A Construction Company

A project team of a construction company building a new leisure complex abroad gathers for a project meeting scheduled for 11.00.

Mr A, the project leader who has flown in this morning from head office, arrives at 10.55 to find two local project members chatting outside the room. One disappears without explanation, nobody else appears until 11.15. Finally a local construction engineer comes in, only to say he has to leave soon as one of his children has a doctor's appointment. Mr A. rings the other members of the team, who say they are on their way. When they arrive, they don't have their agenda, but are fully briefed. Informal discussions begin, which Mr A. interrupts, explaining they have a lot to do in a short time and tells them to concentrate on the planned agenda. He has spent several days preparing a very detailed programme as he has to return to head office on the same evening and wants to get all the problems sorted out. The first item on the agenda is the delivery date of a piece of equipment- an earth-moving machine - from a local company. The local expert explains that there has been a further delay but he will talk to his cousin who is married to the boss of the company supplying it and sees no problem. Secondly, the client has changed some of the requirements so they would need to meet with him again before they can continue. Mr A is angry that nobody has mentioned this beforehand as it will cause considerable delay and means that he would not get the substantial bonus promised to him if he completes the project on time. A mobile phone rings, and one of the local team starts a conversation about the budget in the corner of the room. Mr A. tells the local team that they are incompetent and that have not stuck to the original agreements laid out in depth in the initial contract which they had all agreed to last year. The local team are surprised at his outburst as he knows that a member of their team has had

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