New insightful course on intercultural project management competence
by Kolbrún Hlín Hlöðversdóttir, MSc, Project Manager, Reykjavik City Hall, Iceland
The course on “Intercultural Management Competence for Project Success” is a new course offered as part of the Bouquet of IPMA Advanced Courses. It was first held in Milan in November 2011 and instructed by Raphaella Bossi Fornarini, Managing Director, Passport MIP Faculty Member for Intercultural Management Italy, Antonio Calabrese, MIP Head of Corporate Division and Course Director School of Management, Politecnico di Milano Italy and Roberto Mori IPMA President and Director Special Projects, Tenova. The course was extremely useful and insightful and I‘d recommend it to everyone, particularly those who are interested in the human aspect of project management.
The instructors have extensive experience with working in intercultural projects and that they delivered very well in the course. It was obvious they knew what they were speaking of and what was particularly good was that they regularly stated that the course is not about do’s and don’ts rather about broadening the perspective of the participants and demonstrating the vast difference in cultures around the globe and how that effects the way we approach our co-workers . There is no right or wrong only different.
Their teaching style was appealing and their use of different techniques; lectures, video, games and case scenarios enhanced the learning experience of the class. The mixture of students in the class also contributed to the learning experience and affected the dynamics of the group along with the how we learn. Interaction with participants from the other courses gave opportunities to practice the perception and I found that I asked more questions on background and culture of the participants than I would have before.
This course not only opened my eyes to the differences between cultures; it does not have to be as broad as India vs. USA to display differences. Different religion, gender, age, personality types and so on are also cultural differences. Families are different and the upbringing of children in the same neighbourhood could arouse problems in interaction as well. This is not news to most however when in work environment perhaps under stress and time restraints we forget and approach the others on our terms, according to our rules and our perception of the world.
There is definite need for this course to reinforce what we should already know that everyone is different and in project management when meeting a new team, new co-workers we as project managers and team members must remember that not everyone is like us and we need to allow for differences in the way we approach things.
The course is next planed to take place on 8-10 March in Copenhagen.