Page 345 - Global Project Management Handbook

17-2 MANAGEMENT OF GLOBAL PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent
said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”
During the project review, the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you? . . .
Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said,
“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate
it.” The Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said,
“The serpent deceived me and I ate.”
The Lord God said, “By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you
return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you
will return.”
Owing to the lack of communication and collaboration with stakeholders, the first
simple project on earth failed to meet a simple requirement from the Lord God. The
penalty was so high that all the offspring of the man have to suffer on earth until they die.

OUT OF EDEN

In the past, organizations had well-defined structures and missions. They had the
responsibility to reward and protect their employees in return for their services. But
the world has changed after globalization. Many organizational functions used to be
long-term programs. They are now being operated like projects. With this change in
what is managed (from programs to projects or at least large chunks of functional pro-
grams as projects), the functional manager’s roles have been taken over by project
mangers. Using projects to replace functional programs has become a trend for organi-
zations to improve their productivity and efficiency.
According to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK
Guide), by the Project Management Institute (PMI), project management is the
application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet
2
project requirements. The project activities may include (1) identifying require-
ments, (2) establishing clear and achievable objectives, (3) balancing the completing
demands for quality, scope, time, and cost, and (4) adapting the specifications, plans,
and approach to the different concerns and expectations of the various stakeholders,
etc. These activities are accomplished through the application and integration of the
project management processes for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, control-

ling, and closing phases. The person responsible for accomplishing the overall project
objectives is the project manager.
In general, a project manager’s role is accomplished in two ways: (1) in communi-
cating with project team members and stakeholders so as to collect and distribute
project information in a timely manner and (2) in providing the critical links among
people, ideas, and information for day-to-day operation and decision making. In the
past, the focus of a project manager was on the first role, namely, generating reports
and analyses to inform stakeholders about the progress and status of the project. Then
the project manager will devote the rest of the time to the second role by walking
around the office premises and calling meetings for discussion, review, and decision
making.
To support global operations, the project manager, project team members, business
partners, and other stakeholders may work remotely from many parts of the world
through clusters of collaborative infrastructure. This new form of project workplace
may include different types of online communication and community facilities. In
most cases, a project will take advantage of its existing infrastructure that connects its
internal network with its upstream and downstream business partners. It is foreseeable