Eva and Motivation of Staff

Monitoring and Control

There are two ways in which I think the topic can be discussed, one with the PM being enforced to practice and use his control methods and techniques and the second being the PM controlling his staff without negatively effecting their motivation.

If a PM practices his control methodology and discovers that in fact the project is not earning its value and even worst it is far behind schedule. He/she may be very reluctant to disclose to stakeholders that the project is not going to plan. This is often the case in human nature, particularly in the professional world, as no one wants to be seen to be incompetent or seek help on a project that is their own responsibility. This can even go on further to the stage that even when the PM tells his relevant manager or director that the results from the analysis that they may actually be hidden from the client/stakeholder. This is due to the manager pressure potentially influencing reported results, quarters have to be met, reputations are everything and there is at times the mindset to " catch up later on" is carried out. Which can ultimately effect the quality of work in the project. If additional time is spent practising control techniques with no clear improvement then an increase in costs will appear due to the unproductive time that could have been spent elsewhere.

The mindset when implement this technique can also be negative depending on the PM executing it. The article describes a common complaint as "extra paperwork" , if this is true then the presence of negative energy being input to the analysis will undoubtedly effect results , can lead to a lack of effort and/or belief in the capabilities of the method will result in inaccurate results.

Staff at times can be set in their ways and cannot see benefits, the company involved could potentially bring in a consultant specialised in EVA and other control techniques to help train relevant individuals in accurate use of the tool. This along with workshops/meetings provided by said consultant may well help change mindset of unconvinced individuals and help them gain confidence and enthusiasm for use with EVA.

References

[1] Lukas,J.A,(2008), Earned Value Analysis- Why it doesn't work, AACE International Transactions

[2] Lukas,J,A,(2007), Is your schedule correct? Common scheduling mistakes and how to avoid them, PMI global congress North American transactions, October 2007