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On 15 November, the PMI Mumbai Chapter acknowledged International Project Management Day with the seminar, "Challenges Faced by Project Management Practitioners." It focused on the strategic role of project management, managing change and integrating and managing diverse teams.
Close to 75 project management practitioners attended the seminar. Guest speakers included Rajnish Virmani, president, COO, Reliance BPO Pvt. Ltd., Ramam Atmakuri, vice president & head of Invensys Development Center India Pvt. Ltd., and Girish Kelkar, director, CoreObjects India Pvt. Ltd.
Raj Kalady, managing director, PMI India gave the keynote speech.
Project management practitioners listen attentively to the speakers at PMI Mumbai Chapter's seminar acknowledging International Project Management Day
In conjunction with the seminar theme, one of the speakers, Manish Modi, president, Business Resource Group, Pidilite Industries Ltd. spoke about the biggest challenge facing project management practitioners with his presentation "Integrating and Managing Diverse Teams."
Mr. Modi talked about the importance of acquiring the proper talents and creating a high awareness of cultural sensitivity by applying the correct training.
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He suggested that project managers should work closely with human resources departments to identify the right candidates and to understand what motivates the prospective employee.
He continued by saying that cultural sensitivity within diverse teams can be attained through applying various forms of training or team-building.
Mr. Modi also emphasised that transparent and effective communications between the project manager and team members is the lubricant to achieve smooth operations within a diverse team.
He then provided tips on how to create winning teams:
•Lead by example
•Motivate people
•Ignite passion in team members
•Empathise with team members
•Work on the strengths of team members
•Acknowledge contributions from team members
Mr. Modi also shared a case study of a project that was commissioned by the United Nations, involving the translation of a large number of documents into 12 languages. There were high penalties associated with missing the project's short deadlines.
The project team consisted of members from different nationalities for their language expertise although some did not have the formal qualifications or expertise for completing the work involved. The team thus faced another challenge of integrating various members of different nationalities and work habits.
Mr. Modi said training created a high awareness of cultural sensitivity which allowed the team to retain a positive spirit in the face of the fast approaching deadline.
Gautam Gangoli, PMP
Chapter Communications Committee Member
PMI Mumbai Chapter
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