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            So, are things changing in the MENA   “One thing for certain,    Notice here, the project manager does                    Admittedly, there are many companies   “However, there           don’t yet know the extent of the damage
            Region  or  they  will  always  be  the                          not have the luxury of referring to pre-                 with very effective BoD but, you would                           this viral war will exact on our world.
            same?                                is that the project         defined  standard  procedures  and  he                   be surprised how many more could do   are enough clues to        However,  there  are  enough  clues  to
            Yes, they are changing but, very slowly,                         or she can only rely on the collective                   with an objective external perspective.                          suggest  that  this  is  unquestionably  a
            and  often  in  an  untimely  manner,   manager cannot, as a     experience  of  the  project  team  to                                                                                    major ‘game changer’, if not the biggest
            when  it  is  too  late  to  rescue  the                         identify  the  nature  of  the  problems                 The  service  provided  can  be  around   suggest that this is   game change in living memory; much
            business  from  its  destructive  owners.   matter of routine, look   and  how  to  resolve  them.  One  thing            strategic  planning  but,  the  duties  of  a                    bigger  than  the  Millennium  Bug  or
            Having said that, change is moving at   for culprits to blame    for certain, is that the project manager                 modern  BoD  are  considerably  more   unquestionably a major    the  financial  crash  of  2008.  Look  at
            a much faster pace in certain business                           cannot, as a matter of routine, look for                 diverse and complex. The composition                             the Nine-Eleven of 2001 incident and
            sectors  such  as  insurance,  banking,   instead of looking for   culprits  to  blame  instead  of  looking              of  the  Bod  of  executives,  shareholders   ‘game changer’, if not   how much of an impact it had on our
            and  investment  as  these  are  heavily                         for  solutions  to  fix.  Once  the  project             and  independent  is  one  dimension                             all  of  our  lives  from  social,  business,
            regulated internationally and wherever  solutions to fix. Once the   is concluded, it is an excellent practice            but,  the  diversity  along  the  lines  of  the biggest game change   international relations and state control
            your  business  is  based,  you  have  to                        to  conduct  a  project  post-mortem  in                 age,  gender,  ethnicity  and  intellectual                      standpoints. Some of the changes were
            follow the same rules and regulations as   project is concluded, it   order  to  identify  lessons  learnt  and           perspectives are also important elements.   in living memory;    for  the  good  because  we  no  longer
            all other insurers, bankers and investors   is an excellent practice   where  necessary  apportion  praise  or            Articulation of the organisation’s value                         take  safety  and  security  of  travel  for
            throughout  the  world.  In  many  cases,                        blame to individuals.                                    system  is  fast  becoming  an  important   much bigger than the   granted.  Other  changes  were  not  so
            they don’t like it but, they have no choice   to conduct a project                                                        criterion  for  judging  the  effectiveness                      positive like bunching many countries
            other  than  follow  the  international                          I  have  been  involved  in  too  many                   of  a  company’s  strategies  and  business  Millennium Bug or the   together as terror state, making them
            rules. Those who don’t, sooner or later  post-mortem in order to   projects  where  these  rules  were  not               plans.   Installation   of   corporate                           legitimate  target  for  sanctions  and
            find themselves in big trouble.                                  observed  because  someone  high  up                     governance best practices are also key.   financial crash of 2008. ”  invasion, causing millions of ordinary
                                               identify lessons learnt       wanted  blood  and  demanded  guilty                     Lastly, effective communication with all                         people to suffer.
            In  your  recent  article  “The  Blame   and where necessary     parties. The end result is that the project              stakeholders  (shareholders,  employees,
            Game”  published  in  the  latest                                loses  its  team  spirit,  politics  becomes             clients,  suppliers,  legislative  or  regulatory  bodies,  as  well   As far as the Coronavirus pandemic impact on the business
            issue  of  Diva  International,  you   apportion praise or       prevalent and the whole thing becomes                    as  the  communities  the  business  operates  within,  is  the   world, this will bring in some retrograde changes but mostly,
            discuss  and  contrast  the  nature  of                          a survival game, at the expense of the                   responsibility of the BoD.                      I  am  optimistic  the  changes  will  be  for  the  better.  Many
            project  management  with,  let  us  say   blame to individuals.”  project  and  ultimately  the  project  is                                                             companies  already  practice  remote  working,  thus  saving
            ‘departmental  management’.  Why  do                             doomed to failure.                                       As  you  can  see,  the  BoD  being  at  the  apex  of  a  company   on  unnecessary  travel  of  staff,  use  of  expensive  real  estate
            you think this is such an important issue to bring out and                                                                pyramid  demands  that  such  a  body  to  provide  active  and   in prime urban locations. If this new practice is applied on
            draw attention to?                               Projects are very expensive if they do not deliver the benefits          effective  leadership.  The  consultancy  I  set  up  is  called   permanent  basis,  there  will  be  significant  cost-cutting  in
            If you go back to basics, a business is mostly run according   hoped for and to ignore this aspect is, to my way of thinking   ‘Ducibus Consultancy Services’. In case you are wondering,   business running and a bonus reduction on the environment.
            to a specific set of rules / procedures / standards. Managers   is extremely dangerous to any organisation.               Ducibus is Latin for leadership and guidance so, it is quite   Already, we are seeing and experiencing cleaner air, less light
            are  charged  with  part  of  the  business  such  as  marketing,                                                         fitting. There is a website which covers in more details all of   and noise pollution, recovery of wildlife and so on. Of course,
            sales, finance, I.T, and so on to conduct business successfully,   Are you saying that in a project situation you would avoid   the above: www.ducibus.co.uk              some of these benefits are temporary until the world business
            lawfully and cost-effectively. Managers have at their disposal   blaming  individuals,  leaving  to  the  end,  even  if  by  the                                         machine is kickstarted again but, I am convinced that many
            budgets,  skilled  and  competent  resources  which  they  are   end they might have made things worse? Think of what is   The international community and the specialised agencies   people will not return to the ‘bad old days’ of disregard and
            supposed to utilise to the best of their abilities. When things   happening in certain countries in the way they dealt with   are often a little disconnected from the business world. What   disrespect of our precious planet.
            go wrong either because rules / procedures / standards have   the  Coronavirus,  when  experts  give  politicians  wrong  or   can be done to improve this relationship?
            not been followed or, political conflict occurred within the   badly timed advice, people lose their lives.               That is often true, I am sad to admit. If you think of these   And  what  about  the  philosophical  argument  going  on
            one department or across more than one department. It’s the   That’s a very good point, in the way you put it and indeed   specialised agencies as businesses, once they achieve success,   between the American centralisation versus the European
            managers’ responsibility to identify the source of the problem   you should act immediately if the source of information is   they  grow  lazy;  just  like  any  commercial  business  from   and Far Eastern globalisation model?
            and act accordingly, from making changes to the standards,   a bad one. However, things are hardly ever that simple and   restaurants  to  airline  manufacturers.  This  is  suicide  really.   I  am  not  a  fan  of  the  Trump  doctrine  which  advocates
            resolving  the  politics,  up-training  members  of  staff  at  the   inn the chaos that prevails during a pandemic, everyone is   Every organisation, even not-for-profit ones must always seek   ‘America First’ and the rest of the world can take a jump in the
            heart of the problem, to the drastic out-placement of certain   learning as they go along, and action taken is not always an   to improve what it has to offer. It must keep in touch with the   ocean. If a supplying nation is unwilling to give the USA the
            people, hoping the measures would bring the business ship   exact science. What I am observing is a number of people      outside world and establish whether or not what it provides   best commercial terms, then they will either take it elsewhere
            back on the right course.                        who feel the best way to contribute is to stay on the side lines         is still relevant. You can do market research, assemble focus   or even repatriate the production to the USA.
                                                             and  wait  for  those  busy  trying  to  deal  with  the  pandemic       groups, introduce pilot services, gather data, analyse the data
            However,  projects  are  entirely  different  creatures.  They   so they can blame them for making wrong decisions. Very   to death and so on. However, the simplest and most effective   However,  I  think  there  will  be  an  amalgam  of  the  two
            are meant to be for a finite period of time to bring about a   often the decision is not so critical that it may have disastrous   way is talking to your client base; better still, listen to your   models.  The  idea  of  business  globalisation  will  have  to
            business change / improvement. So, investment is dedicated   consequences.                                                client base and have the humility to accept harsh and painful   be  fundamentally  re-defined.  In  my  younger  days,  I  lived
            to  such  a  project  to  accomplish  the  overall  objectives,                                                           feedback.                                       through globalisation as it was applied and misapplied across
            within the agreed timescales, and allocated budget. Suitably   Setting Coronavirus epidemic aside, you recently planned                                                   various business sectors with mixed results. For example, just
            qualified individuals are temporarily recruited from various   on returning to London to provide business consultancy in   Sorry, but I want to go back to the Coronavirus, if you don’t   in Time ‘JIT’ principle in the supply chain was and remains
            department or as external contractors and they are charged   London. Can you tell us what services you had in mind to     mind. Do you think the business world will look markedly   successful. However, devolving low skill-based services (e.g.
            with delivering the project according to the three criteria   focus on providing?                                         different after the pandemic from what it was like say, on 1st   customer  help  centres)  or  manufacturing  of  component
            above.  For  whatever  reason,  this  is  an  extremely  difficult   In  a  way,  I  gave  many  clues  in  my  previous  answers.  Put   January 2020? If so, which are the business sectors, countries   elements, proved to be less successful. When the pandemic
            task  to  accomplish  and  before  long,  problems  arise,  and   simply,  when  the  pandemic  has  been  concurred,  I  am   and regions most likely to suffer badly, and which are those   arrived,  it  favoured  countries  which  were  self-sufficient  or
            corrective  measures  must  be  put  in  place  to  rescue  the   offering  a  service  to  company  boards  of  directors  (BoD)   most likely to come out intact?       specialised in the production of certain types of equipment
            situation.                                       to help them improve their ability to lead the organisation.             Of course, as we are still in the middle of the pandemic, we   (medical  like  ventilators,  and  testing  kits),  food  and  other



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