Blue Bell Construction Sdn Bhd

1. CASE SUMMARY

This case study is about Blue Bell Construction Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary Blue Bell Pte Ltd of Singapore in Malaysia to undertake activity activities like construction of township, factories, bridges, dams and roads.

Recently Blue Bell Construction Sdn Bhd has been awarded the main contract to build a steel factor in Banting, Klang.  Because of the shortage of staff, Mr Chew Eng Kee, the regional manager of Blue Bell Construction Sdn Bhd requested an experienced expatriate in the steel mill industry to oversee the development as Project Director in Malaysia. Blue Bell Pte Ltd considered the requested and sent Mr Richard White.

Mr Richard White is a graduate engineer from University of Newcastle, United Kingdom with eight years working experience as an industrial engineer in a steel mill in England. He has chosen Singapore as his destination after his divorced and joined Blue Bell Pte Ltd as Project Director in the South East Asia Region.

He was introduced to the project team that consisted of a site supervisor, two assistant supervisors and a site clerk with 150 workers at the construction site. The construction is in preliminary stage.

As land clearing and site preparation underway, Mr Rosli came to see him and told him about a huge tree that they were try to remove but somehow it cannot be remove. They believe that the three has ‘superpower’ and requested ‘bomoh’ to arrange for some praying ceremony so that they can continue their work. They afraid to continue the work because the workers who tried to remove the tree faced a tragedy.

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT

i)        Shortage of Staff

Since Blue Bell Construction Sdn Bhd has several projects in Malaysia, Mr Chew Eng Kee had a problem in managing the construction. Recent project in Banting, Klang 158 acres will be occupied by the factory. Mr Chew needs more staff in handling the projects in Banting to ensure the project run smoothly and the construction is on schedule.

ii)        Expatriates as Project Director

Mr Chew Eng Kee requested an expatriate to be a Project Director. Since Mr Richard White is new to the Malaysian culture, he is not belief in what the local belief but at the same time he need to ensure that the worker do their job so that the land clearing work can be completed.

The main problem of this case study is that Richard White experiencing a dilemma to choose between maintaining his dignity as a person who does not believe in superstition thing at the same time to show his abilities as a project director in ensuring land clearing on schedule.

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