Women in Project Management SIG
and SW Branch
Are you part of it? Change and Diversity
SIG Introduction by Teri Okoro
3 July 2014
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WIPM SIG - Overview
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WIPM addresses the development and promotion
of women working in project management
environments and works to maximise the
availability of expertise in the project
management profession.
We actively promote investment in gender
diversity to ensure that all project managers have
the potential to develop a highly rewarding
career, supporting both men and women in their
efforts to maintain a balance between the many
demands imposed on them whilst striving to
retain their own identity.

• Developing a powerful profile
• Promoting a no barriers culture
• Engaging and responding
• Collaborative community building
WIPM SIG Strategy
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Regional Events
Scotland - September
London - Knowledgeshare
Thames Valley - tbc
Main Celebration Event
 25th September 2014
Webinar
 9th April 2014 (RPP/FAPM & support group)
 2nd date tbc
Other
 Video, Publications and Blogs, Survey
 Inspire, PM feature/database, Joint Events, etc
21st Anniversary Celebrations

Diversity Initiatives
 APM
 Other
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Thank You
Q & A
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Presentation
Are you part of it? Change and Diversity
Sobitha Sashikumar
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Are you part of it?
Change & diversity
Sobitha Sashikumar

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What is diversity?
•It is who you are – your branding
•It is something that cannot be changed and is therefore constant
‘Diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique,
and recognizing our individual differences.
These can be along the dimensions of
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status,
age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.
It is the exploration of these differences in a
safe, positive, and nurturing environment.
It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance
to
embracing and celebrating the
rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.’

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Diversity can be classified into the following main areas
• Gender
– 50% of the world’s population is female, 40% of the global workforce
are women, 70% of the total global spend in households are made
by women
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Sexual orientation
• Social class
• Age
• Ability
• Seniority
• Religious/spiritual practices
• Health status
• Family of origin
• Size/body type
• Political beliefs
• Educational background

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Areas to consider.....

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Why is diversity perceived to be so difficult?
As a receiver
•Needs you to be aware
•Involves additional thinking
•Adaptation
•Honour the uniqueness of each individual
As well as being influenced by
–Upbringing, background, environment, attitude, culture and beliefs
As an owner
•Increases
consciousness
With the growing dependency on teams + the effects of globalisation,
companies and managers are continually experiencing difficulties in managing
teams comprised of diverse individuals.
In "globalised" or multicultural teams, there is so many opportunities for
misunderstandings, which makes global project teams with members from several
work locations, companies or countries, a challenging task that requires a
multidisciplinary approach.
Since the accepted forms of diversity have substantially increased, leading to
nearly every team experiencing some form of diversity, it is critical that project
managers understand how to increase diversity awareness among team members.

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Why is it so important in a project environment?
What are the benefits of using diversity to your
advantage?
‘Diverse and inclusive business communities make for innovative thinking, better
decision making and greater commercial success’
Chris Sullivan, Deputy CEO, RBS
•Follow the sun requirements
•Global reach
•Enables you to manage better by developing better relationships
•Influence the thinking and behaviour of your leaders
•Provides opportunities
Addressing diversity in the workplace enables
you to address systemic forces such as power,
privilege, prejudice, discrimination, and
oppression that hinder optimal development

Diversity and organisational change
•Employees  most important factor to project teams and organisational
success
•Employees are most difficult to manage globally
•Global Project teams usually comprise a diverse group of professionals with
complementary sets of skills
•Cultural diversity can bring several advantages to global organization:
• Innovative approaches to problem solving,
• Greater wisdom and experience
Cultural diversity remains an important catalyst for originality and inventiveness
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What is the challenge?
Company culture
• Get the right balance –
• Single, static, identifiable culture Vs a strong, cult-like cultures (not open to
change)
• Organisations have to survive in an environment that is
• Complex
• Dynamic
• Ambiguous
• Full of threats and opportunities  present additional demands – internal control
/ need to adapt to the environment
• Corporate cultures themselves need to be open for change and have diverse
views
The Corporate culture must therefore help the organisation
Spot opportunities and threats in the environment
Facilitate a dynamic response in adapting to them
By providing an answer on how to make use of diversity to their advantage
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Corporate culture
‘The pattern by which a company connects different value orientations
(rules vs. exceptions or a people focus vs. a focus on goals) in such a way
that they work together in a mutually enhancing manner.
The corporate culture pattern shapes a shared identity which helps to make
corporate life meaningful for the members of the organisation and
contributes to their intrinsic motivation for doing the company’s work.’
Corporate culture consists of shared networks of meaning, providing
coherence and a sense of commitment even though the pattern of meaning
is continuously reconstructed in an ongoing process of reconciliation. This
acknowledges that corporate culture needs to reinvent itself constantly.’
Fons Trompenaars and Peter Prudhomme
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Diversity in project teams and organisations
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Organisational cultures need to be adaptable to a changing environment.
Changing corporate culture = finding a balance between radical change and
organic modifications, between bold moves and incremental adjustment.
• Ensure the strengths of existing corporate culture are maintained such that
there exists a meaningful corporate culture with a mix of existing core values
and new, aspirational ones.

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What is the future?
One world  get the right people, doing the right jobs
for the right customers at the right price

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Next steps & action plan – What are you going to change?
• Short term
• Medium term
• Long term

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Questions

This presentation was delivered
at an APM event
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website www.apm.org.uk/events