China Road and Bridge System evolved for survival

Enterprise Project Management is a topic in recent years, we are very concerned about, generally considered the implementation of the project after the enterprise management, can improve corporate governance and enhance business performance. Some domestic enterprises such as China Road and Bridge and other several years ago began the exploration and practice of project management. In the end how the situation Reporters invited Yao Hai Dong, Chief Engineer of the major players China Road and Bridge to advance the project management of the talk about the bridge situation.

Yao Hai Dong: China Road and Bridge Engineering Company chief engineer, MBA degree, senior engineer. He served as the project site engineer, project manager, deputy general manager and chief engineer, and worked in the UK John Burrow & Partners Consulting Engineers and the British P & O Bovis project management company for many years. It has 20 years of international project management experience.

What 2002 China Road and Bridge began to implement project management is the motivation?

Yao Hai Dong: in a word, China Road and Bridge implementation of project management is forced by circumstances coupled with structural reforms to seize opportunities. China Road and Bridge born out of national government agencies, the predecessor of the Department of Transportation Office of foreign aid, mainly engaged in international engineering business, with the reform and opening up gradually grown into a large state-owned enterprises. 21 century early 20th century, the overseas market environment has undergone a series of operations against our major events, such as: the Iraq war led to the decline of our business in the Middle East, the Asian financial turmoil has resulted in our operations in this region almost to a halt. Probably all of these reforms motives are generated in the face of adversity, we can not change the face of adversity, but you can change yourself, this is one of the main reasons we have implemented Enterprise Project Management.

Also China Road and Bridge series of reforms to the enterprise project of creating opportunities. Organizational structure, human choice is not so much reform as it is environmental choice. The business environment in the enterprise as the nature of the organism, for survival evolution, evolution does not become extinct. Managers do research environment is how to choose the enterprise. Bridge to China, our enterprise project management to the government's macroeconomic control and market competition driven in, between the country's foreign economic and strategic services for clients (foreign government) services to the two strategic positioning to find the eutectic point.

Organization and functioning of the enterprise project management of what? What is the biggest problem in the process?

Yao Hai Dong: China Road and Bridge's current organizational structure generally divided into three levels: corporate headquarters, overseas branches and overseas project group. Like most large state-owned enterprises, set up headquarters functions of the system is basically a structure of overseas subsidiaries, the project team is basically a project system. I think that the role of any business environment by two forces, one is the so-called Keynesian "visible hand" of government macro-control, and the other is Adam Smith called the "invisible hand" of the market. The point of the government's macro-control is generally at the headquarters of state-owned enterprises, and the market competitiveness of enterprises are acting on the grass roots, that our team and our overseas subsidiaries overseas is a combination of a national market in a number of our construction project. China Road and Bridge Corporation's organizational structure can be said that accommodate both environmental forces evolved ecosystem: the upper is functional to the company, while the grass-roots style of the market project.

From the BPR said in the past we focused on workflow sector efforts are now focused on the business (project) processes. Our project managers handbook is prepared by the project processes rather than by professional classification prepared by the process of the selected items, and then work a given node, then set responsible, responsibility matrix to form the main line of the business process.

The biggest problem in the implementation of the project management Bridge encountered a people problem. In the enterprise implementation of a management model, organizational structure change, the introduction of project management thinking, it is itself the original idea, thought, organization of a shock and collision. As a traditional state-owned enterprises, the old rules a lot, and those employees with project management awareness and experience of most of the jobs overseas, they are far from home, but also far from the company's headquarters offices, their volume is relatively weak, so headquarters offices in the implementation of the resistance is relatively large. That is why this reform is gradual, after most of the problems, the general is to break down small and try to do locally, and then gradually expand. The most important is to grasp the degree of the problem, such as management and staff awareness of project management, department staff and project team members conflict of interest and so on.

How to bridge the implementation of effective project management?

Yao Hai Dong: Bridge to implement effective project management is very good, we can say, If we had not implemented enterprise project management, China Road and Bridge will not be achieved today. Performance in terms of performance indicators such as the traditional contract amount, turnover, profit and others have a very significant growth. Management concerns from local work rules gradually shifted the overall objectives method. The vision to look inward to gradually shift from outward-looking, not only to consider the interests of the companies also give more consideration to the interests of partners and owners.

Although project management has not yet reached our desired level, but the operating system has to be flexible, and be able to compare a timely manner to respond to market changes, and the efficiency and effectiveness of project management has greatly improved. Two years after the implementation of project management, we blocked bleeding losses, profitability, then the contract revenue is growing, the current contract turnover is already five years ago, more than 10 times, but also in the process of sustained growth . This, of course with the big trend of global economic upturn related, but without health flexible management system takes the chance to bring the market is strong. So, I think that we implement project management in the enterprise is actually introducing a mechanism to adapt to the environment, have a good flexible structure in order to better understand the market and environmental opportunities, accelerate the development of enterprises.

Is not all businesses need or are suitable for promoting the project of management?

Yao Hai Dong: I think all companies are required to advance the project management. Due to historical reasons, our business are mostly inward-looking enterprises, business-oriented internal consider more, and for the outside world reaction is relatively slow. Especially our state-owned enterprises, most like to soak in the government protection or incentives in. We often say that business strategy, the project is to support the strategy, the implementation of enterprise project management strategy is to build enterprise management system, is a method to achieve strategic objectives. Now we all know this, but also recognize that project management is a discipline, it is a career. Besides I think the project is an innovative process, because it begins with ideas, beyond the birth of a new thing. Project management is a culture, we of course want to learn from international advanced project management theory and methods, but more important to our own culture as the foundation, which is the Chinese soul of enterprise project management. Enterprise project management related to corporate strategy, corporate culture, business organization, business philosophy and ideology, are important for every business. The world today is changing at high speed, the needs of people moving diversification, development of personality, not a product, a brand can meet the needs of many consumers, there is no kind of resources to meet the needs of different projects. Enterprises should pursue is to create a special product or service to the specific needs of each specific customer. Can do or close to do this project, it is based on the project management of the enterprise.

Please give companies want to advance the project management of some of the suggestions it.

Yao Hai Dong: I am thinking about five.

The first is to conduct routine environmental scanning. Environmental Scanning includes scanning and scanning enterprise business environment of national policy. Fully understand the business of the living environment, understand their environment is the first step.

The second is to develop strategic objectives rationally. In fact the implementation of the project management itself is a clear goal for enterprises to develop, with the objective to plan, with the plan to carry out control over the work.

The third is to be gradual. From a business management function steering the project management and the process takes time, the project is not to deny the role of the functional departments, any business activities are required to support the financial, personnel and other functional departments. Functional structure of its own with its own charm, otherwise it will not live to see this day. Implementation of enterprise project management system is a process, a partial change will affect all aspects of business. Impatient to instigate upheaval is likely to play a benefit in the new system before destroying the original efficiency, the enterprise into crisis. All change is not an easy thing, need opportune. I think also there is no strict boundaries, the structure does not have to be big change, the general practice is gradually reduced between projects and functional style silos, weakening the level boundaries, thereby increasing the level of collaboration across the cross-sectoral collaboration is a team spirit, and the team is the main feature of the project.

The fourth is to adjust the personnel system and pay system. Project management would have to project managers appropriate location, most of the Departments of Personnel System only Division at bureau-level cadres, no senior project manager and project manager of the seat, so give them the right to establish higher status. Have higher status you have a seat there is a corresponding pay grade. This is related to the employee's sense of belonging, so that their sense of belonging to our core projects instead of falling bodies in the sector.

The fifth is to transform philosophy. Now we are in the contract amount, turnover, profit amounted to business objectives, the quality, safety, occupational health, social obligations as legal constraints and government regulations. When we think about the implementation of project management in relation to our purpose, our ultimate goal is to investigate what meaning? Our corporate vision, business principles, our values and ethical behavior are what? Many people will say that they are well known of these empty slogans and platitudes. That's right, the ideal has always been our lifelong pursuit, but may never reach the skyline, values and ethics are supposed to be from the consensus of everyone inside. We have to do is put them back into our business activities to go, and placed in the central location. So that we will understand why so hard to make money.