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Posted 11 months ago
Douglas Lawson • Daniel - I notice that you are based in the Nice area. Does this mean that the project you are running is staffed by a load of French "lifers"? If the answer is YES, I can understand why your project is so frustrating. "Lifers" in many continental European countries are impossible and much as I admire the French for many things, the "lifer" mentality there is worse than in most places.
Anonymous asked

Hi again Douglas, the environment is international, but yes you are correct - there is a strong pervasive production line management style.  

In the larger organisations in France there is truth in what you say. However, I have met those “Lifers”. They care very deeply for the organisation in which they work; because they remain positive to encountering better management. 

The downside; politics are very strong. Worst, few organisations here possess business disaster recovery plans that ensures long-term employee job safety. There have been some disasters, and more are coming.

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Posted 11 months ago
Clarence Quismundo • I surmise those year-in and year-out annual performance appraisals are recorded. Your HR Department should know how to take care of this issue. Cut your losses. Issue the pink slips. Of course, since they are regular/permanent employees, you have to give severance packages. It would cost you substantial money up-front, but it will save you a lot more trouble and money in the long run by not having to live with them, support them, and pay them for the following years to come.
Anonymous asked

Unfortunately this HR has to deal with lots of employees. It is a fact that when appraisals come around, the non-productive employees produce ‘chameleonic’ abilities. Meaning: past problems undergo temporary positive change. 

“Cut your losses. Issue the pink slips.“ That decision is not mine to make.

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Posted 11 months ago
Clarence Quismundo • This situation will primarily be a labor case here in our country. If there are non-performing employees, it means they are not necessary for the continuous operation or survival of the company. Therefore they can be laid off on the premise of redundancy, which is provided for in our National Labor Code.
Anonymous asked

Hi Clarence, Thank you for your response. In certain organisations that would be the case. In this one, it is not going to happen. 

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Posted 11 months ago
Roberto Guandique • Don't worry Daniel....you seem to have all the answers to fix and make a success of your project. At some point in time, you have to call the baby ugly! Good luck!
Anonymous asked

Hi again Roberto, ”The answers”, yes. “The fix”, not really. Here we are trying something new in project management by bringing in outside influences. Thanks to all for the inputs here – this baby is undergoing an interesting face-lift. Good luck to us all.

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Posted 11 months ago
Shylesh Ramanjini • - Talk to management about the changes you have done. Good luck.
Anonymous asked

Thanks

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Posted 11 months ago
Shylesh Ramanjini • I agree with Diana. Setup individual meetings with each of the employees and understand their side of the story. Based on the feedback you can think about performing one or more of the below steps to improve the situation. - Rewards and recognition - Reassign work - Instill ownership by transferring some work from the contractors to employees - Setup frequent project reviews and set the expectation that poor performers will not be tolerated
Anonymous asked

Hi Shylesh, thank you for your input here. All the points you mention are valid under normal circumstances – and should have been in place anyway. Yet, these are not normal circumstances. The situation is highly volatile, political and made more unmanageable by inexperienced management. It is a foregone conclusion that your points above will never see the light of day at this point in a critical project. In all likelihood, management would strongly tell me I am wasting their time … and unfortunately, they would be correct. 

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Posted 1 year ago
Tony Cossey • Much respect to everyone with their ideas here, all have merit and should considered, however nobody has considered this to be a "Kobayashi Maru" situation with the staff, a project manager can log issues and risks, try social engineering, remove roadblocks, sympathy, escalate to the company board. However in rare situations you are forced to accepting a NO WIN situation ( a Kobayashi Maru) .
Anonymous asked

Hi Tony, thank you for your response.

Absolutely brilliant! Some of our projects are just that, a “Kobayashi Maru” situation - RIP Gene Roddenberry. As Kirk would say, “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.” Let me explain, we all want immediate results. We overlook the obvious. More importantly, we believe we are infalliable without having considered every immaginable solution. Respectfully, we have not done the mental legwork, and our minds are incredible. Does it not stand to reason then, that we can come up with incredible solutions too?

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Posted 1 year ago
Michael Tiefenbacher • Just an idea: can you let the non-performing staff work on a 'dummy-project' (without them knowing it's dummy), and the performing contractors working on the 'real' project? You could also go for a two-solution approach to reduce risk, and have the perms working on one, and the contractors work on the other ...
Anonymous asked

Hi Michael, thank you for your response.

Dummy testing and dummy deadlines work. Dummy projects, unfortunately not; they have a tendency to waste what little resource there is. Besides this, our projects follow strong transparency governance.

Your “two-solution approach” is in progress; “the perms” are engaging Senior Management with project issues. They are best placed to do this because they cannot be fired. The contractors are tasked on a partnering initiative to halve their workload with redundant (but capable) “perms” in dependency teams.  

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Posted 1 year ago
You are on a critical project, in a world that fears and hates you for doing the right thing. YOU cannot dismiss ANYONE and SENIOR MANAGEMENT do not want excuses. The behaviour of the non-productive team members (EMPLOYEES) is wreaking havoc with the productive team members (CONTRACTORS). One key contractor has handed in his notice. How will you manage? How will you survive?
Anonymous asked
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Posted 1 year ago
Faisal Bashir • Trust me the job both of them are doing for me, i know nothing about it. My 80% of the work depends on them. If once they quit, i straighaway haven't got a good replacement. Although i can get equally competent bloke in the same money, yet it takes time to be comfortable with the new one. Would you beleive i pay them less than their expectations. They easily can earn more if they walk away from me.
Anonymous asked

And therein lies a very big problem, especially on this project. Many organisations refuse to see the real value in their employees. Equally worrying, some organisations deliberately instill this lack of value into their employees so that they (and their subordinates) are unable to discover their true values. Complex political hierarchies fuel this insidious form of hidden abuse. 

I understand well how this might work for you in the short-term. I suspect, as you have already noticed, once these “competent bloke”s walk replacing them will be costly - especially the time it will take to, “to be comfortable with the new one”s. Even then, you run the risk of them walking away too.