Project Management: The Managerial Process

Book Preface

Our motivation in writing this text continues to be to provide a realistic, socio-technical
view of project management. In the past, textbooks on project management focused
almost exclusively on the tools and processes used to manage projects and not the
human dimension. This baffled us since people not tools complete projects! While we
firmly believe that mastering tools and processes is essential to successful project
management, we also believe that the effectiveness of these tools and methods is
shaped and determined by the prevailing culture of the organization and interpersonal
dynamics of the people involved. Thus, we try to provide a holistic view that focuses
on both of these dimensions and how they interact to determine the fate of projects.
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 advantage. 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 in-depth 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 processes 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 and other editions we continue to try to resist the forces that engender scope creep
and focus only on essential tools and concepts that are being used in the real world. We
have been guided by feedback from practitioners, teachers, and students. Some changes
are minor and incremental, designed to clarify and reduce confusion. Other changes are
significant. They represent new developments in the field or better ways of teaching
project management principles. Below are major changes to the seventh edition.
∙ Learning objectives have been established for each chapter and the corresponding
segment has been marked in the text.
∙ Chapter 16 Oversight has been eliminated and critical information on project maturity models is now part of Chapter 14.
∙ Chapter 18 Project Management Career Paths has been eliminated and essential
information from this chapter is now in Chapter 1.
∙ A new set of network exercises have been developed for Chapter 6.
∙ A new set of crashing exercises have been developed for Chapter 9 which introduce
crashing concepts in a developmental way.
∙ The Chapter 2 Appendix on Request for Proposal is now part of Chapter 12.
∙ Terms and concepts have been updated to be consistent with the sixth edition of the
Project Management Body of Knowledge (2015).
∙ New student exercises and cases have been added to chapters.
∙ 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.

∙ The Instructor’s Manual contains a listing of current YouTube videos that correspond to key concepts and Snapshots from Practice.
Overall the text addresses the major questions and challenges the authors have
encountered over their 60 combined years of teaching project management and consulting with practicing project managers in domestic and foreign environments. These questions include: 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?

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.