Product Description

Combining a strong academic approach with relevant practical cases, this text skillfully shows the range of issues that face project managers throughout the project cycle. This new Media Edition comes with a free CD Rom containing a 60 day trial version of Microsoft Project for students.This edition is easier to use than ever before, with two colour text design and more diagrams and figures to aid navigation and understanding.

Extra teaching materials are available online for lecturers at http://www.booksites.net/maylor. Project Management is used extensively to accompany courses on undergraduate, masters and MBA programmes, as well as for in-company training and for professionals wanting to bring themselves up-to-date with developments in the field.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83283 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 411 pages

Review
'For all involved in projects, it's a book that needs to be on your bookshelf, but better in your hand'.
Bob Saunders, Open University and Association for Project Management.

'A thorough introduction to project management. Highly recommended for use as an introductory course text'. 
Paul Walley, Lecturer in Operations Management, Warwick Business School.

'A useful introduction to the subject for students, as it indicates the complexity of the subject and its importance in a wide range of industries'. -
Prof J.H.Rogerson, Dean of Engineering, Science and Manufacturing, Cranfield University

From the Back Cover

Combining a strong academic approach with relevant practical cases, this text skilfully shows the range of issues that face project managers throughout the project cycle. Harvey Maylor considers projects as being a core business activity and approaches the subject from a strategic perspective, covering both the role of projects in the execution of organisational strategy and the application of strategic principles in projects.

Classic features:

• Covers a wide range of project settings, from traditional large-scale industrial projects through to small-scale personal projects, in both service and manufacturing settings
• Each chapter contains examples of ‘Project Management in Practice’ as well as case studies, discussion questions and exercises to help you check your understanding
• This new Media Edition comes with a free CD Rom containing a 60-day evaluation version of Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 to help familiarise you with the most commonly used project management software.

Project Management is used extensively to accompany courses on undergraduate, masters and MBA programmes, as well as for in-company training and for professionals wanting to bring themselves up-to-date with developments in the field. Extra teaching materials are available online for lecturers at http://www.booksites.net/maylor.

Dr Harvey Maylor is Lecturer in Operations and Project Management at the University of Bath School of Management. He is also a consultant and trainer in the area of Project Management, and has received funding for his research from industry, government, the European Commission, and most recently, the Project Management Institute. 

'For all involved in projects, it's a book that needs to be on your bookshelf, but better in your hand'.  Bob Saunders, Open University and Association for Project Management.

'A thorough introduction to project management. Highly recommended for use as an introductory course text'. Paul Walley, Lecturer in Operations Management, Warwick Business School.

'A useful introduction to the subject for students, as it indicates the complexity of the subject and its importance in a wide range of industries'. Prof J.H.Rogerson, Dean of Engineering, Science and Manufacturing, Cranfield University

About the Author
Dr Harvey Maylor is Lecturer in Operations and Project Management at the University of Bath School of Management, and a Visiting Professor at NIMBAS (Netherlands) and Kasetsart University (Bangkok, Thailand). He is also a consultant and trainer in the area of project management, and has received funding for his research from industry, Government and the European Commission.

Customer Reviews

Project Management in Context
The main shortcoming of most project management books is that they adopt a single methodology and fail to give the reader a context in which to apply the knowledge. They fail to answer "Why?"

Maylor's book tells you why.

It provides the reader with knowledge in context so that he/or she can make an informed judgment and more relevant decisions about how to proceed with a given project issue. If every project wasn't different Maylor's book wouldn't be so important. But projects are different, and this book is important.

For anyone wanting to really understand the real-life issues of project management this is a must read.

Comprehensive guide to Project Management
This book is an excellent companion to the challenging and rewarding community of project managers. The information is logically sequenced and the page layout is highly accessible. Each chapter gives a thorough overview and contains detailed references to enable further research. Harvey Maylor has successfully balanced the academic and commercial perspectives to create an interesting and inspiring study guide. I have invested many evenings learning this material and have significantly advanced my professional development. Highly recommended!

Good clear writing - useful second textbook
When reviewing a work like this one must consider the various audiences that may encounter it. I mainly have in mind the requirements of student learners - those completely new to project management - but also those engaged in project management on a day-to-day basis who may occasionally have need of either a reference work to refresh on basic techniques or other, possibly more advanced, material that will help them clarify thinking when faced with a particular problem. In some respects the needs of these two groups are contradictory. However the underlying body of thought is not totally exclusive to each and therefore it should be possible to produce a work which could satisfy the needs of both these audiences. The constraints of book publishing (size, linearity, audience passivity) and the need to keep volumes within a reasonable size may well make the production of such a work in book form practically very difficult. Perhaps in the future the intelligent use of all available media, in conjunction with the book, may make such a goal achievable at last.

On approaching this particular book I am immediately struck by the clear writing. The prose flows easily through the topics making for an easy read. No doubt the un-fussy yet thoughtful typography contributes to this.

Most of the basic topics within project management are well addressed. Someone new to the field will also be guided by the in text chapter outlines and the summaries which are presented at the end of each chapter. The overall structure of the book is clear and corresponds well with the evolution of the project life cycle.

Much of the emphasis is on the strategic element of the project management activity. This is not to say that the day-to-day activities of project management aren't discussed. Rather one gets the sense for this book that the most effective project manager should be conscious of why things are been done as opposed to how things should be done most efficiently, which seems to be the emphasis of most other general project management texts. For this reason I would say this book was ideally suited to existing, that is already trained, Project Managers, or general managers who are not project specialists. Much of the discussion pre-supposes some degree of existing business knowledge and consequently I do not think the majority of undergraduate students new to project management would feel comfortable with the level of this book.

The work also has some minor drawbacks. The work makes extensive use of the explanatory or metaphorical graphics (although not to the same dramatically successful extent as Visualizing Project Management by Forsberg, Mooz and Cotterman). Although this is certainly a welcome trend some of the graphics presented are in fact pointless or are insufficiently specific to make any real impact.

On the whole a good "second text".