During my decade at Shawmut Design and Constructions the power dynamics in operations have changed noticeably. Project teams are successful when they operate as a cohesive unit. The lead project manager and the lead super should operate as an equal and united front – dedicated to delivering projects to the stakeholders, on time, on budget, while upholding a standard of high quality. However, my experience at Shawmut Design and Construction does not align with team dynamics that I deem as effective. At Shawmut, the project management team enjoys more power than field operations. Not being onsite project management generally has a more direct line to executive leadership. Often, they use this proximity to disparage the field team for a project’s failures. An ideal team would realize solutions as equals and attack the issues within their roles with tenacity. However at Shawmut projects frequently have excess negative communication to leadership. This pessimistic back-channeling leads to fissures within the team, changes to be made in team leadership, and even people being let go from the company. I have seen individuals who sacrifice 10 hours a day and weekends be let go, not because of any measurable, but because of negative communication by an equal team member to an executive. Imagine coming to work at 6:00am every day, sacrificing weekends away from loved ones, only to be let go based off negative communication rather than a measurable performance indicator. Does not seem right…Does not align with personal values...Will have a negative effect on this companies profitability
