We All are Europe - AESAEC

Michael Schwaiger (AUXILIUM/AT)
Module 7: How to implement a Project Successfully
Unit 7.1.
Unit in a nutshell
Achievements
Considerations before starting with the project work
Main considerations in the initial phase of a project
Understanding contractual structures and their impact on project management
styles
Definition of stakeholders involved in an EU funded project
Unwritten laws and rules in EU project management
Check-list of requirements when starting an EU project
After this unit you will be able to:
devise an appropriate management style according to your contractual
position
adjust your project management style to satisfy the expectations of all
stakeholders involved in your project
identify and agree on a set of quality standards relevant to successful
project management
ensure that the most important preconditions and quality standards are
fulfilled from the initial project phase.
The first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time. The last 10% takes the other 90%. (Unknown)
Warming up:
A never-ending discussion in international project management
is about the general management style: Should a
project be led by one partner (the promoter or coordinator)being
more or less self-contained or should a project
be managed by the whole partnership, mainly based on
democratic decision making
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each style
Which key factors could influence the decision on choosing
the style What do you think would be best How would
you like to manage a project
Listen / Read / Discuss / Exercise
7.1.1. Project management styles and target group orientated arrangements
The questions asked above look rather simply to answer - but this is not the case. Project management
is a very complex issue, proceeding at many different levels at the same time, changing its
character and focus depending on the point of view of the person observing the project, and being
pocketed by many different stakeholders, representing different interests and demands. Last but
not least, project management is very much culturally and socially determined! The Finnish writer
Hannu Raittila composed a very nice novel called Canal Grande, in which a group of Finnish engineers
travel to Venice to support Italian colleagues in building water-barriers to prevent Venice
from becoming permanently flooded. The two totally different ways of approaching this task in applied
project management causes an intensive culture clash, which is not only the basis for a very
amusing story but it is also a very profound observation of misunderstandings, interferences and
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