Current Status of Organization
Gray Construction is a family-owned construction company that has offices in multiple American and Canadian cities as well as a branch in Tokyo, Japan. This company offers services in engineering, construction, and architecture to its customers (Gray Construction, 2017a). The company has a developed approach to communications, which is called the Gray Way. Moreover, the company has a number of associations that further promote communication between employees of different levels. For example, the purpose of the Project Manager’s Association (PMA) is to establish and maintain interactions between the members of project management and suppliers, subcontractors, and vendors, where they can not only discuss active projects but also share their experiences and ask additional questions (Gray Construction, 2017b). Moreover, people that work or participate in this program come from different departments of the company, which allows them to maintain a level of communication that everybody can understand.
To further advance the communications level in the company, Gray Construction has created an open forum, which allows employees to ask questions related to the enterprise’s business practices and policies. This program, called the Design Manager’s Association (DMA), exists as an effort to increase mutual understanding between designers and constructors. The team of the DMA consists of design managers, engineers, and members of the production team.
The company implements different programs in order to eliminate the problem of interpreting business benefits. By utilizing the system of open forums, Gray Construction tries to increase the success of business-related communications. Moreover, the company has its own magazine, which discusses current projects as well as some of the company’s latest advancements. It is possible that these programs may change the way employees talk to each other. For example, the existence of the DMA allows engineers, designers, and builders to see the gaps in their language and exterminate them. Furthermore, the open forum of the PMA allows for any person that contributes to a project to have a conversation with other members of the team. Moreover, the forum promotes conversations with important stakeholders, namely customers, which further advance the language of communication. All these efforts make Gray Construction a high-performing organization.
Recommendations
The company should continue its programs that promote communication between different types of employees. This initiative changes the way people use their language to explain their ideas. New workers learn how to speak not only in professional terms that are used in their department but also in some words that are universally understood by all employees as well as other people. Moreover, the program that allows customers, manufacturers, and vendors to talk to each other and other members of the construction team helps the company to bring everyone’s language use to the same level. Thus, all sides that in some way participate in the building process have a place where they can voice their ideas and concerns and have their words heard. These initiatives include multiple stakeholders and promote interaction between various project members. Moreover, according to the Project Management Institute (2013), this strategy allows Gray Construction to “tailor communications to different stakeholder groups” and maintain the level of language that is comprehensible to everyone (p. 8). By implementing an open discussion platform into the company’s regular schedule, Gray Construction allows members to reach clarity in their communications.
The aspect of project management is also discussed by the company in detail. Gray Construction holds meetings and discusses its projects at every stage of development from preliminary design to construction (Gray Construction, 2017a). Furthermore, the projects’ success is monitored after their completion through communication with customers. According to Gray Construction (2017a), the company’s clients are met with a “team of professional architects, engineers, project managers… to define the requirements of the project,” which shows that the company tries to include various employees to every meeting in order to devise a plan of actions. Moreover, the company’s budgeting and scheduling teams also take part in these meetings. All teams can also have separate meetings with customers to better explain their propositions. It is clear that the company values project management and makes efforts to integrate communications into every stage of production. The organization’s magazine is also a viable effort to reach not only workers but also other members of the community.
The company should also consider including other employee teams into the programs that feature holding open forums. For example, financial departments would benefit from joining in on the conversation as it would allow them to understand more about the value of each component of the project. It is safe to assume that builders and designers choose materials because of their quality, longevity, and aesthetic appeal, while financial specialists focus on their price. Thus, these open forums present an excellent opportunity for members of these departments to evaluate the quality-price ratio and come to a mutual understanding of the best practices for the company. Senior project leaders should participate in these events as well. This addition would allow the employees to “close the communications gap” in their conversations about benefits (Project Management Institute, 2013, p. 8). However, it is possible that many of the employees from other departments already use these platforms. All in all, these programs present an opportunity for further advancement.
References
Gray Construction. (2017a). About Gray. Web.
Gray Construction. (2017b). Careers. Web.
Project Management Institute. (2013). The high cost of low performance: The essential role of communications. Web.