International Project Management: Leadership in Complex Environments

2017-07-07 02:10:07

This book is divided up into parts.

Part I: Launch your international project. The chapters in this part will take you step-by-step through developing the international project and getting it going. There are chapters on the project leaders, the team, definition of the project, and establishment of the plan.

Part II: Manage your international effort for success. Once started, you have to manage and track the project. You have to deal with many issues and opportunities. Communications are critical.

Part III: Types of global projects. This part contains three specific situations to which the methods of the first two parts are applied. Three common situations are addressed: widespread software deployment, mergers and acquisitions, and regional construction and distribution.

Part IV: Issues in global projects. There are four chapters here that address commonly encountered problems and issues in the following areas: the project, business and organization, management, and external factors. For each issue, there is an opening discussion. This is followed by guidelines on detection and impact, prevention, and actions that can be taken.

Now move down to the chapter level. Each chapter in Parts I and II contains the following sections.

Introduction. This consists of preliminary remarks and links the chapter material to those that precede and follow.

Purpose and Scope. Because we are dealing with international projects, there are three purposes that are considered: the technical purpose, the business purpose, and the political and cultural purpose. If you concentrate on only one or two of these, you will fail. You have already seen how important scope is. Here the range of what is covered in each chapter is explored.

End Products. This is what you produce and get from the work covered in the chapter. There are not just tangible end products as in standard projects, but also cultural and political end products. After all, we are dealing with the real world.

Approach. Here is where the methods and techniques are. Where possible, these are presented in lists and chart form to make it easy for you to use. Examples are given here as well.

Examples. Several example organizations will be considered here and followed through each chapter in Parts I and II. Part III will contain additional examples. Here are the examples along with a brief description.
- Sambac Energy. This is a joint venture firm between two other energy firms. Each of the two firms has its own culture. The cultures tend to clash. Then there is the third culture—in country. We will be considering a variety of projects here.
- Whitmore Bank. Whitmore is an international bank that is attempting to implement credit card operations in five countries in which it has a limited presence.

Lessons Learned. Lessons learned are guidelines and tips gathered from experience. Note that this is different from the methods in the approach. Lessons learned are additional steps on “how” to use the methods effectively.

Exercises. Specific exercises are given that help you use the materials in the chapter right away.

The chapters in Part III deal with specific applications. Their sections are:

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