Handling the politics of business cultures

[pmkb]

Have any of you ever been asked to adjust/change the numbers/info in a report to make it more politically palatable (and not a true picture of the real state of a project)?

If so, how did you handle it?

[cdevera]

YES!!! It is not a standard practice for me but I don't have much of a choice... before we got hand of the programme the progress has already been bloated, we kept it for some time until we submitted a revised programme which we readjust everything...

Christian

[pmkb]

Interesting. The poll started out unanimous in favor of those who had never been asked to fudge a report, but it now shows a 50/50 split. So far, only 6 responses, so it's probably too early to draw any conclusions, but it appears that this may be fairly common.

[mulikrahul]

Hi,

generally management (other than Commercial & contract crew) dosent bother for long term contractual implications of such manipulations/adjustments, because, they know they can MANAGE it through their interpersonal RELATIONS.

When your new entrant to the organisation, then you should listen to such instructions (as, u should become part of the SYSTEM, before u start improoving it), but as soon as you will settle down, you should convince your management, how it may have contractual implications in the future.

More logical ( / as actuals ) you will keep your MIS, less complications you/planner will face by Project Closure. (Personal Experience)

Such fabricated reports may hamper your CLAIMS who's evaluation is supposed to be on the basis of AS_BUILT schedule.

[Nigel C Winkley]

Been asked several times. Did as "ordered" but refused to sign off in my name. Not something I like to do.

[harrywaldron]

No -- As I've worked for highly ethical managers throughout my career

However, I think some progress reports have been impacted due to team members and even myself becoming too optimistic on progress or only reporting positive news.

Still, I'm thankful to have never been ask to revise information inappropriately.

[Crafty]

I speak to you all from the confession box.

I said yes to the poll, and I "fudged" a report once or twice over the past. These were isolated events but it still tripped over my ethical stance.

I think the problem lies with internal sources of information being supplied, and the different interpretations of others of company systems. We receive reports that don't make sense and use the information only as a guide, manipulating as we feel and not finding the true situation.

At the end of the day, if we submit these reports we planned to fail.

If one plans for a real situation, it's realistic.
If one plans for other reasons it's not going to be real, and it's going to fail in the real world.

Charles

[pmkb]

Hi Charles, thanks for your candor. I think it's fairly obvious from the current poll results that this is fairly common.

I created the poll mainly to get people to think about what they are doing and why. A business culture that is using PM exercises for politics is missing the whole point IMO.