PMI 2008 Asia Pacific Global Conference Paper

Today I made a couple of final edits to the paper I am to present at the PMI 2008 Asia Pacific Global Conference on March 5, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The paper is called "Losing Your Religion" and looks at the changes that occur when a project manager is promoted to line management. While I edited it, I kept in mind some insight I got from a student I had in a recent class I taught at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (Assessment and Recovery of Troubled Projects).

This person pointed out that arbitrary assignment of project due dates without consideration of what it would take to make the date was the norm in countries like China (which is where he is originally from). He thought that due to globalization and ongoing cultural changes, that this, too, might be changing, but it reminded me of the fact that a purely Western take on what constitutes the "correct" approach to working with project teams on schedules will not be perceived as correct globally.

I am further reminded that a culturally diverse project team may have some team members that expect very directive leadership and in fact do not respond well to requests for input and collaboration in setting direction and schedules. This will make, I hope, for interesting discussion in Sydney come March 5, 2008.