Success Breeds Success

There is graffiti on a wall in Pompeii dating back over 2000 years that says:

"Si quis stultus nihil aliud. Redderet enim" 

- If anyone wants something for nothing he is a fool. He should pay for it!-

Despite this early insight into the fundamental basis of monetary motivation the primary reason for the Empire's failure and entering the Dark Ages was a combination of a slave-based economy with a decentralized and inefficient trade system.

Human resources can be an organisation’s largest and most difficult to-control expense, but it can also be central to affecting organisational performance and as such is a key task for a company to manage in order to maximise productivity and enhance creativity whilst controlling costs.

High-performance work practices’ (HPWPs) include, for example, incentives, training, employee participation, selectivity, and flexible work arrangements. These HPWPs practices increase employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities resulting in greater job satisfaction, lower employee turnover, higher productivity, and better decision and subsequent increase in performance, all to the organisation’s benefit.  It can be shown that HPWPs improve organisational performance and studies have demonstrated that organisations can increase their performance by 20%.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined high-performance work places or organisations (HPWOs) as those that are moving towards a flatter and less hierarchical structure, where people work in teams with greater autonomy, based upon higher levels of trust and communication. It is the role of the HRM department to address these issues in the job design. A boring and monotonous job stifles motivation to perform well whereas a challenging job enhances motivation. Employee commitment and motivation have to be actively managed to ensure employees are attracted, motivated and retained and the old adage of ‘a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work’ is no longer enough to gain a competitive edge. Reward system management is usually associated with monetary values in terms of salaries and bonuses and money is the most motivating factor among most employees. It can, however, include non-financial rewards such as recognition, promotion, praise, achieve,met, responsibility and personal growth.

Belbin identified eight team ‘roles’ including Company Worker, Shaper, Chairmen etc with each role required to act at differing times throughout the groups development. Individuals can perform more than one role and the team selection is crucial and in particular the leaders, who must take an overview, anticipate problems, create an environment for success, and provide direction and vision and, most importantly, motivation. The establishment of the right balance in a team is an essential factor for success. 

Summary

Mia Hamm once quoted "I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it, and I sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion". By establishing HRM high-working performance working practices for all; an organisation can increase its productivity and enhance creativity whilst lowering costs and improve employee's job satisfaction and as Mia Hamm also quoted; "success breeds success".

Summarised Extract of Paper Presented April 2012

by D Staines CEng MIStructE

Week Ending 8th July 2012

The Government has abandoned the pre-2010 policy of trying to encourage house building through regional house building targets and instead house building is being encouraged through the New Homes Bonus, allowing the local authority to retain revenue from the council tax of new houses for six years.

The Government published the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in March stressing the need to encourage housebuilding but retaining the need for planning authorities to provide enough land for a rolling five years supply whilst adding the new requirement of an extra 5% "to ensure choice and competition in the market for land".

Although research in June 2011 suggested a major reduction in housing targets, especially in the South East And South West, here at JMS we certainly seem to be bucking the trend with the appointment for the design of the roads, drainage, foundations and superstructure on over 500 housing plots in June alone.

Planning has finally been achieved for the new hotel in Cambridge in which we carried out the preliminary designs at the beginning of the year. This hotel incorporates a large underground car-park and a concrete podium first floor deck with timber framing over. Due to the client's timetable, the design is being shared between our Midlands and Anglia office. This is the third hotel undertaken for this client with the first up to podium level in Ipswich and the Winchester project ready for tender.

Work load in the London sector is expanding faster than ever with a wide variety of work including three Synagogues, two mosques, refurbishment of the Muslim World League HQ building, new students bar for Anglian Ruskin University, two £5m+ houses in Hampstead Heath, apartment blocks, house extensions.....

Week Ending 24th June 2012

I have over 30 years of experience in the construction industry, my colleagues and employees all receive regular training and guidance, we employ an independent Safety Consulting firm but yet, before we are allowed to design a foundation or drainage scheme for a client (who no doubt has the same experience and awareness of construction  health & safety issues as ourselves), we still have to submit, for review, by a ‘qualified’ H&S  consultant, our procedures  on how we lift objects in the office! I am all for H&S in the work place and on site but for goodness sake, take a step back, take the blinkers off and get in the real world – anyway, I can see my wife struggling up the garden path with the grocery shopping – perhaps I should tell her to only carry two bags at time so she doesn’t put her back out otherwise how will she do the ironing!

Fire damaged project at Essex has finally ‘topped out’ after nearly two years. As a Grade Listed building, Conservation officers have been ‘interested’ from the start which has had to be balanced with the Client’s desire to squeeze as much accommodation into the apartments as possible. Anyway, all parties seem to be happy.

It seemed to be a week for housing and apartments as, following on from the appointment last week for the design of 120 houses in Hatfield we were appointed this week for 37 apartments in Kilburn, 24 houses in Lincolnshire, the design of a new, four storey concrete framed apartment block in London and the addition of four flats above an existing Working Man’s club in Edmonton. The highlight, however, must have been driving for two and half hours in the pouring rain in order to look down a hole with five others!

Week Ending 17th June 2012

Good week – started on a high and ended on a high. On Monday we found that we had been successful in our bid for the design of a new multi-million pound distribution centre in Bury St Edmunds and then on Friday we were appointed, out of the blue, as the Structural Engineers for a large apartment block in Northampton. This latter one is particularly pleasing as the client appointed based on our previous performance and didn’t even ask about our fee scale!

 Recently Completed Distribution Warehouse - Sudbury

Had a meeting mid week with the owner of a large manufacturing business of the SIPs (Structural Insulated Panel system) who we have being working with for the last three years. As they are looking double production over the next year, we discussed methods simplifying the design process as well as specifying a regime of testing for them. Unfortunately, few of practicing architects are aware of SIPs let alone the benefits of building in this modern material – luckily we are and I have even built my own garage from the stuff!

 My 'DIY' Garage

Quarry inspections still form a significant part of our work load with us providing nationwide training workshops for site managers and undertaking specific site inspections on a biannual basis - more often when vehicle impact or similar has arisen. Usually the plant is initially designed for a twenty year life but invariable the kit is modified or moved resulting in its life extended by at least twice this.

Week Ending 10th June 2012

Obviously, a significant part of the week was taken up with the bank holidays and the Queens Jubilee celebrations. Soner, from the London office braved the weather on Sunday and managed to get a good vantage point and some cracking shots of the Royal Barge complete with a decent London backdrop.

Meanwhile, back in the office, the week continued with the normal humdrum designs and details for roads, sewers and buildings which make up the staple diet of the consulting engineer. We did, however, manage to secure the appointment on a 120 house development in Hatfield with a new (national) client providing the designs for both the infrastructure and foundations. Should be an interesting one with a cut & fill exercise and foundations varying from standard trench fill through to piles, rafts and vibro.

On a smaller scale, once again we were called in to provide advice on how to improve on the inadequate temporary works being used on site. Although our staff spent Wednesday morning on a CDM refresher training course, it still appears that, when it comes to site, the rules, regulations and guidance continue to be ignored! On this one, two party wall surveyors, threat of high court legal action, police involvement and a dangerous structure notice all thrown into the mix.

Week Ending 3rd June 2012

Carrying out a structural inspection on Monday and once again came across the dreaded ticked box of the mortgage surveyor asking for a damp report. As always, this surveyor proudly puts after his name RICS which I would have thought would give him some insight in to why there are damp problems in a 300 year old house! Surely they should start taking a bit more responsibility for their job than just shifting the ‘problem’ onto a damp proof company who will invariably include somewhere in their report ‘provide an injected damp proof course’. That is not addressing the problem and almost never needed.

Inundated this week with small domestic designs varying from single beams for ground floor extensions through to complete re-builds. I believe more thought has to go into these smaller projects than the large as they are often fiddly and the clients invariably want the impossible and want their house to, in effect, to be the Tardis!

Managed to squeeze this basement extension below a five storey

structure with minimal downstands and no protruding columns

in order to keep to the client's brief for clean lines

The multi million pound refurbishment of Middlesex House, Wembley is virtually complete with the new cladding glinting away in the sunshine. Let’s hope its new cladding is waterproof after now the summer seems to be already over. Having saved the client almost £200k in re-designing the steelwork from the original proposals (designed by others I hasten to say), my initial reservations that the 15 storey saw-tooth feature on the side would look ‘odd’ I think the architect knew what he was doing.

Week Ending 26th May 2012

We have been involved with a lot of structural art over the years varying form a man made from (metal) hands, a toy tug boat that stands 6m tall and metal trees that now stand in the middle of a Las Vegas casino.

However at the end of last week, we got blindsided by a client who wants an island; not any sort of an Island but a Pirate based island complete with rickety old houses, stone jetty, palm trees and even a large skull with a waterfall coming through its mouth! Following an appointment we are waiting for the completion of pumping out 13 million gallons of water from the lake so that we can send the surveyors in order that the earth movers can remodel the lake for both the island and to increase the depth of the lake by 1.5m which should be sufficient for the pirate ships to float!

With the construction of the high bay waste handling facility at Gt Blakenham now complete the machinery which sorts and recycles the rubbish has been installed. These bits of kit are mammoth in size and we have been providing the designs for the support of such machinery across the UK and Europe due to the 3D functionality of the design software we use. The latest one is the interestingly named ‘Left Hand Trisomat Flip Flop screen’ – no idea what it does but it’s a great name.

Week Ending 19th May 2012

First visit of the week was to inspect the newly constructed underground car park for a small apartment block in Leicestershire and I am pleased with the outcome which was designed with FE Analysis for the irregular shape and large open spans. Unfortunately NHBC won’t adopt the project because the basement wasn’t specified to be waterproof which we (client, architect and ourselves) pointed out that there was big open door at the front, three large smoke vents open to the elements and wet cars driving in and out!

Met with a new client in Stamford Hill regarding a new basement under his house and he then took me off to a Social Club he had just bought in Edmonton Green where it looks like we can build 8 new flats over. It will be a bit of a long slog with the planning but the returns should be pretty impressive for him once it goes.

Met with the owner Artfabs who is carries out large metalwork sculptures to discuss a new piece he has been commissioned for. Whilst I was at his workshop we inspected a recent piece we had designed which was 75% complete but it did seem to be oscillating a lot in the wind which didn’t look right. It turns out that the client didn’t want to include the high level restraint we had specified as it detracted from the look!

Interesting chat with a potential new client on Thursday who wants a Pirate’s Island built in the middle of his lake complete with a waterfall though a skulls head! Arranged for a meeting on Monday to discuss in detail.

Jim’s model of the underwater diving experience now proudly hangs in the office.

Week Ending May 12th 2012

Site visit on Tuesday to view on going works for the re-building of a mid-terraced house with a basement beneath whilst retaining the front façade and, in theory the houses either side. Unfortunately, sloppy propping works by the contractor exacerbated by the appaling weather has resulted in movement to one of the neighbouring houses. Once again the Party Wall surveyors are having a field day but I suppose that is the purpose of their job.

Temporary & final propping works

Spent yesterday looking for an additional office in London and think we will go for space in No 1 PoultryLane EC2R. Easy access from Liverpool St and good facilities. A bit futuristic and somehow reminds me of the Key Keepers building in Ghostbusters but nice all the same!

Drawings arrived for new project in West Hampstead where I have convinced the client that we can build a 4m deep basement under the house without knocking it down or using a piled system. At the time I even convinced myself but now the drawings have arrived I am now wondering how! Nevertheless, I have drawn the schematics up in Sketchup and  (in theory) I am sure it can be done and Joel Snitzer at BSD London has had the gauntlet thrown down.

Preliminary underpinning concept for new basement

Small project for my brother-in-law who runs Stoke Sauces and wants to extend his storage shed which used to be used for Tank Building. It also turns out that he is related to Isambard Kingdom Brunel which, by a little stretch of the genealogical ties; makes me related as well!

Green light given for two different housing estates (70+ houses each) requiring design of roads, sewers, foundations and superstructure

The Midlands office started off  the beginning of May relatively quietly although this was in comparison with an extremely busy April. Nevertheless it has picked up significantly this week and their offer of assistance of the workload to East Anglia has diminished to nothing resulting in the decision to appoint another Technician with a couple of interviews taking place this week. Meeting with Studio Idealyc has resulted in a number of small commissions.

Yes - i'm the 'large' gentleman!

Week ending 5th May 2012

Early start last Sunday with an emergency call out to a house in  London where builders (I’m using the word ‘builder’ very loosely here!) have, over the past months, have been excavating beneath a mid-terraced house in order to form a basement. Due to inadequate propping, disregard of the engineers design and lack of accounting for the recent weather conditions the building was in a rather precarious state! After managing to pacify the HSE and the Local Authority Enforcement Officer a scheme of remedial works is now in hand. In the meantime, solicitors and party wall surveyors are having a field day – no doubt on hourly rates.

This is actually how they have propped it!!!

One of our clients had the misfortune to have a fire at his home a couple of weeks ago which resulted in the loss of his roof and the scaffold we designed to provide the covering is now well on the way.

Phone call with a contractor in Portugal on Thursday has now got us involved in the design of a winch system for a chandelier. The winch itself costs £8k so goodness knows how much the chandelier itself is costing.

Finally the revised drawings of the new Synagogue in Clopton Rd London have been issued by the Architect after 4 months of ‘design by committee’ which seemed to revolve about the number and position of the toilets. The client will probably start chasing us Monday wondering if the structural design is completed. In a similar vein, the design for the Synagogue in Pagett Road, which we thought was ‘fixed’, is back on the drawing board for amendments. There again, I suppose it is better to get it right at this stage than when it is actually on site.

Press Corporation in at our London CMT Office on Tuesday interviewing and filming Jim and his model of the underwater diving observatory due to be built off the coast of Turkey. Interview is to be broadcast peak time on Saturday across the Middle East – unfortunately it was all in Turkish so I didn’t have a clue what was being said!

Green light given to our Marketing Company approving the brief for the new web-site. Hopefully the new site will bring us into the 21^st Century.

A site inspection of the balancing lagoon for the new 20,000 ft2 industrial unit at Gt Blakenham following this week’s unprecedented rain showed it full to the brim more or less exactly as predicted by the computer analysis – which is a relief.