Only a few people will try to understand the real value in them.
I am obviously exaggerating…
Construction is the most creative environment someone could work in.
Engineering can be one of the most challenging and diverse areas someone can study.
Quality Management in construction suffers and several actions can be taken in order to change that.
In my honest opinion the first thing that needs to be done is to introduce quality management in the civil engineering schools and universities.
The new engineers must know the value of ITPs and the benefits of “right first time” . They must be taught proper project and quality management and how to be proactive.
