Page 304 - Global Project Management Handbook

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS 15-5

WORKMANSHIP AND WORKER QUALIFICATION

Different countries have a variety of workmanship capabilities. Some countries will
have welders, for example, who are certified to perform welding operations that meet
“country” needs but may not meet the requirements for either precision or high-
pressure-vessel welding. During a visit to a country that was just emerging into
high-technology operations, printed circuit boards often were found to have open con-
nections. The repair operator was taking great pride in soldering the breaks in continuity
by piling solder on top of the open circuit. The result was a cold solder joint, one that
does not properly fuse the materials together, and the joint would open again under
stress or extreme environmental conditions.
Another example of workmanship was when foreign welders were brought to the
United States under a cooperative agreement to employ the excess labor. The task was
to weld high-pressure pipes to withstand pressures as high as 1000 pounds per square
inch and used to transport natural gas over long distances. A leak in a welded joint has
the potential to ignite and cause severe damage to the surrounding area, as well as
injure individuals in the vicinity. The welders were qualified to perform the welding
operations but did not understand the need for precision in their welding. Once a defect
was identified, the foreign welders were threatened with immediate return to their
native country. This corrected the contractor’s error in failing to inform the foreign
welders of the standard and how the standard would be enforced.
Anticipating different levels of worker skill and qualifications permits one to assess
and compare the existing capabilities against the required competence. Variances between
the actual and required will require such solutions as training, bringing in external
resources, and performing part of the work elsewhere.

WORK HABITS

Considering and accommodating the work habits and customs of a country is critical to
successful project completion. Using a traditional model for employing indigenous labor
may be counter to the country’s custom. In one example, ships were being scraped

cleaned of barnacles by local Ethiopian labor. The “project manager” attempted to hire
individuals and was unsuccessful. The custom was that an entire village of males would
be hired through the village leader. The village leader was paid for all labor and subse-
quently paid the workers. The accounting office was only accustomed to paying individ-
uals and rejected the concept. All work was halted pending resolution of the matter, and
the accounting office agreed to treating the village leader as a contractor.
In this same example of work habits in Ethiopia, the project manager brought a thermo-
meter to the work place to record the temperature. The thermometer exploded when the
temperature was significantly higher than 120°F. The workers, unfamiliar with a thermo-
meter and having no idea of the actual temperature, stopped work until the project manager
could persuade them to return to the tasks. (The actual temperature was 147°F on the metal
dry dock.) Individuals were accustomed to working in the heat but suspected that something
was wrong when the thermometer broke.
In a large Asian country, a large project was being completed without specific guid-
ance from the project manager. Teams of workers were sent to the job site each day to
perform whatever tasks were available. As the project manager explained the situation,
“I just send people out to do work, and they choose the work they want to do. When
they cannot find work, I send another team out to find work.” Unfortunately, the rate of