BUSI 414 Week 5 Integration of Faith Example

Fifty-Two Days: Nehemiah's Wall as a Project

Introduction

When Nehemiah learned that the walls of Jerusalem lay broken and its gates burned, he did not simply grieve; he organized a project. The book that bears his name records a temporary endeavor with a defined goal, limited resources, a team, a schedule and serious risks, ending with the wall finished in fifty-two days (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Nehemiah 6:15). Read alongside the PMBOK Guide, the account follows the project life cycle closely, from initiating through planning, executing and controlling to closing. This paper traces those stages and then considers what the story teaches that a process guide cannot.

Initiating: Authorization and Resources

Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, and before acting he asked the king for permission, letters of safe passage and timber from the king's forest (Nehemiah 2:5-8). The Project Management Institute (2017) treats the charter as the formal launch of a project, the point at which its manager receives authority over resources. The king's letters served the same purpose: they authorized the work and committed the resources. Nehemiah also answered the king's question about how long he would be gone by setting a time (Nehemiah 2:6), an early schedule commitment made before any work began. He had prepared his request in prayer for months, so when the opportunity came he could state the need, the resources and the timeline at once.

Planning: Seeing the Site First

On arriving, Nehemiah inspected the walls at night before announcing his plan (Nehemiah 2:11-16). He gathered information before committing others to a course of action, the same discipline a project manager shows in collecting requirements and assessing conditions before setting a scope baseline. Dinsmore and Cabanis-Brewin (2014) describe the same early fact-finding as the foundation of realistic plans. Only after he understood the extent of the damage did he gather the officials and invite them to build, and they answered, "Let us rise up and build" (Nehemiah 2:18). A plan grounded in real conditions earned the commitment of the people who would carry it out.

Executing: Work Packages

Nehemiah 3 lists the builders section by section, and many families repaired the part of the wall near their own homes (Nehemiah 3:10, 3:23, 3:28). This is a work breakdown structure in practice: the whole wall divided into packages, each with a clear owner, motivated by its connection to their own households. The list also records who did not cooperate, noting that the leading men of Tekoa refused to bend their necks to the labor (Nehemiah 3:5), a reminder that stakeholder engagement is part of execution. Each family knew exactly which stretch of wall was theirs, and the whole wall rose because every stretch had an owner.

Controlling Risk

Opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah threatened the work. Nehemiah responded with prayer and with action: half the workers built while half stood guard, and the builders worked with weapons at hand (Nehemiah 4:9, 4:16-18). In the PMBOK Guide's terms, he identified a threat and implemented a risk response that protected the schedule rather than stopping the work. He also kept a trumpeter beside him so that workers spread along the wall could rally to any point under attack (Nehemiah 4:19-20), a simple communication plan for a dispersed team.

What the Story Adds

Nehemiah's methods match good practice, but the account adds what technique cannot supply. He prayed before speaking to the king and throughout the work (Nehemiah 1:4-11; 2:4). He refused the governor's allowance so as not to burden the people (Nehemiah 5:14-18). A project manager who follows his example plans carefully, protects the team and treats integrity as part of the job, recognizing, as Nehemiah did, that the work succeeded because "this work had been accomplished with the help of our God" (Nehemiah 6:16).

References

Dinsmore, P. C., & Cabanis-Brewin, J. (Eds.). (2014). The AMA handbook of project management (4th ed.). AMACOM.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.).