Project Management: A Managerial Approach

The book is primarily intended for use as a college textbook for teaching project management at the advanced undergraduate or master's level. The text is appropriate for classes on the management of service, product, engineering projects, as well as information systems (IS). Thus, we have included some coverage of material concerning information systems and how IS projects differ from and are similar to regular business projects. The authors draw upon their personal experiences working with project managers and on the experience of friends and colleagues who have spent much of their working lives serving as project managers in the "real world." Thus, in contrast to the books that are about project management, this book teaches students how to do project management.
Project Management: A Managerial Approach 5E addresses project management from a management perspective rather than a cookbook, special area treatise, or collection of loosely associated articles. It addresses the basic nature of managing all types of projects - public, business, engineering, information systems, and so on - as well as specific techniques and insights required to carry out this unique way of getting things done. It deals with the problems of selecting projects, initiating them, and operating and controlling them. It discusses the demands made on the project manager and the nature of the manager's interaction with the rest of the parent organization. It covers the difficult problems associated with conducting a project using people and organizations that represent different cultures and may be separated by considerable distances. It even covers the issues arising when the decision is made to terminate a project.

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(r) 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(r)!

A CD-ROM containing a 120-day free trial version of Microsoft Project 2002(r) and a student version pf Crystal Ball(r) 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.