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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2001: article | |
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Penn State Harrisburg, Management Development and Gannett Fleming partner to train project managers By Deborah A. Benedetti | |||||||
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Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State Management Development Programs and Services and Gannett Fleming Inc. are working together to provide training to 400 engineers who serve as project managers at the company’s 40 locations nationwide. Dr. Madlyn L. Hanes, Penn State Harrisburg provost and dean, said, “Penn State Harrisburg’s mission is to respond actively to the training and educational needs of the businesses in our community. We are pleased to assist Gannett Fleming Inc. in addressing its training objectives. This partnership illustrates our commitment to strengthening the local community by providing access to the wide range of academic and research expertise contained within the faculty of Penn State Harrisburg, as well as within the faculty of the larger Penn State academic community.” According to Dr. Wesley E. Donahue, director of Management Development Programs and Services, “Five Penn State faculty are working closely with Gannett Fleming to develop and deliver the 80-hour project management certificate program. The company deserves praise for recognizing the value of training for its project managers and for taking a very active, hands-on role in helping to design the program.” Dr. Thomas M. Rachford, vice president and corporate quality manager for Gannett Fleming Inc., said, “The effort is being successful because of Penn State’s willingness to work with us to tailor the program to meet our needs.” Gannett Fleming Inc. is an international consulting engineering and planning firm. It focuses on the areas of transportation, water and wastewater management, environmental management, earth sciences and hydraulics, construction management, land development, and industrial, commercial and institutional management. The company began operation in 1915 with three people and has grown to nearly 2,000 employees. Gannett Fleming has completed thousands of assignments in every state, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and 51 countries. “We know that for project staff from different disciplines and in different locations to function as effective virtual teams, we need to emphasize standardized project management procedures,” Rachford said. “The training program is a key first step in achieving this goal.” A practicing engineer, Rachford is overseeing the training program, with help from a Steering Committee comprised of senior Gannett Fleming staff. The training program consists of five 16-hour courses, which are being delivered at 11 locations throughout the United States, including Camp Hill, Pa., the company’s headquarters, and Pittsburgh and Valley Forge, Pa.; as well as at sites in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Erin Shannon, workforce development representative at Penn State Harrisburg, is handling enrollment and program administration. Thus far, 15 groups are participating in the training. The training began in February 2000 and will wrap up in November 2001. Each course is 16 hours in length. Courses are delivered in several formats to accommodate the needs of each group, including four half-day sessions or two full-day sessions. Management Development Programs and Services faculty involved in the training are Harold A. Johnson, lead faculty member; Dr. Richard Zelonka, Dennis McCartin, Dr. Donald W. Turner and James H. Hoy. They are conducting much of the training, with help from Gannett Fleming staff members, who are teaching several company-specific modules on contracts, insurance, cost management and budgeting. “The program’s intent is to encourage greater consistency in how projects are handled,” Johnson said. “We are giving the project managers information that better prepares them to handle all aspects of managing projects, from negotiations to presentations to work breakdown structures.” Johnson added, “Gannett Fleming has been extremely helpful in providing information and materials for the training program. Working together, we have been able to create a program that works well for the company’s engineers, planners and scientists and for us. One very helpful aspect of the program is that each group has some seasoned project managers and newer project managers. The seasoned project managers are sharing their practical experience and solutions with the newer project managers, and both groups are benefiting from this experience.” According to Rachford, Gannett Fleming started an in-house training program for project managers in 1996, following an internal survey of project managers. The company decided it needed a broader, more encompassing program that could be delivered to a larger group of engineers. That’s when it contacted Penn State Harrisburg Continuing and Distance Education. A pilot program was launched in February 2000. After receiving feedback from this first group of project managers, Penn State and Gannett Fleming refined the training program and began offering it to some 400 of the company’s staff. “Our project managers are learning a lot from the program, and the company is learning where things need to be improved,” Rachford said. “One unexpected benefit of the training program has been the identification of the possible need for a new position to help project managers handle some of their routine procedures. As a result of the training program, the company has commissioned a group of project managers to develop a job description for a project manager assistant.” Gannett Fleming also is considering revisions to its Project Management and Quality Guidelines, in response to participant feedback, he said. “We are asking each participant in the training program to establish one or more personal goals as part of a personal action plan,” Rachford said. “We want our project managers to apply the knowledge they have acquired, to share what they learned and to continue to learn more.” For more information about Penn State Management Development, call 814-865-6341 or visit the Web site at www.outreach.psu.edu/ManagementDevelopment. Penn State Management Development is a Project Management Institute Global Registered Education Provider. An outreach program of Penn State Harrisburg and Management Development Programs and Services | ||||||
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