Free Essay

Is Project

In:

Submitted By jeuen9923
Words 1666
Pages 7
Best Buy & Security (SSL) Technology

Keller Graduate School of Management

Table of Contents

Abstract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3

Purpose of the report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Discussion of Current issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Recommendation for manager of IT and conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Abstract

Best buy Co., Inc is a fortune 100 company and the largest specialty retailer of customer electronics in the United States and Canada. The company’s corporate headquarter are located in Richfield, Minnesota, USA, establish on June 26, 2007. The company plans to operate more than 1,800 stores worldwide, including 1,400 Best buy stores in the US.

Best buy sells consumer electronics as well as a wide variety of related merchandise for instance, computer, computer software, Video games and appliances (including washing machine, dyer, and refrigerator) As of March 28, 2008, the company operates 935 Best buy stores, 13 Magnolia Audio Video Stores (Specializing in high-end electronics) 7 stand-alone Geek squad stores, 3 Audio Vision stores, and 17 Pacific sales stores, All through its U.S. retails subsidiary. They also operate 51 Best buy and 128 future shop stores throughout.

Best buy had a lot of profit in the last three years. It means in February 25, 2006 the company cans make the total revenue $30,848,000 then, in March 3, 2007 they cans make much more than in 2006 and the total of revenues in 2007 was $35,934,000. In recently on March 1, 2008 the revenues that the company cans make was $40,023,000

Purpose of the report

To develop the benefit of the company by using Information System Management in order to takes advantage of the security (SSL) technology. In addition to, cut cost and increase revenue by providing the security technology. Since using reasonable security measures to protect the customers’ personal information during transmission, storage, and improving new security technology, so it helps Best Buy transform to a more efficient.

Technology

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or service over the internet. In addition, the e-commerce consists of buying and selling of products or services over electronics system such as the internet and other computer networks. The company will provide many tool and system to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transaction.

The advantage derives from the information systems technology that:

- Make it easy for customers to pay for goods.

- Develop systems that coordinate the shipment of goods to customers.

- Develop shipment systems for customer.

Background

Minnesota-based Best Buy Co., Inc. is the leading consumer electronics retailer in the United States, far outpacing archrival Circuit City Stores, Inc. in revenues if not in store count. In early 2004, the company's flagship Best Buy chain included more than 600 stores in 48 states (the exceptions being Hawaii and Wyoming) as well as 19 more in Canada. In addition to personal computers, computer peripheral equipment, and consumer video and audio products, Best Buy outlets, which are on average about 44,000 square feet in size, offer large and small appliances, ranging from refrigerators to coffeemakers, and entertainment software, including compact discs, video games, DVD and VHS movies, and computer software. In the early 2000s, Best Buy acquired two other chains: Seattle-based Magnolia Audio Video and Burnaby, British Columbia-based Future Shop. By early 2004, Magnolia Audio Video, formerly called Magnolia Hi-Fi, operated 19 stores in Washington, Oregon, and California offering high-end consumer electronics and providing expert design and installation services. These stores are about 10,000 square feet on average. Future Shop, operating more than 100 stores throughout Canada, is that nation's largest electronics retailer, offering a wide selection of digital products, televisions, computers, music, and appliances. The average Future Shop outlet occupies approximately 21,000 square feet of retail space. Each of the company's business units also runs an electronic shopping web site on the Internet. Overall, Best Buy's revenue mix has consumer electronics generating 37 percent of the total revenues; home office products, 35 percent; entertainment software, 22 percent; and appliances, 6 percent.

During the next fiscal year, 47 more stores were opened, bringing the total to 357, as the chain moved into the major California markets of Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, and also into Richmond, Virginia. Best Buy also introduced a new and smaller, 30,000-square-foot format designed specifically for markets with populations under 200,000. Nine of these stores were opened during fiscal 2000, and it was hoped that the new format would enable the company to continue its expansion even as its penetration of larger metropolitan areas neared saturation. The smaller stores were also expected to serve as models for a planned move into high-density urban markets, such as New York City, where it would be impossible to build massive superstores. Fiscal 2000 profits jumped 60 percent, to $347.1 million, and revenues grew smartly again, reaching $12.49 billion. This translated into a profit margin of 2.8 percent, significantly better than the 1.1 percent figure from two year's previous.
Current Issues

In some case, customer cheat by switching the products they originally buy from Best buy with the same product then, their bought from the different place such as eBay. The reason is they want to get refund back. So, Best buy can prove the product by scanning the barcode or checking the product number from microchip inside the device to identify that which product is the right one that they bought from Best buy.

3 Year vision

Another three years prospect outcome, Best buy operates a global portfolio of brands with a commitment to growth and innovation. The employees strive to provide customer around the world with superior experience by responding to their unique needs and aspirations. Best buy sell consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances, and related services through nearly 1,300 retail stores across the United States, throughout Canada and in China. However, as the year has passed the competition started growing and best buy had to respond in order to stay in business. It spent millions of dollars in its information systems and its distributions. This meant hiring new people to provide more services. From being a market niche, in which its product where better sold through its web site. Best buy introduced new products in order to keep its customers. Best buy provided good customer service by free shipping, warranties, and performance plan basics. Best buy will continue to be successful as long as it keeps adapting to the rapid change of technology.

We also have chart to compare in which years are the company can make the profit in each years as below:

[pic]

Figure 1-1

If we look at chart (Figure 1-1) it shows in 2007 the company makes the revenues 24,548.00 and in every year the company cans make more revenues and get a lot of profits if we look at chart in figure 1-2. It indicate the company in each year have a growing up in revenues also when we compare with in expense in each year that started on 2007 the expenditure is 50,000 in the contrast, in 2007 the revenue is around 20,000 if we look over in each year you will see the expenditure will decrease in each year but in other side in revenue will increase in each year also.

[pic]

Figure 1-2

Plan

Best buy plans to open approximately 130 to 160 new stores globally during its 2009 fiscal year in order to increase customer convenience and to boost market share while providing the latest element in sores design. The company expects its total retail square to grow 10 percent to approximately 51 million square feet by the end of fiscal 2009

Recommendation for Manager of IT and Conclusion

The Web’s most trusted security provider is the good choice for make the customer trust and come back to buy our products again. There are many ways to provide security of our products. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is one of the security systems that we can use in the business today to protect your personal information during data transport. Furthermore, it has become the industry standard to secure the web properties running these services using SSL server certificates. The ongoing success of today’s web-based services requires that users trust these services and are able to perform transactions securely. A few years ago the price and the process was much more complicated than today because they don’t have a good way to protect. Here is the price for the software and hardware what will be:

• Technicians 50,000 $

• Warranty 1 year validation 1,500 $

2 years validation 2,500 $

3 years validation 3,000 $

• Trust level Basic (**) 100,000 $

Professional (***) 250,000 $

• Software 10,000$

The recommendation to increase margins

-Enable encryption on your site with the SSL Certificate.

If customers log in or make purchases on your site, you need SSL encryption. Before entering sensitive data, Web site visitors look for proof of organizational identity and encryption.

-Display the SSL Certificates Seal and keep customers on the buy path.

Many customers need more than the closed padlock that appears with every SSL connection. 65% of online shoppers have abandoned a shopping cart or failed to complete an online purchase because they did not get a sense of security and trust. Moreover, consumers are increasingly aware of trust marks and understand what they represent.-

-Improve application performance

We assess the performance, capacity, reliability, and manageability of the entire application infrastructure – from your hosts, across your network and to your end user systems – to pinpoint problems and design solutions to help improve performance.

Bibliography

• “Best Buy For Business Privacy Policy.”2008.

• “Best Buy Co, Inc.-Company Profile- Computer Business Review.”2007

• Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

• “Best Buy Financial Statements/Stocks.”2007

• “Secured Transaction-a secured socket layer protocol or SSL.”2008

• “Cybertrust SSL Certificates.”2008

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Projects

...Project Estimating Technique Paper By: Efrain Gonzalez Jr. CPMGT/303 October 6, 2014 Chanda Sanders This paper describes each of the project estimating techniques by explaining when each technique would be used, and how each technique is used. The information being explained provides sources of information that is needed to figure out the most appropriate technique for a project. When justifying an estimate there are certain tools you could use that will help one justify an estimate correctly, and the information being provide explains what tools will be used to justify estimates. Project estimating techniques and tools are important aspects needed to achieve the goal and objective of a project. An analogous estimation is a very common estimation technique used to estimate activities within a project through previous experiences with different projects and extrapolates onto the current project at hand. This technique is mainly used for projects that have the same type of work, and the same resources being used between projects. Parametric model estimation is another precise, easy, accurate technique that is used to estimate time, and resources needed within a project to perform activities. The use of this technique is created upon historical experiences, and lessons learned on different projects. The three point estimation techniques is used to clarify and understand levels of uncertainty within an estimation through the use of three sets of assumption that are all different...

Words: 793 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Project

...Chapter 3 Planning the Project This chapter begins by discussing the nine key elements of the project plan. The following two sections address the planning process in greater detail with considerable emphasis placed on the project launch meeting and the hierarchical planning process by which parts of the plan are sequentially broken down into finer levels of detail. This provides a natural transition to the creation of the Work Breakdown Structure. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a discussion of multidisciplinary teams including the topics of integration management and concurrent engineering. Cases and Readings Some cases appropriate to the subject of this chapter are: Harvard: 9-692-058 Taco Bell Corp. This 31-page best-selling case describes a project to implement a new strategic plan involving major changes in layout, staffing, quality, product design, and information systems. The coordination and integration of all these project activities is what makes the plan successful, and hard for competitors to imitate. Two teaching notes are available for this case: 5-692-091 (20 pages) and 5-196-073 (12 pages). Harvard: 9-694-059 Hardcard Project: Plus Development Corp. (A1); 9-694-060 Hardcard Project: Plus Development Corp. (A2) This 10-page (12-pages for A2) case allows the students to evaluate, using Microsoft Project software, the time line, resource allocations, and other aspects of a major project concerned with developing a hard disk drive...

Words: 3660 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Projects

...THE CONTRIBUTION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA INTRODUCTION Project management as a management discipline underpins much economic activity. In industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, software and aerospace, projects drive business. And in the public sector, it is effective project management that translates politicians' promises of new roads, schools and hospitals into gleaming new constructions that improve everyday life. The development of Ghana Successive Ghanaian governments pursued various models of economic development throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s. In the immediate post independent era of the early 1960s, Ghana’s economic development objectives were geared towards the ‘Big Push’ primary economic policies. These revolved around: a major investment effort; an industrialization drive; increased import substitution; processing of commodities and minerals previously exported in their raw form; and direct state participation in leading areas of the economy. The 1970s ushered in a policy of increased ‘Ghanaianisation’ or indigenisation with specified industrial activities reserved for state participation, Ghana-foreign ownership, and exclusive Ghana ownership, among others. The early 1980s saw the liberalization of the Ghanaian economy and the encouragement of foreign investments. All these approaches, however, fell far short of expectations and the failures were exacerbated by adverse terms of trade, falling commodity prices, and crippling debt by...

Words: 1230 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Project

...State University of New York Empire State College, MBA Program Course 651644: Tools and Processes in Project Management Summer 2013 term Instructor: Dr. Adams Assignment #1: X-philes Data Management Corporation: RFP Matters By Jose M Collazo What is the basis for the problem? There are two primary problems with how X-philes Data Management Corporation handled the request for proposal. The first one was the lack of communication by the managers who selected the same vendor for two different projects. This problem led to the creation of the second problem which is proper resource allocation. When dealing with multiple projects with the same vendor, the company runs the risk of creating multiple interdependencies. Any resource allocation decisions made in one project by the vendor are likely to have ramifications in the other projects. According to Pinto, Some of the better known problems include inefficient use of resources, resource bottlenecks, ripple effects, and the heightened pressure on personnel to multitask (Pinto 2013). The personnel issue in particular, was a main cause of schedule slippage as employees quit at the contractor and they were unable to maintain sufficient staffing levels to keep the projects on track. While bottleneck’s restricts a vendor's ability to make money, they realize that the best way to maximize income is to fully exploit the bottleneck resource (Chakravorty & Atwater§, 2006)...

Words: 1044 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Project

...with any project team is a lack of good communication.This type issue could arrise where team members are scareterd all over the world without face to face communication.The communication through the internet, skype or some of the other communication technologies that are now available are sometimes not reliable and could cause miscommunication. what about one of the team members performing one of the tasks without informing the other team members about it. Overdetermining - project managers sometimes overstates their capabilities of comleting a project on time. That is when a project will take say two months to accomplish they use presure or lack of experience or presure to perform even the other factors that ignores reality for something that is not imporsimble to accomples in the time given. When everyone is not available at the same time to work as a team on the project this could cause a delay to finish and deliver the project on time. The trade offs that is to make a clear policy of communication from the begining of the project that nobody goes off course and that everyone have to work as a team and must be on the sameline with everyone on the team. The project head must make him or herself available at all time to make sure that all the policys are met by everyone in the group. Handster inc. 1. Which projects would you recommend Handstar pursue based on the NPV approach? The spreadsheet bellow summarizes the NPV calculations for the six projects assuming...

Words: 518 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Projects

...Project Kick-Off Meeting Dwayne A. Blanchette BUS 611: Project Planning and Management Dr.: Donald McKay April 25, 2016 Recently the project charter for transitioning the Quick Drop 100 (QD100) from New York to Florida received final authorization. I was awarded the project and assigned as project manager (PM) to lead a team of qualified individuals and complete the task of relocating the QD100 program to the state of Florida. The next step in the preparation phase is to hold a project kickoff meeting. This meeting will be used to acclimate team members, clients, and other attendants to ensure everyone understands the key players and their respective roles. As the PM I plan to generate enthusiasm, motivation, and excitement while maintaining a guided discussion regarding the content, schedule, and duration of the project from start to finish. To prepare for the meeting I will accomplish several preliminary tasks. The most important areas to consider during preparation include identifying stakeholders, communication methods, team building, accountability and code of conduct. Once the tone has been set and key points discussed the meeting will conclude by first reiterating member expectations and responsibilities followed by a summary of all pertinent information. The bottom line is this kickoff meeting will be presented as such to ensure all relevant attendants and stakeholders are provided a transparent achievable list of goals. Stakeholders A significant...

Words: 1862 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Project

...PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE ASSESSMENT 1 The final date for submission of this assessment without penalty is 24th March 2014 Assessment will be accepted for marking 14 days prior to the due date Late Penalty System Please refer to the Student/Programme Handbook This module is being delivered through the Manchester Blackboard virtual learning environment. All assessments must be submitted through Blackboard at: http://online.manchester.ac.uk/ If you have any technical difficulties using blackboard, please visit our support pages at: http://www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/blackboard Submitting your Assignment 1. Assignments should be typed, 10 or 11 point font size (Times Roman or similar if possible) double spaced with a 4 cm margin on the right side of the page with the page size specified as UK A4. All pages must be numbered. 2. Assignments should be submitted in either Microsoft Office and/or PDF format (.doc, .docx, .pdf etc.). File names should be kept simple and only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z0-9), spaces and underscores (e.g. Valid_filename_1.doc). Files with other characters such as apostrophes, brackets or commas may not be accessible by markers. 3. Assignments may be uploaded only once; substitutions are not permitted and students should therefore ensure that the version uploaded is their final submission. 4. Please ensure you include your student number and the assignment reference (PM/Student Number/Jan14/1) in all submitted assignments and that assignments...

Words: 740 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Project

...decision to earn a project management certification is a big one, so make sure you choose one that best fits your current expertise and your future career plans. You can apply for any certification that matches your qualifications, and no certification serves as a prerequisite for another. * Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® * Project Management Professional (PMP)® * Program Management Professional (PgMP)® * PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)SM * PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® * PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)® Already have a PMI certificate PMI Educational Foundation Mission and Vision Join PMI Educational Foundation in Building Better Futures through project Management. PMI Educational Foundation (PMIEF), the philanthropic arm of PMI, announces the Building Better Futures capital campaign to expand its mission to champion project management knowledge and skill for educational and social good globally. Donations to the campaign support sustainable programs that further the very project management principles and practices that project management practitioners, employers and suppliers believe in by developing: * A Better Prepared Project Management Workforce for the Future * A Better Prepared Society for Future Success   * A Better Prepared Response in Future Times of Need Donations to the Building Better Futures campaign demonstrate a clear commitment to bringing the benefits of project management to...

Words: 554 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Project

...The Project manager will put together a human resources team that will be responsible for building a cross-cultural team that will work closely together. Individuals who are bilingual and have worked on a global scale will be given priority. Employees will be selected through a thorough interview process that includes background checks and drug testing. We will only hire qualified individual because they will represent the Acme Company in Mexico and will help us establish a relationship with the community we will be serving An approach is to work with a reputable local employment agency, another one is to hire translators to assist management and local staff. The human resources team will implement current company policies and procedures A marketing and communication team will be responsible for: * promoting Acme products * Supporting project management in achieving the aims and objectives of the project. * Implementation and evolution of the brand guidelines. * Instilling and communicating good marketing and communications practice across Acme * Marketing analysis and environmental scanning (the team will ensure that Acme offers competitive prices than local competitors. * Helping the company communicate with the public. * Creating advertisements, campaigning, offering coupons In order to have an effective marketing strategy, we will work with local marketing companies because they have better understanding on how to market Acme’s products...

Words: 319 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Project

...Research Project Management Key Concepts Dr Robin Henderson robin@myconsultants.net Research Project Management - Key Concepts © My Consultants Ltd 2010 Introduction The successful management of a research project depends upon the researchers ability to plan, coordinate and perform the research. Many researchers do not formally manage their research and whilst this does not necessarily mean that the research will not be completed successfully this approach has impacts on the staff whom are involved in the project. For example an unplanned approach can often lead to stress in members of the research team, crises management when deadlines are not effectively managed and the lack of time within the research to deliver effective outcomes for all the staff involved in the project. This short document outlines some of the key tools which you can utilise within research contracts to lead to more successful outcomes. Clearly understanding what success means for your project. The starting point for managing a project effectively is to have a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve. A simple model to start to explore this is to distinguish between outputs and outcomes.  Outputs are the physical deliverables of the project  Outcomes are what happens as a result of the outputs For example in a clinical based trial the output could be a paper with the related outcome being the changes in clinical practise. The starting point for a project is to define what the desired outcomes...

Words: 2908 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

It Project

...frame: Coalitions composed of varied individuals and interest groups. Conflict and power are key issues Symbolic frame: Symbols and meanings related to events. Culture, language, traditions, and image are all parts of this frame Organization structure: Project organization structure (is hierarchical, but instead of functional managers or vice presidents reporting to the CEO, program managers report to the CEO.) Matrix organization: • represents the middle ground between functional and project structures. Process of Project management: 1. Starts the project 2. Initiate (the planning) 3. Plan 4. Execute 5. Close (end the project) Project management Process Groups: 1 Initiate (start) include defining and authorizing a project or project phase. Initiating processes take place during each phase of a project. 2 Planning (Scope document, schedule management plan, cost mgr plan, and procurement plan) 3 Execute (Implementation phase, acquiring and developing the project team, performing quality assurance, distributing information, managing stakeholder expectations,)building and testing 4 Monitor and control: include regularly measuring and monitoring progress to ensure that the project team...

Words: 323 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Project

...Strategy & Project Management: Project orientated organisations Finnland 2005 Prof. (FH) Peter J. Mirski Prof.(FH) Mag. Peter J. Mirski Tel.: +43-512-2070-3510 E-Mail: peter.mirski@mci.edu http://www.mci.edu Current Position MCI, University of Applied Sciences: Director of studies „Management & IT“, Head of IT-Services Academical Profile Research projectmangement, knowledgemanagement strategic information management, e-learning Education process, project, information management Publications and articles in journals Practice Profile Management, R&D Project Management, CEO, CIO Consulting & Training Agenda 10:00 – 14:00 Brief project management overview Project orientated organisations Project scorecard Discussion Literature De Marco T., „The Deadline“, Dorset House Publishing Co ,1997 Goldratt E., “The Critical Chain“, North River Press, 1997 Heerkins G., „project management“, briefcase books 2002 PMBOK Guide, „A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge“, PM Institute, 2000 Links •www.p-m-a.at (pm baseline english, german) •www.pmi.com (pm information) project management overview Importance of Project Management • Projects represent change and allow organizations to effectively introduce new products, new processes, new programs • Project management offers a means for dealing with dramatically reduced product cycle times • Projects are becoming globalised, making them more difficult to manage without a formal methodology –...

Words: 1737 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Project

...seek a Project Manager in their Washington DC offices. Provides program support to team members as needed related to projects and program activities. Tasks include task tracking, program change management support, administrative support and project and program reporting. Helps with the preparation of project and program schedules and coordinates the necessary internal and external resources to fulfill the project and program activities within the prescribed time frames and funding parameters to ensure project and program objectives and stakeholders expectations are met. Specific responsibilities include: * Coordinates activities within the project life-cycle including initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control phases. * * Helps with the preparation of Project and Program Weekly Status report as necessary and upload to the Project Server in a timely fashion. * Generates various other Project, Program and department related status reports as needed. * Helps prepare responses for anticipated questions during the weekly ITIL meeting (in case of a Red project). * Helps Identify and schedules project deliverables, milestones, and required tasks. * Prepares change management documentation in support of the change management process and supports the Change Management meeting. * Documents all change management decisions according to the change management process * Coordinates selection and assignment of SMEs to the project team...

Words: 343 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Project

...Project Plan Outline 1.0 Goals and Objectives This section presents a general description of the project along with any general or technical constraints and/or considerations. Please include the sub-sections below. 1. Project name 2. Business goals and project goals 3. Scope 4. Time and budget constraints 5. General and technical requirements 6. Training and documentation 7. Installation 2.0 Project Estimates This section presents a set of estimates for the completion of the project, including people, hardware and software. Please include the following sub-sections. 1. People costs a. Historical or researched data used for estimates (Requires annotation listing where you got this information) b. Salary requirements 2. Equipment costs (Requires costs for all hardware and software used. It is assumed that all hardware and software will be new). a. Hardware b. Software 3. Estimation techniques and results a. Process-based (use the format shown in section 1.2.1 of the lecture) b. Second method c. Triangulation results 3.0 Project Schedule This section presents an overview of project tasks and the output of a project scheduling tool. The following sub-sections should be included: 3.1 Project task list The tasks that have been selected for the project are presented in this section. 3.2 Task network Project tasks and their dependencies are noted in this diagrammatic form. 3.3 Timeline chart A project timeline chart (Gantt chart) is presented...

Words: 508 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Projects

...Projects Without Borders Elizabeth Harrin (October 5, 2006) Managing international projects requires much more than calculating that when it’s 9 a.m. in Paris, Texas, it’s 4 p.m. in Paris, France. Crosscultural teams and customers won’t necessarily work the same way as you. Here are some strategies for discovering the differences and dealing with them. As the world gets smaller, projects seem to expand to fill the available space, and now many of us are tackling the challenge of managing cross-cultural project teams and cross-cultural project customers. When your project team spans different countries, getting everyone together for a conference call is a new kind of administrative nightmare. But it’s not just the practicalities of working out time zone disparities and correcting the occasional bit of awkward grammar that make crossborder projects so challenging. National culture plays a big part in how we act and work. Get a group of people together from around the world and they can’t even agree on what noise a rooster makes, so how are they going to come to a conclusion on how to communicate project progress to the stakeholders? Or, to put it another way, the people you are working with won’t necessarily work in the same way as you, and the people you are working for won’t necessarily want the same things. One financial project manager I know was sent to Spain for a year to set up a new process improvement initiative in one of his company’s call centers. The Madridbased office...

Words: 1095 - Pages: 5