Despite a much-touted abundance of talent and a young and
roaring human resource, India’s ability to convert projects into remarkable
success stories remains limited. A deeper reading indicates that despite
producing thousands of management graduates, India lags behind in producing
project managers who can make a difference.
Project Management Associates (PMA), the apex body
representing project managers in India has been working incessantly over the
past 2 decades to highlight this human resource gap which according to them is
the main reason why India lags behind China and other nations in converting
strategies into actions.
When we talk about project managers, we need to talk about
certified project managers. We may have plenty of self-proclaimed ‘know-it-all’
workers but where are the project professionals who are certified and qualified
to manage projects in the most efficient manner? Be it the public or the
private sector, certified project professionals are hard to find in India.
The question to be asked is, “if we need professional
qualifications and competencies for every profession – be it Medical,
Engineering, Law, CA or Management, then why not for project management”?
“A project professional must have qualifications and
competency framework to execute projects and programs like any other
profession. Out of approximately 42,766 IPMA Level C Certified Project Managers
(CPM) globally, 43 per cent are in China (about 18,000). In India, we have only
114 out of 42,766 CPMs. China has recognized the need of qualifications and
competency amongst their project professionals to excel in managing projects.
China has clearly distinguished between knowledge based qualifications assessed
through examination only vis a vis demonstrating behavioral, contextual and
technical competencies. Driving license is not good enough to drive in
multilane and in multi mode of transportation system. One has to apply
knowledge into real life situation to develop competencies. India needs to
bridge this gap of competency based qualifications urgently,” says Mr. Adesh
Jain, a visionary leader shaping the project management profession globally
whose mission is to create a project oriented society.
Mr. Jain is Honorary National President of Project
Management Associates (PMA) India, the only National Association of project
professionals in India. PMA is the Indian Member Association of the
International Project Management Association (IPMA). He is also former and the
only non-European President of the International Project Management Association
in its history of 48 years.
He says much like certified professionals in the field of
engineering, law and management are best equipped to perform their job,
certified project management professionals are equipped with the right
methodology, processes and systems to envision and implement projects to the
best of their potential.
“Projects fail because people helming them are often
inadequate for the job, who fails to manage uncertainties, mistake half baked
ideas as viable, set unrealistic deadlines and fail in urgent crisis
management. In China as many as 160 Universities teach Project Management at
Bachelor’s level. In India, there are hardly any,” says Mr. Jain. PMA, the
certification body of IPMA in India administers IPMAs globally used 4 Level
Certification system for project professionals at different competence and
skill levels.
In the last decade China has excelled in managing projects.
For example, the way China organized and managed the Olympics 2008, is way
ahead of the way we managed the Commonwealth Games 2010 right from the planning
to the implementation stage giving us a clear picture of the problems
bedeviling Indian projects.
‘Long-term holistic thinking’ is what needs to be instilled
into Indians in general and project managers in particular to ensure better
conversion rates when it comes to projects. And this can be done by ensuring
that more and more people undertake formal certification to become qualified
project professionals.
All this and more will be discussed during a two-day Global
Symposium on ‘Linking Project Mindset to Nations Prosperity’ that is being held
in New Delhi on December 2&3, 2013, when eminent speakers from all over the
world will share their experiences and discuss the way forward.
The symposium is being supported by the Ministry of
Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and Ministry of
Communications & IT (DoT), Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of
Power, in association with IPMA, Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management
(APFPM) and International Institute of Projects & Program Management
(I2P2M).
Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dr M Veerappa
Moily will deliver the Inaugural address while Adviser to Prime Minister of
India, Mr. T K A Nair who is Chairman of the Symposium’s International Advisory
Council(IAC) will be one of the eminent
speakers.
Education, qualifications and competency – the key to
managing uncertainties, evolving a comprehensive energy map for energy security
and the human dimension to project excellence will be among the key subjects to
be discussed by experts in the field.
No comments:
Post a Comment