Japanese Best Practices of Project Management

Introduction

The Third PMBOK Cafe brainstormed, discussed in detail and presented concrete ideas on Japanese Project Management Best Practices. Participants and Facilitators were from Japan, India, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The workshop looked at a scenario of How a Japanese Project might train a mixed group of International Project Managers to build a high performing team. The Japanese have been performing global projects for millennia. For example Horyuji temple is an example of a project that spanned generations and four nations 1,300 years ago. It is a Buddhist temple complex in Nara Japan. The temples stakeholders were the Imperial Family, Indian Buddhism, Korean Technology Transfer with Chinese Architectural designs. The Japanese have been adapting and incorporating Western Project Management epistemology and in fact many of the Concepts of Project Management in regards to Quality and Human Resource Management can be sourced to have originated in Japan.

Lessons Learned

The lessons learned from this workshop are that the unique social and cultural characteristics need to be considered in performing project management in Japan. One of the important ideas is the Japanese concept of "WA". The concept of "WA" is complex. WA means sum, harmony, peace and Japanese Style. For example it is Japanese style to have lifetime employment. It is Japanese Style to work over time. It is Japanese style to maintain the schedule. It is Japanese style to have very high quality standards. It is Japanese style to balance the three important aspects of Project Management; Schedule, Quality and Cost as a group. It is Japanese style to reach consensus by a slow decision making process in which feedback and change is carefully considered. But "WA" also means Harmony. The society, organization and the team maintain harmony by balancing these aspects.

The Japanese Project Managers view Scope as a part of Quality. The view is that the scope is managed by the customer and it is the challenge of the Project Manager to balance the Quality, Cost and Schedule, There is a closer relationship with the Customer in the Project Managers Team. The Customer and the Sponsor have a greater role to play, while at the same time the power of the Project Manager is diminished. Since the introduction of PMBOK is somewhat new, the Japanese Project Managers do not control the Scope in the same way. There is more Joint team agreement between the Customer and the Project Manager. The separation and the distance of PMBOK Stakeholders in particular the customer is strange for the Japanese Project Managers.

To bridge the gap between Japanese Project Management and the global standard of the PMBOK, Project Managers are encouraged to spend more time in the initial planning stages. Team building activities that encourage the discovery of the disparity are encouraged. For example shadowing, pair work, smart travel, visiting cultural sites, learning about Japanese and other team member’s cultures. The teams ideally would than create a kind of Rule Book that would describe Best Practices for that team. The Rule Book utilizes the global standard of PMBOK and high lights the differences inherent in Japanese Project Management. Communicating "with a heart" as a "bridge" between team members is a common theme among all of the Japanese Project Managers. Understanding the implications of Personal Risk and Lifetime employment for Japanese Project Managers, overseas team members can understand the importance of planning, consensus decision making, meeting the High Quality standards, Maintaining Strict Schedules and balancing cost.

Closing

PMBOK Cafe would like to thank the Secretariat General of PMI-Japan Mrs. Hiroko Nagaya and the Project Coordinator Mrs. Fumiko Sato. Special Thanks for the facilitators for this Workshop were Mr. Rajeev Supekar PMP and Mr. Kenji Haga PMP

Team Building;

Communication;

Execution;

Risk Management;