We did this project On Purpose
Categories:
purpose
Categories: purpose
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A while ago, I blogged about the book “Purpose” by Nikos Mourkogiannis. That book had an image of a tree and focused on the roots of a tree as a way to show that business’ purpose is really what gives it its foundation, its nutrients, its structure, its basis. Flipping through what turns out to be an excellent journal called Biz Ed, I was surprised to find an article with a similar graphic, and a related title – and a strong connection to project management. The article is “Rooted in a Sense of Purpose” by Mie Augier and Arjay Miller. In it, the authors focus on the possibilities of building business schools (and the appropriate curricula!) that hae a social conscience. The quote that told me for sure that this article was ‘blog-worthy’ was this one: Students can help build bridges between sectors. Isn’t that what we do as PMs? We’re silo busters – making sure that different parts of our business connect properly with each other so that they contribute properly to the project objectives. Since most companies have made strong commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), then if project management students (of any age!) learn how to do their job of connecting sectors, and the sectors themselves are all properly connected to the company’s CSR goals, it only figures that these newly-educated PMs will be able to help root their companies in their purpose. So I would assert the following: Project Managers can help root their companies in their purpose. As a seasoned instructor of graduate-level business students, in most cases PM-focused students, I see an eagerness to learn in this integrated fashion. Yes, many of the students are Millennials and Gen-Y’ers so that is part of it, but by the same token, I have many students who are “older” – in their 50s and 60s – and they also seem to crave the idea of understanding how their business’ purpose connects with their own projects and how their businesses respect not only economic but also ecological, ethical, and social goals. The article features a case study on Public Management at Stanford University. It focuses on their MBA program and their PMP certificate. But wait: it’s not the PMP® of which you are thinking. Rather, it is a Public Management Program, a part of Stanford’s MBA since 1971. The acronym may be “wrong” but the effort is quite “right”. The program teaches the usual business disciplines – economics, management, marketing, financial analysis, and although not mentioned, I’m sure it includes project management. The difference? The courses are revised to include components related to ethics and social responsibility. This is not hard to do. I have actually started to do this in my own teaching by using project cases based on (for example) the BP Macondo Well (mostly known as the Deepwater Horizon) incident, the Takata air bag problem, and the recent Volkswagen attempt to ‘work around’ EPA regulations on carbon monoxide emission levels. And I must tell you, this becomes one of the more interesting parts of the course and really gets people energized on the issues. We don’t’ always all agree, of course, and in fact sometimes vigorously disagree. But through argument, in the most positive sense of this word, students are learning more about purpose, and importantly more about how their projects (and project management education and knowledge) help – really help – their business form the roots that make the business truly successful. |
