Goal Directed Project Management (GDPM) is a unique methodology that has been developed and refined by the authors over a period of more than 20 years. In this time, organizations all over the world have adopted it as a standard approach. The central focus of Goal Directed Project Management, this fourth edition of one of the most influential project management books, is to develop understanding, commitment and involvement while managing successful and lasting change. Throughout the text, the authors emphasise the need for a 'PSO' (People, System and Organization) perspective that goes beyond the technical aspects dealt with by most project management literature, enhancing and prolonging the life of a project by allowing the people and organization involved to develop simultaneously with the system. Goal Directed Project Management gives detailed and practical guidance on how to plan, organise and control these PSO projects effectively, presenting methods and tools that will increase significantly the probability of project success. This newly updated fourth edition of Goal Directed Project Management addresses the financial control of projects in a new chapter, presenting a pragmatic approach - based on GDPM methods - to this aspect of project management. It includes guidelines to take you through setting up a project budget based on cost benefit analysis and shows how to report and control the running project using the milestone related budget. Online resources now include an additional chapter on GDPM in a multi-project environment. Further information about GDPM certification can be found at www.gdpm.com

Praise and Reviews `Well argued and authoritiative...a very helpful approach to a subject which is central to the business of managing change in modern organizations`The Work Foundation`Racy and pragmatic...a worthwhile addition to the literature.`European Management JournalGoal directed project management (GDPM) is a unique methodology that has been developed and refined by the authors over 20 years. During this period, GDPM has been adopted as a standard approach by organizations all over the world.This fully updated third edition of Goal Directed Project Management highlights the close relationship between managing change and the key ideas of GDPM. The central focus of GDPM is to develop an understanding of, and commitment to, managing successful and lasting change. Throughout the text, the authors constantly emphasize the need to develop people's involvement and commitment to the project. The authors refer to this as 'PSO' (people, systems and organization). Goal Directed Project Management gives detailed and practical guidance on how to plan, organize and control these PSO projects effectively by presenting the methods and tools that will increase significantly the probability of success.

This title was first published in 2003. What does project authorization involve and how should you seek it? What is earned value and how are the calculations made? How do you select the appropriate method for handing over a project and what are the pitfalls associated with the options you can choose from? "The Project Management A-Z" provides you with the answer to these questions and more in an A-Z coverage of 80 project management techniques. Each one includes an explanation of the technique, how, when and why you would use it. There are sample forms, checklists of key questions to ask yourself and others, cross-references to the other techniques within the manual, in fact everything to ensure that you: understand the technique and the context in which it is used; identify whether or not it will work for you; and are able to apply it appropriately and effectively. If you are just starting a project or deeply engrossed in one, the opportunity to discuss alternative approaches, or explore the problems and opportunities that the project may throw up is particularly valuable. Sometimes you may have access to a project mentor or coach who can advise you. The Project Management A-Z helps fill that role, challenging your perception and helping build your confidence in the quality of the processes you are using and the decisions you are making. Successful projects are built on the skills of the project manager, the quality of the basic foundations that are laid, and sensitive but assertive management of processes and resources. This title should prove a useful reference to the main techniques for all of these key elements.

Traditional project management has tended to focus primarily on the processes of managing projects to successful completion. To manage projects from their inception through to actual delivery of the business-enabling objectives, a different project management approach is needed. Project management needs to become part of the business. This book addresses the concepts and issues of business project management. It aims to assist organisations in making the shift from a narrow, strong, technical focus on project management to a broader, more business-oriented focus. The Practice of Project Management introduces three basic concepts which underpin the philosophy of the business-oriented approach: Business Focused Project Management (BFPM) which takes an organisation-wide view; The Wrappers Model and Objective Directed Project Management (ODPM) both of which provide the philosophies, processes, concepts, and tools used to enable BFPM.

This hugely informative and wide-ranging analysis on the management of projects, past, present and future, is written both for practitioners and scholars. Beginning with a history of the discipline’s development, Reconstructing Project Management provides an extensive commentary on its practices and theoretical underpinnings, and concludes with proposals to improve its relevancy and value. Written not without a hint of attitude, this is by no means simply another project management textbook. The thesis of the book is that ‘it all depends on how you define the subject’; that much of our present thinking about project management as traditionally defined is sometimes boring, conceptually weak, and of limited application, whereas in reality it can be exciting, challenging and enormously important. The book draws on leading scholarship and case studies to explore this thesis. The book is divided into three major parts. Following an Introduction setting the scene, Part 1 covers the origins of modern project management – how the discipline has come to be what it is typically said to be; how it has been constructed – and the limitations of this traditional model. Part 2 presents an enlarged view of the discipline and then deconstructs this into its principal elements. Part 3 then reconstructs these elements to address the challenges facing society, and the implications for the discipline, in the years ahead. A final section reprises the sweep of the discipline’s development and summarises the principal insights from the book. This thoughtful commentary on project (and program, and portfolio) management as it has developed and has been practiced over the last 60-plus years, and as it may be over the next 20 to 40, draws on examples from many industry sectors around the world. It is a seminal work, required reading for everyone interested in projects and their management.

Hope has long been a topic of interest for psychologists, philosophers, educators, and physicians. In the past few decades, researchers from various disciplines and from around the world have studied how hope relates to superior academic performance, improved outcomes in the workplace, and improved psychological and physical health in individuals of all ages. Edited by Matthew W. Gallagher and the late Shane J. Lopez, The Oxford Handbook of Hope provides readers with a thorough and comprehensive update on the past 25 years of hope research while simultaneously providing an outline of what leading hope researchers believe the future of this line of research to be. In this extraordinary volume, Gallagher, Lopez, and their expert team of contributors discuss such topics as how best to define hope, how hope is distinguished from related philosophical and psychological constructs, what the current best practices are for measuring and quantifying hope, interventions and strategies for promoting hope across a variety of settings, the impact it has on physical and mental health, and the ways in which hope promotes positive functioning. Throughout its pages, these experts review what is currently known about hope and identify the topics and questions that will help guide the next decade of research ahead.