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decision because that is what management wanted without first attempting to involve them in dialogue regarding the team's recommendations and rationale; this is one of the key responsibilities of the job. |
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B.
Selecting the Right Team Leaders and the Right Team Members |
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Managing an international project team successfully starts with the organization of that team and with the characteristics and behavior expected of all team members, including the team leader. Setting expectations up front in terms of how team members are chosen and how the team is organized, the team members' individual roles and responsibilities, the team operating procedures, and the degree of decision making, authority, and autonomy expected of everyone are key elements for success. |
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When evaluating candidates for the position of international project leader, there are a number of personal dimensions and prior job experiences which should be considered. With the cost of developing a new chemical entity exceeding $300 million and with mounting external and internal pressures on organizations to develop these compounds as rapidly and as cost effectively as possible, companies turn first to individuals with a great deal of drug development experience who know how to navigate their way through the myriad activities required to develop a new drug. Although drug development experience is clearly an important asset, organizations value more highly those individuals with the intellectual and intuitive capacities to understand complex issues, and those who can direct activities falling within and between the many disciplines represented on the project team, particularly those disciplines where the project leader is expert. |
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A project leader must manage a team where team members come from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds, with varying degrees of expertise, experience, and competence, and are located at different sites around the world. Given the complexity of drug development and the logistical and management challenges presented, one individual cannot know all the details of every aspect of a project. Even so, a project leader must still find the time and a way to control the project, know or have a sense of what is going on, and ensure that progress is being made and that project goals and time lines are achieved as scheduled. Although it is difficult to step back from project details, particularly when problems develop which require immediate resolution and which could benefit from manage- |
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