Applied Project Management: Best Practices on Implementation - Hardcover

Kerzner, Harold

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471363529 ISBN 13: 9780471363521

Verlag: John Wiley & Sons, 2000

Inhaltsangabe

Putting project management to work-best practices for achieving excellence. Harold Kerzner's landmark Project Management has long been the reference of choice for outstanding coverage of the basic principles and concepts of project management. Now this book takes the next step-converting theory into practice to address the application and implementation of project management in the real world. Informed by Harold Kerzner's extensive original research and accessible approach, it is essential reading for today's and tomorrow's professionals involved in project management. Features include: Commentaries from managers at leading corporations who share their decision-making processes-including the successes and mistakes-for project management implementation Twenty-five case studies highlighting crucial project management issues, problems, and solutions Helpful end-of-chapter learning aids, including questions and puzzles

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

HAROLD KERZNER, PhD, prominent instructor for the International Institute of Learning (IIL), is currently Professor of Systems Management at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio and President of Project Management Associates, a consulting and training firm that conducts seminars for leading U.S. and international corporations. He is the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois, and has taught engineering at that institution and business administration at Utah State University, where he received the 1998 Distinguished Service Award. The Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Project Management Institute has honored Dr. Kerzner by instituting the Kerzner Award for Project Management Excellence.

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Chapter 1: The Growth of Project Management

1.0 Introduction

You have attended seminars on project management. You have taken university courses on the fundamentals of project management. You have read the project management body of knowledge (PMEBOK @ Guide) prepared by the Project Management Institute (PMI), and you have even passed its national certification exam for project management. Now that you have learned the basics, how do you put theory into practice? That's applied project management.

Basic project management teaches you the theory and principles of project management. Applied project management discusses how to turn theory into practice. Simply stated, applied project management deals with the implementation of project management. It is through implementation that excellence in project management is achieved.

1.1 Understanding Project Management

To understand project management, you must first recognize what a project is. A project is an endeavor that has a definable objective, consumes resources, and operates under time, cost, and quality constraints. In addition, projects are generally regarded as activities that may be unique to the company. Any company could manage repetitive activities based on historical standards. The challenge is managing activities that have never been attempted in the past and may never be repeated in the future. In today's world, projects seem to be getting larger and more complex. Some people contend that a project should also be defined as a multi functional activity since the role of the project manager has become more of an integrator than a technical expert. Project management can be defined as the planning, scheduling, and controlling of a series of integrated tasks such that the objectives of the project are achieved successfully and in the best interest of the project's stakeholders. The business world has come to recognize the importance of project management for the future as well as the present. According to Thomas A. Stewart':

Projects package and sell knowledge. It doesn't matter what the formal blueprint of an organization is-functional hierarchy, matrix, or the emerging processcentered [or horizontal] organization, whose lines of communication and power are drawn along end-to-end business processes.... Routine work doesn't need managers; if it cannot be automated, it can be self-managed by workers. It's the never-ending book of projects-for internal improvement or to serve customers-that creates new value. It draws information together and does something with it-that is, formalizes, captures, and leverages it to produce a highervalued asset.

Consequently, if the old middle managers are dinosaurs, a new class of managerial mammals-project managers-is evolving to fill the niche they once ruled. Like his biological counterpart, the project manager is more agile and adaptable than the beast he is replacing, more likely to live by his wits than by throwing his weight around.

People who lead or work on winning projects will get the first crack at the next hot gig. The best project managers will seek out the best talent, and the best talent-offered a choice as it often will be-will sign on with the best managers. Seniority matters less than what-have-you-done-for-me-lately....

Not every one can or should be a project manager, but those who can will be winners. When an organization ceases to be defined by its functional departments, and becomes a portfolio of projects and processes, it's much easier to claim credit for success-the results are obvious. Conversely, it's harder to blame "them" for failure because "they" are on your cross-functional project team.

Effective project management requires extensive planning and coordination. As a result, work flow and project coordination must be managed horizontally, not vertically as in traditional management. In vertical management, workers are organized along top-down chains of command. As a result, they have little opportunity to work with other functional areas. In horizontal management, work is organized across the various functional groups that work with each other. This results in improved coordination and communication among employees and managers.

Horizontal work flow generates productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Corporations that have mastered horizontal work flow are generally more profitable than those corporations that continue to use vertical work flow exclusively.

When project managers are required to organize their work horizontally as well as vertically, they learn to understand the operations of other functional units and how functional units interface. This knowledge results in the development of future general mangers who understand more of the total operations of their company than their counterparts who came up through a single vertical chain of command. Project management has become a training ground for future general managers who will be capable of making total business decisions.

No two companies manage projects in the same way. Project management implementation must be based on the culture of the organization. Some organizations have tried to accelerate learning to achieve excellence in project management by creating a center for excellence (COE) that constantly benchmarks against the best practices of those companies recognized worldwide.

The world is finally recognizing the importance of project management and its impact on the profitability of the corporation. The changes necessary for successful project management implementation are now well documented in the literature. Linda D. Anthony, manager, project management, at General Motors, provides us with her personal views of how organizations are now perceiving project management:

Companies that have embraced a mature project management operating philosophy and practice are more likely to succeed in the competitive race of first to market than those that have not. The discipline of project management forces the attention to detail that is required for successful execution of projects. No longer can we simply manage the business by arts and charts and intuitive experience. It is imperative that we clearly understand the mission, scope, objective, and deliverable of every project at the onset.

Organizations must realize that "management" experience alone does not fully equip a leader to be proficient in project management. Project managers must be trained and experienced in the fundamental principles of project management. Having completed one or two academic classes in college 15 years ago does not qualify a manager as trained and experienced...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0471363529
• ISBN 13: 9780471363521
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 534
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar