An Indian Wedding - A Case Study in Crisis Management

Our daughters’ wedding – a case study in Crisis Management. This case study is based on a personal “project” - our daughters’ wedding. Being a certified PMP, it was but natural that we ensured that all copybook processes of project management were deployed for planning the wedding. This included a WBS, scheduling where required, resource planning, risk management and procurement. In that sense, it was a well-planned project and one week before the wedding we were pretty relaxed. Little did we know what was in store for us. The wedding dates were on 6 and 7 December 2016 and heavy rains struck Chennai in India from 1 December, many areas were flooded and its disastrous effects continued till 8 December.  In the midst of great challenges we had to conduct the wedding. It was done against all odds considering that many weddings during the period were postponed or even cancelled. This talk will bring home the challenges faced and describe some interesting anecdotes in people behavior, procurement and leadership. It will spell out inferences and Best Practices from this episode which can be applied in crisis situations in organizations or personal life.