Week 10_LanreGiwa_Rejection of Blog Posts

Week 10_LanreGiwa_Rejection of Blog Posts

Problem Recognition / Identification

In the course of the distance learning mode of the AACE certification program, one of the key activities is the weekly Blog posting. A blog is a blend of two words Web – Log. The last alphabet of web +Log will form the word Blog. Every member of the team is expected to write on a topic and upload weekly for the Facilitator (Dr PDG) to review and comment. Other members of the team can also comment.

The problem that I have identified is that the number of blogs posted by team members has increasingly been rejected by the facilitator lately. Thus, it has become necessary to review the increased rate of rejection.

Root Cause Analysis

Analysing the cause for the increased rate of rejection, I have studied the trend of events and I have identified possible reasons for rate of rejection as listed below:

1. Team members do not spend enough time and do little research before posting the blog
2. Team members have not been following the instructions and guidelines of the facilitator.
3. Team members are still going through the learning curve and are just getting used to the distance mode learning method.
4. Team members are very busy with their primary assignments at work , home and consider the program too demanding thus, putting less priority on the blogs.
5. Team members just want to fulfil righteousness by posting anything hoping that it will not be reviewed thoroughly by facilitator.
6. Some team members not contacting other team seemingly successful members for mentoring and guidance
7. Other challenges of team members such as site visits, poor internet services and outage of power supply.

Development of Feasible Alternatives/Solutions

I came up with the following alternatives to address the problem and reduce the rate of rejection of the weekly blogs posted:

Alternative 1 – All team members should spend some quality time on the write-ups so that there would be a good outcome which is unlikely to be rejected.

Alternative 2 – Team members should always read their emails and all other instructions / guidelines sent by the facilitator.

Alternative 3 – Team members struggling with the weekly blog posts should liaise with other team members for guidance and mentoring.

Alternative 4 – Team members should go the extra mile in making provision for general everyday challenges such as power outage, poor internet access and posting the report before going on site visits.

Possible Outcomes and Cash Flow of Alternatives / Solutions

Alternative 1: The first option is for all team members to dedicate time in preparing the weekly write-up. With the busy schedule of team members, it may be difficult to sit down at once to write the weekly blog. However, if a team member divides his time into pockets of 10-15 minutes, the quality of the write up will be good and acceptable.

Alternative 2: One of the fundamental problems is that we all have not been reading our mails and instructions from the facilitator. Reading of mails promptly and following all the guidelines and instructions will lead to high success rate of the blogs posted.

Alternative 3: The main difference between working as a group and working as a team is that a team all work together and failure to one is failure to all. Bottom line, the current team have been working more like a group and do not always consult one another. If team members liaise with themselves, team members that have been successful with their blog posts can assist and mentor others that are struggling, then the success rate will also be better than what is happening now

Alternative 4: Due to the current day to day challenges in Nigeria, team members may factor these daily “wahala” and figure out a way of overcoming by making provision for alternative power supply, a more robust internet facility for blog posting and upfront planning for other circumstances .With these facilities in place, it would be easier to do more research, communicate more and upload the blogs at the designated time frame.

Selection Criteria of best solution

• Alternative must be in line with the instruction of the facilitator
• Alternative must be a step wise and consistent process
• Alternative must achieve high success rate of blogs posted.
• Alternative should increase the professionalism and confidence level of team members regarding report writing.
  

Analysis and comparison of the Alternatives/Solutions

For alternative 1, team members should dedicate a minimum duration of 2 hours a week for the write-up to be uploaded by Saturday mid-night. With the hours, team members can do research by going through the resource materials and the internet. It may be difficult to sit down at once to do all the work, so it will be better to break down the time into 30 minutes or 15 minutes to work. Once, there’s free time, a member can do a bit of the work. Quality time spent will result in a good job.

For alternative 2, all team members should always go through their mails especially the ones received from Dr PDG. This will guide in setting up the weekly blog posts. Also, team members should go through the comments on the blog posting to see what Dr PDG is expecting from all of us. Finally, team member should set up their weekly blogs using the step by step economic analysis procedure in Table 1.1 of Engineering Economy Textbook.

Alternative 3 will be beneficial when struggling team member contact others to assist them with their blog posts. When the struggling members relate with others, they will be guided in the grey areas. Put another way, they will be mentored to achieve success in their post.

Alternative 4 is considering the environmental factors that affect team members. Provision of some of these amenities will aid each team member in achieving desired results.

No	Names	Wk1	Wk2	Wk3	Wk4	Wk5	Wk6	Wk7	WK8	Wk9	Wk10	SPI	Rejected Posts
1	Abiodun Macfoy	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20%
2	Abiola Ojo	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	60%	Wk5-R
3	Agbato Oluwabusayo	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	30%	Wk1,3-R
4	Anthony Emaviwe	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	50%	Wk4,5-R
5	Arome Akubo	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	30%
6	Augustine Oleru	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	50%
7	Chuks Ebenebe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
8	Henry Madumere	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
9	Ibeawuchi Agoha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
10	Idubamo Monigha	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	80%	Wk7-R
11	John Agbo	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	30%	Wk1,4,5,6,7,8-R
12	Joseph Nnona	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0%
13	Joshua Abiye	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10%
14	Okiemute Odudu	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20%	WK7,4,6-R
15	Olanrewaju Giwa	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	90%	Wk6-R
16	Olumide Adenaiye	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20%	Wk3-C
17	Samuel Kalu	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20%
18	SeeGod Meregini	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	100%	Wk2-R
19	Udoka Ejeh	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20%	Wk4,5-R

From the tracker sheet above, the total expected number of Blogs posting is for Week 10 is 190. The total number of successful postings is 62 (33% of total expected), while 20 is the total number of Blogs rejected (32% of Blogs submitted) by Dr. PDG. And the trend is that during the later weeks, blog postings being rejected is getting higher.

Based on the analysis above and considering the percentage of blogs rejected, I have come up with the best alternative at solving the problems of rejected blogs.

Best Alternative to be Selected

Amongst all the alternatives analyzed, considering that all the alternatives are very important factors in achieving a high success rate, I would recommend that for the team members to catch up with the expected deliverables, it will be best to primarily follow the 2nd alternative i.e. following the instructions and guidelines given by Dr PDG especially by using Table 1.1 of the Engineering Economy Textbook. Furthermore, the other alternatives can be combined with alternative 2 to fast track the recovery plan and success rate of the blogs posted.

Performance Monitoring / Post evaluation

For performance monitoring and post evaluation, I will continue to monitor the trend of acceptance or rejection to see how the recommendation has positively affected the team. With this, one can identify further areas of improvement and would suggest new ideas to the team.

In conclusion, I am of the view that the team has been trying their best by submitting weekly. However, do to the learning curve and other challenges; we have recorded low success rates. The recent trend shows that there has been improvement in the number of articles posted. The team needs to be committed. Once this is achieved, things will definitely get better and the quality of blogs posted will improve.

References:

1. AACE International. Skills & Knowledge of Cost Engineering, 5^th Edition Revised.Chapter-8, P.8.2-8.8 Edited by Dr. Scott J. Amos, PE. 2010. AACE International. Morgantown, WV, USA.

2. Sulliven, W. G., Wicks, E.M., Koelling, C. P., et al. (2009). Engineering Economy (14^th ed.), P.27 table 1.1. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
3. Brassard M, Ritter D. The memory Jogger 2. Tools for Continuous Improvement and Effective Planning.2010.