This is the speaking PRACTICE for VV 07 Project Management. Watch the video and see how many words you can remember. You can also visit www.BusinessEnglishPod.com to download the complete video.
This is the speaking PRACTICE for VV 07 Project Management. Watch the video and see how many words you can remember. You can also visit www.BusinessEnglishPod.com to download the complete video.
www.rmcproject.com About Rita Mulcahy, PMP – An expert in advanced project management, the PMP Exam and risk management – A gifted instructor and author of the books PMP Exam Prep and Risk Management Tricks of the Trade – Founder of RMC Project Management, the Innovators in Project Management Training and Products since 1991.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Oooh – project management. Everyone talks about project management but what is it? Isnt project management just organizing your little work to get the big work done? Isnt project management really just a series of events to create some thing, by some point, way off in some hazy future? Not really.
To define what project management is we first need to define what projects are. A project, technically, is a short-term endeavor to create a unique product or service. A project, in practical terms, is an assignment or undertaking to create a deliverable that satisfies the mission of the project customers.
A project is a set of activities to create something that is outside of your day-to-day operations. A project creates a unique deliverable. For example, if your organization develops game software the actual creation and development of the code is a project. The manufacturing of the CDs, the Internet delivery, and the technical support you provide to your customers is part of maintenance and operations.
The difference is that one set of activities creates a unique deliverable while the other centers on organizational process, day-to-day business, and support of the organizations mission. This is true in disciplines other than IT: consider designing a car versus manufacturing a car. Consider writing a book versus printing a book. Consider building a skyscraper versus maintaining a skyscraper.
Projects have budgets, deadlines, and an agreed set of requirements for the deliverable to be accepted by the customer.
The United States of Project Management
In my project management seminars I like to say that this point in the room represent our current state; this is where our organization is today. We have some opportunity that wed like to seize. We have some problem that wed like to solve. Or theres technology that has leapfrogged our current equipment so we need to improve our technical attributes. Where we are now is our current state.
Then Ill stroll to a distant part of the room. This new location represents where we want our organization to get to. This describes our desired future state. Can you imagine how great our organization would be once we reach this destination? Can you imagination the problem solved, the seized opportunity, or the new technology and how it makes our business better? This spot represent our desired future state.
The only way we can get from right here, our current state, to our desired future state, which is way over there, is through project management. Project management is about planning, doing, and ensuring that weve followed our plan. Heres a key thought: the only way we can do project management, effective project management, is to know where our desired future state exists.
Effective project management is built on a solid foundation of planning. Then the project team must execute the work according to plan. And the project manager must control the work to ensure that the project plan was followed. Plan. Do. Check. React. Project management, quite simply, is knowing where were going, planning on how well get there, and then delivering on the promises within the plan.
Projects, all projects, have constraints. Have you every inherited a project that had to be done by a given deadline? Remember the Y2K scare that turned out to be the Y2-OK yawn a few years ago? It was real tough to move that deadline. January 1, 2000 was coming ready or not.
Or have you ever managed a project that had a preset budget? Regardless of how long it took your project could not, must not, spend more than 0,000. Or else. A pre-set budget may be calculated on how much cash is in the bank account, the expected return on the project investment, or some other magic formula like the time value of money. The point is, a pre-set budget is constraint.
Finally, you may have faced a project that had some very steep requirements. Are you a public company? Then youve dealt with the Sarbane-Oxley Act. Or if youre in health care youve dealt with HIPAA. Or the regulations you may have to follow in pharmaceutical, construction, manufacturing, and countless other industries.
You may also have worked with a customer that said, I dont care how much it costs or how long it takes. I need the product to do this. (Those are my favorite kinds of customers, by the way.) These steep requirements are part of the project scope and in order for the project to be successful the project scope has to be met.
Youve just read about the triple constraints of project management: time, cost, and scope. The triple constraints of project management are collectively called The Iron Triangle. Imagine an equilateral triangle. If you dont want to imagine take a look at Figure 1. The bottom of the triangle represents scope, another side represents cost, and the last side represents time.
In order for the project to be successful the project must remain an equilateral triangle. In other words, you can have a gigantic scope, and puny budget, or a weak schedule. For a project to be successful each side of the Iron Triangle must remain in proportion to the other sides. If your customer wants a scope thats so big (hold your arms out real wide). And their budget is only this big (now bring your arms in real close together). A big ol scope and tiny little budget means just one thing: it aint gonna happen.
The same is true with the schedule. There must be enough time to plan and execute the project in order to achieve the projects scope. Unrealistic expectations on the schedule usually leads to waste, rework, frustrations, and a decline in morale. In some instances this may also lead to cheap tequila.
Capturing The Picture
I like photography. I like to look at pictures, take pictures, and mess with filters, lenses, and light meters. In order to really capture a good photo, Ive learned, you have to see the developed photo in your minds eye. You have to look at your environment and see how itd look once the films been developed or the image is printed on your color laser printer. You have to see into the future in order to capture the present in your camera. You must have vision.
Being a project manager really isnt that different. A project manager must have vision for what the project is to create. The project manager inherits the vision from the key stakeholders, the project sponsor, or even management. In order to plan for the project work the project manager must envision what the end result of the project will be. Like taking a photo, a good photo, the project manager has to study, observe, and see the end result of the efforts before the work begins.
Another way to look at your new friend the Iron Triangle is to imagine the photographers tripod. If youve ever worked with a tripod (hopefully with a camera on top) you know the secret is to have the tripod balanced and level. In fact, some camera tripods have a level built into the head so you know when it is level. A level tripod ensures that the photos horizon is flat; it makes a goofy picture when the ocean is slipping down to South America.
Now imagine that one leg of the tripod equates to scope, another to time, and the last is cost. We agree that the tripod has to be balanced to take a good picture, just like a project has to have balance to be successful. If any leg of the tripod is extended more than the others the tripod is off-balance – just like your projects.
Some tripods are nice and heavy. A heavy tripod helps when youve taking a photo in the middle of a river or youre fighting a wind storm. The trouble with heavy tripods is someone has to carry them. What some photographers do is carry a light tripod and then suspend their camera bag under the tripod to fend off any shakes. A neat trick.
In project management whats keeping your project sturdy? Imagine that the area within the three legs of the tripod represents quality. If any leg of the tripod is out of balance then quality is likely to suffer. Quality is in proportion to the amount of time, cost, and scope available for the project deliverables. When one angle of the project suffers so does quality.
What good is a projects deliverable if the project is finished on time, but the product or service doesnt work as promised? Or if the project manager has spent all of the money but didnt create all the promised deliverables? Quality is affected by the balance of time, cost, and scope.
Following this snappy analogy of photography, what kind of camera would you like to put on top of your tripod? If youre like me, I bet youd like a digital SLR, capable of 12 megapixels, and a few gigs of memory for your digital photos. Of you could rely on a manual 35mm camera, with slide film, and a nice set of filters.
But wouldnt you have better photos with the 12 megapixel digital camera? Not necessarily. Just because you have a fantastic camera doesnt mean your photos will be fantastic. Its not the camera that takes the pictures – its the photographer.
The camera, in our project management analogy, are the mechanics of project management. The person behind the camera is the project manager. Just as the photographer has to know how to adjust the camera to capture the perfect photo, so does the project manager adjust the controls within project management to deliver on the projects demands.
Good photographers and good project managers have much in common: experience, a foundation in the fundamentals, and a willingness to learn. At the core, I believe, is an ability to capture a vision – and then process that vision for others to see.
Projects Tell a Story
If you dont like photography maybe youll like stories.
Projects, like a good story, have a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end. Think back to any project youve managed or worked on. Can you recall the beginning, middle, and a Hollywood ending?
The story for all projects is that they move through five process groups to get from start to finish. Within each process group there are key activities which help a project move along. Figure 2 demonstrates the flow of a project through the five process groups.
Initiate a project
This process group starts all the fun. In this group the business need for the project is identified, some initial solutions may be proposed, and the project manager is selected.
The most important document to come out of this group is the project charter. The project charter authorizes the project work and assigns the project manager the power to complete the project on behalf of the project sponsor. The project sponsor is typically someone high enough in the organizational hierarchy to have power over the resources that need to be involved in the project. (Having a weak sponsor for your project can also, unfortunately, lead to cheap tequila.)
Planning the project
In order to plan the project manager must know what the project will create. The project manager and the project stakeholders – the people that have a stake in the project outcome – have to determine what the desired future state is. A dreamy wish list wont work. The project demands exact requirements. If you dont know what the project should create how will you ever get there?
Once the project requirements have been agreed upon then the project manager, the project team, and in some instances the project stakeholders will create a plan on how to achieve the project objectives. This isnt a one-time process. Planning is an iterative process that happens throughout the project duration. Planning is a cornerstone of project management – skip planning or do it half-heartedly and the project is doomed.
Executing the Project
Ever hear the quip, Plan your work and then work your plan? This is the working part. The executing process group is the project team executing the project work according to plan — and the project manager working with any vendors that may be in involved in the execution or support of the deliverables needed for the project completion.
Controlling the Project
Control freaks need not apply. Controlling isnt about micromanaging – its about compliance with the project plan. As you can see in Figure 2, theres balance between execution and control. The project manager works with the project team, not over them, to ensure that theyre doing the work as it was planned. And if not? Then the project manager makes corrective actions to get the project back in alignment with the project plan.
Controlling is also about balancing the time, cost, and scope constraints as the project moves along. The project manager has to measure, compare, and adjust controls within the project to ensure project success. If we do not measure we cannot improve.
Closing the Project
Aaah – closing. This process group centers on closing out the project accounts, completing final, formal acceptance of the project deliverables, finalizing any time, cost, or quality reports, completing the projects lessons learned documentation, and finalizing any financial or procurement audits. The project manager may have to complete a review of each team member, a review of the vendors, and a review of their own actions in the project.
Project closure also involves some rewards and recognition. For some, this means bonuses, vacation time, or other rewards. If this isnt appropriate or available in your organization the project manager should at least verbally reward the project team for their hard work and a job well-done (assuming the project was done well).
Putting it all Together
As you know projects are short-term endeavors to create a unique product or service. Projects are out of the normal duties you do as part of your operations. Projects are constrained by time, cost, and scope — and other constraints such as regulations, resources, or even vendors.
The Iron Triangle of project management posits that all projects are constrained by time, cost, and scope. If one angle of the project is out whack the whole project suffers.
Projects, and technically even project phases, move through five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. Each process group has key activities that lend to a successful project. I believe the most important group is planning. Without planning the project is destined for failure.
What weve discussed in this intro to project management is a good foundation for how projects are to operate, their constraints, and a some challenges every project manager faces. On top of this strong foundation there are nine knowledge areas which also affect a projects success:
1. Project Scope Management
2. Project Time Management
3. Project Cost Management
4. Project Quality Management
5. Human Resources Management
6. Communications Management
7. Project Risk Management
8. Project Procurement Management
9. Project Integration Management
For each of these knowledge areas Ive written an article which explains their characteristics and how they contribute to your projects.
For now know this: projects are successful based on the ability of the project manager to lead, manage, and motivate the project team to complete the project plan. The project plan supports the vision the project manager has inherited from the project stakeholders. If the project manager and the project stakeholder dont have the same vision of the desired future state the project is doomed.
Projects fail at the beginning, not the end.
Overview on Project management and organizational culture
According to PMBOK Guide (2008, p.5), presenting a global standard of project management, “A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”, while “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” (PMBOK Guide 2008, p.6). The above description provides a possibility to differentiate a project from operational work. Project management seems to be a relatively young area of knowledge, though its roots are go far into ancient ages, when management of unique activities happened, e.g. construction of pyramids (Cicmil 2009, p.79). Nevertheless, the modern PM appeared with formation of the society of large-scale projects, standardization and bureaucracy (Cicmil 2009, p.79).
Besides project management, there are also higher levels of control program and portfolio management. The complexity increases from project to program and then to portfolio management (PMBOK Guide 2008, p.7).
There is a number of reports describing importance of project management for organizations in terms of increase in resources control and transparency, decrease in risk (Cicmil 2009, p.80), (Cervone 2006). But these are qualitative descriptions that are always subjective and raise additional concerns. There are also quantitative measures of project management efficacy established in construction business: “a 10% reduction in the schedule for a typical project should result in a 3% cost saving to the owner of the project” (Modern management systems 1992, p.11).
Though having a positive influence on organization performance, implementation of a new PM methodology may face serious roadblocks. Nguyen (2007, p.1) mentions the following barriers for successful projects executions in developing countries: slow adaptation to project management techniques, political and social systems, cultural blocks and lack of financial support. Poor project performance is explained in the first place by lack of effective project management training for project managers (Nguyen 2007, p.1). The other serious obstacle for successful project management systems implementation is lack of senior management support due to fear to loose their control over projects, and their concept of “inapplicability” of the project management methodology, that is related to transparency and accountability aspects of managing projects. Besides, the following areas appeared to be important obstacles: lack of team work, ineffective management of subcontractors, rigid vertical organization structures (Nguyen 2007, p.2). Most of the obstacles listed have origin in organizational culture.
Implementation of a new methodology is an example of change management (Change management 2010). And as Graham wrote, success in implementation of organizational changes rests mostly on people’s costbenefit analysis: people accept changes easily in case they see some personal benefits and they reject it if they don’t (Graham, 1989, p.209). This should lead us to a conclusion that organizational culture is the main factor, influencing project management methodology implementation, especially considering another “project” definition that includes people “A project is a set of people and other resources temporarily assembled to reach a specified objective, normally with a fixed budget and within a fixed time period.” (Graham 1989, p.1).
It is obvious, that a project manager cannot be the only responsible for success or failure of projects and PM methodology implementation. Each project is influenced by a wide number of factors including: project manager, project team, stakeholders, objectives and scope, communication, risks (Carmichael 2003, p.7). In fact, PM methodology implementation is strongly affected by organizational culture (Mochal 2003). For example, employees may feel free to avoid following standard project processes and fail to do thing in time without any fear to be punished. This illustrates that training project managers within organization is only one example of culture influence, others are: process orientation, governance (how employees follow processes), roles and responsibilities of employees, company structure (Mochal 2003). Harold Kerzner even proposed an idea that “project management is a culture, not policies and procedures” (2004, p. 366). In this regard Andersen conclude that “the project manager must quickly develop a suitable organizational culture within the project” (2001, p.1). It is also important that the project manager takes into account culture of different organizations and even sub-cultures of the departments involved into the project (Elmes & Wilemon, cited in Andersen 2001, p.1). In Graham’s opinion project management in mainly about managing people, rather than processes (Graham, 1989, p.viii). Moreover, the author wrote that project managers can only be successful, if they are able to motivate people and coordinate project activities with people’s values, so that projects help achieve personal goals. In this regard teamwork gains the most attention. Kerzner supports this opinion defining that successful project management is not about creating paperwork, but about executing the methodology by the corporate culture, which transforms into cooperative culture in a company excellent in project management (2001, p.81). Though Kerzner points out that cooperative cultures require effective management support at all levels (2004, p. 77).
Organizational culture is defined more or less as environment of interaction between different people rules, norms, leadership, structures, routines that “guide and constrain behavior” (Schein 2004, p. 1). Hofstede described culture as “software of the mind” “patterns of thinking, feeling and acting mental programs” (2005, p. 3). Organizational culture provides “internal” and “external integration” helping employees to deal with each other and the organization with the external environment (Daft 2006, p. 424). Daft mentioned that organizations seriously face culture when they try to implement new strategies or programs that interfere with their basic norms and values (2006, p. 423). Organizational culture types and dimensions were thoroughly discussed in the works of Hofstede, Deal and Kennedy, Handy, Schein, Carmazzi (Organizational culture 2009).
Schein defined organizational culture as follows: “culture is a way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas” (cited in Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.6). By Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner “culture comes in layers, like an onion” and cultural “norms and beliefs sink down into semi-awareness” (1998, p.6). The core of the onion is unquestioned reality, what is taken for granted (1998, p.7).
Johnson and Scholes proposed a structured model for description of organizational culture that gave a possibility to explore it from different perspectives, so that ways to effectively influence it can be developed (Johnson & Scholes 1992, cited in The Cultural Web 2010).
Picture 1. The Cultural Web (Johnson & Scholes 1992, cited in The Cultural Web 2010).
The six elements presented on the picture above (Picture 1) provide grounds for influencing the cultural paradigm.
“The six elements are:
1. Stories – The past events and people talked about inside and outside the company. Who and what the company chooses to immortalize says a great deal about what it values, and perceives as great behavior.
2 Rituals and Routines – The daily behavior and actions of people that signal acceptable .behavior. This determines what is expected to happen in given situations, and what is valued by management.
3. Symbols – The visual representations of the company including logos, how plush the offices are, and the formal or informal dress codes.
4. Organizational Structure – This includes both the structure defined by the organization chart, and the unwritten lines of power and influence that indicate whose contributions are most valued.
5. Control Systems – The ways that the organization is controlled. These include financial systems, quality systems, and rewards (including the way they are measured and distributed within the organization.)
6. Power Structures – The pockets of real power in the company. This may involve one or two key senior executives, a whole group of executives, or even a department. The key is that these people have the greatest amount of influence on decisions, operations, and strategic direction.” (Johnson & Scholes 1992, cited in The Cultural Web 2010)
Asking questions to yourself, the employees, company partners and customers about the above six elements of the Paradigm helps to build a complete picture of the current organizational structure (Johnson & Scholes 1992, cited in The Cultural Web 2010). Further on this picture is used in order to organize change management initiative, correcting the strategic direction of the organization. Change management tools were also described in detail by Johnson and Scholes (Johnson & Scholes 1999, p.2).
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner examine culture within three categories and seven dimensions (1998, pp.8-10).
1. Relationships with people
o Universalism versus particularism
o Individualism versus communitarianism
o Neutral versus emotional
o Specific versus diffuse
o Achievement versus ascription
2. Attitudes to time
o Attitudes to time
3. Attitudes to the environment
o Attitudes to the environment
The four types of organizational culture can be described as follows (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.158).
1. The family
2. The Eiffel Tower
3. The guided missile
4. The incubator
These four cultures are best understood on the Picture 2 below (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.159).
Picture 2. Four types of organizational culture (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.159).
“Three aspects of organizational structure are especially important in determining corporate culture (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.157).
1. The general relationship between employees and their organization.
2. The vertical or hierarchical system of authority defining superiors and subordinates.
3. The general views of employees about the organization’s destiny, purpose and goals and their places in this.”
The four culture types appear on a kind of cultural “plane” based on egalitarian hierarchical and person task oppositions. Family culture represents close “family” relationships between employees, but it is also highly hierarchical, where power is accumulated in hands of “fathers” (managers or owners). A lot of information is taken for granted and “father” “elders” always dominate the opinion. The Eiffel tower culture is impersonal. It is much about clear roles, rules and bureaucracy. It can be compared with military organization. The guided missile culture is also impersonal and task oriented like the Eiffel tower. But it is egalitarian at the same time, which means that roles do not mean much. People change roles and do whatever and how they like in order to reach the goal. Means are less important. So, this culture tends to motivation and enthusiasm. The incubator culture is “self-fulfillment” and “self-expression”. It frees employees from routine and aims on creativity at work. Emotions and spontaneous ideas are norms for such a culture. The incubator is a personal and egalitarian culture that focuses on innovation (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 1998, p.158-177).
Harrison and Handy (cited in Andersen, 2001, p.2) developed a quite similar to Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner typology of cultures: power, role, task, person. Power culture can be closely compared to the Family, Role culture to the Eiffel tower, Task culture to the Guided missile and Person culture to the Incubator (Andersen, 2001, p.2).
The plane of organizational culture is also presented in a work of William Schneider (cited in Suda, 2007, p.4). His plane is based on axes of oppositions actuality possibility (what content organization prefers) and personal impersonal (process of making decisions by an organization), which results in four core culture types: cultivation, competence, control and collaboration.
These four core cultures by Schneider are not too far from Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner and Harrison and Handy models described above: Control Eiffel tower Role, Competence Guided missile Task, Cultivation Incubator Person, Collaboration Family Power. Though being characterized by open and direct communications Collaboration culture differs clearly from Family and Power culture models, which have strong vertical power axis supporting “fathers” or “elders” (Suda, 2007, p.6).
The models by Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner and Harrison and Handy overlap with the Culture Paradigm by Johnson and Scholes on the elements of Control Systems, Organizational and Power structures, which makes possible to use both models for triangulation purposes. But such elements as Stories, Rituals and routines and Symbols remain unique and can be figured out only with the use of the Paradigm model (The cultural web 2010). Still these elements can play its role in project management. As an example, Craig gives a recommendation “Ritualize your job life” (2005). Craig mentions that rituals should be followed by the project manager rather than fought against. The idea by Craig refers to the nature of the project manager’s job, which supposed leadership. But to lead means to understand people’s mind and emotions, while usage of established rituals provide such tools (Craig 2005).
Though organizational culture got a lot of attention in management and academic literature, Burchell and Gilden noticed (Burchell & Gilden 2008, p.1052) that project management literature paid little attention to cross-cultural aspects. There is also no consensus yet about project management culture (PMC) definition and assessment tools (Du Plessis, Hoole 2006, p.44). Project management is considered mostly processes rather than people oriented, so that cultural issues and social activities necessary for successful projects implementation are ignored (Burchell & Gilden 2008, p.1053). Moreover authors of an article in PM Network postulated that “project management methodologies neutralize cultural differences and promotes one standard everyone can model” (No boarders 2005, p.35).
Du Plessis & Hoole proposed the following dimensions for project management culture assessment: project process, people in project, project systems and structure, project environment. The authors based their concept on a basic definition of organizational culture, proposed by Deal and Kennedy: “the way we do things around here” (Du Plessis, Hoole 2006, p.44).
Burchell and Gilden discussed an issue of interaction between western project managers and their Asian project team. In their work they chose a cultural model proposed by Kets and Vries (Kets & Vries, cited in Burchell & Gilden 2008, p.1055) that consisted of 9 dimensions and 18 continua: environment, action orientation, emotion, language, space, relationships, power, thinking, and time. The highest gaps in cultural dimensions between western project managers and their Asian team members were associated with power, time, emotion, and thinking (Burchell & Gilden 2008, p.1062). The authors concluded that the “Wheel of cultures” model by Kets and Vries could be used for further cross-cultural studies in project management (Burchell & Gilden 2008, p.1063).
PM methodology implementation is tightly connected to project management maturity (PMM) a measure for companies’ status and progress in project management implementation. It was proposed by Harold Kerzner (2001) and gained substantial interest, so that more 35 PMM assessment models were created (Warrilow 2009). Increase in PMM is claimed to “establish sustainable PMC” (Advancing Project Management Maturity Results in Improved Organizational Performance 2006).
Project management maturity models are instruments to appraise ability of organizations to successfully manage projects (Harrison, M et al. 2003, p.1). There are six levels of maturity: Level 0 No process, Level 1 Awareness process, Level 2 Repeatable process, Level 3 Defined process, Level 4 Managed process, Level 5 Optimized process (Warrilow 2009), (OGC 2008). Though PMMM gives a useful quantitative tool, it should not supersede behavioral component of PM implementation, which is usually done by senior managers (Kerzner 2004, p.367). Project management maturity is also sometimes confused with project management culture. Scott (2009, p. 9) writes that “OPM3[1] is a foil for clarifying what the Project Management culture is and how this culture can contribute to the business bottomline”. At the same time, PM maturity is more about processes rather than culture.
There is also another example of substitution project culture by project processes. Palmer et al. (2002) described establishing of project culture by modeling good project practices including such standards as project initiation, definition, analysis of issues, etc At the same time, even though this approach corresponds to such representations of culture as regulations, norms and structures, this doesn’t correspond to wider definition of culture by Hofstede – “patterns of thinking, feeling and acting mental programs” (Hofstede 2005, p.3).
Considering influence of cross-cultural specific behavior on projects realization, Gregory, Prifling and Beck discussed emergence of “negotiated culture” that “can be defined as the sum of compromises and innovations that are negotiated around those differences in behaviors and expectations that are problematic in a given cross-cultural setting” (2008, p.224). In short, this means formation of a subculture within a group of natives and foreigners, which gives them a possibility to communicate effectively. The authors refer to a concept of cultural intelligence or CQ (Gregory, Prifling & Beck 2008, p.225) that describes “person’s capability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts” (Earley, cited in Gregory, Prifling & Beck 2008, p.225). Or by another definition CQ is “a capability to interact effectively with others from different cultural backgrounds, or the outcome of these interactions” (Ang & Van Dyne 2008, p.109).
The cultural intelligence model consists of three dimensions: cognitive, motivational and behavioral. The first dimension illustrates “person’s understanding of culture-specific behavior” and includes learning of the foreign culture principles. The second one represents motivation factors and attitude of individuals towards cross-cultural interaction. It can be also presented as curiosity towards a new culture. The behavioral dimension defines behavioral patterns adopted by an individual in order to effectively participate in cross-cultural communications (Gregory, Prifling & Beck 2008, p.226). Cultural intelligence can be measured with the use of Cultural intelligence scale developed by Cultural Intelligence Center (Cultural Intelligence Center 2005). Although the concept of cultural intelligence was developed and used for study of cross-cultural interactions, it seems logical that it can be used to study project management culture, which can be considered “foreign” in this context. So, that “project culture intelligence” model is introduced.
Project culture intelligence should be distinguished from Project Intelligence, which is understood as project analysis using Business Intelligence techniques. Special software is developed for Project intelligence purposes (Ou 2007, p.267). For example, such software provides tools for tracking bug fixing, feature requests, provision of project status, etc
So far, the author was unable to find any mentions of Project cultural intelligence (PCQ) in the literature. This means that the term is first time introduced in the current study.
Intelligence is a complex term covering a set of mind’s abilities and skills like learning, abstract thought, communication and understanding people, managing body muscles, comprehending ideas There are several definitions of Intelligence. One of them is the following:
“A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings “catching on”, “making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what to do.” (Mainstream Science on Intelligence 1994, cited in Wikipedia 2010)
Mike Fleetham (2006, p.16) quotes a range of definitions of Intelligence given by scientists, advisors, writers and psychologists, all different from each other. Among these definitions one state that “Intelligence is what intelligence tests test” (Fleetham 2006, p.17), showing how narrow understanding of this phenomenon can be.
Howard Gardner in his work “Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences” (1983, cited in Wikipedia 2010 a) proposed a so called Multiple Intelligence theory. This theory claims that there are several types of intelligence covering different types of human mind abilities. These intelligences are: logical mathematical, verbal linguistic, visual spatial, musical rhythmic, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist. Besides, existential intelligence was added by Gardner later on (Fleetham 2006, pp.25-32).
Along with the “classical” intelligences a number of other types developed during the last decades social, cultural, emotional intelligences. Earley and Ang (2003, p.xii) clarify that these are about understanding interpersonal interactions.
“Cultural intelligence, cultural quotient or CQ, is a theory within management and organizational psychology, measuring an individual’s ability to engage successfully in any environment or social setting.” (Wikipedia 2010 b). Taking this as a basis one could define Project Culture Intelligence as “a theory measuring an individual’s ability to engage successfully in any project environment or setting”.
Project management maturity models
Maturity models are tools describing organization’s effectiveness at performing certain tasks, particularly at the Software industry (Crawford 2002, p.1).
The widely used Project management maturity models are Project management maturity model introduces by OGC, which assesses processes derived from PRINCE2 methodology (OGC 2008, p.129) and Project management maturity model, which assesses knowledge areas obtained from PMBOK Guide (Crawford 2002, p.4). The maturity concept is used not only for project management assessment, but also broadened to program and portfolio areas in the multiple standards set by OGC (2010b).
The level of maturity of processes or knowledge areas may be graded with the use of Software Engineering Institute’s 5 levels of maturity scale (Crawford 2002, p.4) or four stages of Process improvement “standardizing, measuring, controlling, continuously improving” (Frahrenkrog et al. n.d., p.6).
In its Project management maturity models description (P3M3 Maturity Models n.d., p.2) OGC notes that organizations can bring poor and perfect results even having low level of Project management maturity. But in such a case they are highly dependent on certain people or groups that realize these projects. Increase in maturity level is a way to mitigate project risks and make project success a routine rather than luck.
The OGC’s Project management maturity model (PjM3) is built upon seven process perspectives taken from PRINCE2 methodology.
- Management Control assesses how well the organization maintains control of its projects.
- Benefits Management assesses how well the organization defines, tracks and ensures that investment leads to improvements in performance.
- Financial Management assesses how well the organization manages and controls the investment through budgetary control.
- Stakeholder Management assesses how well the relation with project stakeholders’ are managed.
- Organizational Governance assesses how well the organization controls the alignment of its projects with the corporate strategy.
- Risk Management assesses how well the organization defines and deals with the impact of threats and opportunities.
- Resource Management assesses how well the organization utilizes and develops the opportunities from the supply chain (P3M3 Maturity Models n.d., p.3).
It’s obvious that PjM3 model is focused more on integration between project and organizational goals rather than on project processes.
The model described by Crawford (and developed by PM Solutions) is build upon nine PMBOK’s knowledge areas (Crawford 2002, p.4).
- Project integration management is about identifying, defining, combining, unifying and coordinating the various processes and project management activities.
- Project scope management
- Project time management
- Project cost management
- Project quality management
- Project human resource management
- Project communications management
- Project risk management
- Project procurement management (PMBOK Guide 2008, p.43)
The PM Solution’s model is focused on the project itself and less on its embedment into general organizational structure. Though there is another representation of this model (Organizational Project management maturity model, or OPM3) that concentrates on assessment of PMBOK’s process groups Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling, Closing (Fahrenkrog et al. n.d., p.5). In the current research OPM3 model in Fahrenkrog’s definition will not be considered further on due to difficulty of its practical application.
PM Solutions’ PM3 originated from SEI Capability Maturity Model Integration (Crawford 2002, p.5), which is widely used nowadays in order to improve organizational performance and its business processes (SEI n.d.a). CMMI is a collection of models for different business areas CMMI for Services, CMMI for Acquisitions, CMMI for Development. Besides proposing methods for maturity assessments, CMMI presents techniques to audit maturity appraisals (SEI n.d.b). “The system assists the SEI Appraisal Program in its three functions: appraisal quality control; training, authorizing, and providing resources for Lead Appraisers; and monitoring and reporting appraisal results.” (SEI n.d.c)
Tarne (2007) also referred to an overview of the PM Solutions model supplying it with recommendations on how to improve project management maturity level. He proposed three steps of the improvement:
Determine the ideal maturity level for the organization,
Assess the current level of maturity, Conducting interviews with key project resources and project managers,
Reviewing project documentation,
Completing thorough surveys to assess the degree to which the processes are defined and followed,
Create an Improvement Plan.
Determination of the ideal maturity level for the organization is an important decision, because each level increase is resource consumable in terms of time, effort and even budget. The organization should balance costs and benefits. For example, transition from the level 3 to 4 needs integration of the project management practices with corporate systems (Tarne 2007).
As showed by the Center for Business Practices (CBP), increase in the project management maturity level by one point results in performance benefits, customer satisfaction, schedule performance, cost performance, project quality and many other areas (Tarne 2007).
Another PMMM is described by Kerzner (2001). He gave one of the most comprehensive methodology for project management maturity assessment. The proposed model includes lists of questions on each of the maturity levels. Each question list in the Kerzner’s model contain up to 80 question blocks consisting of 5 bullet-points to choose. The core difference of the PMMM proposed by Kerzner from the standard PMMM developed OGC (see above) is the idea of overlap between maturity levels (Kerzner 2001, p.43). This leads to a difference in project management maturity assessment. Kerzner proposes to appraise where the company is positioned within each level of maturity starting from the Level 1. In case the organization gathers enough points on the level 1, the level 2 positioning can be assessed (Kerzner 2001, p.66). But it is still possible that all maturity levels are overlapped at the company (2001, p.45). The levels 3, 4 and 5 form a continuous improvement cycle, so that there is a feedback between them (see Picture 3). This gives a possibility for the company to develop a distinctive approach for development on each maturity level rather than grow sequentially from the level to level (2001, p.43). Kerzner notes that “the magnitude of the overlap is based upon the amount of risk the organization is willing to tolerate” (2001, p.43).
Picture 3. Overlapping levels and feedback among the five levels of project management maturity (Kerzner 2001, p.44).
Along with the standardized Maturity models described above, there are analogues models developed specifically for the certain conditions (Wazed and Ahmed 2009), though they are not relevant for the current study.
Fusion of project management assessment models
As mentioned above, different project management maturity models describe project management from different perspectives processes and management. There were no sources found in the literature, where these methods are used together in order to make a comprehensive overview of the organizational project management levels. Cultural models used by different authors can also describe only the organizational level of the culture. At the same time, project management methodology implementation is an example of change management, where the latter is defined as “a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state” (Wikipedia 2010 c). Graham mentioned that organizational change can be only successful when people accept it (1989, p.209). And Heathfield wrote that the last and the most difficult step of change management is shift in people’s behavior (2010). This supposes that project management implementation should take into account also behavior of the project stakeholders. It is obvious that analysis on each separate level (organizational managers and processes employees) cannot give a comprehensive view of the situation. Organizational level analysis doesn’t cover processes and behavior of individuals and cannot lead to recommendations on making current success a repeatable story. Vice versa, the analysis on processes and individuals’ level doesn’t show, if these processes lead to what the organization considers a success.
To overcome the above issue, the author developed a model integrating project management from both representations organizational and processes. The model includes assessment of the organizational culture, project culture intelligence, Project management maturity on the organizational level, Project management maturity on the processes level. Besides, customers’ opinion is taken into account (Project management maturity on the customers’ level). The model is presented on the Picture 4.
Picture 4. Five Pillars of the Project Management Audit “5PMA model” ( Pereverzev M.O.).
This model is based on the axis of Culture-Processes, Employees-Organization, Customers that represent the space, where project manager operates. Processes are the essence of the project management. It is the employees who use the processes in their routine work, but in order to support sustainable processes the employees should accept the correspondent culture on personal level (project culture intelligence) and form a negotiated organizational culture. At the same time, the project management methodology can be only of use in case it is appreciated by the customers, which provide the goal to all the organization’s work. The author proposes a concept of the Project Management Space, or PMS, in order to describe unity of these five basic notions (Picture 5).
Picture 5. Project management space, PMS (Pereverzev M.O.).
In order to conduct the study in accordance with the design, the author chose relevant methods mentioned in the Literature review (Table 1).
Table 1. Origin of the assessment methods used in the research.
[1] OPM3 organizational project management maturity model
The 5PMA model is based on the PMS concept and differs from other previously known project management models giving a possibility to comprehensively assess the organization from the top to the bottom based on the Project Management Space axes: culture, processes, employees, organization and customers. The 5PMA model is developed on the basis of the previously known separate assessment models: Project management maturity, Organizational and Project culture, Culture intelligence. The value of the 5PMA model was proved during the study.
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Project management training is a significant investment of your time, cost and effort. The quality of your learning is dependent on several key factors. Asking the right questions in advance can help you select the best training provider for your course. The key factors are:
1) Level of pre and post course support and logistics?
2) Quality of the venue and number of delegates?
3) Quality of the material?
4) Quality and experience and trainer?
We recommend asking the following questions to evaluate the quality of your potential provider.
How many public training courses do you cancel or reschedule?
Many training providers advertise a large portfolio of training courses and cancel or reschedule course because they are not economic to run. Having your course re-scheduled is highly inconvenient. You will have to re-arrange your diary and re-schedule your work plans and lose the momentum of your pre-course preparation. Ask your provider how may courses they have re-scheduled in the past 6 months to get an indication of how often this happens?
What pre-course material is provided?
Training is not just about want you learn in the class room, modern course should provide significant pre-course support with e-learning, study material in advance and on-line tutor support. This means that you arrive on the course well prepared and ready to learn.
Ask about arrangements for lunch?
This may seem a rather un-important issue but like airlines the quality of the food is a measure of the values of the training provider. No lunch or a sandwich in the room indicates that low cost is more important to the training provider than your learning experience. On a full week course you will learn better if you take a break and visit an on-site restaurant for lunch. Getting out of the training room for an hour at lunchtime significantly improves your ability to learn post lunch.
What is the average and maximum number of delegates on a course?
The best size for a course is between 6 to 12 people. This is because you get good group dynamics but also enough attention from the trainer. If the maximum class size is over 12 then you may not get the attention that you need. If the average group size is less than 5 then you won’t have the opportunity to learn from others.
Who is the trainer and what experience do they have?
The quality of the trainer is crucial to the success of your learning experience. Ask your training provider who will be teaching the course? What is their experience of project management? Ask if you can speak to the trainer? Any good training provider will arrange a call back from you trainer. This is important because many training providers outsource the course delivery to the cheapest freelance trainer.
This video explains the principles of project management according the the Prince2 methodology.
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