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BusinessDay www.businessday.co.za Thursday 18 March 2021
INSIGHTS
PROJECT MANAGEMENT Sponsored content
Pandemic, Industry 4.0 facilitate mindset shift •mPanrojageecmt ent
integration and co-ordination techniques more crucial than ever, writes Lynette Dicey
E
ven prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Industry 4.0 had already fundamentally changed how people work. The pandemic accelerated that pace of change even further. Professor Pieter Steyn, Principal of Cranefield College, a tertiary education institution specifically focused on project management-based education, says that in addition to new technologies, business models and systems, the Industry 4.0 economy demands enhanced
Pieter Steyn … leadership. personal competencies, a crossfunctional corporate culture and new relationships such as virtual networks of partners. “The pandemic forced people to work virtually, in the process facilitating an important mindset shift. It also inspired organisations to consider doing more activities online, which drew attention to the importance of increased utilisation of modern key enabling technologies,” he says.
As a result the world has witnessed profound transformation and change in all areas of private and public corporate life. Organisational and private lives have become highly volatile and value-driven, demanding continuous innovation and learning. This, says Steyn, has had a major impact on the utilisation of project management skills and acumen in organisations, stretching far beyond project work alone. “Project management integration and co-ordination techniques are today more crucial than ever before in managing crossfunctional supply chain processes such as capacity planning, procurement, customer relationship, customer service and operations flow,” he says. According to the World Economic Forum, Industry 4.0 affects four main organisational elements: customer expectations, product enhancement, collaborative innovation and organisational
forms. Customers are increasingly at the epicentre of the economy, says Steyn, adding that leaders and managers have a duty to ensure that design for customer needs delivers a competitive advantage. He says an effective and efficient design capability as an integral part of project management has emerged as an important success factor. Pivotal to support these efforts are modern key enabling technologies and virtual networks of partners. “The Industry 4.0 explosion of complexity has continued to be driven by the development of global markets and the continuous creation of new technologies and products, despite the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Steyn. “This has stimulated the emergence of new forms of organisations and ensured wider utilisation of project management competencies.” The critical question going forward is how organisations will successfully continue to be able to cope with the complex strategic transformation and change resulting from the combined effects of Industry 4.0 and the pandemic. Steyn maintains that to understand and manage this process successfully, knowledge of — and insight into — every segment of Industry 4.0 technology and business complexity is required. “In all four organisational elements, project management principles, techniques and skills that embed project management acumen in the mindsets of leaders and followers play a decisive role.”
ORGANISATIONAL SUCCESS
These aspects are paramount in achieving organisational success effectively and efficiently when programmemanaging the modern cross-functionally structured value chain. The critical integrators of modern value chains and business processes, he says, are collaborative research; innovation and development projects and programmes that act as organisational vehicles and enablers of novelties; transformation and change; technologies; and systems. In fact, a soundly integrated and co-ordinated application of project and programme management is vital in strategic and operational governance of Industry 4.0 organisations, and provides the proverbial “blood vessels” of organisational and interorganisational supply chain and project systems. Success, adds Steyn, depends on possessing the project management skills that form the foundations of programme and portfolio
management, and integrating them into a workable valuedriven cross-functional organisational system that eradicates bureaucracy. Not only do modern technologydriven organisations require a high level of technology literacy, they also require skills such as techno-entrepreneurship, innovation and the ability to demonstrate exceptional project management acumen at all levels of leadership. “Organisations are being compelled to eliminate bureaucratic practices and structures while adopting knowledge-based virtual dynamic learning paradigms and designs,” he says. “This demands sound governance that is supported by collaborative supertransformational leadership excellence and knowledge of systemic project and programme management. Leadership with an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement is of paramount importance in achieving sustained organisational performance.” A key success factor is the effective and efficient crossfunctional and interorganisational management of supply chain and project portfolios combined with the virtual networks of partners. Simultaneously, adds Steyn, valuable opportunities are emerging for the creation of new small and medium-sized entrepreneurial enterprises which is boosting opportunities for job creation and growing the economy. “Entrepreneurship has an increasingly pivotal role to play in the Industry 4.0 economy,” he insists. As far as customer expectations are concerned embedded project management acumen delivers crucial customer focus. At the same time project management acumen delivers successful innovative continuous improvement projects; a dynamic learning mindset in the culture of the organisation; and the matrix methodology to lead and manage the crossfunctional processes of the new organisational forms and their virtual networks of partners in the Industry 4.0 business ecosystem. “There is no question that project management will prove to be ever more indispensable for organisational success in the Industry 4.0 economy,” concludes Steyn.
ORGANISATIONS ARE BEING COMPELLED TO ELIMINATE BUREAUCRATIC PRACTICES AND STRUCTURES
Project management is a ‘critical resource’ The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on project managers who are being tasked with finding new and innovative ways to meet project milestones while still adhering to government implemented lockdown regulations. The construction industry has been vulnerable to the disruption from the Covid crisis with job losses at an all-time high and an extremely negative impact on business in general. This has resulted in a significant decrease of available skilled labour and specialist subcontractors within the construction industry. According to Jacques Erasmus, a senior project manager at MDSA Project & Construction Management, the global crisis highlights the fact that projects are more than just processes, methods and tools and has emphasised the importance of the project manager and the role he or she plays to overcome and manage risk while guiding the project to success through turbulent and challenging times. “As a company we have had to react swiftly to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and ensure a high level of resilience and resourcefulness to remain successful while navigating numerous disruptions, while at the same time ensuring our partnerships with clients, consultants and contractors was not only maintained but
Jacques Erasmus … technology has become front and centre of everyday project management.
strengthened,” he says. There is a growing dependency on project management technologies and tools which corresponds with rapid advancements in both existing and new technologies. “Technology has become front and centre of everyday project management with key communication tools and systems becoming a critical part of ensuring the success of a project,” says Erasmus, adding that project managers have also learned significant lessons in using video conference and shared design technology platforms to save time and costs among a project team. A healthy project environment, and the ability for its practitioners to thrive in it, is dependent on strong project business. The profession faces significant socioeconomic challenges in SA, says Erasmus, including a lack of business confidence and investment in public and private sector projects which was evident
even pre-pandemic with a declining rate of new projects. “Compounding this limited availability of projects is a resistance from some organisations to invest in project management skills,” he says, adding that project management must be seen as a critical resource to any project to ensure it is delivered within project constraints. The economic trickledown of reduced revenue of clients during the pandemic has, at best, delayed contracts, but at worst has resulted in slow project approvals and cancellations with projects moving from planned to future projects. Erasmus maintains that the construction industry has the potential to help kickstart the economy and that project managers and project management will play an indispensable role in the post pandemic recovery. “The value a project manager brings to a project should never be underestimated,” he says.
Digital tools will help ensure construction industry viability A growing proportion of problem solving, analysis, synthesis and heavy mathematical lifting is now being done by computers with project teams increasingly using new digital skills-sets. “Projects have now become technically complex and the sheer scale of work has increased dramatically with the result that the amount of digital engineering and project data describing the works and the data generated during the operation has reached unprecedented levels,” says Selvan Murugan, Digital Practice leader, Cape Town and Coastal, at Zutari. “Cutting-edge digital tools will play a key role in ensuring the future sustainability of the construction industry, particularly in terms of project management,” says Murray Walker, Interactive Visualisation lead at Zutari. However, despite the fact that digital advancements are shaping how work is conducted, the reality is that the base project process has not changed, Murugan says, adding that this has resulted in generally inefficient generation, co-ordination, transmission and
Selvan Murugan (left) and Murray Walker. storage of project information and data. “Data generated by engineers is often stored in design systems at their offices, and only 2D construction-type information ever reaches site. Contractors struggle to understand the engineer’s design intent as they grapple with 2D printed drawings, reams of specifications and bills of quantities,” says Murugan. Facilities and asset managers also feel the pain as they receive a few boxes of operating maintenance manuals to run their multimillion rand facilities. What this means is all the digital gains achieved in an office environment are ultimately not providing value for those
“MDSA STRONGLY BELIEVES IN OFFERING ITS CLIENTS WORLD-CLASS SERVICE THROUGH A PROACTIVE HANDS-ON APPROACH”
responsible for constructing and running facilities, he says. Murugan predicts the second wave of digital technology impacting the industry will result in an integrated, information-driven approach to design with all stakeholders serviced by a common data environment. “Data will be produced once, collected, analysed and managed by competent digital staff and centrally managed and co-ordinated so that it provides the value to the right people at the right time.” The value to clients will be reduced cost, improved quality and on-time project delivery, he concludes.