PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

B I LL MADHAVAN

MARUBEN I

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ABSTRACT :- T h i s paper: i s b a s e d o n P r o j ec t Management e x p e r I ence o f v a r i o u s I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t s . Most o f t h e p r o j e c t s i n p r i n c i p l e were Thermal Power P r o j e c t s . L o c a t i o n o f t h e s e p r o j e c t s were i n I n d i a , I r e l a n d , I t a l y , P h i l l i p i n e s , Spain, Taiwan and USA.

There were s e v e r a l i s s u e s i n v o l v e d i n a l l t h e s e p r o j ec t s . However, i s s u e s r e f e r e n c e d i n t h i s p a p e r were r e l a t i v e l y c r i t i c a l a n d h a s been chosen f r o m d i f f e r e n t ( n a t i o n a l ) p r o j e c t s . F o r some issues , m e t h o d o l o g y u t i I i z e d f o r s o l v i n g t h e s e i s s u e s a r e a l s o d i s c u s s e d .

Genera l g u i d a n c e f o r manag ing an I n t e r n a t i o n a l p r o j e c t a l s o fo rms a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f t h i s paper . T h i s o f c o u r s e i s t h e knowhow o b t a i n e d f r o m e x p e r i e n c e o f s e v e r a l p r o j e c t s . T h i s can b e a p p l i e d t o any i n t e r n a t i o n a l p r o j e c t w i t h m o d i f i c a t i o n s ( i f r e q u i r e d ) depend ing upon t h e e n v i r o n m e n t o f a g i v e n n a t i o n .

P r o j e c t Management i s manag ing a P r o j e c t w i t h g r e a t e r d e g r e e o f p l a n n i n g i n c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f maximum cus tomer s a t i s f a c t i o n and c o m p l e t i o n on t i m e w i t h i n a l l o c a t e d b u d g e t . F o r e f f e c t i v e Management e v e r y a v a i I ab1 e t o o l and r e s o u r c e s shou I d b e u t i 1 i zed . U n i v e r s a l l y t h e r e a r e d i f f e r e n t t y p e s ( r e s p o n s i b i l i t y - w i s e ) o f P r o j ec t Management. The t y p e o f P r o j e c t Management t o b e d i s c u s s e d h e r e i s t h e t y p e t h a t i s f u l l y r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a l l ( t h e t e c h n i c a l , commerc ia l , e t c . ) a s p e c t s o f t h e p r o j e c t .

Management o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t s i s q u i t e complex i n n a t u r e i n c o m p a r i s o n t o t h a t o f manag ing a p r o j e c t w i t h i n o n e ' s n a t i o n . The b a s i c d i f f e r e n c e s a r e i n t h e p r o c e s s o f t h i n k i n g and m e t h o d o l o g y t o r e s o l v e any g i v e n prob lem. Consequent ly , t o r e a c h a homogenised s o l u t i o n , a P r o j e c t Manager s h o u l d b e c o n v e r s a n t w i t h a t l e a s t t h e methodo logy . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e r e q u i r e m e n t o f an I n t e r n a t i o n a l cus tomer can b e q u i t e complex a n d many t i m e s n o t s o q u i t e v i s i b l e . Such c o m p l e x i t i e s c o u l d b e a t t r i b u t e d t o l a c k

CORPORATION

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o f knowhow, a p p r e h e n s i o n t e c h n o l o g y . m a j o r r o l e Management,

economica l d i f f e r e n c e s and due t o t h e s t a t e o f t h e a r t o f The human f a c t o r does p l a y a

i n I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t a s i n v a r i a b l y t h e c u l t u r a l

d i f f e r e n c e s can b e a m a j o r f a c t o r .

I n a p r o j e c t i n Europe, we were u n a b l e t o s t a r t u p a Coa l F i r e d P l a n t due t o r e s i s t a n c e by t h e r e s i d e n t s o f t h e townsh ip , where t h e p l a n t was l o c a t e d . They were q u i t e c o n c e r n e d a b o u t p o s s i b l e ash d i s c h a r g e f r o m t h e s t a c k t o t h e i r r e s i d e n t s and t h e y were d e e p l y c o n c e r n e d about h e a l t h p rob lems. T h i s s i t u a t i o n h a d c r e a t e d m a s s i v e n e g a t i v e p u b l i c i t y and were u n a b l e t o s t a r t t h e p l a n t f o r s e v e r a l weeks. Subsequent ly , i t was d e c i d e d t o i n v i t e t h e owner and p r e s s t o a n o t h e r s i m i l a r p l a n t l o c a t e d i n a d i f f e r e n t n a t i o n t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t t h e ash d i s c h a r g e was n o t a p rob lem. When t h e owner and t h e p r e s s v i s i t e d t h i s p l a n t t h e y were s a t i s f i e d t h a t t h e r e were no h a z a r d s and s u b s e q u e n t l y we were g i v e n p e r m i s s i o n t o s t a r t u p t h i s p l a n t . The p o i n t t o n o t e h e r e i s t h a t such c o m p l e x i t i e s c a n even o c c u r i n a w e l l advanced i n d u s t r i a l n a t i o n and a P r o j e c t Manager s h o u l d b e t h o r o u g h l y p r e p a r e d t o r e s o l v e s u c h i s s u e s .

I n t h e Management o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t s t h e f o r e m o s t a s p e c t i s t o e s t a b l i s h t h e p a s t p e r f o r m a n c e o f v a r i o u s I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t Managers, f o r s i m i l a r p r o j e c t s , i n a g i v e n n a t i o n . I n t h i s p r o c e s s i t i s most i m p o r t a n t t o p r e c i p i t a t e t h e c r i t i c a l i s s u e t h a t h a d r e s u l t e d i n t i m e and c o s t o v e r r u n . When such c r i t i c a l i s s u e s a r e p r e c i p i t a t e d , t h e y h a v e t o b e a n a l y s e d i n d e t a i l t o e s t a b l i s h t h e cause. - C o n v e r s l y , e v a l u a t i o n o f P r o j e c t Manager ' s p e r f o r m a n c e on s u c c e s s f u l l y c o m p l e t e d p r o j e c t w o u l d aEso b e r e q u i r e d . Cus tomer 's p a s t p e r f o r m a n c e i n s i m i l a r p a s t p r o j e c t s h a s t o b e r e v i e w e d as w e l l . I n t h e i n i t i a l p l a n n i n g , b e f o r e e x e c u t i o n s tage, a l l t h e s e f a c t o r s must be c o n s i d e r e d .

The P r o j e c t Manager h a s s e v e r a l t o o l s t o check t h e s t a t u s o f a p r o j e c t a t any g i v e n t ime. Based on t h e o b s e r v a t i o n o f t h e s e c h e c k s , a p p r o p r i a t e measures s h o u l d be t a k e n t o s u s t a i n p l a n n e d p r o i e c t s t a t u s .

In some nations such procedure is defined as checks and balances.

While managing an International Project the intervals of checks and balances should hawe to be in a much shorter span at l e a s t at the initial stage of the proJect. This is due to the fact that the functional operation of the given system cannot be taken for granted in an lmternational Project due to the unknowns a: the intermediate stages. It may also be required that new methods be established to formulate checks and ba I ances.

As earlier implied in this paper, the key paint for successful management of a proiect is the full satisfaction of the customer. A Project Manager should be cognisant of this fundamental factor.

To sustain this requiremen?, a Project Manaaer must establish his own means and methods. Generally, within a few weeks Q f commencement of a project, any customer (even Internatirrnall can be evaluated. Information from other personnel (colleagues or otherwise) should not become a key factor for eva?upt ing the customer. Such information should only be considered for evaluating a customer.

It should be recognised that the occurance of a crisis in Internatisnal Projects can be more frequent than that of a national project. For this reason, resolution of any issue must be achieved within an allocated snan of time. Failure to do s q , could result in a maior crisis. In case of a maior crisis, an internal dry run meeting should taken place prior to a meeting with the client. At the internal meeting, a Proiect Manager must be fully prepared t o make a spantaneous decision to avoid any further erosion. The cost consequences should be discussed and agreed upon during this meeting. Even with the willingqess to make a spontaneous decision, sometimes a maior crisis cannot be resol\red. At this ioncture, human factor will be the major role to resolve the major crisis. What this really means is that some maior crisis would require a areater effort to convince a client to accep? a oiven so! u t ion.

In another project in Eurooe, the steam condition5 from an auxiliary boiler were established in the early s-ges. This requirement was based on the parameters defined by ?he turbinelgenerator supplier. During the middle stage of the proiect i t was discovered that the condition nf steam provided was not compatible to the auxiliary system of the boiler plant. This wstld have required

the changing of many items of the boiler plant to suit the condition of the Auxiliary steam. This issue was ongoing for severa I mon ths wi thou t any reso I u t ion. At one stage i t was brouqht to the client's attention that the auxiliary s t e m to be supplied must be conditioned to the requirement of auxiliary equipment of the boiler plant. The client was advised that this requirement was needed from day one even though not so requested earlier. After several discussions the client had agreed to furnish conditioned steam. This ofcourse is a pure judgement call of the Proiect Manager, to resolve the issues without any financial damage to his organisation.

In some instances, especially in an International Project, certain major crisis can remain unresolved for a very long period of time and consequently deteriorate to an unresolved dispute. A Proiect Manager must fully prepared to face the consequences due to an unresolved dispute. This would require constant evaluation of the Project Status due to this dispute. A Project Manager should also recognise that any given unresolved dispute should be contained by any means before crossing the point of no return. It is quite obvious, that the impact of financial consequences wi I I be dictated by the span of time to resolve the unresolved dispute. Also a spontaneous decision with willingness to spend additional cost cannot necessarily be a solution for a d i spu t e. Hence, considering at I the aspects "Judgement Call" of the Project Manager will be the key factor to contain such situations.

In an Asian Project, one of the sub- contractor had dec ided to change hi s supplier of coal crushing equipment due to the constriction of the contract schedule. Even though the client had initially agreed to this change, subsequently they rejected the equipment on the premise that the alternative crushing equipment was undersized. Severa I techn i ca I and comnercial meetings had taken place without any solution. Finally with greater effort, the client and the Project Consul'tant were convinced to accept the alternate crushing equipment with assurance that some field modifications would be done. Actually the field modification, though not required, was performanced to increase the client's confidence level on the equipment performance.

The above issue is a classical example of how a major crisis can become a unresolved dispute. At one stage of this issue, the client was insisting on much larger crushing equipment from an alternative suppl i er. This ofcourse would have

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resulted in a major civil works change and a huge financial impact.

A Project Manager should be well aware of the fact that without an appropriate allocation of manpower and financial resources, no system and planning can be successfull. For this reason, a Project Marlager should develop appropriate methods for proper allocation of manpower. One should recognise that such methods will vary drastically from one International Project to another which would entirely depend upon a given environment.

A strong local manpower resources for categories that would warrant stringent local comnunlcation has to be established. Such local manpower utilisation should be restricted to non technlcal items only.

During allocation of manpower i t should be recognised that it is not necessarily the number of personnel that matters, but the type of personnel whose willingness to accept the given nation's environment is demonstrated.

Hence the Proiect Manager should evaluate manpower prior to assigning such personnel in a given International Proiect.

Almost in a1 I major Projects, techical disputes are inevitable. This is more so cOmnon in an International Proiect due to the differential technology advancement. The technical standards so instituted with giyen equipment in many situations may not quite meet the standards of a given nation. Modifying equipment to meet the standards o f a given nation may be impractical due to the restrictions imposed by the manufacturing techniques and design conditions.

If such disputes on equipment standards are not discussed and agreed upon during pre-contract stages, wi I I become a major technical dispute during post contract stages. Such technical disputes can create a major void in the project progress. A Project Manager must be fully prepared to modify equipment o r even change the supplier of the equipment during post contract stage to meet the local standards. In some instances, the Proiect Manager with full support of the technical team must be able to convince the owner and the local authority for deviation in standard, with a major emphasis on the equipment performance integral to the total process.

Inveriably, disputes arise between a

contractor and the customer in an7 project regards to establishment of design criteria for a given equipment. In same cases, major International equipment manufacturers may not be able to adhtre to the fullest degree. This is due to the fact that cost competitiveness would require compromise in contractual specifications. In a situation of this nature, the Project Manager with technical support must be In a position to convince the client as to the performance of the equipment with a major emphasis on the life span of the equipment integral to margin so allocated. In some instances, , it may even warrant a detailed discussion and exposure of process to establish the equipment performance capabilities. This issue can be a sensitive matter, as the client may not have the willigness to accept an equipment that does not meet the specification one hundred percent.

Sometimes specification deviation can be due to conf I ict ing def in i t ion andlor associated parameters. In such cases, detailed discussions with the client focusing on the process requirement to establish more functional parameters, to establish appropriate design criteria, would be required. At this situation, a Project Manager should also consider the cost implications.

In another of the Proiect in Asia, a dispute in boiler feed pump design was prolonged for several months due to technical deviation from contractual spec i f i c a t i on. It did take several meetings to convince the customer that the specification requirement was not required . considering various aspects of the process. Even though the client was quite apprehensive in the initial stages to consider the technical argument put forth. finally the client had agreed to accept the equipment with greater assurances from the Project Manager as to the operating capabilities of the feed pump. Generally i t should be noted that the specification deviatien should be avoided, but there are certain situations where deviation is inevitable. The Proiect Manager should be prepared to convince the client "Fitness for Purpose" as an acceptable solution in case of contractual specification deviation.

A Proiect Manager should be well aware of the fact that he is the key link between the customer and his own organisation o r group of organisations which constitute the International Project Team. He must interface with various customer Dersonnel to recognise the requirement and must establ ish means to satisfy the requirements. Every single issue posed by the client personnel must Se reviewed

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c a r e f u l l y and a p p r o p r i a t e a c t i o n must be taken. The P r o j e c t Manager c a n n o t a f f o r d t o i g n o r e any i s s u e so posed by t h e c l i e n t p e r s o n n e l , i r r e l e v a n t o f i t s n a t u r e and magn i tude. Such n e g l i g e n c e can c r e a t e a m a j o r gap i n t h e

s h o u l d b e r e c o g n i s e d t h a t o n l y a good r e l a t i o n s h i p can e s t a b l i s h a m u t u a l t r u s t . W i t h o u t t h e t r u s t o f t h e c l i e n t no p r o j e c t i n t h e w o r l d can be e x e c u t e d s u c c e s s f u l ly.

I n c o n c l u s i o n , P r o j e c t Management o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t s i s q u i t e c h a l l e n g i n g t a s k and one s h o u l d b e t h o r o u g h l y p r e p a r e t o f a c e v a r i o u s r e a l i t i e s . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e P r o j e c t Manager must b e w i l l i n g t o adapt t o t h e env i ronment o f t h e l a n d where t h e p r o j e c t i s b e i n g executed . The P r o j e c t Manager s h o u l d b e f u l l y p r e p a r e d t o f a c e any u n f o r s e e n c i r c u m s t a n c e s i n an env i ronment w h i c h h e i s n o t so used t o . F u t u r e I n t e r n a t i o n a l P r o j e c t Management i s no d o u b t w i I I be more complex t h a n i t i s today . Many o f t h e modern p r o j e c t s have been h a n d l e d by a C o n s o r t i u m r a t h e r t h a n a M a i n C o n t r a c t o r c o n c e p t . T h i s o f c o u r s e has some advantages and some d i s a d v a n t a g e s . N e v e r t h e l e s s t h e C o n s o r t i u m concept , w i I I b e more advantageous t h a n a s i n g l e M a i n C o n t r a c t o r c o n c e p t . F i n a l l y , t h e P r o j e c t Manager s h o u l d n o t f o r g e t t h a t t h e c l i e n t (any one who t h i n k s t h e customer i s n o t i m p o r t a n t s h o u l d t r y d o i n g w i t h o u t h i m ) i s most i m p o r t a n t i n t h e e x e c u t i o n o f a c o n t r a c t t o a s u c c e s s f u l 1 c o n c l u s i o n .

c l i e n t l c o n t r a c t o r r e l a t i o n s h i p . I t

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