Course Description

International Project Management (APPEL-IPM)

Background

The International Project Management course is organized by the NASA Academy in collaboration with NASA’s partners in the International Project Management Committee (IPMC), a group of more than 20 space agencies, companies, and research organizations from around the world. The IPMC members meet under the auspices of the International Astronautical Federation to share experiences and best practices and to pursue joint initiatives that nurture the skills of the global space workforce through improved training, knowledge sharing, and related activities. IPM is held in February and July each year at the Academy Center for Excellence at Kennedy Space Center, with nominations for participants solicited by a call to NASA Center Directors and Mission Directorate Associate Administrators.

Audience

This course is designed for the international project management community. Principal attendees should be project managers, systems managers, systems engineers, and program managers who work on International projects.

Goal

The goal of this five-day course is to provide project management practitioners with an opportunity to experience informed discussions. The interaction of invited speakers with participants will facilitate the understanding of cultural challenges, legal concerns, and teaming issues likely to be encountered working with international partners.

Learning Methods

Course materials and discussions provide insights into the characteristics of International teaming that have the potential to make or break a project. The course format features lectures, small group discussion, hands-on practical exercises, and case studies. Instructors include successful project managers from NASA, ESA, JAXA, and other agencies who discuss their experiences with participants. These presentations shed light on multinational project “traps” and provide a basis to examine means for avoiding them. Guest lecturers include content experts with international experience.

Specific Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the critical elements required for effectively managing a project that includes International partners.
• Describe significant issues that support or detract from team effectiveness when working with International partners.
• Gain an appreciation for the major programs, budget processes and plans of major space agencies, including European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and NASA.
• Appreciate some of the differences that project managers in NASA, ESA, JAXA, and other space agencies face in the conduct of their projects.
• Demonstrate behaviors associated with the “softer” side of cross-cultural relations needed to be effective in the International Project Management arena.
• Explain the experiential and theoretical knowledge base that discriminates one culture from another.
• Discuss perceptual differences of “ethics” and how that can impact International team effectiveness.
• Outline the legal, regulatory, and other management restrictions placed on International Project Management collaborators by their management and governments.

Competencies and Technical Areas Addressed

Interpersonal competencies associated with effectiveness in international negotiations and collaboration; major space agency budget processes, programs, and plans; project management approaches, differences, and challenges in NASA, ESA, JAXA, and other space agencies; international legal and ethical differences; legal and management restrictions; several research bases for examining cultural differences.

Notes

The American Council on Education (ACE) has recommended that 3 transferrable graduate-level credits be awarded for the successful completion of this course.

This course is registered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) for 40 Professional Development Units (PDUs). PMI Course ID: 000005