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I remember working a project for an organization that wanted to start an international school. The concept was to bring in student for other nation and provide training for them in certain areas. In turn, the student s would be able to return to their homes and implement what they had learned. My task would be to create the course material based on the documentation provided by the client. One of the main courses was leadership. The objectives of the course were provided with a request to review and provide feedback. In reading the objectives I notice the terms, concepts and activities were all from an American view point. This was would be a problem if the student didn’t have an understanding of the American culture. The client didn’t think this would be a problem, (They’re the client). The budget of the project was small in terms of what needed to be completed. The client believed that a normal developed course would provide what they desired. The statement of work was drafted and accepted by all parties but stated that special concerns were provided by the developing agency.
The development of the first project would take about 9 months. The project was completed and tested with American students. It went off without a problem. The client asked if I would make myself available for the first class, which was not a problem. I made sure to place myself in a seat t6o witness the instructor and the students. After the first day the client asked if I would sit in on a review with the instructor. The instructor didn’t feel that the class was connecting with the material. The client wanted my thoughts on the matter. I agreed with the instructor. At this point the client wanted to know how to correct this and keep it from being a total lost. I asked the client if my team and I could teach the remainder of the course and edit the material as we teach. This was a working solution for the client. The three of us had worked in the native country of the students. This gave us some insight into their culture and helped us teach the course to them.
The client asked if we could meet and discuss what it would cost to re-work the course. The reply was this; the only way to re-work the course is for us to be allowed to conduct research into each nation you want to bring into the classroom. The problem was simple to correct. We just needed to make it an international course. The team understood that leadership can have many views. When developing course for other nations, it is good to under the culture of that nation. This establishes the communication lines that we need to operate with understanding. The course didn’t match the audience. The client was looking at the budget and did not understand the impact of course in relationship to culture. In this case it was a desire of the heart over what it takes to develop a great course.
Karl,
ReplyDeletePortny et al (2008) point out in responding to reality, project managers often learn by doing. You realized that the objectives in the beginning of this project were geared for students of the American culture, but the client felt their set of objectives was a one-fits-all plan. However, both you and the client realized that was not the case. Even though it was tested successfully with American students, it is not truly an international course and you have go back to earlier phases of the project and rethink the scope of the project or the project plan itself.
References:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M. & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project Management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.