Project Management: The Managerial Process 5th Edition

Book Preface

Since you are reading this text, you have made a decision that learning more about  project management will have a positive impact for you. You are absolutely right!
Project management has become an organization-wide core competency; nearly  every manager, regardless of discipline is involved in managing one or more projects. This text is designed to provide project managers and prospective project  managers with the knowledge and skills that are transferable across industries and  countries.

Our motivation for writing this text was to provide students with a holistic,  integrative view of project management. A holistic view focuses on how projects  contribute to the strategic goals of the organization. The linkages for integration  include the process of selecting projects that best support the strategy of a particular organization and that in turn can be supported by the technical and managerial processes made available by the organization to bring projects to completion.

The goals for prospective project managers are to understand the role of a project  in their organizations and to master the project management tools, techniques,  and interpersonal skills necessary to orchestrate projects from start to finish.

The role of projects in organizations is receiving increasing attention. Projects  are the major tool for implementing and achieving the strategic goals of the organization. In the face of intense, worldwide competition, many organizations have  reorganized around a philosophy of innovation, renewal, and organizational  learning to survive. This philosophy suggests an organization that is flexible and  project driven. Project management has developed to the point where it is a professional discipline having its own body of knowledge and skills. Today it is nearly  impossible to imagine anyone at any level in the organization who would not benefit from some degree of expertise in the process of managing projects.

Audience

This text is written for a wide audience. It covers concepts and skills that are used  by managers to propose, plan, secure resources, budget, and lead project teams to  successful completions of their projects. The text should prove useful to students  and prospective project managers in helping them understand why organizations  have developed a formal project management process to gain a competitive advan tage. Readers will find the concepts and techniques discussed in enough detail to be  immediately useful in new-project situations. Practicing project managers will find  the text to be a valuable guide and reference when dealing with typical problems  that arise in the course of a project. Managers will also find the text useful in  understanding the role of projects in the missions of their organizations. Analysts  will find the text useful in helping to explain the data needed for project implementation as well as the operations of inherited or purchased software. Members of the

Project Management Institute will find the text is well structured to meet the needs  of those wishing to prepare for PMP (Project Management Professional) or CAPM  (Certified Associate in Project Management) certification exams. The text has indepth coverage of the most critical topics found in PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). People at all levels in the organization assigned to  work on projects will find the text useful not only in providing them with a rationale for the use of project management tools and techniques but also because of  the insights they will gain on how to enhance their contributions to project  success.

Our emphasis is not only on how the management process works, but more  importantly, on why it works. The concepts, principles, and techniques are universally applicable. That is, the text does not specialize by industry type or project  scope. Instead, the text is written for the individual who will be required to manage a variety of projects in a variety of different organizational settings. In the  case of some small projects, a few of the steps of the techniques can be omitted,  but the conceptual framework applies to all organizations in which projects are  important to survival. The approach can be used in pure project organizations  such as construction, research organizations, and engineering consultancy firms.
At the same time, this approach will benefit organizations that carry out many  small projects while the daily effort of delivering products or services continues.

Content

In this latest edition of the book, we have responded to feedback received from  both students and teachers, which is deeply appreciated. As a result of the this  feedback, the following changes have been made to the fifth edition:
• Restructuring of text to include four supplemental chapters that cover topics  beyond the project management core.
• Inclusion of a supplemental chapter on agile project management which has  enjoyed success on new product and software development projects.
• Terms and concepts have been updated to be consistent with the fourth edition  of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (2008).
• Revised Chapter 14 to include project retrospectives. Chapters 2, 4, 6, 7, and 12,  have been updated.
• New student exercises and cases have been added to most chapters.
• Answers to selected exercises are now available in Appendix 1
• A third major computer exercise has been added to the Appendix 2;
• The “Snapshot from Practice” boxes feature a number of new examples of  project management in action as well as new research highlights that continue  to promote practical application of project management.
Overall the text addresses the major questions and issues the authors have encountered over their 60 combined years of teaching project management and consulting with practicing project managers in domestic and foreign environments. The  following questions represent the issues and problems practicing project managers  find consuming most of their effort: What is the strategic role of projects in contemporary organizations? How are projects prioritized? What organizational and  managerial styles will improve chances of project success? How do project managers orchestrate the complex network of relationships involving vendors, subcontractors, project team members, senior management, functional managers, and  customers that affect project success? What factors contribute to the development  of a high performance project team? What project management system can be set up to gain some measure of control? How do managers prepare for a new international project in a foreign culture? How does one pursue a career in project  management?

Project managers must deal with all these concerns to be effective. All of these  issues and problems represent linkages to an integrative project management view.
The chapter content of the text has been placed within an overall framework that  integrates these topics in a holistic manner. Cases and snapshots are included from   the experiences of practicing managers. The future for project managers appears  to be promising. Careers will be determined by success in managing projects.

Student Learning Aids

The text Web site (www.mhhe.com/larsongray5e) includes study outlines, online  quizzes, PowerPoint slides, videos, Microsoft Project Video Tutorials and Web  links. The trial version of Microsoft Project software is included on its own  CD-ROM free with the text.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Richard Bruce, Ottawa University for updating the Test  Bank and Online Quizzes; Charlie Cook, University of West Alabama for revising  the PowerPoint slides; Oliver F. Lehmann for providing access to PMBOK study  questions; and Mink for accuracy checking the text and Instructor’s Resource

Manual content.

Next, it is important to note that the text includes contributions from numerous  students, colleagues, friends, and managers gleaned from professional conversations. We want them to know we sincerely appreciate their counsel and suggestions.

Almost every exercise, case, and example in the text is drawn from a real-world  project. Special thanks to managers who graciously shared their current project as  ideas for exercises, subjects for cases, and examples for the text. Shlomo Cohen,  John A. Drexler, Jim Moran, John Sloan, Pat Taylor, and John Wold, whose work  is printed, are gratefully acknowledged. Special gratitude is due Robert Breitbarth  of Interact Management, who shared invaluable insights on prioritizing projects.  University students and managers deserve special accolades for identifying problems with earlier drafts of the text and exercises.
We are indebted to the reviewers of past editions who shared our commitment to  elevating the instruction of project management. The reviewers include Paul S.  Allen, Rice University; Denis F. Cioffi, George Washington University; Joseph  D. DeVoss, DeVry University; Edward J. Glantz, Pennsylvania State University;  Michael Godfrey, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh; Robert Key, University of  Phoenix; Dennis Krumwiede, Idaho State University; Nicholas C. Petruzzi,  University of Illinois–Urbana/Champaign; William R. Sherrard, San Diego State  University; S. Narayan Bodapati, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville;  Warren J. Boe, University of Iowa; Burton Dean, San Jose State University;  Kwasi Amoako-Gyampah, University of North Carolina–Greensboro; Owen P.  Hall, Pepperdine University; Bruce C. Hartman, University of Arizona; Richard Irving, York University; Robert T. Jones, DePaul University; Richard L.  Luebbe, Miami University of Ohio; William Moylan, Lawrence Technological  College of Business; Edward Pascal, University of Ottawa; James H. Patterson,  Indiana University; Art Rogers, City University; Christy Strbiak, U.S. Air Force  Preface ix Lar03342_fm_i-xvi_1.indd Page ix 2/25/10 2:34:45 AM user-f498 /Users/user-f498/Desktop Academy; David A. Vaughan, City University; and Ronald W. Witzel, Keller  Graduate School of Management. Nabil Bedewi, Georgetown University; Scott  Bailey, Troy University; Michael Ensby, Clarkson University; Eldon Larsen, Marshall University; Steve Machon, DeVry University–Tinley Park; William Matthews, William Patterson University; Erin Sims, DeVry University–Pomona;  Kenneth Solheim, DeVry University–Federal Way; and Oya Tukel, Cleveland  State University.

In the fifth edition we continue to commit to improving the text content and  improving instruction of project management. We are grateful to those reviewers  who provided helpful critiques and insights on the fourth edition, which helped us  prepare this revision. The reviewers for the fifth edition include. Gregory Anderson,  Weber State University; Dana Bachman, Colorado Christian University; Alan  Cannon, University of Texas, Arlington; Susan Cholette, San Francisco State;  Michael Ensby, Clarkson University; Charles Franz, University of Missouri,  Columbia; Raouf Ghattas, DeVry University; Robert Groff, Westwood College;  Raffael Guidone, New York City College of Technology; George Kenyon, Lamar  University; Elias Konwufine, Keiser University; Rafael Landaeta, Old Dominion  University; Muhammad Obeidat, Southern Polytechnic State University; Linda  Rose, Westwood College; Oya Tukel, Cleveland State University; and Mahmoud  Watad, William Paterson University. We thank you for your many thoughtful  suggestions and for making our book better. Of course we accept responsibility  for the final version of the text.

In addition, we would like to thank our colleagues in the College of Business at  Oregon State University for their support and help in completing this project. In  particular, we recognize Ray Brooks, Jim Moran and Ping-Hung Hsieh for their  helpful advice and suggestions. We also wish to thank the many students who  helped us at different stages of this project, most notably Neil Young, Rebecca  Keepers, Katherine Knox, Dat Nguyen, Lacey McNeely and Amanda Bosworth.  Mary Gray deserves special credit for editing and working under tight deadlines  on earlier editions. Special thanks go to Pinyarat Sirisomboonsuk for her help in  preparing the last two editions.

Finally, we want to extend our thanks to all the people at McGraw-Hill/Irwin  for their efforts and support. First, we would like to thank Dick Hercher for continuing to champion and provide editorial direction and guidance, and Gail  Korosa, who took over management of the book’s development fifth edition. And  we would also like to thank Denise Showers, Carol Blelski, Mary Sander, Jeremy  Cheshareck, Grey Bates, and Harvey Yep for managing the final production,  design, supplement, and media phases of the fifth edition.

Erik W. Larso