Project Management Education in India: A Business School Perspective
The objective of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the formal well-planned education programs for project management, particularly by the elite business schools, in the context of national economic development programs on hand in India.
The authors’ emphasis the need for formal project management education programs in India, … read moreparticularly the role to be played by the elite management education institutions. The need is based on the well recognized benefits accruing from project management: better planning & utilization of resources and increased effectiveness & efficiency in meeting the project objectives.The need for Project Management discipline is perhaps greater than when the nation dreams to rebuild itself into a new, prosperous and equitable socio-economic order. India is passing through just this phase – with projected expenditure for infrastructure projects alone to be Rs. 172,500 crores in 2005-06, a comparable investment in the private sector, and an explosively rising demand for project managers in the ITES sector expanding by leaps & bounds.
The authors’ case for either a full PM focused MBA program or at least inclusion of project management as one of the core subjects rather than an elective rests on the following arguments:
Managing projects effectively needs competency development, which only a full time MBA program focused on project management could accomplish well.
MBA core programs can impart systematically organized knowledge and sound qualitative and quantitative analysis tools for PM discipline to its graduates. Organizations would prefer to entrust their critical projects to a well-trained project management professional from a reputed institution of available.
Ajay Parasrampuria and Gautam DesaiABSTRACT:
The objective of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the formal well-planned education programs for project management, particularly by the elite business schools, in the context of national economic development programs on hand in India.
The authors’ emphasis the need for formal project management education programs in India, particularly the role to be played by the elite management education institutions. The need is based on the well recognized benefits accruing from project management: better planning & utilization of resources and increased effectiveness & efficiency in meeting the project objectives. The need for Project Management discipline is perhaps greater than when the nation dreams to rebuild itself into a new, prosperous and equitable socio-economic order. India is passing through just this phase - with projected expenditure for infrastructure projects alone to be Rs 172,500 crores in 2005-06, a comparable investment in the private sector, and an explosively rising demand for project managers in the ITES sector expanding by leaps & bounds.
The authors’ case for either a full PM focused MBA program or at least inclusion of project management as one of the core subjects rather than an elective rests on the following arguments:
- Managing projects effectively needs competency development, which only a full time MBA program focused on project management could accomplish well.
- MBA core programs can impart systematically organized knowledge and sound qualitative and quantitative analysis tools for PM discipline to its graduates .
- Organizations would prefer to entrust their critical projects to a well-trained project management professional from a reputed institution if available.
For a comparison, the authors briefly describe the global scenario for formal project management education. In U.S.A, a large number of colleges and universities offer undergraduate, post-graduate and some even doctoral level programs in project management. A similar trend for increased emphasis on PM education is seen in all South-East Asian countries. The real eye-opening issue in this comparison is that the PM movement in China seems far more robust than India. China has 49 REPs accredited by PMI compared to 23 in India. China has already started to set up education programs for developing the corps of 600,000 trained PMPs it expects to need by 2008. PMI has also responded by setting up there a PM certification center, its first center outside the USA.
Keywords:
Project Management, Management Education, MBA, India, China, and Southeast Asia, PM Growth,
Please Note: PMI, PMP and PMBOK are all registered trademarks of Project Management Institute, USA.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN INDIA
THE RATIONALE FOR FORMAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN INDIA
“The real purpose of business is to promote Innovation in the society”, according to the Management Guru, Peter Drucker.”
Innovation involves thinking of new revolutionary ideas and providing to the society in general the products and services based on these ideas. Such fructification of ideas into products and services involves a systematic, well-thought and well-planned initiative and endeavor. These initiatives take the shape of a project, as they are usually time bound with definite objectives to achieve. Project management is a discipline - the languages of implementation, which improves speed and efficiency, converting ideas into new products, new services, or new physical set-ups in the most cost-effective manner while serving the purpose for which they were visualized.
The need for PM discipline is never greater than when the nation dreams to rebuild itself into a new, prosperous and equitable socio-economic order. India is passing through just this phase. In the recent budget speech, the honorable finance minister announced the gross budgetary support to the plan (GBS) to be Rs. 172,500 crores in just one year, 2005-06. The private investment would also be of comparable size. There would be projects for building roads, houses and buildings, bridges, and railway lines. Also, for providing electricity; water, irrigation, and other infrastructural facilities like transportation and mass communication systems. Projects would also include setting up the factories for producing a vast variety of consumer goods and for providing efficient, cost effective and prompt services in the banking and financial services sectors. Defense and space related projects. With such large number of mega projects in the pipe line, formal, efficient and effective management of projects, which is basic to all economically dynamic as well economically developing societies, assumes great importance.
In the infrastructure area alone, the current Indian Government’s goals are:
- To build roads to connect all villages having a population of over 1000 persons;
- To construct 60 lakh additional houses for the poor;
- To provide drinking water to the remaining 74,000 habitations not covered so far;
- To reach electricity to remaining 1,25,000 villages and offer electric connection to 2.3 crore households;
- To give telephone connectivity to the remaining 66,882 villages.
Such gigantic investments for nation building require a corps of knowledgeable project management professionals.
There is a similar demand for manpower to sustain the growth in ITES sector. Conservative estimates are that, in the ITES sector currently employs 1 million people and this number is expected to double by 2008. According to a recent article published in Asian Business, the biggest worry for most in the ITES is the shortage of managers. Currently, the industry needs 15% to 20% more mid-level executives than it can muster. Assuming 10% of the employed population in ITES industry will be professionals with the role of a project manager/leader, there is a need for an additional 125,000 project managers by 2008 in this sector alone. At the same time there is a need to train a good number of existing project managers to improve their PM capabilities. As a senior manager in a leading Indian IT firm points out, “Most Project Managers in IT industry are glorified technologists, who have become PM’s by accident.” An urgent course correction is needed in this area.
But why project management? Based on a recent survey on the benefits that would flow from the good project management practice, 200 respondents at Project World 2001 in Toronto, Canada responded as follows:
- Increased customer satisfaction 90%
(A primary benefit for their organization)
- Better planning and allocation of resources 84%
- Helps to achieve organizational goals 83%
- Increased organizational profitability 82%
In the same survey, the participants referred to the following major lapses in project execution:
- Organizational priorities 43%
- Poor assessment or management of project risk 37%
- Project changes not managed well 35%
- Lack of project management skills 33%
Note that over a one third of the participants referred to lack of project management skills as the prime cause of project management deficiencies.
In India, managing various projects effectively in a systematic and economical way is an urgent matter of deep concern to project decision-makers and implementers of central and local governments, to foreign investors and international financial institutions, to specialists engaged in project management and to business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Formal Project Management education would not only develop a corpse of trained professional but would also serve as a platform to provide an excellent opportunity to exchange latest research progress and experiences in project management. It would strive to seek workable approaches with common interests existing in project management so as to make project management conform to global standards
With the huge developmental needs to achieve the growth, educational institutions need to respond to the growing need for professional project management discipline and create a corps of true project management professionals armed with the knowledge, tools and techniques of effective and efficient project management.
ROLE TO BE PLAYED BY BUSINESS SCHOOLS IN SPEAR-HEADING THE DEVELOPMENT
In this context, the elite business education schools have a major role to play, may be even spearhead this development, and offer full programs on project management discipline. Unfortunately, to the knowledge of the authors, there is not a single leading business school in India, which offers project management as an area of specialization as a part of its MBA programs. Marketing, Finance, Operations or HR disciplines are offered as specialization – not project management.
General observation is that, a single course in project management is offered – that too as an elective. Contrast this with the full time Master’s and/or MBA programs with specific emphasis and focus offered by American as well as European institutions.
The trend is similar in the rapidly developing China and other Southeast Asian nations also. Learning from history has been that the government and its leaders’ vision propel the countries’ need to develop a pool of skilled manpower to manage growth. China is a fine example of this; with the support from the government, universities and colleges are responding to the need of the nation. India also experienced this with the late Prime Minster Rajiv Gandhi, who had the great vision to emphasize the importance of computers and computer education two decades back and the nation is now benefiting from the great beneficial impact of the software industry on the national economy.
A similar important role awaits the project management discipline in contributing to the national economy. The Indian business schools would have to take this into account and provide the nation with professionals to manage the nation’s socio-economic growth aspirations. If the elite management education schools provide the lead, the next level of educational institutions will pick up the trend and spread it across the nation fast.
The issue here for the business school would be evaluating the need for such a program and whether there would be enough job opportunities for the graduates. The successful outcome would depend on the partnership or alliance between the business schools and the industry and the industry has already realized this need and started demanding from the business schools professionals with PM capabilities.
WHY AN MBA FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
The question, which naturally arises, is: “OK, the project management education has its important role to play, but then why an MBA program focused on project management? The current practice of some of the leading business colleges is to offer the subject as one of the electives; is this not sufficient? “
A good case may be made out in favor of offering a dedicated MBA program for project management discipline rather than a single elective course. The main issues may be summed up as follows:
- The scope of the education program:
Historically, project management as a discipline employed a perspective based on the famous PERT/CPM view of sequencing and managing tasks, estimating the cost of a project and preparing a time based view of the project (usually a Gantt Chart with major milestones only). Over time, this perspective in managing projects has evolved with the application of both the art of general management practice and the project management science involving specific processes tools and techniques.
Today’s Project Managers are required not only to prepare a detailed project plan by taking a comprehensive overview of various aspects of projects, but also employ proactive management approaches using interactive controls, organize and retain the project experience and manage diverse project teams. Today’s projects, with the increase in their size, complexity and technological contents, require sophisticated tools and techniques specifically developed to manage them; using only the simple PERT/CPM techniques proves quite inadequate to manage them well.
Project Management is fundamentally the language of implementation, which embodies both the art and the science to get things done in a faster, better, and more economical manner. As the responsibility changes from merely managing time to ensuring project success and profitability, a professional managing projects in today’s environment needs good general management practice as well as specific tools and techniques developed for project management. The changing role and the evolving discipline, thus, require a large volume of knowledge, tools, techniques and practices for more effective and efficient project management. In a brief elective course, justice can hardly be done to impart this education to the students. What is required is competency development of professionals to take the challenge of managing projects, which perhaps a full time MBA program focused on project management, would to accomplish.
2. Emerging of project management as a profession:
With the large number of projects coming up in the economically dynamic societies, the project management has emerged as a special profession. The practice of arbitrarily appointing a person as a project manager started giving way to selecting a competent professional trained in the project management. Increasingly, need is felt to develop and organize the project management knowledge and good project management practice based on sound qualitative and quantitative analysis tools. These project management tools and techniques are invaluable in helping more efficient use of resources for meeting the project objectives for scope, cost and schedule.
With economies across the world merging into a single global market, there is a need for a common lexicon for discussing, writing and applying project management. Today, an international association addresses this issue; Project Management Institute, USA has taken a lead in this direction to develop and promote global standards for project management and evolves this discipline into a true profession just like the accounting, legal or medical professions.
Finally, some institutional monitoring and control of the project managers’ effectiveness in the form of certification of project management professionals is necessary.
All these issues are being addressed in the industrially developed economies by the reputed educational institutions offering full time programs for imparting PM education.
In addition, non-profit professional bodies have been set up to monitor and control the state of the project management education and the certification of the professionals. In U.S.A, a large number of colleges offer full time undergraduate and graduate programs in the project management discipline. Project Management Institute (PMI) emerged as the nationally recognized non-profit professional body. In other countries also, their own separate national standards and non-profit professional bodies are playing an important role.
For gauging the importance of formal project management education and certification, a word about PMI as an institution and its overwhelming influence on US project management practice, even on world wide project management practice, would not be out of place. Set up about 35 years ago, PMI has emerged as the global advocacy organization for the project management profession having over 150,000 members in nearly 150 countries. There are over 100,000-project management professionals (PMP’s) certified by PMI working in 120 countries. Not only that, the beneficial effect of certified PMP’s working on a project has proved so convincing that U.S. defense department agencies and many reputed commercial organizations have started stipulating the condition of assigning a certified PMP professional in charge of the project executed for them.
With the rapid economic development tempo and the large number of complex projects coming up, a need for setting up similar high educational and professional standards in India has arisen. Such in-depth knowledge of different aspects of project management can be accomplished by a full time MBA program in project management. It is in this direction that the leading management education institutions (IIMs, IITs and other prime business schools) should assume the leadership role.
3. Economic scenario for employment in India
In an employment-starved country like India, the young professionals understandably opt for education programs that would earn them a well-paying jobs and a future with prosperous career. In view of that, the criteria generally followed by the students for selection of a career program and the institute to study it in are based on:
- The reputation and recognition of the program and the institute: its value in the job market
- The profile of the faculty and peer groups
- The location, campus and infrastructural facilities offered
The industry and economy would be ready to absorb the graduates with project management training as their expertise. However, they would not like to compromise by employing either inadequately trained project management professionals from lower standing institutions or employing relatively lower caliber graduates from more reputed institutions but having only superficial knowledge of the subject acquired from a single elective subject in the MBA program. They would rather prefer to take the more competent and generally better trained graduates from renowned business colleges and trust that they will learn and handle the projects satisfactorily.
This is where the MBA program with emphasis on project management from the leading business schools assumes importance. If a company has a major complex project on hand and a well-trained project management professional from a reputed institution is available, they would gladly take the opportunity of trusting the project to him. The selection of project management personnel from such specifically trained professional pool would immensely benefit not only the individual organization but also the whole nation.
The importance of some formal education on Project Management has not entirely escaped the Business Schools or even educational institutions as a group. However, this is done, as mentioned earlier, only at a very basic or primitive level with offering the project management as an elective subject. If you look at the program offered by the top 10 leading business schools of India, you will not come across a single institute with emphasis on project management as a discipline.
Table 1lists the project management related courses offered by the top 10 business schools in India. You would notice that almost all of them offer programs with specialization in marketing, finance, operations or human relations. But not a single program focused entirely on Project Management. Some business schools do offer Project Management as one of the elective subjects for the MBA program, which the students may or may not decide to opt for. What is desirable to remedy this situation is to include project management in the core MBA program.
Even if a student opts for project management as an elective subject, he would find it difficult to imbibe the desired knowledge and techniques for project management in a short and limited treatment of the subject offered as an elective. In view of the importance of project management for all economically dynamic societies, and especially for India that aspires to take its rightful place as a respected member in the comity of nations, the importance of a special MBA program with emphasis solely on Project Management cannot be exaggerated.
Summing up, in the current global economic scenario, the companies need to evolve and to become diversified and multifaceted and take up systematically projects to achieve these ends. The graduates from MBA Programs understand not only the structure and operation of a business but also develop into change agents and leaders, who influence and inspire others in meeting the organization goals. The strong presence in different organizations of such MBAs, with their focused education in project management discipline, is bound to be a great asset to the nation. The nation’s organizations should not be handicapped in their ability to entrust their projects to such MBA professionals with specialization in project management discipline.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES
We may want to take a look at the world wide scenario of project management education. For bringing out a comparative overview of the issue, the MBA level project management programs in the U.S.A., South-East Asia and China are presented.
The U.S.A.
A comparable scenario is prevalent in the developed countries also and that is why there are scores of reputed colleges offering not only undergraduate but also post-graduate and even doctoral level programs in project management. Table 2contains the list of about 30 colleges and universities offering the undergraduate, post-graduate and some even doctoral level programs in project management with accreditation from the PMI.
It should be emphasized that the table does not contain the comprehensive or exhaustive listing – only those programs which have sought to obtain and have obtained accreditation from PMI. A large number of reputed universities have opted to earn respect for their programs based on their overall national reputation, rather than seeking accreditation from PMI. If we take such educational institutions also into account, the opportunities for a student to acquire project management education at undergraduate or post-graduate level in the U.S.A. are very large.
The South-East Asia
For assessing the availability of project management programs in the South-east Asian countries, the data for university programs could not be availed. However, another statistics, which could give some idea, is available. Table 3 gives the number of Registered Education Providers (REPs) certified by PMI along with numbers of PMI members and PMP’s as of Feb 2005. Considering the fact that India enjoys a distinct advantage in technical domains, specifically in software projects, it would be expected of India to build a predominant position in the PM discipline. However, as seen in Figure 1 with regards to number of certified Project Management Professionals (PMP) by PMI, it doesn’t indicate and reflect its commitment to build excellence in project management discipline.
China
PM Movement in China seems more robust than India. China has 49 REPs certified by PMI compared to 23 in India. Project management has become a powerful driver for the rapid development of China’s economy. With increasing numbers of large-scale projects in operation in China, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Three Gorges Project, the demand for the practice of project management professionals is rapidly increasing in all economic sectors in China.
Some investment bankers described China as an unparalleled construction site for an enormous number of projects. As predicted by Fortune magazine, project management will be among the top professional careers in the 21st century in that country. Reliable statistics indicate that China will need nearly 600,000 well-trained project management practitioners and some 100,000 certified project management professionals in the coming three years in order to meet the huge demand of talents in this regard.
To meet China’s demand for efficient and on time project delivery, SAFEA (China State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs) introduced the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification by PMI in 2000 - the first internationally authoritative project management certification in China. Since 2000, over four thousand professionals have been trained in project management practices aligned with PMI standards and awarded the PMP credentials. In addition, PMI’s “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)” is becoming the standard for the practice of project management discipline and it has also been translated into the Chinese language.
Sponsored by China State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA), PMI, and China Changjiang Three Gorges Development Corp., the PM Technology Conference 2004 was held on September 10 last year. The conference highlighted the need for promoting project management in China to serve better China’s economic development. During the Project Management Technology Conference 2004, PMI announced its decision to open by the year-end its first ever-overseas office in Beijing. PMI’s new office in Beijing is expected to play a critical liaison role to help PMI communicate more effectively with its local partners and better serve its PMP members in China.
The example of partnership between SAFEA and PMI has established a good model to bring international knowledge to better serve the increasing worldwide needs of project management professionals. SAFEA section chief, Qian Zheng, hoped such a partnership to bring forth real concrete benefits to the development of the project management in China.
Will PM also be added to the list of things India will have to compete with China? Given the speed at which they are working and number of professionals completing the PMP certification (see Figure 2), shall we end up loosing the initiative and conceding award of important lucrative projects to China is anybody’s guess, including the authors’. The authors sincerely hope this not to happen and that project management would be accorded its rightful place in the formal business education curriculum.
CONCLUSIONS
The practice of project management in India although not new but when matured compared to the knowledge, tools and techniques applied in other countries. It would not be an exaggeration that the characteristics of the current practice of most project management in India can be summed up as believing:
- That Gantt Chart is the be-all and end-all of all project scheduling;
- That effective interactive controls on cost and schedule during execution are either not necessary or difficult to manage;
- That not enough time is available for comprehensive planning- and the project manager should just jump into execution as soon as the project is initiated;
- That a proper analysis of the stake holders’ needs and project success criteria, project risks and its management need be given only lip service;
- That scope change control need be exercised only according to the whims and fancies of the power centers of the moment; and
- That project communication merely consists of progress reports mailed out from time to time.
The time has come to change this system from its roots. The time has come to recognize the need for a formal education process in Project Management. The time has come to appreciate the value of effective and efficient project management in the use of scarce resources of a nation like India. Indeed, it is high time that our top management schools take the lead in giving project management study an independent status and offer full time programs in project management. At the same time industry and government organization should initiate a dialog with the institutions and jointly develop the program.
REFERENCES:
- “India: Good Help is Hard to find”, Asian Business, Feb 14 2005
- Christine Winkless, “Lack of Clarity Among the Top Challenges of Project Management”. CMA Management, Canada, October 10 2001
- “Cosmode Business World Top 100 B-Schools Survey”, Business World, Mumbai, September 6, 2004
- Details of courses offered in the Management Institutes have been taken from their respective institute websites, March 2005
- “PMI and SAFEA Jointly Accelerating China’s Project Management” Release Number – 070-020-04, September 22 2004
- Speech of Finance Minister Budget 2005
Table 1
PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE OFFERED BY TOP 10 BUSINESS SCHOOLS
(Source: Business World * September 6, 2004 and Respective websites)
|
Business Schools |
Core / Electives |
Under the main stream |
1 |
IIM, Ahemdabad |
------------- |
|
2 |
IIM, Bangalore |
Electives |
PGP, Production & Operations Mgmt |
3 |
Management Development Institute, Gurgoan |
Electives |
* PGPM Operations Management – Year II |
4 |
IIM, Calcutta |
Electives |
Operations Management (OM 228) |
5 |
Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur |
Electives |
* Business Management Programme, |
6 |
IIFT, Delhi |
Not offered |
|
7 |
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai |
Not offered |
|
8 |
Institute of Rural Management , Anand |
Electives |
PRM Term IV, Project Management |
9 |
S.P.Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. |
Core Electives Electives |
* Masters Certificate in Project Management |
10 |
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar |
Electives |
* PGP & XPGP, Accounting & Finance, |
Table 2
US University offering Project Management Degree Programs
(Source: PMI Web site)
NAME OF UNIVERSITY |
MBA/ MS |
COURSES OFFERED |
American Graduate University |
MBA |
Master of Project Management, |
Aspen University |
MBA |
Certificate in Project Management, MBA, MBA Project Management, |
Brandies University |
M.S. |
Master of Science in Management of Projects and Programs, |
Capella University |
M.S. |
MS in Information Technology with Specialization |
City University, WA |
M.S. |
Graduate Certificate in Project Management, |
Colorado Technical University |
M.S. |
Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Project Management, |
Desales University |
MBA |
MBA Program in Project Management |
Florida Institute of Technology |
M.S. |
MS: Project Management |
George Washington University |
M.S. |
M.S.P.M. Master of Science in Project Management |
Keller Graduate School of Management |
MBA |
Masters in Project Management |
Jones International University |
MBA |
MBA in Project Management |
Naval Postgraduate School |
M.S. |
Master of Science in Program Management, |
New Jersey Institute of Technology |
M.S. |
M.S. in Engineering Management with Project Management specialization. |
Northwestern University |
MBA |
Masters in Project Management |
Regis University |
M.S. |
Online Masters of Science in Project Leadership and Management and |
Robert Morris University |
M.S. |
MS in Information Technology Project Management |
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota |
M.S. |
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT |
Syracuse University |
M.S. |
MS in Information Management w/specialization Project Management |
Thomas Edison State College |
M.S. |
Master of Science in Management with a specialization in Project Management |
University of Alaska, Anchorage |
M.S. |
Master of Science in Engineering Management (Project Management Major); |
University of Central Florida |
Graduate Cert. |
Graduate Certificate in Project Management |
University of Houston |
M.S. |
Master of Science Degree in Technology Project Management – Information Security, |
University of Management And Technology |
M.S. |
MS in Management -- project management major, |
University of Maryland |
PhD. |
MS/PhD. in Project Management |
University of Phoenix |
Graduate Cert. |
Certified Quality Auditor/Manager/Engineer; |
The University of Texas At Dallas |
MBA |
Certificate in Project Management, |
The University of Wisconsin-Madison |
MBA |
Master's Certificate in Project Management, |
University of Wisconsin- Platteville |
M.S. |
Master of Science in Project Management |
Wright State University |
MBA |
MBA with a concentration in Project Management |
Table 3
TABLE SHOWING NUMBER OF REPs, PMI CHAPTERS AND PMI MEMBERS AS OF FEBRUARY 2005.
(SOURCE: www.pmi.org AND CORRESPONDENCES WITH PMI)
REF NO. |
COUNTRY |
REP’s |
CHAPTERS |
PMI |
PMP’s |
1 |
AUSTRALIA |
23 |
6 |
2923 |
1542 |
2 |
CHINA(P.R.CHINA) |
49 |
0 |
275 |
6161 |
3 |
INDIA |
23 |
7 |
4353 |
3263 |
4 |
INDONESIA |
2 |
1 |
122 |
109 |
5 |
JAPAN |
41 |
1 |
4821 |
8475 |
6 |
MALAYSIA |
3 |
1 |
405 |
176 |
7 |
SOUTH KOREA |
11 |
1 |
2254 |
2789 |
Figure 1
(SOURCE: www.pmi.org AND CORRESPONDENCES WITH PMI)
Figure 2
(SOURCE: www.pmi.org AND CORRESPONDENCES WITH PMI)
Authors Profile:
Ajay Parasrampuria
Adjunct Professor – S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. ajayp@spjimr.ernet.in
B.E., M.S. Industrial Tech. (USA) and Academic Associate-Goldratt Institute, USA
Prof. Ajay is the architect and head of Center for Project Management (CPM) at the institute. He has 10 years of industry experience in managing projects and has completed a Certification Program on Theory of Constraints, PM Deployment Expertise from Goldratt Institute, USA. He has trained over 1200 professionals in PM and manages the “Master’s Certificate in Project Management” program at the institute.
Prior to joining SPJIMR, he was involved as entrepreneur in setting ventures in IT & Biotechnology R&D units. He is currently engaged with large corporate in facilitating enterprise wide PM deployments and has worked on wide array of consulting and implementation projects.
Gautam V. Desai
Consulting Faculty – S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. gautam@spjimr.ernet.in
BE (Elec.), BE (Mech.) Gujarat Univ., MS (Mech. Engg.), Univ. of Illinois (USA)
Gautam is a gold medallist from Gujarat University with a fellowship from The University of Illinois.
His industrial experience spans over 35 years covering the entire spectrum of project management – right from initiation of project proposal, project appraisal for financial viability, all phases of project execution, project planning and scheduling, procurement & project construction, review/report and overseeing a group of projects. He started his career as a Project Appraisal Executive for the nation’s leading project financing organization; then moved on to positions of Manager-Projects for a multinational company, Chief Engineer for a project consultancy and a Partner/Technical Director for a consulting firm