OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2010. Moscow’s SKOLKOVO School of Management and TNK-BP have completed the first phase of a new modular education program aimed at creating a centre of excellence on project management within the company – the TNK-BP Major Projects Academy, reported the press-centre of TNK-BP.

The purpose of the Academy is to bring together leaders from different company departments for a systematic exchange of experiences, knowledge and specific project solutions in order to develop a common TNK-BP approach to project management using the most efficient practices and tools.

The program involves both departments’ managers from TNK-BP’s head office and directors of company subsidiaries in different regions of Russia. The list of participants was decided by a thorough multi—level selection process.

The training takes place over a period of five months, from July to November 2010. Each phase, the first of which was run on July 4—9, includes a theoretical section, a discussion of specific projects from TNK-BP’s practice and business games in which the participants work through elements of project management. Professors from top international business schools will be involved in the work of the Academy and industry experts will help students to analyze real market situations.

During the first phase, for example, TNK-BP leaders attended course on ‘Decision Making’ by Professor Zeger de Grave and on the ‘Fundamentals of Project Management’ by Aleksandr Kutuzov. They also discussed benchmarking of major projects in the oil & gas sector with Mary Ellen Yarossi from IPA and met the Deputy General director of the Rosatom State Corporation Petr Schedrovitsky.

After dividing into teams during the first few days of the program, the participants defined key areas of organizational change on which their future work would focus. Following an analysis of the situation inside the company, they then jointly with senior TNK-BP managers identified the key issues in each area, ranked them by priority and set to work on the projects. During the subsequent months of modular and inter-modular work the teams will assess current practices and develop new procedures and regulations for future implementation in the company. It is this teamwork on addressing specific tasks that lies at the heart of the Academy’s approach.

In 2011, there will be a supplementary session to analyze implementation of the teams’ projects.
“The creation of the Major Projects Academy is a unique joint effort by SKOLKOVO and TNK-BP. And we hope that our experience in the fields of strategy, management and leadership, as well as TNK-BP’s expertise in the specifics of the oil & gas sector will help to generate a material business result from this program. Well thought out and clearly structured project work in teams will be a guarantee of success for the Academy and for the company as a whole,” noted Andrey Volkov, Rector of the Moscow SKOLKOVO School of Management.

“TNK-BP is focused on reinforcing its own management potential and creating an environment in which the most effective management techniques can be applied. The company is running several capacity building programs to help its key executives learn about the latest management trends, mistakes and best practices in other top companies, to swap experiences, and to analyze and select best-fit approaches for TNK-BP’s objectives and circumstances. They will also be given the opportunity to expand their individual management toolbox by mastering techniques beyond the standard management skills,” stated Andrey Yanovsky, TNK-BP Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Development.