Description
Book SynopsisThe growing complexity of projects today, as well as the uncertainty inherent in innovative projects, is making obsolete traditional project management practices and procedures, which are based on the notion that much about a project is known at its start. The current high level of change and complexity confronting organizational leaders and managers requires a new approach to projects so they can be managed flexibly to embrace and exploit change. What once used to be considered extreme uncertainty is now the norm, and managing planned projects is being replaced by managing projects as they evolve.
Successfully managing projects in extreme situations, such as polar and military expeditions, shows how to manage successfully projects in today's turbulent environment. Executed under the harshest and most unpredictable conditions, these projects are great sources for learning about how to manage unexpected and unforeseen situations as they occur. This book presents mult
Table of Contents
Foreword. Introduction: Blowing Hot and Cold on Project Management. A Polar Expedition Project and Project Management. Ambidexterity as a Project Leader Competency: A Comparative Case Study of Two Polar Expeditions. Mobilization and Sensibility on Polar Expeditions: More than Mere Motivation. Mobilizing Social Networks beyond Project Team Boundaries: The Case of Polar Expeditions. A Methodology for Investigating the "Actual" Course of a Project: The Case of a Polar Expedition. A Traditional Cree Expedition on the Ancestral Lands of the Neeposh Family of Northern Québec. Borrowing Concepts from Expedition Travel to Stimulate Alternative Tourism. The Project Front End: Financial Guidance Based on Risk. Lessons Learned from Sports Climbing: Some Disrespectful Discourse on Project Planning. Managing Extreme Situations in Fire and Rescue Organizations: The Complexity in Implementing Feedback. Coordination Practices in Extreme Situations: Lessons from the Military. Developing Collective Competence in Extreme Project Teams: The French Special Forces Case. Situated Teams: Dropping Tools on Mount Everest. Planning Risk and Cool Heads: Survival Conditions Required for Managing Projects. Flexibility and Rigidity in Planning a Program: The Case of the Montreal Metro Renovation Project. Project Manager: Specialist or Generalist? Project Management and the Unknown. Control and Flexibility: Which Balance Do We Mean? Conclusion. Epilog. Afterword: Looking for the Ordinary in the Extraordinary! Index.
