Purpose And Scope


Technical Purpose

The technical goal is to assemble and organize a team that will produce success for the international project. This sounds really good. Underneath this general purpose are several more specific objectives, including:

  • There must be a smooth transition of personnel and work in the project.

  • The project must be organized so that the team is stable and that people are not pulled off of the project for other work.

  • Work must be done in the project in such a way that minimal reviews are required. In an international project, you must have reviews, but these must be selective given the effort, time, and expense.

  • There must be a high degree of communications among the team members and with the project leaders. Otherwise, issues and questions might linger for weeks without people being aware of this.

Business Purpose

Start at the local level of the team. One business goal is that the team covers the areas of the project adequately in terms of skills and experience. Another business goal is that they work in a collaborative way and do substantial joint work in the project. A third purpose is that there be something in it for them. That is, they will benefit from doing work in the project in terms of their self-interest.

At the level of the specific country location, the goal is the project does not disrupt the normal work of the departments. This factor is often ignored in international projects where the project leaders assume that since management of the organization overall wants the project, it is automatic that each location should devote its best resources and efforts to the project. Not really true. This was not true in ancient Roman times and certainly not true today. Each location has its own business goals—the attainment of which requires resources.

Now move up to the level of the organization overall. The business objective is to ensure that the benefits of the project are achieved within the limits of the budget and schedule. In support of this another related goal is that the project will support greater sharing of knowledge and information as well as cooperation across the organization.

Political Purpose

The team must be aware of the politics involved in the various locations in which the work in the international project is being performed. Politics are at work at headquarters, locally, and between locations. You almost need a roadmap to see through the “Byzantine world” of some organizations. So then, what is the political purpose? The political purpose is to ensure that there are minimal political problems that affect the performance of the team and the work of the project. More positively, the goal is to ensure that people understand how the project will benefit them as well as the organization at large.

Scope

Normally, you would expect the scope to be restricted to the team members— their selection, their work, their management, and their collaboration. However, in modern international projects, this is not sufficient to guarantee success. You have to include the following factors in the scope:

  • Local offices, activities, and management. As was stated earlier, this cannot be ignored.

  • Long-term goals and aspirations of the team members. You really have to think about how the work in the project can help the individual team members.

  • Working relationships between headquarters and the local offices. The hope is that the work in the project will facilitate better relationships between people at headquarters and the local offices.




International Project Management
International Project Management: Leadership in Complex Environments
ISBN: 0470578823
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 154

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net