HARNASSING AN INNOVATIVE CULTURE IN THE ORGANISATION ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR SAIL

HARNASSING INNOVATION

DELIVERING EXCELLENCE

A Thought To Start With It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin, The Origin of the Species Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein Introduction The ability of an organization to grow is dependent upon its ability to generate new ideas and to exploit them effectively for their long-term benefit of the organization. Over the past number of years, much attention has been focused on managing the process of exploiting these ideas and progressing them into innovations. However, the process by which organizations generate these ideas is one which has received significantly less attention and been allowed to develop in an ad-hoc fashion. Since the idea creation phase of the innovation process is relatively less costly in comparison to the later development stages of the process, it is logical to maximize the output of the idea creation phase. By doing this, a larger number of higher caliber ideas will be available for exploitation by the organization. Thus, through this greater choice of potential innovations as input for the innovation process, it is probable that the eventual outputs will be more effective and profitable, since increased competition between ideas will ultimately improve the quality of potential innovations being presented to the process. Innovation Confusion often clouds the exact meaning of the term innovation. Tidd et al. (1997) state that novelty is very much in the eye of the beholder. In its broadest sense, the term originates from the Latin innovare, meaning to make something new. Essentially, innovation is a process of turning opportunity into new ideas and of putting these ideas into widely used practice. According to Tidd et al. (1997), innovation is a core process concerned with renewing what the organisation offers and optimising the way it generates and delivers its output.

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it. - Bill Bernbach

Innovation may be classified according to the nature of the change it brings into effect (i.e. the degree of novelty). According to Rothwell and Gardiner (1985), innovation does not necessarily imply the commercialisation of only a major advance in the technological state of the art (a radical innovation), it includes the utilisation of even small scale changes in technological knowhow (an improvement or incremental innovation). Burgelman et al. (1996) also identify types of innovation, namely incremental, radical and architectural. Incremental Innovation In their view, incremental innovations involve the adaptation, refinement and enhancement of existing products and services and/or production and delivery systems (e.g. the next generation of a microprocessor). Radical innovations Radical innovations involve entirely new product and service categories and/or production and delivery systems (e.g. wireless communications). Architectural innovations Architectural innovations refer to reconfigurations of the system of components that constitute the product (e.g. the effects of miniaturisation of key radio components). Damanpour (1990) views innovation as falling into three categories, namely technology, administrative and ancillary innovations. He views the potential scope for innovative change as effecting the technology application of the organisation, the interaction between the organisations social and technical systems and the interactions that occur across the organisational boundaries. Ideas can originate either as a reaction to a certain situation, that compels the organisation into action or they can originate as a proactive action to exploit a new opportunity (Sadler, 1995). Van de Ven et al. (1989) suggests that ideas for innovations can originate from a recombination of old ideas, a schema that challenges the present order, or a formula or unique approach that is perceived as new by the individuals involved. An innovative idea therefore can originate from a broad spectrum of sources. Potential innovative sources include customer complaints, corrective action systems, suggestion boxes, supplier developments and benchmarking studies.

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. - Joseph Chilton Pearce

Drucker (1985) asserts his belief that the source of innovative opportunity arises from (1) unexpected occurrences, (2) incongruities, (3) process needs, (4) market changes as well as changes in (5) demographics, (6) perception and (7) new knowledge. King (1990) notes a diffusion bias towards innovation being imported from outside the organisation, rather than internally generated. A possible reason for this may be that it is easier to adapt the creativity of someone else, than develop and maintain a creative organisational environment. MISUNDERSTOOD TERMS There are few terms which are normally misunderstood in context. Perhaps this section will address those terms and avoid confusions of the same. Creativity
Creativity isseeing something that doesnt exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being, and that way be a playmate with God. - Michele Shea

Creativity is that which results in the generation of new and useful ideas or the combination of existing ideas into new and useful concepts to satisfy a need (Farid-Foad et al., 1993). Creativity has frequently been likened to a mysterious and powerful process owned by a select and fortunate few. However, according to Maslow (1954), creativity is not just the remit of genius, but instead is the universal heritage of every human being. Therefore creative ability is something which is present in every individual and thus can be developed or suppressed. Defining creativity According to Websters Dictionary, the definition of creativity is artistic or intellectual inventiveness. Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create or bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new. When you create something, you are actually bringing it into being, making it from nothing. But how do you make something from nothing? How do you achieve creativity? What is the essence of creativity? Perhaps only magic can explain creativity, that sudden aha! moment when it all comes together. Some have said that its something mysterious and puzzling, perhaps impossible to figure out. Some have said it must be divine inspiration. Creativity is simply thinking the impossible, and then doing what no one else has done before, sometimes developing completely new worlds. Everything that can be invented has not been invented.The Art of Creativity is never finished, only abandoned"

Amabile (1998) defines three components of creativity: expertise, creativethinking skills and motivation. The level of creativity within an individual is relative to the mixture of these three components. Expertise refers to the technical and intellectual knowledge that an individual possesses, as well as the manner in which that organisation manages this collective knowledge. Creative thinking refers to the individuals skills that facilitate imaginative problem solving. Motivation refers to the intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing an individual to be creative (Wreath, 1998). Each factor is interrelated and a development in one area can exert a significant effect on the other two. The environment can also contribute significantly to increasing expertise, creative thinking and motivation within an organisation and ultimately affect the creative output. The effective management of these three components of creativity, together with other relevant factors may increase an organisations creative capability through developing an appropriate culture. Kao (1989), when discussing creativity, presents the view that creativity is the sum of the following functions: the creative person, the creative task and the organisational environment (i.e. culture). Therefore all of these elements need to be considered in order to enhance creativity. Creativity is in essence an individual pursuit, which may or may not draw on others for inspiration and validation. One of the proposed methods by which creative action occurs is thought to concern incubation within the unconscious mind of the individual which then presents the conscious mind with the creative ideas which the individual puts into action (Weisberg, 1986). Creative responses are the result of one of two processes: (a) a new situation contains elements similar to those of an old situation, thus these elements serve as the basis for generalising the old response to the new situation or (b) if the new situation is completely dissimilar to previous situations, then the solution is to behave randomly combining various responses in numerous ways. Problem solving creativity is proposed to consist of the generation of a novel solution to the problem based on one of these approaches. According to Majaro (1991), creativity can be divided into three categories, depending on how it originates. These are normative creativity, exploratory creativity and creativity by serendipity.

All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them and fly up to them through the wings of creativity"

Distinguishing between creativity and Innovation It is often useful to explicitly distinguish between creativity and innovation. Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches or actions, while innovation is the process of both generating and applying such creative ideas in some specific context. In the context of an organization, therefore, the term innovation is often used to refer to the entire process by which an organization generates creative new ideas and converts them into novel, useful and viable commercial products, services, and business practices, while the term creativity is reserved to apply specifically to the generation of novel ideas by individuals or groups, as a necessary step within the innovation process. For example, Amabile and shermaine montefalco et al. (1996) suggest that while innovation "begins with creative ideas," "...creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the second."[2] Although the two words are novel, they go hand in hand. In order to be innovative, employees have to be creative to stay competitive. Innovation = Creativity * Risk Taking

INNOVATION VS INVENTION Following the above mentioned concept of creativity, the next similar misunderstood concepts are Innovation and Invention. Fagerberg (2004) distinguishes them as; Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process, while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice . Interesting thing is that, Innovation does occur when someone uses an invention or an idea to change how the thing it works. So to make it more precise, invention is a ladder to reach the spot called innovation.

Some Key Innovation & Innovators

Up till now, it is still a mystery as to who invented the wheel and when the wheel was invented. According to archaeologists, it was probably invented in around 8,000 B.C. in Asia John Kay was the inventor of the flying shuttle in 1773, which was a key contribution to the Industrial Revolution. The flying shuttle greatly accelerated the speed at which weaving could be performed.

James Watt was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution

Innovators
Thomas Alva Edison an American inventor scientist , and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long lasting, practical electric light bulb.

Alexander Graham Bell an eminent Scientist, inventor engineer and innovator who is credited , with inventing the first practical telephone

John Logie Baird was a Scottish engineer who is best , known as the inventor of the first working television. It is a source of entertainment and news.

Innovation in organizations Innovationwhich is the application of knowledge in a novel way, primarily for economic benefitis becoming increasingly important for companies and governments. Business executives regard it as a vital weapon in fending off their corporate competitors. Government policymakers see the need for an innovative environment if their countries economies are to grow. A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is given by Luecke and Katz (2003), who wrote: "Innovation . . . is generally understood as the successful introduction of a new thing or method . . . Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services. Innovation involves acting on the creative ideas to make some specific and tangible difference in the domain in which the innovation occurs. For example, Amabile et al. (1996) propose: "All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second". For innovation to occur, something more than the generation of a creative idea or insight is required: the insight must be put into action to make a genuine difference, resulting for example in new or altered business processes within the organization, or changes in the products and services provided. "Innovation, like many business functions, is a management process that requires specific tools, rules, and discipline." From this point of view the emphasis is moved from the introduction of specific novel and useful ideas to the general organizational processes and procedures for generating, considering, and acting on such insights leading to significant organizational improvements in terms of improved or new business products, services, or internal processes. Through these varieties of viewpoints, creativity is typically seen as the basis for innovation, and innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. It should be noted, however, that the term 'innovation' is used by many authors rather interchangeably with the term 'creativity' when discussing individual and organizational creative activity.

The innovation imperative Why innovate? Innovation has become the defining challenge for business everywhere. A decade ago, companies saw survival and growth in terms of restructuring, lowering costs and raising the quality of their goods and services. Since then, commoditisation, privatisation and deregulation have swept the worldfrom the advanced economies of the United States, Japan and Europe to the rapidly emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific rim and Latin America. Thanks to the internet, air travel and improved patenting procedures, access to the latest technology has become universal. Today, few firms anywhere can feel secure behind their established brands, long-standing customer relationships, proprietary technology, or tariff barriers. The competitive pressure on them is global and immediate. Companies everywhere, especially those in advanced nations with high labour costs, have become painfully aware that even in their new slimmed-down, outsourced, globalised guise, they cannot conduct business as before. No matter how good their quality, standard products made in the standard way cannot sustain a firms competitive edge. Business leaders in companies big and small, in every industry, have started to refocus on top- and bottom-line growth. And the general consensus is that one of the best ways to achieve this is through innovation. The reaction of consumers to such products as the iPod and the BlackBerry suggests that companies can grow faster if they innovate. This gives them a head start, if not an unassailable lead. A large number of studies have found a positive relationship between research and development (R&D) and growth in output. Studies of the effectiveness of firm-level R&D use productivity to measure performance rather than profits. It has been difficult to establish a direct link between innovation, or R&D, and profits, in part because the variety of influences that affect profits may be greater than for productivity. Other results that emerge from most of these firm-focussed studies include: process R&D is more beneficial for companies than product R&D; basic R&D typically yields more than applied R&D; and R&D returns vary considerably between industries, with the highest returns occurring in research-intensive industries. R&D should not be confused with innovation, however. A company may invest heavily in research and not come up with a single, good idea. Indeed, our survey suggests that more innovations come from sales and marketing than from R&D. But even so, without a good R&D effort, it would be hard to translate most of the ideas into innovative products and services. Given

that R&D is rarely more than 5% of a companys total revenue, increasing R&D activity would seem to be a winning corporate strategy. It is argued that countries generating innovation create new technologies and encourage the adoption of these new technologies. As a result, they grow faster than those that do not. The message that innovation is important is being heard by governments as well. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a governmental grouping of 30 advanced economies, has been at the forefront of those emphasising that long-run economic growth depends on the creation and fostering of an environment that encourages innovation. Innovation is considered an important driver of long-term productivity and economic growth. It is argued that countries that generate innovation, create new technologies and encourage adoption of these new technologies grow faster than those that do not. However, the OECDs empirical tests of this proposition have been sparse, and those that have been undertaken for a limited number of OECD countries have yielded ambiguous results. The conventional wisdom is that innovation is most likely to drive growth in the highly developed countries, while poor and middle-income countries can import technology from abroad and therefore need not bother to innovate domestically. However, our study indicates that for high-income countries, innovation yields a smaller impact on economic growth than for low- and middle-income countries. This is true for the top two countries in our innovation ranking, Japan and Switzerland, (as well for some innovative Euro-zone economies and Israel), whose economies have not grown rapidly for the past decade. This finding also reflects the fact that for low- and middle-income countries, domestic innovation activity tends to facilitate the more efficient and rapid absorption of imported technology. Thus, they benefit from their internal innovativeness as well as from the spillover effect of foreign innovations. This would tend to increase the catch-up prospects of the more innovative middleincome countries, such as China and Mexico.

Japan and Taiwan are very efficient innovators; they produce a lot of innovations for a low level of inputs

Organizational Culture: Organizational Culture is the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with Stakeholders outside the organization. Organizational values are beliefs and ideas about what kinds of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kinds or standards of behavior organizational members should use to achieve these goals. Organizational values develop organizational norms, guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations and control the behaviour of organizational members towards one another. In the changing paradigm of the new economy, organizational culture that supports and encourages creativity and innovation is critical for success. Success is linked to constant innovation. In the new paradigm, most linear processes are easily automated or outsourced. Companies can achieve the real competitive advantage through their ability to master nonlinear skills such as the unique design of goods and services, as well as the creative blending of linear processes. There is a strong correlation of innovation in the organizational culture and success in the firms. This paper investigates on two cases of organizational culture of innovation, Google and 3M, to understand how innovation and creativity are used as a strategic tool to achieve success. Google Inc. From a small internet search startup by two Stanford University graduate students (Sergey Brin and Larry Page) to a company of 4,200 with revenue hitting almost $3.7 billion, Googles rocket to success has been built on its ability to harness wild ideas for business innovations. Marissa Mayers, the Vice President of Search Product and User Experience, role in bridging the PhDs and the MBAs of Google, helped the firm to remain competitive against competitors in the search domain, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Technocrati. Hatching New Ideas Marissa Mayer described the five ways in which Google generates new ideas [4]: 1. Free Thinking Time Google gives all engineers one day a week to develop their pet projects. Such free days can be accumulated if work gets in the way. Pet projects do not have to be aligned with Googles central mission. Google News was produced in this process.

2. The Idea as List An idea list is available company-wide for the inputting and vetting of thoughts on technology and business ideas. 3. Open Office Hours Managers open their office for discussions with staffs two to three times a week. The Google personalized homepage was produced in this process. 4. Big Brain Storms Brainstorming sessions consisting of about 100 engineers are conducted eight times yearly. In these sessions, six concepts are pitched and discussed for ten minutes each. The goal is to build an initial idea with at least one complimentary idea per minute. 5. Idea Acquisition Companies with interesting initiatives are acquired by Google. The company Keyhole that it bought in 2004 allowed Google to offer maps with satellite imagery in Google Earth. Innovation Drivers From these five ways to generate new ideas, Innoblog (public blog of Innosight, Clayton Christiansens consulting firm) summarized them into three main innovation drivers: 1. Rigor and Discipline Besides creativity, the key to the success of Google is in the rigor and discipline of their approach. This can be seen from the Brainstorming sessions conducted each year and the results expected from the process. 2. Lead from Top Supporting processes are instituted by the top management to encourage the generation and experimentation of new ideas. The open office hours by managers and one day per week for pet projects are example of this driver. 3. Act like a Venture Capitalist Google looks at great ideas outside the company. This resulted in key acquisitions that allowed them to roll out successful products such as Google Earth. This paper proposes that there are at least two other key innovation drivers. The first is Googles ability to provide the environment for innovation to mature before they take flight. Generating many ideas from many brilliant minds in the company does not necessary translate to successful innovations at the marketplace. In Stevens and Burley pointed out that on the average of only one idea is successfully commercialized from 3,000 raw ideas. Google is able to provide such environments to let these innovations slowly take shape. One example is the Google Labs where it showcases some prototypes which are not ready for the market yet. This platform allows users to directly comment and influence on the development of the innovations. The second key innovation driver which this paper proposes is Googles recruitment culture. Google is able to bring in creative people to form its innovative organizational culture. Stringent recruitment processes, coupled

with some of the best benefits, attract talented and innovative individuals to work in all functions of the organization. 3M Co. By nurturing the talents of its employees, and fostering a climate of innovation, 3M is Possibly one of the most innovative firms of the present time. It is famous for household brands such as Post-it Note, Scotchgard, Scotch tape, etc. In the companys over 100 years history, it has created over 55,000 products and served 30-plus core technologies and leadership in major markets worldwide. Creating Innovative Organizational Culture The 3M Story highlighted some of the features in its organizational culture which foster innovation: 1. Recruiting and Retaining Talent 3M recruits people who are creative and have broad range of interests. It is thought that people with broad range of interests are willing to learn and explore new ideas. 3M codified six traits of innovative people in its recruitment brochure: Creativity, Broad interests, Self motivated, Resourceful, Hard working, Problem solvers. 2. Creating a Challenging Environment New business units were spun off. These newly established divisions had to develop new products and find new markets independently. This Renewal process increased the diversification of 3M. 3. Knowledge Sharing 3M encourages staffs to network, interact and share their knowledge and problem. 4. Rewarding Innovation 3M rewards its staff for being innovative. The dual career ladder paths allow technical staffs to be promoted to the role of vice president level without taking administrative or managerial responsibilities. 5 Mentors, Sponsors and Champions 3M has a mentor, sponsor and champion program. Champions have strong credibility and are persuasive lobbyists for new ideas and products. They are willing to take risks and those successfully mentored often later successfully mentor others. Creativity and innovation are absolutely critical in todays economy for firms to stay competitive. This paper discussed the ways in which successful firms build innovation as part of their organizational culture. Some of the similar key drivers for innovation in Google and 3M include: recruiting the innovative people, giving staffs room and space to innovate (1- day-per-week-rule in Google and 15 Percent Rule in 3M), creating incentives for innovation, and

progressing in small and patient steps. Firms can learn from the approaches in the cases of Google and 3M to build in their own DNA for Innovation. However, the ways to innovate and generate ideas are constantly changing. The best approaches for these firms may not be the best for other firms. It is necessary to recognize the importance of innovation in the organizational culture, and adapt the success formulas from innovative companies to suit individual firms. Management guru Peter F. Drucker aptly observed in his book Innovation and Enterpreneurship:Practice & priciples that Innovation is the specific instrument of enterpreneurship the act that endowes resources with a new capacity to create wealth. It seems to be very relevant to the organizational context , as iinovation is linked to performance and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality, product positioning, market share, etc. Innovation typically involves creativity, but is not identical to it: Infact, innovation is a phenomenon which involves creativity, commitment, cause and communication for providing solution to any problem, finding a better way to perform a process or for enhancing competetiveness. The real challenge of innovation is to create a culture and environment that encourages the natural creativity and innovativeness of employees. In todays competetive world, every organization is making efforts to nurture and sustain the culture of creativity and innovativeness among their employees for surviving and thriving in a scenario of increasing costs and threatened margins. Enhancing trust and active involvement of employees in problem solving is the first step in the journey of innovation. Often employees creativity is seen as the basis for innovation, and innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas with in an organization. SAIL is committed to inculcate and sustain a culture of creativity, involvement and innovativeness among employees to tap their creative potential. Being a manufactureing enterprise, generating and implementing result-oriented innovative ideas become very critical for long-term success of the organization. Through implementation of suggestion schemes, quality circles and various communication forums, SAIL has also established a system of recognising and rewarding employees for their innovative and creative ideas. As an HR strategy, to keep its employees motivated, SAIL has also established a system of recognising and rewarding employees for their innovative and creative ideas.

Modernization and Expansion An investment for future SAIL, has recently been accorded the status of a Maharatna by the Government of India, achievement of this distinction is a reflection of our companys consistent good performance and stellar progress made over the years. Undoubtedly, concerted efforts made by many visionary leaders in the past have helped in shaping the fortunes of the company. Despite soaring input prices, fluctuating market, and the world economy in a state of flux, SAIL has remained focused on its modernization and expansion plans and under the ongoing phase of the modernization & expansion plan, hot metal production capacity will get expanded to 26.20 million tonnes from the base level production of 14.6 MTPA (2006 07 Actual), to maintain its dominant position in the Indian steel market. When the economy is booming, growth comes easy. It is definitely not a cause for concern. However, to move up the performance ladder, we will need to have an added edge over our competitors. That edge will come from innovation, and our continued endeavors to look for new growth segments and at the same time strengthening our existing portfolio. The growth plan, besides targeting higher production, also addresses the need for cost competitiveness by eliminating technological obsolescence, achieving energy savings, enriching product-mix, reducing pollution, developing mines and collieries, introducing customer centric processes and developing matching infrastructure facilities. To meet future challenges, SAIL is working on a long-term strategic plan Lakshya 2020, with the objective of achieving hot metal production capacity of 60 million tonnes by 2020 and a market share of 30%. This will steer the company towards meeting its strategic objectives of achieving profitability through growth and customer satisfaction. Cumulative approval of about 48,000 Crore has been accorded by the SAIL Board for the modernization & expansion plan till date. During the year 200910, capital expenditure of 10,606 crore has been incurred and for 2010-11, an outlay of 12,254 crore has been planned mainly for various modernization & expansion schemes. Commissioning of the new steel making facilities that have come up at Salem Steel Plant as part of the plan is under progress. As SAIL has embarked upon the ambitious plan of almost doubling the capacity production of its units. SAIL is also expected to come out with regular expansion plan after regular review of the market condition. Looking at the likely expenditure on adding new capacities by SAIL, it could be well said that SAIL will be in the business of making steel plants apart from making steel. So to make SAIL to reach its target and also eliminating technological obsolescence by using latest available technologies, the need for having Project Management System in place is very

essential for timely implementation of the projects. SAIL has excellent capabilities in production and maintenance but there is no Project Management Group professionals of having experience in execution of such large scale expansion projects and investment running in to Crores of Rupees is in place. With a history of time and cost overruns in our earlier projects, the only way to achieve our ambitious plan in time is to have a strong group of experienced professionals as established Core Project Management Group (CPMG) for Project Implementation. Though various expertise across various technologies are available within SAIL, for timely implementation of projects without cost overrun there is no institutional mechanism to institutional mechanism to capture and harness SAIL- wide consolidate expertise. An expert group of people exists in operations whose objectives and structure are well defined, but no such concentrated expertise exists for projects. There is a need to build internal capability for Project management. Action Plan to meet the Challenge The Core Project Management Group (CPMG) The Core Project Management Group for project implementation may be formed in the following areas: a) Iron Making ( Blast Furnace, Sinter Plant, Coke Oven) b) Steel Making ( SMS) c) Finishing ( Mills ) d) Maintenance ( AMR Projetcs, Refractory) Each group should have experts from the following fields: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Group Leader/ Co-Ordinator 1 nos. Operation 2 nos. Mechanical 1 nos. Electrical 1 nos. Civil 2 nos. Commercial 2 nos. Finance 1 nos.

As there has been no large scale expansion project in SAIL for a considerable period of time, skilled resources are in shortage to manage the current phase of expansion and modernization projects. This gap mainly in the Project

Department and also across various departments can be bridged by introducing such groups where ever necessary. These groups should be working for full time in various projects across SAIL and these groups should be centrally located, preferably with the Project Directorate. Any unit of SAIL going for an expansion project, the Core Project Management Group (CPMG) with respect to the expansion plan will be sent to the unit. The responsibility of the group would be to work for the project in coordination with the plant unit personnel. The CPMG focuses on coordinated planning, prioritization and execution of projects and sub projects that are tied to the Plant unit. The mandate of the group to include: a) Technical Advisory Guidelines for finalization of technical Specification. b) Initiation and maintenance of vendor relationship for projects. Maintain probable list of equipment suppliers/ contractors. c) Obtain and constantly update information on latest global trends in technology, market conditions, mew plants etc. d) Prioritize list items on which extra effort is needed for equipment suppliers/ contractors. Formulate a proposal for the effort required. e) Facilitate and coordinate knowledge sharing. The CPMG Boundary

Scope of Core Project Management Group. a) Project Scope Management b) Project time Management c) Project Cost Management d) Project Quality Management e) Project Communication management