Images of Projects

Dr Mark Winter is a member of the Management of Projects research group at Manchester Business School and is a strong exponent of the need to bring academia and industry closer together in the field of project management. He recently led the UK government-funded research programme - Rethinking Project Management - and has worked with many organisations including Rolls-Royce, Tesco, Royal Liver Assurance, the National Probation Service and the NHS. He has a PhD from Lancaster University and a management consultancy background in IT. Tony Szczepanek was educated at Oxford University, has an MBA from Lancaster University, and an IS/IT background in the delivery of multi million pound projects. Formerly Group Strategic Programme Manager at the Big Food Group and IT Director at Marston's Brewery, he has held numerous senior positions and is currently CIO of Royal Liver Assurance responsible for all aspects of IT and Business Systems. He is particularly interested in the links between business strategy, business programmes and project portfolios.

• Contents: Detailed Contents; Foreword; Overview; Part 1 Introduction to Images of Projects; Why not 'just do it'? The image-action connection; Images of projects - a pragmatic framework for practitioners. Part 2 Seven Core Images of Projects: Image 1 - projects as social processes; Image 2 - projects as political processes; Image 3 - projects as intervention processes; Image 4 - projects as value creation processes; Image 5 - projects as development processes; Image 6 - projects as temporary organizations; Image 7 - projects as change processes. Part 3 Applying the Images in Practice: Selective use of the images; Structured use of the images; Shared use of the images; Case example 1 - initiating a major retail project (Tesco Stores Ltd); Case example 2 - managing a major research project (Rethinking PM); Appendices; Index.

'A wonderful contribution to the theory and practice of project management. It gives individuals and teams a concrete way of exploring the different dimensions of situations they are facing, and of selecting the most appropriate actions.' - Gareth Morgan, Distinguished Research Professor, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada ’...I would certainly recommend it to teachers, trainers and consultants of change and project management and will, I am sure, be using it myself in the future.’ Chris Ivory, Construction Management and Economics ’I think that this is one of the most important books on PM of the last few years...’ Dr Rolf Stiefel, Management-Andragogik und Organisationentwicklung