United Kingdom European Union and European Parliament
So here we are in 2016, seemingly arising out of the ashes of the financial crashes of the last two decades, with the project management industry worldwide, looking particularly buoyant.
Meanwhile, probably the biggest battle since the last war continues to rage on within Europe. The looming EU referendum and the move for Brexit hang in the balance as the project management industry is set to grow by $6.6 trillion by 2020.
The growth of project management jobs by that same year will have swollen to 45.1 million and the rise of qualified manager’s salaries earning 18 per cent more.
Compare and contrast this to the battle between the United Kingdom and the European Union along with the fiercely divided clans of those who want to stay and those who do not, remain confident that there is still everything to play for.
The EU Referendum
Voices and emotions are being raised in the office workplace, in the local pub and in family homes across the land. The European Union with its cacophony of crises, may yet have to deal with another wailing wall of shock and horror if Britain leaves.
Just using my lifetime as some form of base measure, I have seen the culture, structure and politics of the United Kingdom lurch from left to right with the citizens of the UK still holding the battered punch bag of what remains from the politics and infrastructure Law Wars.
One only has to turn on the TV anywhere within Europe to be bombarded by David Cameron, Brexit, and the European Union from the shrieking headlines.
Yet despite this, the careers, salaries and growth of project managers have always been buoyant and healthy.
The 80/20 Rule of Management
Like most veterans, I can still remember the United Kingdom of the fifties as a simpler world to live in, yet by today’s standards we were both poorer and happier. It seems even nostalgia is not what it once was!
As an individual who has owned and managed their own business for the last quarter of a century, I know the earned value importance of cash flow, return on investment, and profit and loss. The ubiquitous 80/20 role of nature is everywhere, and it behooves all of us to consider carefully that it is both considered and applied in our businesses and lives.
The triple powers and influence of the bankers, the politicians, and organized religions seem to hold us in an almost trance-like state as if it is they alone represent the framework and very fabric of our existence. Fighting for all or nothing while ignoring the 80/20 rule is facile management as no one is able or likely to make us an offer we can’t refuse
Brexit Looms Large?
I know, from the many blows and successes of my lifetime, that we individuals have infinitely more power than those who seem to control our destiny. If only project managers could step outside of this life cocoon – they would see a bright future for themselves from the consequences of Brexit.
David Cameron and Tony Blair have both become very rich men in the process of serving the country, and have become masters at keeping our attention focused on other matters.
The first point of interest to us project managers and business owners is that David Cameron’s renegotiation agenda is not going to lead to a fundamental redefinition of Britain’s relationship within the European Union.
Like it or not, folks like Nigel Farage of UKIP shares a view held by many that the United Kingdom will never be able to fundamentally reform, let alone negotiate, the roles and framework of the European Union.
Back in the early nineties when I worked as a senior project manager for a large U.S. multinational whose bloated framework threatened its very existence.
The solution turned out to be a sharp and painful focus on those areas that had realized the best return on investment, while at the same time simplifying its layers of management.
The latter point is commonly known and as a “flat organization”.
Here is a weird thought.
Imagine a reality where an organizations managers had to be voted back in for another year in office.
Imagine them advising their managers, that they were too busy campaigning for re-election to provide vital governance to those who worked for them?
Such an organization would crash and burn within months as it become bloated, inefficient and strangled by a cash-flow crisis.
Yet neither “UK PLC” nor the voting public see nothing wrong with running our country in that fashion.
It is interesting to note that back in 1950’s England, politics and government also had a flatter organization. It was relatively simple, either the labour or conservative government was in force, you had a local MP representing one of the main parties, and the local council who managed local services. Interestingly, the insidious ball and chain of VAT was not used to punish entrepreneurial success.
Leaving aside emotional issues, there are those such as Frank Field who advocate leaving the European Union as a primary means taking back control of our borders. While even the most casual observer would note the far more complex management structure and extra layers of un-elected individuals such as members of the European parliament.
So it is no wonder that David Cameron’s initial demands turned out to be far less then he had hyped them up to be, something that was almost inevitable given that there were another 27 or so European countries who hold sway over the UKs future destiny.
Thank goodness for small mercies that we are not a part of the Schengen area and the shambles that is the poorly designed Eurozone.
David Cameron´s Dilemma
Just look at the collateral damage as David Cameron tenders his EU reform package, the cardboard and string are already in tatters as he was forced to compromise. Yet all the hard work is still ahead of him as he peddles his mirage in an empty sack of hope.
The hard facts and figures show that in 2012 the United Kingdom paid a net 9.6 billion pounds into the EU. But the economy has changed even over the past few years, with the latest view of economists recognizing the damage of excessive and misguided regulation is causing to small and medium sized businesses.
This directly impacts the salary, career and aspirations of project managers for sure.
Latest figures from economists show that the UK is around 185,000,000,000 UKP a year worse off if it remains a member of the European Union instead of reverting to a fully independent sovereign nation.
But the light of truth is starting to emerge from the black hole of Europe’s tunnel, and those that claim that three million jobs are directly linked to the UK remaining in the European Union need to be publicly challenged over misuse of this assertion.
Remember that jobs are associated with trade, not membership of a political union, and there is currently little evidence that UK trade would substantially fall if the UK left of the European Union.
Life After Brexit
The outlook is quite upbeat with the UK remaining the largest single export market to the European Union, making the securing of a free trade agreement highly likely.
Consider project managers then being in the same enviable position as the USA along with India, China and Japan all of which exports to the European Union relatively easily.
Also consider the positive impact on that for the life and times of the humble project manager, let alone the swell of project opportunities presented to UK product and service providers.
A quiet voice that continues to needle the logic of living within an individual country, is what would happen if the government is forced to follow the same discipline and rigour of a limited company. This after all, is the exact environment within which employed or self-employed project managers find themselves.
My dream is for a “UK PLC”. Where, just like ALL projects, entrepreneurs, and organisations, the governance of UK PLC is subject to the rigour of good accounting.
Just like my earlier comments regarding cash flow, return on investment, and profit and loss accounting, any individual, group, or political party, should first present such criteria and use these to convince the public voters rather than a pipe-dream “manifesto”.
You will of course recall, that such manifestos are also held very close to the chest within the corridors of power while the faceless non accountable mandarins cherry-pick and distort.
Is it to be Brexit or Bremain?
Either way, the debate would be far healthier if the public where given facts based on good accounting and project management practice, rather than manipulated by political scaremongering and force-fed Think-Tank Tosh.
The post United Kingdom and The European Union appeared first on PMMastery.com.