Noah's ark was probably the first example of “project sponsorship” in human history. Noah's ark and the Tower of Babel were the two first major projects of humankind (at least, according to the Biblical perspective). As a consequence of that act, the people left off building the tower (the mission was no longer achievable) and scattered all over the face of the Earth. Thus, God decided to confuse their language so that they would no longer understand each other. The Lord was not pleased with the objectives of the tower's project, which were seen as an act of pride and arrogance (an attempt by man to be similar to God), and he said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Speaking a common language clearly facilitated communication inside a construction team that was employing several specializations. The tower probably was designed as well to worship the stars and the Sun, i.e., God's creations, instead of God himself ( ChristianAnswers, 2007).Īt that time, all the people on the Earth were speaking a common language, even if this seems to be in contradiction with Genesis: 10 in which the sons of Noah were said to each have his own land and language ( Wikipedia, 2007). However, this was in clear contradiction with (possibly an act of rebellion against) God's command to go out and fill the whole earth. The declared purpose of the tower was to reach the heavens, to achieve fame for the people, lest they be scattered abroad into all lands. Settling in this area, they decided to build a city with a very high tower (probably an ancient “ziggurat”). Many generations after the construction of Noah's ark-according to the Bible, the first major and “successful” engineering undertaking of humankind-the second attempt to undertake a mega-project, to allow worshiping of the stars and the Sun, was eventually very “unsuccessful.” The descendants of Noah had migrated from the Armenia, across the Tigris, to a plain in the Middle East: the land of Sennar, or Shinar. The history of the Tower of Babel is reported in Genesis 11: 1–9. It is better to clarify from the beginning, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, that the use of the Bible's tales in this paper is only a means to provide several very popular and well-known examples of project management, without any historical or theological implication.
TOWER OF BABYLON HOW TO
Project Managers must carefully interact with all these cultural layers to ensure success of their projects.īased on his long experience in program management, the author proposes his advice on how to manage communications on very complex projects. Language diversity is, in fact, only the surface of personal (or organizational) habits of thinking, paradigms, values and beliefs. Most of the time, this is a big challenge. Project Managers need to facilitate circulation of clear information throughout the team and toward the customers. However, effective communication and relationship networks are critical to project success. On the contrary, people use very specialised and unintelligible jargons to reaffirm their expertise and unique contribution to the project (or to the organization). Each is barely willing to talk a different (professional) language from his own.
TOWER OF BABYLON PROFESSIONAL
In complex organizations, Project Managers are often asked to interact with people from very different cultures and with different professional educations. This deteriorated relationships, resulting in conflicts and jealousies, with different groups isolating themselves. Team members were not able to talk effectively with each other and consequently lacked coordination. The project of the Tower failed in a few respects: cultural diversity understanding, communication and organization. This paper starts by analysing from a project management perspective the historical myth described in Genesis, highlighting similarities with the day-by-day life of projects. According to the Bible, the tower of Babel was one of the first major engineering undertakings of humankind, as well as the first major management failure. The history of the Tower of Babel is the classical representation of the project manager's most frightening nightmare.