Profile: Wendy Eley
Course: MBA in Construction and Real Estate
Job: Capital Works Requirements Manager
Employer: Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Ministry of Defence (MOD), UK
Why CEM?
I wanted to do a higher education course to continue my professional development, one which would benefit me in my current position as well as providing a good foundation for the future. CEM was the only institution that offered a good quality MBA linked directly to the construction industry. My decision was further cemented by the fact my husband was halfway through an MSc with the College, and so I knew what to expect in terms of support and study materials.
Why distance learning?
Having a full-time career that I love prevented me from considering a break to carry out a full-time course. My workload can vary considerably and the main attraction of distance learning was that I could manage my study around my often unsociable hours. I am also not a patient student and it was a real benefit to be able to study at my own pace rather than being taught to a timetable, as it enabled me to spend longer on areas I found more difficult and skim over areas of which I had prior knowledge.
The course
I am not in a traditional project management position within the MOD; however, in my role as an Army Requirements Manager (similar to a Project Sponsor) I have to ensure that both the MOD and contractors’ project managers are held to account. I felt that doing this course would make me a more ‘intelligent customer’, which would benefit the MOD, whilst also giving me strong transferable business skills for future positions.
During the final 12 months of the course I ended up working on a high profile project, a new boarding house at a military school in Dover. This made fitting in the required study extremely challenging, but looking back it was worth it to see the letters ‘MBA’ go after my name on my business ca
The benefits
As a whole, the course has given me more confidence in my skills and expertise, as well as demonstrating to others that I am qualified and professional, thereby giving a positive impression of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.
The subjects studied also provided real benefits in practice. For example, I used the knowledge acquired from an assignment to save the department a significant amount of money, by recognising that VAT was being applied where it shouldn’t have been. My dissertation has also been passed to other teams to aid with understanding of the MOD’s use of prime contracting and its impact on social and economic sustainability.
The support structure
I was fortunate enough to be fully funded by the MOD, and to have a line manager who was interested in the subject matter being studied and understood the time needed for assignments, revision and the dissertation.
The course also instilled in me the discipline of continuous learning and I now actively search out the latest news and developments in the industry, as I feel that I have a responsibility to myself and my employer to stay current in my chosen field; CEM’s Alumni Association is also fantastic in providing students with opportunities to maintain their CPD.
The future
The future for public sector workers is probably the bleakest it has been for a number of years and so, like many of my colleagues, I am uncertain about what lies ahead. The way in which infrastructure will be procured, delivered and managed on the MOD estate is going to change quite radically over the next few years. I am therefore grateful that I have this qualification to enable to me to adjust to the changes and add value to the MOD, and I believe that this course has provided me with a number of transferable skills which make me less nervous about the challenges ahead.
I would encourage other public sector workers to consider courses such as this MBA as, all too often, they think that the public sector is too bureaucratic and process driven to ever be able to relate their work to more generic principles. It was enlightening how easy I found it to relate my job, with all its idiosyncrasies, to fundamental business principles.