The Management

Over the weekends, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Steven Teo, a 49-years-old Senior Vice President / Project Director in Sembcorp Industries Limited (“SCI”) for a short interview on his management style. He is currently posted in India to manage a S$2 Billion coal fire power plant as the Project Director.

SCI is a multi-national company with core businesses in Utilities, Marine and Urban Development. They have a strong track record in supplying power, steam and natural gas, and are trusted to provide water and wastewater treatment solutions to industries and households.

Mr Teo shared the vision of the company- to be a global company, a leader in their industry sectors by responsibly operating and excelling in sustainable businesses that support development, improve the quality of life and deliver long-term value and growth.

SCI’s mission: Vital Partners. Essential Solutions. “As a vital partner to our customers, we leverage our group strength and sector expertise to deliver essential solutions that enable them to do their business better or improve the quality of life. In partnership with our stakeholders, we build sustainable businesses that deliver long-term growth and create value for all – our customers, employees, shareholders, partners and communities in which we operate.” – Mr Teo

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Mr Teo took me for an insightful dive during the interview as he shares his heavy responsibilities and challenges of being one of the highest top managers (Senior Vice President and Project Director) in the entire company. He also shared his management approach towards his staff.

Can you briefly describe your job responsibilities as a supervisor/ manager/ director?  

I am responsible for managing the company's projects and welfare with the support of 80 project staffs to supervise 5,000 workers from seral contractors to deliver projects within the approved budget, within schedule, meeting design specifications and ensuring completion in a safe manner.

Who influenced you into pursuing this career path?

I chanced upon this opportunity in December 1992 as a young engineer with a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Thereafter, I worked hard to acquire necessary experience and knowledge in project management. It allowed me to exercise control, direction, decision and influence the manner of my approach on project execution.

What is your management style? Can you describe it?

·         I establish Key performance indicators (KPI) for projects whereby I include the expectations and deliverables of each & every staff at the onset of the project

·         I empower the staffs to perform and I measure their actual outcomes by supervising closely to track their improvements and giving feedbacks.

·         I manage the project firmly, fairly, objectively and with compassion towards staff welfare.

·         I make time to interact with staffs to build relationship on the ground to solicit ground realities and help staffs to overcome their challenges and issues. I ought to let them know that projects require team effort.

How is your relationship with your employees like?

I try to maintain a friendly, open communication and approachable attitude to build trust and mutual respect with staffs. At times, I acknowledge their effort and contribution.

How do you think your employees would describe you?

They might perceive me as demanding, stern but approachable.

What are some of the difficulties you face as a supervisor/manager/director?

Unreasonable demands for promotions, safety issues leading to major injury / fatality, low productivity, different culture and way of life of local Indian staffs & local Indian workers causing strikes.

How do you overcome these difficulties?

I always establish the root causes and thereafter, implement appropriate measures / corrective actions to resolve the difficulties accordingly. One should maintain mutual respect with staffs and workers at all times.

How do you successfully lead a company?

Lead by example and walk the talk. Organize and plan for the proper execution of works as staffs expect to be given guidance and direction including taking difficult decisive call to resolve problems / issues to move project forward.

In your opinion, what makes a good supervisor/ manager/ director?

Being able to take full responsibility, to lead, to contribute and to overcome all difficulties so to achieve an organization goal in growth of business.   

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Solely based on my interview with Mr Teo, I can classify his management style under both The Scientific Approach (Classical school of management) and Herzberg’s Hygiene and Motivating Factors (Human relations school of management).

Mr Teo’s management style affirmatively identifies with The Scientific Approach of the Classic School because he mentioned about establishing key performance indicators (KPI) for projects to evaluate the expectations and deliverables of each staff onset of the project. This KPI is rather similar to the Gantt Chart which is still widely used today by managers as a project management and quality standarisation. It helps the managers keep track of the progress of any job- or in Mr Teo’s case- it keeps track of the progress of any staff until completion.

Apart from The Scientific Approach, Mr Teo’s management style leans a lot on Herzberg’s Hygiene and Motivating Factors of the Human Relations School as during the interview, he was very empathetic towards his staffs. He emphasized on making time to interact with them to build relationship, and he also talked about how he tries to maintain an open communication and a friendly & approachable attitude to build trust and mutual respect with them.

His management style is very similar to the motivating factors of this human relations approach. Mr Teo is the type of manager who does not irrationally terminate his staff if they cause a problem. According to our interview, he would first and foremost establish the root cause before taking corrective actions to resolve the difficulties. In addition, he also mentioned about how he acknowledges the effort and contribution of his staffs.

I can further justify his management style(s) being the Scientific approach and Herzberg’s hygiene and motivating factors through what his staffs perceive him as: demanding and stern, yet approachable at the same time.

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