Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 4th Edition

As businesses struggle to improve their record of completing large scale projects on time and on budget, interest in good project management skills is skyrocketing. For the past 10 years this book has set the standard for establishing project management principles. With a sharp focus on business (rather than engineering or construction), it provides all the guidelines and tools managers of projects need to succeed. Throughout, the emphasis is on project/team management techniques, rather than general management techniques. Critical aspects of project management are covered in detail, including available software packages, negotiation, project manager selection, and project auditing and terminating.

Putting a man on the moon, building the pyramids, even creating a robust database for a large organization... These might seem like impossible achievements, but they are all the results of carefully implemented project management techniques.

Taking a managerial approach, Meredith and Mantel's text equips you with the insight into human behavior, knowledge of organizational issues, and quantitative methods you need to do project management. You'll learn how to select, initiate, operate, and control all types of projects—from public works and engineering projects to information systems.

The text puts you in command of the latest thinking in the field, including:

• Strategic project management: Chapter 2 is now oriented toward using project selection as a major tool for achieving the strategic objectives of the organization.
• Risk manqagement: The authors discuss risk management throughout the text and explain how to evaluate risk using simulation software, such as Crystal Ball. In addition, the text is accompanied by a student version of Crystal Ball® 2002.
• Earned value: Chapter 10 features extensively expanded coverage of earned value and includes a detailed example that illustrates the calculation of earned value during the execution of a project.
• Project Management Office: Chapter 4 (Project Organization) contains substantial discussion of the Project Management Office. Additional references to this topic also appear throughout the text.
• Activity-on-node notation: Chapter 8 (Scheduling) has been reoriented to focus on activity-on-node notation, which is used in most of today's software packages.

Includes a free trial version pf Microsoft Project 2002®!

A CD-ROM containing a 120-day free trial version of Microsoft Project 2002® and a student version pf Crystal Ball® 2002 accompanies the text. In addition, the text features new exercises in the end-of-chapter material that rely on he use of computer software. Microsoft Project and Excel printouts are updated and now integrated throughout the text where appropriate.