Women at Work Balancing Career and Personal Goals
Women at Work Balancing Career and Personal Goals
Women at Work Balancing Career and Personal Goals
Vision
Leadership
Motivation
Teamwork
Inspiration
Success
On the Occasion of
CONTENTS
Managing Editor
Raj Kalady
Cover Story
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PMI Organization Centre Private Limited 302-305, III Floor, Balarama, Plot No. C-3, E Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai 400051, India Phone +91 22 2659 8659 +91 22 2659 2235 E-mail pmi.india@pmi.org www.pmi.org.in
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Book Review Overview of the PMBOK Guide Paving the way for PMP Certification (3rd Edition) by Deasn Conchir
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Chapter News
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February 2013
http://www.pmi.org/GLOBALS/StandardsUpdate. aspx?WT.mc_id=www.pmi.org/standardsupdate As you already know, the fth PMI India Project Management National Conference will be held in Delhi. The conference will be held on 27-28 September 2013, with the host chapter being the PMI North India Chapter. Do keep a watch on the announcements for the submission of technical papers and awards nominations. We are observing International Womens Day on 8 March with a special issue on women in project management. Every year thousands of young women graduate with dreams in their eyes of a successful career ahead. But their careers are often cut short because of work-life pressures and very few manage to reach leadership roles. Organizations are pushing for more gender diversity at the workplace but clearly more needs to be done. In this issue of Manage India, we present the stories of successful women professionals who have managed to strike that balance and rise in their career. We hope our readers will nd something inspiring and useful in each of these stories. Lets take a pledge on this occasion to do our bit to provide women equal opportunity to participate and contribute towards our countrys progress.
Warm regards,
February 2013
INTERViEW
Salary disparities still exist between men and women employees. Are companies doing enough to correct that? Despite major inroads that working women have made in recent times, they are still paid less than men. It is often attributed to salary negotiation skills. Women are often perceived as less aggressive and less likely to question salary structures than men. They are also less likely to ask for a promotion. These arguments are corroborated in a recent Accenture study, The Path Forward. The study found that 58 percent women as compared to 68 percent men have asked for a raise. A recent LinkedIn study of 400 professionals in India showed that while 37 percent of male respondents felt negotiating for their salaries before taking up jobs was ne, only 26 percent of women felt the same. Women must become more aggressive and be proactive in asking for a promotion or a better salary. What do organizations need to do to make the workplace more conducive for women? Organizations must understand that men and women expect the same from their careers. Both seek work-life continuity, transparency in policies, and sufcient opportunities for growth, among other things. However, in order to empower women in their career progression, organizations must realize the importance of offering women-friendly policies, such as exi-timings, work-from-home, and extended maternity leave
February 2013
COVER STORY
a break, and then take up another project. For this, project management skills come in very useful. Those with challenging jobs can learn how to face them with project management.
Recommendations to companies
Women employees leave when they nd they have no support whether within the organization or on the home front. Our social system is such that women are expected to perform certain roles and made to feel guilty if they dont. There is a conict between their aspirations career-wise and responsibilities at home. Companies should identify their needs and create a support system. They must offer exibility to women employees because when you are given exibility, you are even more committed.
February 2013
COVER STORY
Sometimes, women lack condence in their capabilities. A little assertion helps. Companies must nurture them (into becoming assertive). prioritize quickly. They are good at time management, which is the crux of project management.
The journey
I did Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. I wanted to get into hardware R&D. I joined DCM DataSystems and worked there for 10 years, of which two were in the U.S. While at DCM, I happened to work on ISO9001 Certication. The work helped me get broad-based knowledge of software engineering and project management. Later, I moved to Bangalore and worked at Verifone, before becoming an entrepreneur for nearly a decade. I come from a business background and always wanted to set up my own business. The experience gave me a sound background in setting up a business. While running it, there were gaps that had to be bridged; so, I had to build my capabilities. I did courses in nance; I trained in HR. I sought seed capital from angel investors. I took exceptional risks, learned how to network. It was a very interesting experience. Handling different situations right then and there became a part and parcel of my life. Later, I successfully sold my business. Then I joined IBM, and was able to leverage all my previous learnings at IBM.
My achievements
The highpoint in my career has been going through the whole
February 2013
COVER STORY
PMI & Women Project Managers
PMI has launched a video series on YouTube, titled Women in Project Management. In this widely viewed series, Ms. Beth Partleton, PMP, PMI Board of Directors, speaks about her journey, project management as a career for women, and more. To watch the series, refer to this link for more http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSP5iPcvxpPi6QVjsnPJMi xCp7-C45mif PMI Educational Foundation runs a scholarship program for women project managers. The Women in Project Management Scholarship Fund goes out twice a year for a maximum value of US$ 2,000 and is open to women practitioners from anywhere in the world who wish to take a project management continuing education course. Refer to this link for morehttp://www.pmi.org/pmief/scholarship/scholarship-women-in-pm-sig.asp PMI has a Specic Interest Group (SIG) for women project managers. The Women in PM SIG help members with common interests and industries to come together and share ideas, challenges, and concerns across geographical boundaries. Through networking, developing technical papers, teleconferences, and collaborative work on special projects, members have a unique opportunity to learn and grow.
The journey
I started with marketing in the manufacturing industry, with a paint manufacturing company. I grew with the company, learned all my initial skills there, and performed various roles, from personnel management to marketing support. I then moved to a more specic role at Nagarjuna Coated Tubes Limited, from domestic to export marketing. Following that, I worked for 10 years at ITC Ltd. in the exports line, handling export nance and working capital management. I also qualied in MBA Finance. Next, I worked at Satyam for 10 years and was operations head of Satyam Learning Centre. As a learning consultant for banking and nance, I pioneered several activities. The rst onsite learning program launched by me was held in Washington. I institutionalized a lot of learning initiatives, and cross-geography and cross-functional best practices. Later, at Deloitte, I headed the leadership program, building a leadership pipeline from the campus to the CEO level. Deloitte was active in project management. I also headed the project management center of excellence; we had 250 homegrown PMP certied professionals. The programs were high-intensive, with case studies, real-time scenarios, high quality training; it ran like a well-oiled engine. I completed my PMP certication in 2009. By nature, I am framework-oriented, process-driven, checklist-driven, into stakeholder management, risk management, and plan Bs. Without knowing it, I was applying project management principles at work.
My achievements
My achievement lies in developing people, making them competent, and giving them skills to become successful. A couple of papers are also my achievements at the Project Management Conference in Satyam on developing project induction and client exposure, and the PMI Conference at Colombo in 2010, on leveraging project management skills in learning and development.
Own your career and life. In college, girls have great aspirations, but later succumb to lifecycle pressures and get into the victim mode. Instead, have a plan, focus on it, and know when to dial up or dial down; when necessary, take a specialist role where you work alone, or go into virtual teaming. Speak up about your constraints without getting emotional and nd solutions. Compete with yourself rather than others. Women change their roles and careers to suit their families. Do the reverse be focused and maneuvre things around that. Use your prioritization, plan management, multitasking, negotiation, and people management skills at work and home. Dont blame the environment; look within for answers. We must be managers at home: develop a mindset of customizing your plans to achieve your goals. Delegate, outsource domestic work.
In IT and consulting rms, the management is sensitive to work-life balance. Many offer working out of home, exitiming, or virtual teaming.
February 2013
COVER STORY
The journey
My parents are doctors, so it was natural l became one. I studied MBBS at Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad. After my post-graduation in pediatrics, I practised for a decade as a pediatrician and neonatologist. But I wanted to do more. IT was the buzzword then. So, I became a trainer with a company which did medical billing and coding, through an outsourced project on healthcare from U.S. Later, I led a knowledge process outsourcing engagement with a project in Denver, Colorado, U.S, involving 50 doctors. I learned to manage complex projects and issues around high-end resources. Thats when I got involved in project management. Getting myself certied as a PMP in 2008, I was among the top few physicians with the certication. Joining Cognizant as a domain expert, I was part of the center of excellence team in the healthcare business unit. I then worked with a couple of U.S. companies in the electronic health record area, interacting with the top-end of the chain. I trained healthcare and ancillary professionals to acquire the skills to work in sync with doctors in U.S. I also brought out two papers: The rst was Patient care, a project management perspective. I have a mapping of A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) to the actual life of a patient, something that Harvard Public Health looked at. I also conducted two webinars for PMI in 2011 September and December that were
telecast globally. The second paper was Project management for knowledge process outsourcing projects. I am now writing a paper on management for reducing patient re-admission. Using frameworks from elds like aviation and supply chain, I apply them to healthcare.
My achievements
A great achievement is when patients come to you, tears in their eyes, saying you helped me get better. Another is my paper on patient care.
In a Mans World
Ms. Amita Thakurdesai Head - Planning, Monitoring, and Estimation Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited
The journey
I got into this eld by choice. Creating something new and the sheer volume of work involved attracted me to civil engineering. During the course, I was impressed by the different facets of projects and went on to do construction
management. Starting my career in the countrys largest contracting company, I moved on to another infrastructure giant and now work with a developer. Experience in each company has been unique in itself: be it handling initial planning, resource allocation across 100 projects, cost and
February 2013
COVER STORY
time monitoring, strategic planning, dealing with different aspects of projects worth more than Rs. 500 crore, to heading estimation and planning portfolio. I also wanted to do my bit for society by contributing towards building better infrastructure. Company was different: handling large infrastructure projects from the corporate ofce for the rst time was a new high. Involvement in the engineering marvel - the Bandra Worli Sealink, the Lavasa township, and handling the road portfolio from the monitoring cellare highlights of my career there. Working in a developer setup in Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited (my current employer) has also been a different experience.
My achievements
I currently head estimating, planning, and monitoring in my organization. Being a woman and heading such a department is not easy. I started as an assistant engineer with Larsen & Toubro Engineering Construction Company (L&T ECC). I was the rst woman taken on board the construction wing. It was very challenging to work and prove myself in a male dominated industry. But sheer hard work and perseverance paid off. My condence in my abilities helped, and when I faced roadblocks, I employed two strategies: refusing to take criticism and prejudice personally; and expanding my experience by accepting new challenges. I continue to do that today. I was also lucky to have had bosses who believed in my capabilities and never made me feel inferior to my male colleagues. Later, I looked after the resource department at L&T-ECC for its western region. Working in Hindustan Construction
Build on Knowledge
Ms. Shagufta Inamdar Learning Consulting Head, Talent Transformation Wipro Technologies
The Journey
My initial years were spent in handling various roles in training institutes. In one such premium institute, I was in charge of executing training programs, with 70 plus faculty members and multiple courses round the clock. Managing this manually was a herculean task. I was then exposed to MS Project, a planning and allocations tool which addressed all our concerns. This was the beginning of my association with project management. I started conducting sessions on project management concepts and tools and in parallel, completed my CAPM, PMP & PRINCE2 certications. At Wipro Technologies, I have been holding the mantle for PMI Registered Education Provider initiative for the past seven years. Currently, I manage the fresher induction program where 10,000-15,000 fresh graduates get trained annually. A complex set-up with 60 different types of programs, it works like a factory; my project management knowledge helps me execute it awlessly.
Indias Champion Program. I won the leadership excellence award from PMI India in August 2012. I have been an invited speaker in Reserve Bank of India and the National Institute of Banking Management; and have an excellent performance record and fast track growth in the current and previous organizations.
My achievements
I am a member of the Champion Advisory Committee for PMI
COVER STORY
Manage your team well: You are as good as your team. Understand your team members skills and utilize them appropriately, keep them motivated. Emotional intelligence and patience are key skills. Add global accreditations: Ensure you have credentials in project management, a PMP, PgMP or PRINCE2, as seems suitable, adding weight to your prole. Giving you condence, this is a testimony of your knowledge in the discipline, going beyond your experience.
emotional connects, women help rally the team, and usually bring out the best in people. Besides project management skills, women seem to excel in communication, motivating teams, and simplifying complexities in a project. Moreover, managers and organizations nd it much easier to track their work due to their disciplined and sincere approach.
Recommendations to companies
In companies, HR needs to provide work from home, video conference facilities, etc. Traditional male dominated industries such as mining, steel, and infrastructure projects must offer more incentives for women participation. Again, technology can play a key role: by not having the project team necessarily be on-site all the time. High denition video facilities are available on smartphones today. Leveraging advances in technology will change the paradigms of traditional project management: through exible work timings, working from home, and the use of remote connectivity and smartphones. Women project managers are generally more sensitive to social issues and aware about such dynamics. Organizations must have a strategy to have a healthy male-female ratio in project management roles. Sponsoring programs like PMIs for women associates can motivate them to become project managers.
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The art of negotiation means to curve out conditional yes and assertive no in a given situation, and is another critical area of improvement for women project managers.
February 2013
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BOOK REViEW
Reviewed by Mr. Jacob Zachariah, MBA, OCP, PMP, is chief manager (systems) with State Bank of India. He is a PMI India Champion, volunteer, faculty member, speaker, and ethics committee member. Mr. Zachariah has judged project management awards competitions, been on scholarship committees.
R.E.P. Update
Agile Tour 2012
Mr. Rathinakumar Balasubramanian, head agile practice, Sabcons, was an invited speaker at the Agile Tour 2012 conference in Pune and Bangalore on 15 September and 29 September, respectively. At the Pune event, he spoke on Building Great Products Lessons from a Successful Product Owner. His talk focussed on the challenges faced by a product owner in a large project that follows agile project management techniques, and the skills required to succeed in the role of a product owner. In the Bangalore event, he spoke on Agile Adoption - Myth or Reality? His talk emphasized how the adoption of agile project management techniques is intertwined with cultural aspects and the role of perception in its adoption at the enterprise level. Mr. Balasubramanian also presented a paper on Building a High-Performance Agile Project Team - Challenges and Best Practices at the PMI India National Conference in Chennai.
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CHapTER NEWS
PMI Pearl City Chapter
PMI Pearl City Chapter started the year with a change in the leadership team. Mr. A. Suresh Chandra, past chapter president, has moved to a PMI global role, and Mr. Srinivas Kopparapu took over as chapter president on 1 January. Elections for the chapter board are due and vacant board positions have to be lled before March end. The chapter organized a webinar on Theory of Constraints by Mr. Harish Honward, PMI Pune Chapter board member, on 13 December. The next webinar is planned in the rst
Bangalore Chapter
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February 2013
CHapTER NEWS
North India Chapter
The chapter board has created an election nomination committee comprising of the following distinguished professionals: Mr. Tejas Sura, regional mentor, PMI Region 11, and joint managing director, Conart Engineers Limited; Mr. Ramam Atmakuri, winner of PMI Eric Jenett Project Management Excellence Award, member, PMI Chapter Member Advisory Group, and vice president, Cognizant; and Mr. Brij Nandan Yadava, vice president, DLF Home Developers Ltd. They devoted their personal time and effort to ensure the elections take place in a transparent and fair manner. The chapter board now comprises of the following: Mr. Manoj Gupta, president; Mr. Pritam Gautam, vice president, technology; Mr. Amit Chauhan, vice president, nance and compliance; Ms. Shalini Lamba, vice president, corporate relations; Mr. Sachin Agarwal, vice president volunteer management; Ms. Vanita Ahuja, vice president, government relations; and Mr. Hemant Seigall, secretary. Year 2012 was a year of growth for the chapters e-magazine, Synergy. The seventh edition was released in December 2012.
The chapter has organized several activities to advocate project management best practices in the region. One such program is the faculty development program. The chapter delivered this program with the help of chapter members and external faculty for Amity University on behalf of PMI India in Noida earlier this month. Amity Academic Staff College, in association with Amity Institute of Information Technology and PMI India, organized a ve-day refresher course for project managers. A total of 29 participants from Amity University attended the training. A three-member team with our chapter president delivered the entire training that acquainted the participants with various PMI concepts Risk management for 25 PSUs The chapter also delivered a program on risk management for 34 public sector undertaking (PSU) ofcials in the Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation from 25 different PSUs. The program also gave them exposure about PMI North India Chapter and its activities and areas of collaboration between PSUs and the chapter. The session was delivered jointly by Mr. Manoj Gupta and Mr. Hemant Siegell.
February 2013
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CHapTER NEWS
West Bengal Chapter
management and will be attended by business leaders, project managers, and senior leaders in government and professional organizations.
(Chapter news contributed by Mr. Soumen De, Mr. Amitabh Kishore, Mr. Piyush Govil, Mr. Rinoo Rajesh, and Mr. Ravi Vurakaranam)
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CHampiON UpDaTE
Contibution of Champions
SBI is not a projectized organization. It is a hierarchical banking company. Selling the concept of project management is therefore a long and tedious process. It took Mr. Jacob J. Zachariah close to two years to achieve that. Today, the bank has started an in-house training of IT ofcers by PMI on project management. It also offers cash incentives for those who complete their PMP certication. So far, 60 ofcers have undergone the preparatory course by PMI. The target is 200 ofcers. Mr. Zachariah has put in considerable background work. One such initiative was to invite the deputy managing director, information technology, as the keynote speaker for the PMI Mumbai Chapter Conclave in December 2011. The interactions during the conference helped the ofcial understand the importance of the PMP certication for the banks staff. After a series of meetings with the key stakeholders within the organization, SBI has now approved the certication processes for its ofcers. The bank has since been participating in PMI events. It was one of the sponsors of the PMI Mumbai Chapter Conclave in December 2012. Mr. Jayant Malhotra has delivered a guest lecture at the Alcatel-Lucent IPM Symposium 2012 via a webinar. It was recorded and played throughout Alcatel worldwide.Those who ran the playback received PDUs. The presentation covered the essence of competency management in HR, besides performance management, technical competency assessment, career development, and knowledge management. The talk demonstrated the value of competency management to the organization and to individuals who participated and managed it. The presentation covered the denition, process, prociency levels, its applications in wide variety of roles, and how it is professionally managed.
(Contributed by PMI India Champions Mr. Chetan Mathur, PMP and Mr. Kumar Saurabh, PMP)
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