Managing the Project Environment
By R. Max Wideman A E W Services, Vancouver, B.C., Canada This paper was printed as Chapter 5 in the GPM state-of-the-art book Dimensions of Project Management edited by H. Reschke & H. Schelle and published by Springer-Verlag in 1990. The book involved 29 authors from 16 countries and was assembled in honor of Roland W. Gutsch's 65th birthday. Roland, a personal friend, was founder and long-time leader of the International Project Management Association in Europe. Abstract Today's technological disciplines responsible for new facility and infrastructural projects are now becoming seriously attuned to the idea of concern for the physical environment. Certainly, the project managers of such projects need to be similarly aware of these concerns and manage their projects accordingly. This applies to both the project's long term impacts arising out of the project's conceptual formulation, as well as its shorter term construction impacts arising during execution. However, today's project manager also needs to be attuned to the cultural, organizational and social environments surrounding the project. Understanding this environment includes identifying the project stakeholders and their ability to affect its successful outcome. This leads to the possibility of influencing this environment in a positive way, for the better reception of the change which the project is designed to introduce. Thus, the influencable risks involved may be significantly reduced, and failure to take such an approach will inevitably lead to a less than satisfactory outcome. This chapter discusses various aspects of the project environment, and suggests ways in which it may be influenced in order to increase the probability of a successful outcome. Introduction Why worry about the project environment, when the objective of project management is to get the project completed within scope, cost and schedule? The truth is that if the real objective is to end up with a