‘Change approach towards contractors’

At a time when contractors are often blamed for the delays in completion of civic and other projects, project management guru Adesh Jain said that India’s biggest challenge was the apathetic approach towards contractors.

 Jain, who is the national president of Project Management Associates India, delivered the 31st Indian Institute of Science Alumni Association popular science lecture here on Saturday.

 “The way we treat contractors is against the project management ethics. It does little to improve cohesion among stakeholders, and contractors are also stakeholders,” Jain said. Jain started his talk by showing the audience a clip of the landing of National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Curiosity rover on Mars, following which scientists and general public were seen rejoicing over its success.

 “Curiosity’s landing is a perfect example of effective project management. There was social bias. Similarly, all stakeholders have to be taken into confidence by motivating them to deliver results. We must respect the dignity of labour,” he said.

 Jain said that by 2021, delivery management will be the key for societies to flourish. Speaking chronologically, he said that project management formed a very little part of general management in 1991. In 2001, he said project management had grown to become a discipline in itself.