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Project-based work has become a critical component of global industrial activity. Among other functions, projects are used to develop new products and services, improve operations flows, implement innovative information technologies, and conduct primary R&D. At the same time, project management is a core skill requirement for numerous corporations worldwide hoping to harness a means of improving both the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations. Unfortunately, the track record for project development has not been strong. Data suggest that within various industrial components, such as IT, failure rates for projects are high; even 'successful' examples typically run well over budget and behind schedule. This article addresses some of the reasons why projects and project management have failed to live up to lofty expectations, arguing that the seeds of failure are often sown from the outset through flawed project planning. Citing the more common errors in human judgment and drawing on numerous examples, we offer guidelines by which project planning can begin to work as it was intended: on behalf of the project rather than at cross-purposes with the project's goals.

Founded in 1997, Kalamandir was established in one of the poorest tribal areas in India to revive tribal dances and arts and generate livelihoods. It was now active in over 114 villages and its activities had helped increase the incomes of over 2,500 households. Despite strong achievements, much more would have to be done to make a substantial improvement in the lives of tribal villagers in Jharkhand, an impoverished region of India. The question was how to scale the activities and induce socio-economic development in a sustainable way. How could livelihood opportunities associated with arts, dance, culture and handicrafts be broadened while strengthening the region’s core agricultural income? How could the local leadership pool in villages be expanded and what mechanisms could be introduced to minimize conflicts or resolve them faster? How could Kalamandir attract dynamic professionals? Which government and private organizations did it have to develop stronger relationships with in order to access the financial resources it needed to grow?

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union are two sporting organizations that have innovated through their business models to grow their sports, create world-class sport facilities and improve their ability to win European competitions. Yet they reside in one of the smallest countries in Europe — Ireland. While the Gaelic Athletic Association is a volunteer organization whose amateur status (in which players and coaches are unpaid) imposes significant limitations on its revenue-generating abilities, the professional Irish Rugby Football Union has earned substantial income through the success of provincial and national Irish rugby teams. Both organizations compete for scarce financial, physical and human resources and are now faced with a rapidly changing environment following the deepest recession in the history of the Irish Republic and emigration of talent abroad. This case challenges students to analyze the business models of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union and explore how the models can be innovated to ensure survival of these cultural assets for the next generation.

The executive vice-president and chief operating officer (COO) of Canadian National Railway Company (CN), wants to change the culture at his organization. The COO has been promoted to his current position after CN purchased Illinois Central, and his first task is to review CN's operations across the country. He notices that employees are leaving work early, a practice called "early quits" that is supposed to reward employees for working harder during the day. He also notices there are other practices, such as late starts that encourage lower productivity. With the goal of improving productivity in mind, the COO elects to tackle the issue of late starts before fixing the early quits problem. This case introduces behavioural science as one of the many management tools that can be used to influence behaviour.

This is a supplement to W13361

Yamato Transport, Japan’s leading parcel delivery company, experienced internationalization and geographical diversification issues. When it launched its operations in Singapore in 2010 with a view to further branching out into Southeast Asia, the company faced challenges owing to different cultural and social landscapes, difficulties penetrating a small and saturated market, and problems hiring manpower aligned with the company’s business model. The key success factors for Yamato Transport in Japan and their applicability in Singapore are analyzed. What will it take for Yamato Transport to succeed in Singapore when pitted against the mighty SingPost?

Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products. Together with a small team that included Professor Robert Langer of MIT, he committed to assemble a team of scientists from outside the beauty industry to challenge the conventional wisdom. Their company, Living Proof, wanted to offer women "proof in a bottle" rather than "hope in a bottle." As the firm came to market with its first products, it focused on explaining its science to consumers. It found it increasingly necessary to direct more of its resources towards marketing, including a major investment in Jennifer Aniston as its celebrity spokesperson. Were they becoming less of a biotech company and more like a traditional beauty company? How did they reconcile the desire for continued high spending on R&D with the need to ramp up marketing?

The public editor of The Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading national newspaper, faces a significant ethical situation. An advocate of media standards has released a blog post outlining allegations of plagiarism against a prominent newspaper columnist. Following the release of the blog post, numerous members of the public and the journalism community began commenting on the situation. The public editor is responsible for upholding journalistic ethics and for investigating and responding to public concerns. She needs to respond to the allegations of plagiarism and ensure the public that the national newspaper upholds strong ethical standards.

A look at the emerging field of "physiolytics"--the practice of linking wearable computing devices with data analysis and quantified feedback to improve workers' performance. Examples include the British grocery chain Tesco, whose warehouse employees have armbands that track the goods they assemble; Bell Canada, whose technicians enter data on wrist-worn PCs; and the French video game publisher Ubisoft, which developed a finger-clamp sensor that measures levels of stress.

Detailed accounting records from the 19th century reveal that U.S. and West Indian slaveholders used scientific management techniques to run their operations.

Managing resource constraints, controlling health care costs, training the 21st-century workforce, implementing smart-grid technologies--challenges of this scope can't be addressed unless government, business, and NGOs work together. But how? Such problems need solutions designed and implemented by what the Kennedy School professor Joseph Nye has called "tri-sector athletes"--people who can bridge the vastly different cultures of the three sectors. Bill Gates is one, and so are Sheryl Sandberg, Bob Hormats, and Hank Paulson. But these leaders are a rare breed, the authors found, at once pragmatic and idealistic. Motivated by a strong sense of mission, they forge uniquely effective career paths by applying their widening range of cross-sector skills, sensitivity to context, open-mindedness, and powerful networks to some of the world's most intractable problems. To encourage more people to follow in their footsteps, the authors suggest how academia, government agencies, and private enterprise can do more to overcome systemic barriers, which include the obstacles presented to those in the private sector by the arduous and seemingly capricious government confirmation process; the level of transparency and public scrutiny that public service entails; the tremendous and growing disparity of pay between the private sector and both government and public service; and the sheer difficulty of hearing about cross-sector career opportunities. Aspiring leaders need both an intellectual foundation and practical pathways that will give them tri-sector experience throughout their careers without slowing their forward momentum.

Even when CEOs make gender diversity a priority--by setting aspirational goals for the proportion of women in leadership roles, insisting on diverse slates of candidates for senior positions, and developing mentoring and training programs--they are often frustrated by a lack of results. That's because they haven't addressed the fundamental identity shift involved in coming to see oneself, and to be seen by others, as a leader. Research shows, the authors write, that the subtle, "second-generation" gender bias still present in organizations and in society disrupts the learning cycle at the heart of becoming a leader. Women must establish credibility in a culture that is deeply conflicted about whether, when, and how they should exercise authority. Practices that equate leadership with behaviors considered more common in men suggest that women are simply not cut out to be leaders. Furthermore, the human tendency to gravitate to people who are like oneself leads powerful men to sponsor and advocate for other men when leadership opportunities arise. The authors suggest three actions to support and advance gender diversity: educate women and men about second-generation gender bias; create safe "identity workspaces" to support transitions to bigger roles; and anchor women's development efforts in their sense of leadership purpose rather than in how they are perceived.

More hours in the day. It's one thing everyone wants, and yet it's impossible to attain. But what if you could free up significant time--maybe as much as 20% of your workday--to focus on the responsibilities that really matter? The authors have spent the past three years studying the productivity of knowledge workers and discovered that they spend, on average, 41% of their time on activities that offer little personal satisfaction and could be handled competently by others. On the basis of their research, the authors have come up with a process to help knowledge workers make themselves more productive. It involves thinking consciously about how they spend their time, deciding which tasks matter most to them and their organizations, and dropping or creatively outsourcing the rest. The tasks to be dropped are sorted into quick kills (things you can stop doing now, without any negative effects), off-load opportunities (work that can be delegated with minimal effort), and long-term redesign (work that needs to be reconceived or restructured). Once the tasks are disposed of, the freed-up time is spent focusing on more-important work. When 15 executives tried this, they were able to reduce desk work by an average of six hours per week and meetings by two hours per week. They filled the time with value-added tasks like coaching and strategizing.

Lorne Michaels, the creator of "Saturday Night Live," has launched the careers of comedians from Eddie Murphy to Kristen Wiig. Here he talks about the power of absolute deadlines, resolving creative differences, what he looks for in new talent, and more.

This case describes the evolution of Rural Health Care Foundation (RHCF), which provides primary healthcare services to the economically underprivileged in rural India, its various alliances with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and for-profit organizations. RHCF centers attract large number of patients every day from as far away as 100 km, due to low charges (INR 40, which is less than 1 USD, for consultation and a week's supply of medicine) and availability of reliable doctors. The case discusses the scale up challenges RHCF is facing to expand their centers to other locations as well as to provide other services within each center. The case also highlights the role various alliances, between NGOs and for profit organizations, play in delivering healthcare services to the bottom of the pyramid, especially those living in rural localities and can neither access nor afford proper medical facilities.

John Leader, president of Simsbury Children's Hospital, was reviewing the recommendations put together by his senior management team to resolve the growing problems his hospital was facing. The recommendations, totaling some $10 million, could put the hospital back on a sound financial footing. But John was unsure which of the recommendations made sense and should be implemented. He was particularly interested in understanding the financial, operational and political impact of each one. He was due to meet with the senior management team that afternoon to develop an action plan.

This is a supplement to Charles Chocolates (A).

This is a supplement to Charles Chocolates (A).

This is a supplement to Charles Chocolates (A).

This is a supplement to Charles Chocolates (A).