Reflective Report: Management Approaches & Leadership Styles on BBC Broadcasting House Project

Introduction

In this paper, I am reflecting on the entire BBC Broadcasting House Project exercise with the intention of explaining what I did before and during the intensive study period. I will also provide a comparison of group-work experience online with working face-to-face. The BBC Broadcasting Project exercise entailed different tasks that I had to complete successfully by analyzing the management or the project and leadership aspects during the first phase of the project implementation. I had to read about the project from different sources such as the BBC's management of three dominant estate projects, the design-build network on the BBC Broadcasting House Redevelopment Project and the BBC Broadcasting House Extension-review among other readings. It was necessary to read these articles before commencing with the four tasks to acquit myself with what happened at the site and the events that led to the termination of failure of the project.

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I realized that the BBC Broadcasting House Project was constructed in different years with each year taking a different course of delivering a particular goal. I asked myself, why the management would take so much time to change the events of the project each time they decide to continue with its implementation. I realized that there were different project managers at different times of the project execution including refurbishment, demolition of the four adjoining properties for accommodating the new office building and an extension to the Broadcasting House. All these activities were executed in the first phase of the project.

Completing the first part of the task was a crucial achievement for me in understanding better regarding the BBC project. In that case, I selected the main stakeholder and produced a concept list from his or her perspective. At first, I was reluctant and not knowing how to go about it. I asked myself, why would I choose one stakeholder to present the case based on his or her perspective? It was a bit confusing and seeing that the single view of the stakeholder will provide a biased analysis of the BBC Project. However, I had to meet the requirements of the task and went ahead to establish the needed answers. I came up with a concept list that presented the findings based on the stakeholders' perspective. It required me to read a selecting of the pre-task reading articles to realize the associated theories and leadership concepts related to the BBC House Project.

From that experience, I learned that there were three main stakeholders in the BBC Project including BBC (the client), MJP (architects) and Bovis (the construction managers). I chose to be BBC (the client) and report based on the perspective of this particular stakeholder. I selected BBC because this is the stakeholder that I was most familiar with in this project. As the BBC stakeholder, I understood that I would be taking the role of the project sponsor with the entire responsibility for the project. The concept list that I came up with was a useful tool for learning about the management approaches and leadership style of BBC (the client). In that case, I needed to read for the concept list to realize the most relevant articles to the BBC stakeholder in the project.

The results of the concept list showed that theory X and theory Y were applicable approaches in establishing the project management style preferred by BBC. Even though other management theories could be applied in analyzing this project, I found theory Y and theory X to be more suitable for me in evaluating the concept of project management style in BBC. I learned that BBC adopts a collegial style of project management whereby the organization encourages colleagues in tying the present ideas of the project to the previously established practices (Hartley, 2006). I asked myself, why BBC would emphasize the current management understands the history of the project management. I realized that it was an important aspect that would enable the entering project manager to evaluate the basis of progress and continue from where the previous left. For future projects in BBC Broadcasting House, the collegial style will still be applicable during the management of the projects.

From the concept list, established that BBC should be highly concerned with task accomplishment, an organization of people, schedule and budget overrun. I asked myself why would the company alter the design of the Broadcasting House now and then with the costs of implementing the project increasing every time. It is a challenging decision that BBC needs to take to reduce especially the increasing costs of project implementation. The conflict approach of communication in the organization will enable its capacity to execute the project successfully. By being unique and ready for change, BBC allows for feedback from external stakeholders on areas to improve and get a modified change (MacNicol & Johnson, 2018). Since BBC is a leader, there is the need for taking the leadership role to influence the thought process, establishing new strategies, reasoning and controlling the project aspects. By assuming these roles, BBC exercises the pacesetting style of leadership (Goleman Boyatzis, & McKee, 2003). My question here is, would be more beneficial for BBC to embrace a visionary and transformational leadership style? However, I learned that the pacesetting leadership style still fits within the concepts of visionary and transformational leadership approaches. The pacesetting leadership style will be useful in the future to consider the areas of improvement and make modifications in the project when and where necessary.

After evaluating the BBC project based on the perspective of the client, it was easy for me to relate the management approaches and leadership styles to the iMA results obtained from the stakeholder mapping sheet. In that case, four forms of communication style can be associated with an organization including iMA high red, blue, green and yellow. Based on the findings in the iMA findings, BBC (the clients) fits within the iMA high red communication style. The Team Animation group (n.d) reveals that a stakeholder mapping with iMA high red is a communication style for a goal-oriented organization. The managers are go-getters and most comfortable when in charge of people and situations. Such leaders utilize the no-nonsense method to obtain the bottom line results. They are fast-paced, task-oriented, and work fast by themselves. Based on the findings revealed in the stakeholder map, BBC should continue with the iMA high red communication style that values being practical, brief, assertive, on point and supportive of the company goals. That way, the company's future goals will not be suppressed by difficulties in decision-making.

The second part of the task required me to work with other members in a team of three with each stakeholder represented. The task was to be completed online and as far as possible. The group-work experience online was difficult when compared to working face to face. While online, it demanded that all of us should allocate time to be on the internet at the same time to discuss our views on each other's concept lists. However, not all members would be available at the same time as we all had differing schedules. I experienced difficulty in understanding the cognitive maps for my team members after adding them online. My motivation to continue was low, and it was necessary to meet the team members face to face for a more lucid explanation. Virtual communication seemed not effective when considering the complexity of the cognitive maps. Face to face communication was useful in explaining in details the areas each one of us could not understand about the cognitive maps. I learned that working at a distance location may be challenging in completing a particular project. Therefore, in planning the future, I will consider all of the stakeholders to be present at the site of project execution.

References

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2003) The New Leaders: transforming the art of leadership, London: Time Warner Paperbacks.

Hartley, N. (2006). Management history: an umbrella model. Journal of Management History, 12(3); 278-292.

MacNicol, D., & Johnson, A. (2018). Leadership and organizations. Oxford Brookes University.

The Team Animation. (n.d). Stakeholder mapping. Oxford Brookes University.