Volume IX - Issue X - October 2007
PM Education News
Report on the 7th International Workshop Reported by Russ Archibald, PhD, Fellow PMI and APM/IPMA, PM
This intensive, 5 day workshop is unique in the world of project management. It brings together 65 invited world authorities in PM (professors, consultants, and executive practitioners) from 22 countries, plus 38 PhD candidates at ESC-Lille/Paris (from almost as many countries), plus 14 IPMA Young Crew Members (graduate students from Eastern European and other countries), plus many ESC-Lille faculty members and graduate students. The agenda runs every day from 9:00am to 7:00pm, and from Wednesday through Friday there is a parallel track with the "2nd International Research Seminar in Project and Programme Management." Prof. Dr. Christophe N. Bredillet is the father of this impressive event, which he started in 2000 with the full support of ESC-Lille/Paris (one of the grande ecoles of France) when Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Debourse was Dean of the school. The ESC-Lille campus is located in a modern high-rise building in the heart of the beautiful city of Lille, one hour north of Paris by train, very close to the Belgian border. The PhD and other graduate students have the opportunity to hear, question, and discuss their reactions and opinions with the invited authorities and other faculty members very freely during the formal presentations, at coffee and lunch breaks on-campus, and at dinner every evening in various brasseries and restaurants of Lille -- all hosted by Christophe Bredillet and ESC-Lille. The overall experience was marvelous for both the old hands and the younger people. The cross-cultural, cross-generational, cross-organizational interchange is a powerful catalyst for intellectual (and sensory) stimulation and learning by every participant. It can only be hoped that other business schools and universities will emulate this excellent model in other parts of the world. The formal agenda for the 5 day workshop on PM standards included presentations and workshop sessions by authorities from 7 countries, plus sessions on Islamic Finance, as follows:
From about 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm each day an ESC-Lille PhD candidate defended his thesis before his thesis review panel and the entire workshop participant group, which resulted in several very interesting and lively discussions and exchanges. All of the theses defended were approved by the respective panels. The 2nd International Research Seminar, Wednesday through Friday in parallel with the workshop, heard and discussed 24 presentations. The social highlight of the week was a bus ride by 80 participants to an old auberge in the Flanders countryside for a wonderful dinner, plentiful wine, and a singing contest by participant groups representing specific countries or geographic regions. This raucous evening resulted in a statistical first, when all 8 singing groups were ruled to be absolutely equal in quality by the appointed judge, Russ Archibald, who was selected for that position as the oldest person attending the workshop and seminar. The "Class of 2007" will be inscribed on the special plaque that has space for future singing contest winners over the next 12 years. The plaque was provided by Dr. Ed Hoffman and Tony Maturo from NASA. Founded in 1892, Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lille- ESC Lille - is one of the oldest business schools in France, with campuses in Lille and Paris. It is also the first institution outside North America to receive GACPM accreditation by the Project Management Institute (PMI®). The project management program at ESC Lille was inaugurated in 1979. ESC Lille offers postgraduate programs in project management: two masters in project & program management (one taught in English, the other in French); a MBA in Strategy, Program & Project Management (English); and a PhD in Strategy, Program & Project Management (English). ESC Lille research activities in project & program management are grouped together into the International Centre for Project Management and Analysis (CIMAP). Additional information about the university can be found at www.esc-lille.com. Editor’s note: This breaking news article was provided by Russ Archibald, global advisor to PMForum, who participated in the Lille event. We are grateful for Russ’ report . Click here to see Russ's bio.
Opportunity to Participate in PM Research: PMBOK Surve PMForum has been contacted by researchers at Curtin University in Australia who are seeking participants in a new survey related to the Project Management body of knowledge (PMBOK). The research is being organised as part of an academic (PhD) project at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. The results of the research will be published to help advance the PM body of knowledge. Participation in the survey is voluntary and involves answering questions on an Excel spreadsheet which, conveniently, can be submitted online through Email. To find and complete the survey, click here. No organizational or personal information will be collected, and on receipt of the submitted forms the data will be transferred automatically to a database and the reply email deleted; this ensures that there is no possibility that any of the information is identifiable. The information collected will be kept and used in aggregate form only.
Completed questionnaires should be submitted to keithoshea@westnet.com.au by September 30, 2007. Participants may be notified of the eventual results of the survey if they send a separate email requesting a copy of the results; the original email you submit with the survey will be deleted. Questions regarding the research can be addressed to Keith O'Shea (the primary researcher) at keithoshea@westnet.com.au.
Research on Project Success Criteria is Developed In order to investigate project success criteria from the project manager’s perspective, a research is being developed at the Masters in Science Program in Business Management at the Heriot-Watt University in Scotland (U.K.) by Mr. Alexios Vagias, under the guidance of Dr. Amos Haniff.
According to Mr. Vagias, “Traditionally a project manager measured the performance of a project in three terms: time, cost, and specification. If the project was completed within the specified time, budget and specification it was considered successful. Nowadays, the roles and responsibilities of a project manager have become more complex and hence new success criteria need to be used by project managers in order to evaluate their projects. There are cases where failing to agree with success criteria to be used by the project manager and the various stakeholders results in unsuccessful projects.” “The issue of project success criteria has been partly discussed in the literature but few recent articles examine the success criteria from the project manager’s point of view,” he added. “Most of the studies examine which success criteria are used by the contractor or the client but not the project manager. Therefore we identified the need to research the success criteria topic from the project manager’s perspective.” It is expected that the research will answer the following issues:
The research is being developed through an online survey that has been sent to Project Managers around the globe. Mr. Vagias would appreciate the cooperation of Project Managers with his research by answering this 5 minute online survey at
Heriot-Watt is a university for business and industry at the forefront of research and teaching innovation. With campuses in Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders and Dubai, Heriot-Watt is one of the UK's leading research institutions. At Heriot-Watt, the community of postgraduate students undertaking taught and research courses is 1,500 strong and has representation from around 100 countries.
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Entrance to H-WU in Edinburgh
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