Book No 1 Switch.

In order to write a blog related to this book, I think that everyone of us must give example of the elephant and the rider from their actual lives from the work that they perform (I think that most of us are in managing positions) to how they have managed to change what they have required and have they always been successful of what they have done.

My experience is in construction, as I am a project & cost manager for commercial building and I know that there are some Engineers in our Class and I am expecting some of their opinions related to our field.

My real life story that I am presenting is related to the manners that our construction companies operate in our country and the related features as cost, quality & safety. In this text we can identify the manners of construction as the elephant and the managers of the companies as riders.

After the regime in our country, people could migrate easy from different cities to the locations where they can find a job, and one of these places was Tirana, the capital of Albania. As Tirana infrastructure was designed for 300.000 people and the migration was too high there was a high demand of new constructions for living and service habitats.

Some young entrepreneurs, with unknown source of fund and inadequate background, have started the construction business by creating construction companies, which actually were very profitable till now days. Because of the world crisis, as we are part of the open market most of these companies have been closed due to lack of work and the strongest ones have to be adapted to work as international construction companies in relation to quality and safety.

Firstly the elephant in our country “the construction Companies” are used to purchase all the materials by themselves and contract the workmanship differently, they do not use the terms as “turned key activity” which actually is very dangerous as they lose the warranty of their product. (This is an item related to the quality of works)

Secondly they think that by procuring materials alone and workmanship as a different item, they will achieve a cheaper price but they are not taking in account any management or transportation cost or any risk cost related to these items, which will be added up to the final cost. (This is an item related to the cost of works)

Lastly they neglect the importance of safety and health precautions by calling that as an extra cost to their construction. Maybe there will be days when their companies will be shut down due to potential accidents that can happen on the job sites. (This is an item related to Health and Safety)

As a conclusion, as project managers we have recommend most of our local clients to change their attitude towards these item. We have been successful in some of the items where the clients do not have a choice but cooperating with the international companies, but as we know change is difficult even though we have direct the riders (construction company manager) by putting on letter our recommendations as his company must behave towards construction activities, we have motivate the elephant by bringing in international construction companies which are interested in doing business in Albania (which means better profit for local companies), and we have shaped the path by submitting cost analyzing of the projects and showing that in long run the turn key projects are always more successful.

Florian Shushku