Assignment

UNIT I PROJECT

Identification of the organization: Identify an organization that you would like to evaluate, and identify the scope of the activity (the organization’s function or business area).

The company I have chosen operates in the construction industry and it is recognized as Granite Construction Inc. The company is based in Watsonville, California and it does both civil and building works. The construction industry has one of the worst healthy and safety records and for every construction process, it has been a norm that workers have to get injured at some point or even others lose their lives. A number of risks are conveyed with working in a construction sites and therefore, there is need for an efficient emergency safety and health (ESH) and quality management system to be integrated into the operations to help save lives and generally change the bad reputation the industry has born over the years.

The leading hazards that face construction workers take account of; falls, caught between objects, electrocution and being struck by moving or falling objects. In the United States it is estimated that 10 people die every year while working in a construction site and this is not a good record. Comparing this to other industries, there are industries that record only one fatality in three decades. Construction does not have to be a matter of life and death, there has to be way of making it safer and finding ways of saving the lives of the people who have been employed to work there (Fulford, & Standing, 2014).

Reasons for choosing the organization: Describe why you chose to evaluate this organization, and discuss where you think the organization stands in relation to utilizing a management systems approach to quality and ESH. Also, discuss where you think the organization is in relation to considering or implementing a systems approach.

I chose Granite Construction Inc. simply because it is in the construction industry and it is one of the best in the industry. By implementing the emergency safety and health (ESH) and the quality management system in this large organization others will follow suit. Workers love to be safe and when they are safe they are motivated to work better and therefore, efficiency. Efficiency is key in construction industry and this is because, project delays cost millions and millions of dollars. With the ESH and quality management systems, there will be no delays because there are no injuries and fatalities.

The main goals of any construction project manager is to complete the project deliverables with the allotted budget, within the time agreed and in the same quality that clients agreed upon. These goals can easily be met when there is a proper ESH and quality management system. Granite Construction Inc. is therefore, on the forefront to implementing this new system because it will not only help them achieve their project deliverables on time and save cost but also give them a competitive edge in the market and make them the industry leaders (Ball, 2014).

Information sources: Identify information sources which are available to you including documentation (procedures, quality/ESH manual, work instructions), personnel for interviews, records, or web page information. Include a description of the level of confidence that the information will be complete and accurate in providing evidence of the management system. Also, describe your process for reviewing the information and data.

Most of the information about Granite Construction Inc. is from their website and there is no current records that lead to the documentation (procedures, quality/ESH manual, work instructions), to prove that the company has implemented the EHS system. This is not alarming because actually the company has not implemented such as a system but it is looking forward to do so. I contacted one of the workers and set up an informal interview where we talked at length about work procedures and how an emergency safety health can be of great importance to the organization. Most of the works accomplished by the company are difficult works done in difficult conditions and therefore, access to health care when one of the workers is sick becomes a problem. Also access to emergency services in time is also a problem because the project could be in a remote area. Such reasons emphasize the need for a system that will help save the lives of these workers and motivate them again to be confident about their job.

In order to collect data at Granite Construction Inc. it will be important to review policies, practices and procedures applicable to employees, service users and other appropriate audiences. It will also be very important to explore the organizational culture from the human rights perspective, diversity and equity inclusion. The system should work well if it is supported by the organization’s culture which is reflected through the organizational goals, short term objectives, history, core values, mission and vision.

References

Granite Construction Inc. website. Retrieved from,

https://www.graniteconstruction.com/ on April 29, 2017.

Ball, M. (2014). Rebuilding Construction (Routledge Revivals): Economic Change in the British Construction Industry. Routledge.

Fulford, R., & Standing, C. (2014). Construction industry productivity and the potential for collaborative practice. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), 315-326.