Sarith Sasidharan
MSc Project Management, 2010
Country of origin: India
Now running his own energy and environment consultancy
I worked with TATA group in India as Project Manager. I was working on greenfield mechanical construction projects. During this period I found that there were problems in my projects which I just couldn’t resolve, like co-ordinating people of different interests, defining the clients’ requirements, lack of focus from top management, people management issues, etc. On discussion with peers it was found that these issues existed in almost any project. I decided to do a Masters in Project Management to understand these issues and arm myself with the ability to manage/mitigate or eliminate them.
I decided to come to Lancaster for a lot of reasons. Firstly, the programme content covered a diverse area from basic project management areas such as project scheduling to behavioural issues, strategy and finance. Secondly the programme was totally an experiential learning programme which meant that following all the group activities and project work, I had to identify what I had learned from the whole experience and form academically supported action points for next time.
The experiential learning made me face my weaknesses but today I have a better conscious understanding of both my strengths and my weaknesses. I know when to use what and how to work around my weak areas. The programme brought me in touch with a diverse group of people from varied backgrounds in terms of nationality, education, area of work, age, language, etc.
The course structure was excellent as we had to do live projects from analysing a Hollywood film to organising a fund raising football tournament. Our projects included live case studies on companies like BAE and outdoor projects which had elements of programme management. The last two months of the summer project were the most fruitful as I could work on a live project to implement a CRM solution for a company. The best part was that I went on to work further with this company on a new project!
The programme helped me to become more aware of my skills and potential and gave me confidence to branch out in a new direction. Together with an MBA student from Lancaster and the company with whom I did a project in the summer I formed a new company, an Energy and Environment consultancy in India.
It is a great transformation for me from working as an employee to thinking big and starting on my own. The new path I have chosen is challenging but I have greater confidence now with the learning that I have gained from Lancaster.
