Power Politics In Project Management

In today's 'more for less' culture, the expectations of project management and delivery are no longer limited to budgets, schedules and quality. For projects to make an impact and have lasting value, the project manager must be able to strategize, innovate, motivate, empower and collaborate - in other words, project managers must learn how to lead. The Power of Project Leadership helps you transform into an effective project leader by shifting your managerial mindset into one of inspiration, motivation and influence. The book describes what good project leadership looks like and explains how to make the transition using concrete tools and strategies. With underlying theories to help the reader understand how teams and individuals are motivated, it ensures that project managers lead with vision, continuously improve and innovate, work with intent, empower the team, get closer to stakeholders, remain authentic and establish a solid foundation for their projects. The book has a practical and engaging approach and draws on over 25 interviews with leading experts who have made the transition from project managers to project leaders. These experts come from a variety of sectors and companies; including Expedia, British Gas, Standard Bank, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, Liquid Planner, and the UK Government.

When Advanced Project Management first appeared it quickly acquired a reputation for excellence on both sides of the Atlantic as a book that successfully bridges the gap between introductory texts on project management and specialist works on professional practice. Its aim is twofold: to provide a guide for managers, engineers, accountants and others involved in project work, and a reference for advanced students of project and construction management. This fourth edition of the book has been heavily revised, with substantial material to reflect the changes in project management. The following topics are either new to the book or have been given greater emphasis: ¢ Project definition and appraisal ¢ Procurement and the supply chain ¢ Concurrent engineering ¢ Cost and management accounting ¢ Quality management ¢ More detailed explanations of critical path analysis, now predominantly using the precedence system ¢ Increased treatment of resource scheduling ¢ Planning with multiple calendars ¢ Planning within fixed time constraints, using crashing and fast-tracking methods ¢ Standard networks, modules and templates ¢ Risk management.

`Many books on management are sanitized, cleanly technical accounts of the unreality of managerial life and work. Politics hardly feature. This book tells it like it is: it dishes the dirt, gets low-down, into the funky and fascinating politics of organizational life′ - Stewart Clegg, Aston Business School and University of Technology, Sydney Combining a practical and theoretical guide to the politics of organizational change, this book provides an exceptional resource to students of change management, and organizational behaviour. Buchanan and Badham show how the change agent who is not politically skilled will fail, and that it is necessary to be able and willing to intervene in the political processes of the organization. This revised edition includes a range of excellent new material and features, including: - a new chapter on gender in approaches to organization politics - a full range of teaching materials including case studies, incident reports, self-assessments, and more - Each chapter recommends a feature film (or DVD) to illustrate aspects of organization politics - fresh research evidence - recent literature on the nature of entrepreneurial politics; - a model of political expertise, and how that can be developed This lively and engaging book is key to MBA and other Masters degree candidates taking courses in change management, and organizational behaviour. It will also be valuable for practising managers on tailored executive programmes in organization politics.

Project Management Leadership is a comprehensive guide to the human factors involved in Project Management, in particular the leadership skills required to ensure successful implementation of current best practice. It provides the latest insights on team building, motivation, collaboration, and networking skills, and the way these can be harnessed to manage a successful project. Exercises and worked examples are provided throughout.

The Definitive Guide to the Field's Best PracticesIn recent years, project management has become a profession unto itself. And with a membership numbering in the tens of thousands, the Project Management Institute is the organization that's setting the profession's standards. In this authoritative handbook, more than twenty-five top experts from academia, consulting, and private industry define the current state of project management and detail for readers all of the practical elements that constitute a superior practice. In clear, accessible language, these experts provide a comprehensive overview of the technical, organizational, administrative, and interpersonal elements of successful project management. They detail the essentials of project planning--from risk management to resource allocation to scheduling. They describe the team-building, motivational, and conflict-management challenges that project leaders face. And they delineate critical success factors as well as major pitfalls to avoid. At last, project managers across all industries can readily reference the best practices of their profession and benchmark their skills against those of their most accomplished colleagues.

Project Management for Mere Mortals® strips away the myths and mysteries of effective project management, giving you the skills, tools, and insights to succeed with your next project—and every project after that. Long-time project manager and trainer, Claudia Baca, walks you through all five process groups of project management: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Baca examines each process group from the perspectives of the working project manager and team member, highlighting the organizational issues most likely to arise and offering proven solutions. For each process group, she presents tools you can start using right now—and demonstrates those tools at work in a realistic running case study. This guide takes you from the absolute basics through advanced techniques, such as measures of performance and change control. You’ll learn how to • Accurately scope projects and build workable timetables • Create trustworthy budgets and use them to manage your project • Organize work assignments for maximum efficiency • Build project teams, and keep them motivated • Intelligently assess quality goals, and decide “how good it has to be” • Identify and mitigate the real risks your project will encounter • Control changes and stay on track, no matter what surprises occur • Close projects successfully, and learn lessons for future projects • Gain crucial skills you’ll need for PMI certification