This case study offers a lesson in project management, professional responsibility, and ethics.
Imagine the following situation on a construction site.
A Site Manager, while conducting a risk assessment, identifies a serious safety risk: the end column of a canopy is planned directly under live overhead power lines.
He acts professionally. He submits a formal letter to the Project Manager and proposes four urgent measures, including contacting the relevant electricity distribution company, to control the risk and protect people and property.
The Project Manager’s response?
Instead of implementing the proposed measures, the Site Manager is removed from the project site.
The problem is “solved” by removing the person who raised it.
Let us examine which project management principles this decision failed to uphold and how the case can be analysed through the lens of the PMBOK Guide – 7th Edition and the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
Five PMBOK 7 principles relevant to this case
1. Risk — Optimize risk responses
A specific physical hazard with potentially serious consequences has been identified.
Reporting a risk is the starting point of risk management — the next step is to assess it and take appropriate measures to manage and control it.
2. Stakeholders — Effectively engage with stakeholders
The situation required the involvement of relevant stakeholders, as well as external parties whose participation was necessary to manage the risk.
A risk requiring action from multiple parties cannot be resolved by removing the person who raised it.
3. Stewardship — Be a diligent, respectful, and caring steward
A Project Manager is entrusted with making decisions that affect people and project resources. Responsible stewardship requires serious risks to people and property to be considered promptly and appropriate measures to be taken.
4. Team — Create a collaborative project team environment
How an organisation responds when a team member raises a concern influences the behaviour of the entire team. If people conclude that reporting bad news puts them personally at risk, the next problem may never be reported.
5. Leadership — Demonstrate leadership behaviour
Leadership is not demonstrated only when decisions are easy or circumstances are favourable. It is demonstrated especially when someone delivers bad news or raises a concern.
What does PMI Ethics say?
The same case can be examined through the four core values of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
Responsibility
What does responsible conduct look like when a serious risk to the safety of people and property has been identified?
Respect
How should a professional who raises a legitimate concern be treated, even when that concern is uncomfortable or requires an existing plan to be reconsidered?
Fairness
Are decisions affecting project team members made objectively and on the basis of relevant professional criteria?
Honesty
Relevant information about identified risks must be communicated accurately and completely to all relevant parties who have the responsibility, authority or ability to take appropriate action.
This case is therefore about more than an overhead power line.
It is about organisational culture, professional responsibility, and how a project team responds to bad news.
There is a simple principle every Project Manager should understand:
Good Project Managers do not punish bad news — they address the problems behind it.
Which other principles from the PMBOK Guide – 7th Edition are relevant to this case? Do you think any other project management principles were also not upheld? If so, which ones, and why?
