Project Management: The Managerial Aspects

Poor project management and execution leads to considerable wastage of resources on the part of business enterprises. This indicates the need for a systematic study of project management techniques. Knowledge, skills, experience, leadership, and competencies of a project manager impact the success of a project. Learning project management from a macro management point of view can increase the success rate of a project. This book provides insights into various concepts, definitions, research findings, industry best practices, tools and techniques for project management and scope for further research. In short, it is intended to provide systematically arranged, authentic information on managerial dimensions of project management. The book is organized into 3 parts: Part I (chapters 1 to 6) is titled Strategy and Project Management. Apart from introduction to managerial aspects of project management, it covers topics such as basics of project strategy, characteristics of content development projects, nature of work of a global manager, role of conflicts in top management teams, and a case study of Tata Group. Part II (chapters 7 to 13) is titled Project Management Research. It deals with such topics as project success requirements, success factors for software projects, conflict management techniques, lessons from Bhagavad Gita in project management, success factors for offshore software development projects, scientific versus social science research methodology, and research in management. Part III (chapters 14 to 20) is titled People Aspects in Project Management. It is devoted to explanation and examination of different dimensions of teams, performance of software development teams, recruitment strategies of Indian IT firms, software programmers, software organizations, and project stakeholders and technology.

Dr. G.P. Sudhakar is Associate Professor, The ICFAI University, Hyderabad, India. He has 24 years of professional experience, with 12 years in IT industry and 12 years in academics/research. Earlier, he worked as senior faculty member and head of IT Division at Engineering Staff College of India, Hyderabad. He has also worked in US, UK, Ireland, and Finland. He also holds M.Tech. and Executive MBA. He is also a Project Management Professional certified by Project Management Institute (PMI), USA since 2006. Dr. Sudhakar has authored 15 books and published over 100 research papers/case studies in academic journals of repute, including International Journal of Project Management Research (Netherlands), Brazilian Journal of Production and Operations Management (Brazil), Serbian Journal of Management (Serbia), Team Performance Management (Emerald, UK), and Binus Business Review (Indonesia). His areas of research interest include project management, critical success factors, conflict management, software engineering, and innovative research methodologies.