Running Head: Module 3: Human Resources 1

PCA: Human Resources

Patrick Spooner

Arizona State University

OGL 481: Pro-Seminar I

Dr. Kate McCain

May 31, 2021

Running Head: Module 3: Human Resources 2

The situation that I will be covering in detail for my PCA is a Change Order

Management meeting that was held between the General Contractor, the Sub-Contractor (my

company) and the Material Manufacturer that was utilized on the project. This was a conflict

and contractual change management resolution meeting between the three parties. All parties

have varying viewpoints on the various topics that are discussed. I was the Project Manager

for the Sub-Contractor on this specific project and represented my company, Spooner’s

Woodworks Inc., along with the Owner of the company, our division manager and our project

supervisor who managed the installation crews in the field.

The Human Resources Frame influenced my success on this project very much in the

same way that the Structural Frame influenced my success. I say that because the Ownership

group that was directly responsible for the Structural development of the Organization was

also directly responsible for the Human Resources Development. The structure of the

organization and our division in particular was designed in an ultra-lean fashion, where most

employees were expected to handle multiple roles and wear multiple hats as a standard. This

created an environment where people were overextended, constantly stressed, and always felt

like they were playing from behind.

This is the position that I was in for all of my tenure with the company, and was one of

the leading causes of the issue with the Contractor on this project. The Contractor claimed

that I was not visiting the job site enough to quality control the materials that were being

installed. What that Contractor did not understand was that I was not only managing their

project but was also managing 5-6 other projects at the same time as well as managing and

scheduling our division’s installation crews. In addition to this, I was also needed to manage

and assist with Sales and overall division management. In essence, I was an assistant general

manager, project manager and a sales manager, all in one! However, I was expected to
Running Head: Module 3: Human Resources 3

complete all of these different roles within a 40-hour week being paid a single salary, without

any overtime benefits.

I would use the Human Resources alternatively, to spend more time focusing on the

needs of my employees and less time worrying about cutting costs to squeeze every ounce of

profit out of my employees by over extending them. I would never expect or allow any of my

employees to perform multiple roles at one time, especially if they did not want to do so or

were not happy nor well compensated to do so. I would consistently check in with my

employees to make sure they were doing ok and not overly stressed, and if they were, I would

actively work to resolve that issue by supporting them in every reasonable manner that I’d be

able to. Many times this would require some structural changes to take place in order to

support the employee, whether that be hiring additional employees to ease some of the burden

or look at redistributing their work to create a more even and manageable workload for all

staff.

The main thing that I’d do differently, that I stated I would also do in the Structural

frame is make it 110% clear to management that I would not continue to perform the multiple

roles they are asking without meeting me at an acceptable middle ground. If they did not

agree to do so then I would start looking outside the company to find somewhere with a

superior Human Resources Organization, similar to my current company. Inevitably, that is

exactly what happened and I left the organization due to many unmet needs.

Had I been given the authority to adjust the structure of our department, as I deemed

necessary, I would have not only hired an additional Project Manager but I would have hired

a full time Engineer/Detailer to relieve many of the bottlenecks that our division was dealing

with. However, upper management enforced that our division stay as lean as possible and to
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maximize the responsibility of every employee within the division. This was a fine idea,

however, upper management was so out of tune with what the workloads were actually like in

our department, that they had no idea how overloaded many of us were with work. The paid

far more attention to the P&L’s of our division and job costing reports then actual employee

health and happiness.