Project Management Organizations Initiatives
International initiatives by professional organizations provide a framework
for discussion of global project management issues. Some of these are:
- The Global Project Management Forum
- The International Performance Management Council
- International Project Management Association World Congress
- Project Management Institute Annual Seminar
- Regional Project Management Forums
Each of these has contributed to exchange of information on standards, certification,
communications, cooperation, organizational issues and the search for an International
Project Management Body of Knowledge (IPMBOK). This is a shot gun approach to
the issues and while useful, if somewhat chaotic and lacking continuity, cries
out for an international coordinating body.
The international meeting that carries the imprimatur of a global project management
profession is that of the Global Project Management Forum (GPMF). Six have
been held. The first was in New Orleans (1995), then Paris (1996) Boston
(1996) Chicago (1997), Australia (1997) and Slovenia (1998). The GPMF is a "meeting
of project management leaders and experts, representing professional project
management organizations around the world". It is the closest the project
management community has come to an international meeting place. At the moment
it is the single truly "international forum" for the discussion of
common interests of:
- Research
- Standards
- Careers and Competency Models
- Organizational Models for Global Cooperation.
The GPMF is an "open to all occasion" and an opportunity for project
management practitioners to be exposed to what national and regional organizations
are doing to meet cultural and legal infrastructure requirements.
The International Performance Management Council has four Nations promoting
the use of Earned Value Management Systems ( EVMS). These are the Defence Departments
of Australia, Canada, Sweden and United States. The EVMS requires the integrated
structural approach of project management. The current economic and military
strength of the West owes much to the successful use of such defense and aerospace
project management tools.
Peter Morris, Chairman of the Association for Project Management (UK) pointed
out in "Project Management: An International Profession", a presentation
to the 1995 New Orleans Global Project Management Forum, that virtually all project
management techniques were invented in the project management formation that
took place between 1955 and 1970. And, nearly all were developed by the US defense-aerospace
community (DoD and NASA).
Two major project management, "happenings" are the International
Project Management Association's World Congress and the Project Management Institute's
Annual Seminar. The IPMA World Congress has a decided European academic outlook
while the PMI USA has a North American marketing flavor. Both are significant
international meeting places for exchange of know how and collegial cooperation.
PMI'98 Annual Symposium has a Global Project Management Track dedicated to
international project management know how. This is a paper presentation track
that deals with the cooperation, collaboration, economic factors, and trans-cultural
management required for projects which span national and international as well
as multi-corporate undertakings.
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