Yad Vashem: Project Management

Creativity Suggest three (3) specific change management techniques that Shimon Kornfield should have used in order to manage the morale of the team assigned to the Yad Vashem memorial site project. One of the challenges that Kornfield faced was that there was fundamental disagreement about key components of the Memorial. This project was more emotional than most such projects and as a result the people involved had deeper personal feelings. The result was heightened emotions that made it more difficult to avoid conflict.

Kornfield needed to foster a much greater sense of shared vision for the project from the outset. Once the conflicts became apparent, there were other things that Kornfield could have done as well. The first is that Kornfield needed to take a more positive approach to solutions.

Many people on the project had reservations about being able to construct the building, but they were unable to offer a competing vision and did not seem to work hard enough on finding ways to execute the architectural vision, something that must have incensed the architect. Another change management technique that would have been effective would have been to create motivation. There was a moment early where it was decided to proceed because work on the ground made it easier to secure funds.

If at this moment they did not start work, it would have created a funding crisis that would have put the project at risk. Such an approach might have motivated the different parties to come together in agreement more readily. 2. Outline the essential steps that Shimon Kornfield could have taken in order to ensure that all team members learned of any proposed changes. Provide the rationale and justification for each step outlined. Ensuring that team members are aware of changes is a communication issue.

It is necessary that the project manager understands who the relevant stakeholder groups are, and their importance to the project at each stage of development. The project manager has to be in charge of managing communication between the different team members, so would have been the person to email people and speak directly to people in order to ensure that everybody was aware of the things that mattered to the. A formalized system of identifying key people and what they need to know might have helped here.

Formalized systems are effective because they do not rely on people and so reduce human error. Further, when communication is done in writing it facilitates clarity. However, speaking in person allows for a fuller range of non-verbal communication to be utilized. The project manager needed to make communication a higher priority and ensure responsibility for any communication errors that occurred. Email is probably the best way for written communication to be executed, because of its simplicity and timeliness.

Personal interactions may need to be fairly formal, but is there are regular meetings scheduled with different stakeholders, then those meetings would provide ample opportunity for this communication to take place. 3. Assess the criticality of the timing of communication in the success of the Yad Vashem memorial site project. Support the response with three (3) specific examples. The timing of communication was critical to the success of the project.

For example, Kornfield left the curators "enough time to make decisions right up until close to casting time of the various concrete elements." This means that the timing of the curators' decisions was fairly precise with respect to avoiding construction delays. At another point, Kornfield needed to have construction problems identified during the pre-qualification process in the search for a contractor. This was necessary because the contractor hired would need to be able to work through these problems -- it was necessary to test the contractor before they were hired.

In another instance, many changes to the design needed to be approved by the architect before any serious construction could begin. Communication was essential here just to get the project started, and this was complex communication focused on conflict resolution, emotions and highly-technical issues. 4. Assume that two (2) key members of the team were replaced during the executing phase of the Yad Vashem memorial site project due to family crises. Discern actions Shimon Kornfield could take in order to establish trust and gain credibility with the remaining project participants.

There are several things that Kornfield can do to establish trust with the new team members and the existing team. The first is to make an appeal to credentials. The new people are undoubtedly highly qualified in their fields, and presumably they are equally qualified to work on Yad Vashem. The first step therefore is to ensure that the other members of the team are well aware of their.