|
|
Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management & management techniques > Project management
The project has become fundamental to international development and
humanitarian practice, playing a key role in defining objectives,
funding streams and ultimately determining what success looks like.
This book provides a much needed overview of the project in
international development practice, guiding the reader through the
latest theoretical debates, and exploring the core tools and stages
of planning and design. The book starts with an overview of the
role of the project through development history, before taking the
reader through the stages of a standard project management cycle.
Each chapter introduces the stage, the most common tools used to
support that phase of planning, and the critical debates that exist
around it, with examples to illustrate discussion from around the
world and a range of development fields. The book explores the
challenges to working effectively in contemporary aid conetxts,
including the role of politics and the pressures wrought by the
demands to demonstrate quantified results. Throughout, the book
argues for the need to see the project as a form of governmentality
that arranges resources and people in time and space, and which
extends neoliberal forms of managerial control in the sector.
Ending with suggestions for innovation, this book is perfect for
anyone looking for an accessible and engaging guide to the
international development project, whether student, researcher or
practitioner.
Going beyond typical approaches to developing and administering
sponsored projects, the authors build a compelling case for new
perspectives and techniques which are uniquely relevant to today's
fast-paced Information Age. This work functions as both a
theoretical treatise and a desk-top handbook by integrating systems
thinking, information management, boundary spanning, contingency
management, and strategic planning into an effective and flexible
model for both the public and private sectors. It assesses the
various factors to take into account when applying the model in
different organizational settings and outlines the various steps in
initiating a project and bringing it to completion. The authors
also further unify the technical work and human dimensions of their
model by incorporating it with emerging concepts of organization
culture.
Projects are becoming more complex and traditional project
management is proving inadequate. The key papers in this volume,
which takes a look at a variety of new approaches, have been
written by 13 leading figures and are discussed by 54 invited
academics, consultants, contractors and clients from 15 countries.
The papers cover modelling techniques (extensions to PERT methods,
risk analysis, and system dynamics), particular domains (new
technology, software development and infrastructure projects,
specifically human factors), corporate structures (from both
Western and Eastern European perspectives), management techniques
(Western and Eastern), and the management of portfolios of
projects. The book adopts a wide view, rather than advocating one
technique: the mix of authors provides a rich, heterogeneous
perspective. Mathematical modelling is balanced with human
management, and over-complex of simplistic techniques are avoided.
Readers are assumed already to have a sound knowledge of project
management.
This book presents the current and future issues facing opera
houses and opera companies. Problems in different environments need
different solutions. In particular, it opposes the American method
of managing cultural institutions, preferring a European one where
public support and funds plays a major role.
1) Fills in the gap in ABET requirements to teach experiment
design. 2) Provides a standardized approach to experiment design
that can work for any experiment. 3) Provides completed experiment
designs suitable for college laboratory and professional
applications. 4) Shows how to organize experimental data as it is
collected to optimize usefulness. 5) Provides templates for design
of the experiment and for presenting the resulting data to
technical and non-technical audiences or clients.
Managing Difficult Projects pulls together the principles and
practice of project management and presents useful diagnostic
approaches, tools and structures in a clear and practical way. The
book focuses on the diagnosis and resolution of difficult problems
whether in large or small complex projects. The intent is to help
corporate executives and project management practitioners apply
proven processes, methodologies, systems, structures and tools to
rally the information and the resources required for better
decisions, faster delivery and improved results.This essential book
shows how to plan effectively and to reduce risk at every step of
project delivery, particularly vital during project implementation
when 90 per cent of project funding is spent. It covers new ground
by proposing the use of the project management process as an
integral part of setting and updating corporate strategy. In
projects, context is everything The text is amply illustrated with
international case studies, charts, photos, graphs and data tables.
It enables project managers to identify root causes and to apply
the right solutions. It shows exactly how to identify project
opportunities and then how to apply clear methodologies to set
corporate strategy. It case studies the learning process. The
reader can skip forward to solutions and help resolve problems at
work.
"Focusing on turning an initial idea into a project with a
successful outcome, this book fills a gap in current literature on
project management and is thoroughly grounded in the latest
research in this field. It emphasizes the practical application of
decision making based on qualitative and judgmental information"--
Sustainable Self-Governance in Businesses and Society offers a
sound introduction to Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) and
clarifies its relevance to support organisational sustainability
and self-governance. While the VSM has been known since the early
1980s, it hasn't been always easy to understand and to apply. It
explains the self-transformation methodology to analyse the way
organisations manage (or not) their complexity and govern
themselves. The work is supported by multiple examples of
application in organisations of all scales - from small to
multi-national corporations and from organised social networks to
communities and national organisations. It clarifies the relevance
of Beer's theory to support systemic learning and change in
organisations, and to coach them to self-organise and self-govern.
Readers interested in further understanding insights from complex
systems and cybernetics theories for designing and transforming
organisations will benefit from this book, as it works to offer
very detailed insights on how to put the VSM theory into practice.
It clarifies how it improves adaptive capabilities, agile and
self-regulated structures, more capable of fully implementing
corporate sustainability strategies and self-governing themselves.
The chapters provide key reading for managers, consultants,
practitioners, and post-graduate students working in organisational
transformation, governance, and sustainability.
This book provides a powerful insight into strategic portfolio
management and its central role in the delivery of organisational
strategy, maximisation of value creation, and efficient allocation
of resources and capabilities to achieve organisational strategic
objectives. The book makes a valuable contribution to the
development of thinking on the translation of strategy into
actionable work. Whether you are a senior manager building a
high-performing strategic portfolio for your organisation or an
academic searching for new perspectives on strategy execution
through portfolio management, you will find great significance in
this book. Twenty-eight chapters in four sections provide multiple
perspectives on the topic, with in-depth guidance on organisational
design for strategic portfolio management and covering all process,
capability, and leadership aspects of strategic portfolio
management. The book includes several detailed case studies for the
effective deployment of strategic portfolios, bringing together
theory and practice for strategic portfolio management. This book
is particularly valuable for advanced undergraduate and
postgraduate students of project and portfolio management,
strategic management, and leadership who are looking to expand
their knowledge within the multi-project environment. Highly
practical and logical in its structure, it also shows project
management professionals how to effectively manage their business
portfolios and align this with their business strategy.
The purpose of Projects as Business Constituents and Guiding
Motives is to describe and analyse the roles that projects play in
business. The editors, authors and researchers are convinced that
projects are of significant importance at virtually every level of
society, even though companies are the focus of this book. Projects
are not merely conspicuous components of businesses, they in fact
signal what businesses are all about. As you will see from some of
the contributions to this book, these signals come in different
forms and have different effects. Thus the various contributions to
this book also mirror a kind of uncertainty as to what this
phenomenon that is called project is all about. Rather than trying
to define what it really is', the editors have opted for the
alternative, namely to let some of the variation be replicated in
the different contributions. One important reason for the
variations is that each author wants to stress a different aspect
of projectisation. The editors illustrate some of the variations as
they appear in the minds of researchers and in the minds of those
who work with projects every day. They believe that they do greater
justice to the field by taking this stance at this stage in the
evolution of project management. The book is structured in four
sections. The first section includes four chapters elaborating on
various aspects of the roles projects play for shareholders, for
management, for the global scene, and for the more or less
continuous reorganising efforts that characterise most industries
at the present time. The second section deals with how projects fit
in with traditional business processes and the challenges that face
project management as well as the generic business procedures. The
third section brings forward some of the most essential matters
when it comes to the future of business organisations. Innovation
projects have a completely different character compared to
traditional projects, and when entire industries go through
thorough transformations, attending to project matters will be part
of that change. One of the most often-repeated statements in
business is that people matter; in the last section that statement
is scrutinised in a projectised environment. This volume has a wide
international selection of authors. Eight different nationalities
are represented. The collection is relevant to academics in
business administration, project management and organisation
behaviour. It should also appeal to a significant secondary
audience: professionals in project management, business strategy
and organisation.
Being on the front line and having a customer-facing role takes a
specific skill set not normally taught in a classroom or found in a
book. This knowledge comes primarily from experience and on-the-job
training. One for the Road is based on Real World experiences and
should hit home for those who live and breathe this every day. It
will, hopefully, provide a better appreciation of the OValue AddO
that a Project Manager brings to the table. Whether youOre new to
the world of Project Management, currently an experienced Project
Manager, or a general practitioner, this read will hopefully be
insightful. For some readers, it will serve as a simple reminder to
practice what you preach in your daily routines. This book will not
only provide a few good OBest PracticesO based on OLessons LearnedO
but will also share real life examples of what itOs like to be a
Project Manager.
People play a vital part in the success of projects, initiatives
and organisations, yet traditional project management sources offer
limited guidance and insights that extend beyond technical roles
and prescriptions. Leading the Project Revolution delves into the
dynamics of people, teams and organisations exploring their impact
on leadership, strategy, success and achievement. The book offers a
progressive agenda for improving project practice, enabling the
dialogue to advance from the typical coverage of static toolsets
towards an understanding of flexible mindsets. Flexibility, agility
and resilience are addressed as the social, cultural and complexity
dimensions of leadership, strategy, organisations and project
execution are examined and practical insights are synthesised into
pragmatic models and frameworks. The volume brings together some of
the best writing by leading authorities on teams, leadership,
corporate culture, human behaviour, organisational dynamics,
psychology, complexity, strategy, execution, innovation, social
media and decision sourcing.
Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology
companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In
your career, you'll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams:
to become a manager. But this is often uncharted territory. How can
you decide whether this career move is right for you? And if you
do, what do you need to learn to succeed? Where do you start? How
do you know that you're doing it right? What does "it" even mean?
And isn't management a dirty word? This book will share the secrets
you need to know to manage engineers successfully. Going from
engineer to manager doesn't have to be intimidating. Engineers can
be managers, and fantastic ones at that. Cast aside the rhetoric
and focus on practical, hands-on techniques and tools. You'll
become an effective and supportive team leader that your staff will
look up to. Start with your transition to being a manager and see
how that compares to being an engineer. Learn how to better
organize information, feel productive, and delegate, but not
micromanage. Discover how to manage your own boss, hire and fire,
do performance and salary reviews, and build a great team. You'll
also learn the psychology: how to ship while keeping staff happy,
coach and mentor, deal with deadline pressure, handle sensitive
information, and navigate workplace politics. Consider your whole
department. How can you work with other teams to ensure best
practice? How do you help form guilds and committees and
communicate effectively? How can you create career tracks for
individual contributors and managers? How can you support flexible
and remote working? How can you improve diversity in the industry
through your own actions? This book will show you how. Great
managers can make the world a better place. Join us.
Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Project Requirements. 3. Contract Strategy. 4. Project Modalities. 5. Developing a Strategy. 6. Quality. 7. Retrofitting and Maintenance. 8. Product Modalities. 9. The Supplying Market. 10. Forming the Team. 11. Engaging the Supply Chain. 12. Performance Modalities. 13. The Project Environment. 14. Design Roles and Responsibilities. 15. Tendering. 16. The Procurement Process.
The Project Management Office (PMO) is a rapidly emerging concept in project management that has evolved in terms of its application, sophistication, and proven results. Most literature on the subject focuses on a specific facet or purpose of PMO. The Advanced Project Management Office: A Comprehensive Look at Function and Implementation provides an all-inclusive description of the PMO and allows project management professionals to select the features most appropriate and relevant to the issues at hand, while keeping the full PMO picture in perspective. The authors illustrate how the PMO can be used to reduce costs of projects, decrease time to market for new products, increase corporate profits, and ensure project success.
This reference covers all aspects of PMO in a format that is easy to read and understand. It discusses the motivations for adopting a PMO, including project performance, project manager competency, the organizational desire to excel, and much more. Both short-term and long-term functions are identified and discussed. WBS-like structures are developed for use in the process of evaluating project performance during the life-cycle of the project.
Ideal for senior project management professionals and as an advanced project management training program, the book presents two related models that deal with the evaluation of project performance from the vantage point of the client as well as the project team. With so many industries becoming project team driven, The Advanced Project Management Office will help project managers ensure project success and improve their company's bottom line.
Describes global best practices, competencies, and standards of
superior project organizations based on research conducted by the
Top 500 Project Management Forum. It emphasizes the selection
process, performance evaluation, and personnel development to
provide the key elements for adjusting and adapting to flexible
conditions. The text also highlights enhancements in professional
image, job performance, and personal earnings.
'The Project Manager's Toolkit' provides a quick reference
checklist approach to drive an IT development project as well as
solve issues that arise in the process. It can be used proactively
to set a project on the right course and reactively for solutions
to problems. It will: * help identify what needs doing next on an
IT project * provide quick reference 'to-do' lists for use
throughout the lifecycle of an IT project * answer the need for
material that can be used to quality-check project deliverables It
has been designed so that those on the project team who are facing
a problem can pick up the book, turn to a relevant checklist and
use it as a "starter-for-ten" to find a solution. For example, how
to analyse data for a data-conversion exercise, or how to measure
the quality of a project deliverable. 'The Project Manager's
Toolkit' therefore provides a fast way to reduce an insolvable
problem/issue to a set of smaller solvable ones
This book deals with Invitations to Tender (ITTs) for the provision
of Facility Management (FM) services. It presents a framework to
support companies in preparing clear, comprehensive and effective
ITTs, focusing on such key aspects as: organizational structures,
tools and procedures for managing information, allocation of
information responsibilities, procedures for services monitoring
and control, quality policies, and risk management. It discusses
and analyzes a range of basic terms and concepts, procedures, and
international standards concerning the Tendering Process, as well
as the contents of ITTs, which should represent the translation of
information needs into requirements related to: the client's goals,
main categories of information to deal with, expected organization
of information, modalities of reporting and control, and level of
knowledge to be reached. A further major focus is on potential key
innovation scenarios concerning current FM practice, such as
Sustainable Procurement, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Big
Data and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, highlighting both
the possible benefits and the possible risks and implications that
could negatively affect the quality of FM service provision if not
properly treated within the ITT. The book will be of interest to
real estate owners, demand organizations and facility managers,
enhancing their ability to prepare, interpret and/or critically
analyze ITTs.
Agile principles and values transform the way organisations carry
out business and respond to change. This book is an introductory
guide to agile principles, values and mindset that will equip
individuals and teams, regardless of role, to apply Agile from
first principles. Practical examples are used throughout to
illustrate agile theory with real-world context. This book is ideal
for those wanting to achieve the BCS Foundation Certificate in
Agile.
A practical handbook on the management of building design, this
guide explains the processes, roles and responsibilities of those
involved in the design of the building, as well as ways to maximise
efficiency. Well structured and easy to read, the book includes
useful notes and checklists on, for example, how to select a design
team and how to organise and plan the design process.
The authors are recognised authorities in the field of project
management, based at an internationally renowned department. Their
book will prove invaluable to both students and practitioners in
project management.
*Contains many checklists, tables and examples etc. which make it
useful to both students and practitioners.
*Teaches the reader how to maximise efficiency in design
management.
*Concise and factual handbook.
"Explores how engineering teams can ensure success by using
strategic project planning properly. Provides a proven
question-and-question format to facilitate completion of all types
of projects. Focuses on decision-making, resolving major conflicts
and finding ways for team members to work together, changing the
strategic direction of major projects, and identifying and managing
risks. Presented in a 8 3/8 x 11 spiral-bound workbook."
|
|