Leading Orgs - Only Octopi Need Apply

Leading organizations is like leading a swarm of bees. You can’t directly control what’s going on, and the statistics indicate that most organizational leaders aren’t doing a very good job of it. A Harris Poll found that only 15% of people knew their orgs most important goals, over half of employees don’t know what to do to achieve company goals, and less than half of employees’ time was spent working on these goals. What’s more, another big fancy-schmancy research center found that less than 20% of employees feel strongly committed to company goals. (Somehow the math doesn’t quite add up here. Must be some kind of statistical uncertainty in the data. I can’t tell if the 19% who are committed to the goals are the same 15% who know the goals. I hope so, otherwise we could have 15% of people knowing the goals, but not committed to them, and another 19% who are strongly committed to goals that they don’t even know. Ouch, my brain hurts!) (more…)

Theoretical Frameworks in Project Management

I recently read an article on Project Connections, In Defense of the Project Management “Perfect World” by Carl Pritchard, PMP, EVP.

I thought it was an excellent article, with well-stated and supported points.

There are many theoretical frameworks for project management, quality, general management, etc. I’m convinced that above a particular threshold, all of them are nearly equally valid. Some may be better in specific areas than others, and some may apply better across a broad class of situations. Others just don’t work well in any scenario, and those die.
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