Project Management
The Complete Guide for Every
Manager
The First Book to Combine
Operational and Human Skills into a Flexible, Proactive Project Management Framework
Essential reading for
passing the Certified Project Manager exam!
The ability to effectively
manage projects is a, if not the, key skill for managers in todays bare-bones,
hyperspeed workplace. Still, in most organizations, comprehensive project management
training programs remain more the exception than the rule, leaving managers to make up the
rules and pick up the pieces as each project takes on a life of its own.
Project Management is
todays most thorough training manual and reference for understanding and managing every
aspect of the project environment. Focusing on the human element that is critical to
project implementation and completion, it provides:
- an intuitive five-step
approach for collecting the necessary information to plan, schedule, and control a project,
- keys to managing project
teams and ensuring effective communication between teams and stakeholders,
- techniques for maintaining
control - both formal and informal - over projects of every size and scope,
- a project is a process, one
that either succeeds or fails one small step at a time.
As a manager, you and you
alone are responsible for the timely and successful completion of each step. Project
Management features examples, case studies, and analysis for each phase of the typical
project, to ensure that each project you manage meets its goals on time and on budget.
Projects involve the creation
by an individual or team of an entirely new product or process. To reach that goal,
project managers must understand both the operational and human aspects of spearheading a
project from conception to completion. In addition, because each project has unique
characteristics and requirements that often arent apparent until the project is well under
way, a manager must be fully prepared to provide intuitive and instant solutions and be
confident those solutions are correct.
Project Management provides
proven guidelines for managing projects from both the operational and behavioral
standpoint. This added focus on the human aspect unique in todays project management
professional library - shows you how to work within the existing organizational culture,
manage stakeholders and team members based on their differing and often competing goals
and viewpoints, and even manage projects across organizations with opposing goals and
cultures.
Beginning with the initial
planning stages and moving through teambuilding, control, and final delivery of project
results, Project Management outlines solution-oriented, integrated methodologies
for implementing the processes of project management. Examples from a wide variety of both
manufacturing and service environments highlight the hands-on skills and solutions
required for:
- Defining
projects
- Organizing
projects
- Estimating
time and cost requirements
- Analyzing
and managing project risk
- Managing
teams and stakeholders
- Scheduling
resources for utilization and availability
- Monitoring
performance
- Conducting
and learning from a project audit
Effective project managers
must seamlessly blend operational skills, prioritization abilities, and behavioral
insights, often simultaneously. Project Management outlines a step-by-step
framework for managing any project, in any industry or environment, and consistently
achieving objectives with a maximum of efficiency and a minimum of waste.
Clifford Gray, D.B.A.,
is professor emeritus of management at Oregon State University. The president of
Project Management International, Inc., since 1977, Dr. Gray has published dozens of
articles on operations and project management and taught numerous popular executive
development seminars and workshops.
Erik Larson, Ph.D., is
a professor and chairman of the Department of Management, Marketing, and International
Business at Oregon State Universitys College of Business. A published author and
recognized authority on matrix management, product development, and project partnering,
Dr. Larson teaches executive, graduate, and undergraduate courses on project management,
organizational behavior, and leadership.
430 pages