Sometimes unanticipated threats or opportunities create a situation in which work is required unexpectedly. On these occasions, such urgent and unexpected work demands an instant start, in contrast to the often lengthy processes of investigation, evaluation, development, selection and planning normal in businesses and public services before the start of a project. Managing the Urgent and Unexpected explores what is different managerially if work is unexpected, its implementation is urgent and an immediate start it is required. The authors draw on twelve cases ranging from the launch of the Freeview television system in the United Kingdom to the sifting and removal of the New York World Trade Center pile of debris following the 9/11 terrorist attack. They summarise how the response to each of these events was managed, demonstrate that opportunities may sometimes be created in the face of adversity and suggest how normal organizations can prepare to manage abnormal demands. Urgent and unexpected projects have to be rare in business or government to be economically and socially tolerable. And yet organizations can and should be prepared for the unexpected. The lessons offered here will help private and public organizations plan how to authorize and support future urgent work to take advantage of immediate new business opportunities or to protect or restore systems and services.

Sometimes unanticipated threats or opportunities create a situation in which work is required unexpectedly. On these occasions, such urgent and unexpected work demands an instant start, in contrast to the often lengthy processes of investigation, evaluation, development, selection and planning normal in businesses and public services before the start of a project. Managing the Urgent and Unexpected explores what is different managerially if work is unexpected, its implementation is urgent and an immediate start it is required. The authors draw on twelve cases ranging from the launch of the Freeview television system in the United Kingdom to the sifting and removal of the New York World Trade Center pile of debris following the 9/11 terrorist attack. They summarise how the response to each of these events was managed, demonstrate that opportunities may sometimes be created in the face of adversity and suggest how normal organizations can prepare to manage abnormal demands. Urgent and unexpected projects have to be rare in business or government to be economically and socially tolerable. And yet organizations can and should be prepared for the unexpected. The lessons offered here will help private and public organizations plan how to authorize and support future urgent work to take advantage of immediate new business opportunities or to protect or restore systems and services.

For organizations to thrive, indeed to survive, in today's global economy, we must find ways to dramatically improve the performance of large-scale projects. Applying the concepts of complexity theory can complement conventional project management approaches and enable us to adapt to the unrelenting change that we ignore at our own peril. Managing Complex Projects: A New Model offers an innovative way of looking at projects and treating them as complex adaptive systems. Applying the principles of complexity thinking will enable project managers and leadership teams to manage large-scale initiatives successfully. • Explore how complexity thinking can be used to find new, creative ways to think about and manage projects • Diagnose complexity on a wide range of projects — from small, independent, short projects to highly complex, longer projects • Understand and manage the complexity of the business problem, opportunity, solution, and other dimensions that come into play when managing large-scale efforts Use the Project Complexity Model to determine the most effective approach to managing all aspects of a project based on the level of complexity involved.

Projects are ubiquitous to modern society, yet, concerns around successful delivery, value realisation, resilience and making change stick force a significant re-evaluation of the scope and extent of the ‘normal’ project discourse. The common thread for all of this is around capabilities, skills, attitudes, values and perspectives that are needed for successful delivery and the sustained realisation of interest, relationships, benefit, value and impact. The chapters collated in this volume bring together leading authorities on topics that are relevant to the management, leadership, governance and delivery of projects. Topics include people, communication, ethics, change management, value realisation, benefits, complexity, decision-making, project assurance, communication, knowledge management, big data, project requirements, business architecture, stakeholder engagement, strategy, users, systems thinking and resilience. The main aims of the collection are to reflect on the state of practice within the discipline; to propose new extensions and additions to good practice; to offer new insights and perspectives; to distil new knowledge; and to provide a way of sampling a range of the most promising ideas, perspectives and styles of writing from some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the discipline.

Master the essentials of project management with this guide to delivering results on time and within budget. Covering key methodologies and best practices, this book is an invaluable resource for project managers aiming for successful project outcomes.

Disasters and diseases have shaped history from Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii until today’s societies struggling through the Covid-19 pandemic. They result in critical economic and human losses, and sometimes in changed political power balances. Diseases and disasters are so important for the world and its global population, that they are researched by various academic disciplines, and they appear in all great holy scriptures. This dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of performance of temporary response organizations by determining respective performance predictors. Contributing to handling two of the world’s greatest scourges may result in massively reducing the occurring economic costs – and even in human lives saved. The overall research question is: How can the performance of temporary organizations responding to disasters and disease outbreaks be predicted? Reto Wegmann’s dissertation is structured in six chapters. It starts with introductory remarks in Chapter 1, and explains theoretical backgrounds as well as terms and definitions in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 inducts organizational performance predictors, which are then used to generate hypotheses, which are empirically tested against different data sets, in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation by summarizing the insights gained, proposing theoretical and practical conclusions, pointing out the limitations and strengths and weaknesses, and by outlining multiple paths for future research.

The primary competitive advantage that firms have today is the perspective, outlook, and commitment of their management leaders. International Management Leadership helps you develop the leadership skills that will enable your firm to stay competitive in today's global business environment. From the necessary international perspective, this book provides you with the information you need to understand the competitive factors that distinguish one firm from another and to recognize the determinants of success. Giving you formats and outlines and a fresh perspective of your work, your organization, and yourself, International Management Leadership is much more practical than other management textbooks. You'll learn how to help make your company more effective in the arena of international management leadership as you read about: requirements of and special demands on international managers managerial leadership in the era of knowledge strategic leadership and implementation of strategy management as a fulfillment of purpose leadership of conflict management transformational leadership team leadership Whether you're an individual involved in a management training program, a management consultant, an executive manager, or a student of international management or business, you'll appreciate this book's take on the competitive factors of leadership in international business today. As a textbook, International Management Leadership provides students with a broad perspective on the practice of managerial leadership and organizational life in the global arena--bringing examples to life and going far beyond what is needed to simply pass a course.