PMFORUM Breaking News

An important new book on project management has been published by Pearson Education. Rethinking Project Management: An Organizational Perspective by Norwegian professor Erling S. Andersen examines project management from an organizational perspective, focusing on the relationship between the permanent and the temporary organization.

A project is a temporary organization, established by its base organization to carry out an assignment on its behalf. Inherent in this perspective is an understanding of the project’s most important purpose, to facilitate another organization’s progress. The assignment is about change, often within a certain time limit. The book discusses the foundation of a project, the planning, essential organizing, controlling, and leadership, all within an organizational perspective. There is not one right way to tackle projects - this book invites readers to rethink traditional methods and theories and offers new perspectives on every aspect of the project management process.

In practice we see that projects often fail. People disagree, they change their minds, they learn as a work progresses. The project develops into an important and influential organization with its own opinions, needs and challenges. Researchers have for a long time pointed out the need for new approaches to project management to take into account the specific demands of individual projects.

The table of contents of the book includes:

1. The project concept and the organisational perspective


2. The foundation of the project


3. Planning the project


4. Organising the project


5. Controlling the project


6. Important project leadership tasks


7. The project-oriented organisation and the project-oriented society


8. References


9. Index

The book provides a unique grounding in the essentials of the subject, as well as a base for further study of contemporary issues in the field, and should be a useful addition for any project management library.

Erling S. Andersen is professor of Project Management and Information Systems at BI Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, Norway. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Oslo. Before joining BI NSM he was Associate professor in economics at the University of Oslo and Dean of NKI College of Computer Science and Professor of Information Science at the University of Bergen. He has been a visiting professor to the University of Tokyo, Japan and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Professor Andersen has published several books and articles on information technology, systems development, project management and management in general. His previous book "Goal Directed Project Management" has been translated into several languages.

Rethinking Project Management: An Organisational Perspective, by Erling S. Andersen (ISBN-10: 027371547X; ISBN-13: 9780273715474) was published in May 2008. For purchase information, visit http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asp?item=100000000264131.