OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural frame to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I was working for O&G Construction as an Assistant Project Manager / Quality

Inspector. We received a project hand off from another Project Manager that was leaving

the area to go to work in a different area. The project had been estimated by a

inexperienced estimator and they missed critical equipment needs for the project. The

estimator had also missed material and had undersized the crew needed. The company

however, overlooked the estimators mistakes and asked for my team to complete the

project either in the budget given, or to find a way to capture change orders and make up

the money.

2) Describe how the structure of the organization influenced the situation.

The structure of the organization had great influence on this situation for two

reasons. The first reason was that the directive came from the top down to the execution

team. The estimator that had estimated the project was not held accountable for their

mistakes even though this was not the first time this had happened. The estimator was

related to another individual higher up in the company. The Project Manager that handed

1
 the project off knew the issues with the project and that is why he decided to change

locations so he did not have to be associated with it.

The second reason that the structure of the organization had great influence on the

results of this situation is that you had to go through the upper management that had

assigned the project to talk to anyone above their pay grade. This meant that all

complaints or concerns had to go through the party that had initially passed this project

down. When we were told not to reevaluate the project, but to bring it in on budget or

capture change orders for any overage, we tried to raise concerns with the upper

management. We found out that the estimator had turned in the proposal with out going

through the proper channels for approval prior to submitting and the General manager of

the area was trying to keep it under wraps.

3) Recommend how you would use structure for an alternative course of action
regarding your case.

An alternative course of action regarding this case would have been to open lines

of communication between the team executing the project and the estimator for the

project. This would have allowed the execution team to ask detailed questions and figure

out why items had been missed or undersized. When an individual that has little or no

knowledge of project does the estimation for the project, they are simply throwing

numbers at it hoping the hit the target. I learned from that experience to take the time

when estimating a project to get the Project Manager and the project team involved. This

allows several individuals to look at the estimate and see if anything was missed. This is

a preventative step that I take to help mitigate the risk of missing something on a project.

2
 If the organization had utilized a web structure, it would have allowed the

execution team to contact other personnel in the organization to see what available

resources there were in different departments. This could have helped the project team to

identify the available resources and schedule them to work on the project. This would

reduce the need for the project team to try and find change orders to accommodate the

missed items on the proposal. By trying to chase change orders for every little thing, it

ended up damaging the reputation and relationship we had with the customer.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

One idea that I would have done different about this frame would be to have the

estimator on the job site as the project was going on. This would not only allow him to

get the experience needed with estimating projects, he would get the opportunity to see

what was required to complete that type of project. Also, If I had been able to be involved

prior to the project estimation being completed and turned in, then I would have had the

estimator contact the Project Manager that would be executing the project so that they

could take the time to discuss and the Project Manager could review what the estimator

had on paper for the project. Even seasoned Project Managers have a tendency to miss

things and when you are able to discuss in a group, you are able to spark thoughts that

might not have happened alone. This is a standard practice now anytime that I do an

estimate.

Allowing members of the project team to be involved with the estimation phase

allows great wealths of knowledge to be passed along to individuals who might have

never experience or been involved with that type of project. Project Managers have years

3
 of experience over several different styles of projects and could help identify risks

associated, or any under calculated aspects of a project. I would have also included the

Superintendent, General Foreman, Safety, and Quality representatives for the project.

Each discipline could bring a different frame of looking at the project and its

requirements. Not only will this help strengthen the estimate, but it will also help to

identify additional risks and identify plans to mitigate those risks.